Tag Archives: Rock

“Transitions” (Original Wednesday Acoustic Song by Chris Moore)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to my first Original Wednesday since Christmas Eve!  This is an exciting week for me, as I’m off from work.  There have been plenty of things to keep me busy — really, too many to list — but I woke up this morning and, despite the work I should be doing, I decided to work out this song and record it for tonight’s session.

The song is called “Transitions” and this is a Laptop Sessions world premiere.  It may make it to my next album, it may not…  Only time will tell!  I hope you like it.  This is the first fully recorded version of it, so it’s a demo of sorts.  It’s not perfectly arranged yet, to be sure, but I’m pretty happy with the overall structure of it.  Some of the words may change, some of the rough edges will be smoothed out, but this is your sneak peak at the first complete version of it.  I messed around with the harmonica even after I finished recording this video, and I have to say that this song has (and/or will have) one of my favorite harmonica parts that I’ve written in a very long time.  It’s a very deliberate aspect, but not so note-for-note that it sounds scripted.

Outside of writing and recording this song, I’ve been busy during my February break with some grading for my classes, jury duty yesterday (I was released after “a day’s service”), preparing logs for my BEST portfolio, reading three things (Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pro Wrestling, and the 40-page booklet to the Sam Jones film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart), and listening to several albums, including MoU’s Homestead’s Revenge (I think “Worlds Apart” is my favorite song we’ve ever done!), Pearl Jam’s Binaural, and Dan Auerbach’s Keep It Hid.  Oh, and I can’t forget to mention my favorite playlist that I referred to in Monday’s post — the “Albums of 2008” iTunes playlist.  Good stuff all around…

We’ve gotten a decent number of views to the blog for the chords and cover video of Dan Auerbach’s “My Last Mistake.”  That’s exciting because I wasn’t sure what to expect with this fairly obscure song choice.  It’s all the more incentive for me to keep on top of new rock music, bringing whatever I can to the blog as my contribution to this, the best acoustic cover song blog in the universe!  No kidding!

Okay, that’s it for me for this week.  But, even as I write that, I’ll be back to choose and post a Guest Session for Friday.  We’re accepting submissions every day, so don’t wait — record a video on YouTube and send the link to us today with an interesting description.

See you next session!

A “Chris Moore Monday” Premiere!

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By Chris Moore:

Well, I am regretfully feeling pretty terrible tonight and my throat has taken quite the hit.  So, should we just cancel the session for the night and wait for “Jim Fusco Tuesday?”…

Not a chance!

Instead of a music video tonight, I’m working on the first in a series of articles on rock music that I will release in the coming year.  I’m still trying to work on a name for the series as a whole.  Maybe “Rock Face: The Face of Rock Music Today.”  Sorry, that was a shameless inside joke that only a few of you will get.

Seriously, though, I’m working hard on this article now and I hope you enjoy it when I post it later tonight.

On an unrelated note, the Bruce Springsteen Halftime Show performance yesterday was even more exciting than I thought it would be, for a number of reasons.  First of all, the performance itself was great.  As Jim’s father pointed out, it looked like Springsteen would need to be hooked up to oxygen immediately after the show, based on all the energy he put into the twelve minute performance.  Once again, I’m not really a Springsteen fanatic, but I love his recent work.  I’ve been somewhat unimpressed with his live work (including a couple of concerts televised on television over the past few years), but the Super Bowl performance was certainly a high point of the game for me.  I realize that’s sacriledge and I may be branded as an outcast, but so be it…  Oh, and that being said, there’s a really funny list on a Yahoo! blog today called: “The 10 Unforgivable Sins Of Bruce Springsteen’s Performance At The Super Bowl.”  Jim sent it to me earlier today.  Worth a read for any music fan.

The second reason why the performance was so exciting is its aftermath.  I posted the set list and some general comments and predictions yesterday, mainly because I was looking forward to the show and it was on my mind.  Well, the post helped catapult us to an all-new view record for a single day on the Laptop Sessions music blog!  Thank you, Super Bowl, and thank you, Bruce Springsteen!

Stay tuned for the article to come; I hope you enjoy reading it!

“House of the Rising Sun” (The Animals Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Christmastime will have to wait another year to come around again. But, things went very well over the past couple of days. Christmas Eve started with breakfast at McDonald’s before work with Chris and Dana. Then, we got out of work at 2:00 and I came home to clean up and take a nap before my family arrived for dinner. We all ate and ate and ate until Mike and I went over to Hubbard Park in Meriden where they have the whole park decked-out in Christmas lights. There’s always so many interesting animals made out of wire and lights- turtles, a beaver, moose, and even frogs. After that, Mike and I watched an episode of the show Freaks and Geeks before bed.

We woke up to our usual bounty of Christmas presents. I was happy because this year, I actually got everyone a TON of stuff, too, and was pretty excited to see if they liked it all. I got what I was hoping for- a Playstation 3! I’m so excited because I have a great Samsung HD television, but I haven’t gotten to use it to its full potential yet. With the PS3, I’ll be able to play games and movies in high-def.

I also got some other great stuff, including a TON of accessories for PS3 (and also the game MLB 08) from Mike. I got some very useful stuff for my condo, as well, as I tend to neglect buying things I truly need for everyday life and just focus on saving up for large purchases.

After we ate dinner, we took our annual trip to my Aunt’s house. We opened presents and I played a Nintendo DS game with my little cousin Gerry where the object of the game was to make Daffy Duck angry. How fun!

I then came back home for, as Chris said, a great episode of TNA iMPACT! Oh, I also got that video game, too!

After that, I finally got to come home and open presents I got from Becky. She got me a train set (I was right!) for around the tree, some “hot packs” of baseball cards (when you’re guaranteed to get a jersey card inside), and six (yes, 6!) Blu-Ray movies for my new player! I got one from every category, including scenic, action, music, etc.

I got up this morning and went to the train station with Becky to catch the train to New York City. We had an appointment at the NV Perricone Cosmeceuticals boutique on Madison Avenue, where I scheduled a spa treatment for Becky. Thankfully, I work for NV Perricone’s headquarters in Meriden, CT, so it was a lot easier (and less money) to get an appointment. I couldn’t believe how upscale that area was. I ate lunch at a nice European cafe…that is, if you consider lunch to be a piece of pie and a cup of coffee for 14 dollars!!! I sat down and looked at the menu first. I was so surprised at the prices for lunch that I forced myself to just get the pie and coffee. I would’ve been out forty bucks easy if I got lunch…for just me! So, to ease my hunger, I got a $1.50 hot dog from a street vendor, then went back to find a glowing Becky after her treatment.

We then saw the Rockafeller Center Christmas tree, then won a lottery where we got FRONT ROW seats to see Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” on Broadway for only $27 each! Those tickets were going for $120 at the box office! We were pretty pumped. We ate a nice meal at Bubba Gump shrimp (I knew the answer to the trivia question about how many Dr. Peppers Forrest drank at the White House) and then saw the show. It was a long train ride home, especially because I knew I had to record a video!

Tonight’s video, after 640 words of writing, is one of the most covered songs of all time. Just about every folk singer has done this, but the reason I know it is probably the reason why you know it, too- The Animals. Their version of this traditional song is just so cool. The ripping vocals, the wailing organ solo, and of course, those four to five chords that just give you instant recognition of this tune. The strumming pattern is cool, but not the easiest thing to do while singing. At least they’re easy chords.

I’m glad to add another “new” band to the best video blog ever created- it’s like “going to bed at 4 am knowing that this was the night you were supposed to catch up on your sleep, but who cares because it’s the weekend of Christmas” good! I only have ONE MORE video to do to complete our entire year’s worth of Laptop Sessions acoustic cover and original songs videos and I feel very accomplished right now. Enjoy tonight’s video and I’ll see you for my year’s swan song on Monday!

“Box Full of Letters” (Wilco Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to yet another all-new Laptop Session at your web blog for a session-a-day, guaranteed through December 31st, 2008. Now, that guarantee is swiftly running out, but don’t fret. We’ll be introducing a new schedule of performances for 2009 that will not only introduce many new types of posts to the blog on a regular basis, but also maintain a steady and prolific stream of new cover song music videos!

But, let’s focus on the present for now…

I had originally intended to record a Christmas song tonight, but I got busy with napping, fast food eating, Christmas shopping, and TNA Impact! viewing, so I decided to pull out my one and only “backup video.” If I haven’t already, I should introduce this video by announcing my desire to record a cover video for at least one song from each Wilco album. I’ve been listening to this band a lot these past several months, picking up their albums one by one as I find them on sale or used. I’ve already recorded a song from their third studio album, Summerteeth, called “How to Fight Loneliness” — that video is posted in the members only area of this blog (scroll down to the bottom to sign in and/or sign up!). Previous to that, I recorded “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” from their critically acclaimed fourth album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This was a great song — easy to learn, fun to memorize the lyrics for the performance, and I even got a compliment from a former student who watched the video!

Last week, I picked up a copy of their subsequent album, A Ghost is Born. Ironically, I’m listening to that album now and — literally the moment I typed the title of the album (!) — I just heard Tweedy singing “a ghost is born…,” which is in the lyrics to the song “Theologians.” I don’t think that A Ghost is Born is as impressive an album as Foxtrot or as rocking and enjoyable an album as Summerteeth, but I’m warming to it. There’s a great deal of experimentation, particularly on the 15-minute penultimate track “Less Than You Think.”

But I’m not quite ready to record a song from that album yet, so I went back to the first Wilco album, A.M., which is the final album that I own thus far. This album was more of a straightforward country rock effort, reminiscent of their predecessor Uncle Tupelo. Tweedy himself doesn’t sound all that impressed with the album, but I think it’s actually the most upbeat of the Wilco albums I own. It’s certainly the best album to listen to in the car!

This is my version of the single from the album, titled “Box Full of Letters.” I don’t know what it is about this song — something about the combination of the guitar hooks, lower lead vocal that resonates, and the catchy chorus — but I love it.

And it puts me one step closer to having recorded one song from each album!

When I return next week, I’ll have three sessions for the week — barring unforeseen difficulties, I’ll be bringing you three holiday-themed songs to finish out the season for me (musically, at least).

Thanks for reading and watching, and don’t forget to hurry back tomorrow and the next day for great videos from Jeff and Jim. They’ll be “slapping yourself in the face to make sure you’re not dreaming” good!

See you next session!