Tag Archives: Rock

“No Way to Say Goodbye” [Leonard Cohen Cover]

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to the final Laptop Session of November!  Today, I bring you an all-new cover (that’s right, ALL new) from a new songwriter to the blog, Leonard Cohen.  In fact, I had so much fun learning this song today that I’ll be posting another Cohen song — perhaps his most well-known song — “Suzanne.”

You may be wondering, why bring in a Leonard Cohen song now, after all this time?  Well, there are a couple of answers to that question.

First, I have recently been listening to The Essential Leonard Cohen, after my friend from work, Larry, suggested that Cohen and Bob Dylan are on the same level as songwriters.  Now, for those of you who don’t know me, this was quite a compelling assertion indeed.  Thus, I picked up the CD when I saw the special 3-disc edition on sale at Wal-Mart, and I’ve been listening to the first disc for the past week and a half.  This song, “No Way to Say Goodbye,” is on that disc and has quickly become one of those songs that I find repeatedly stuck in my head during the day.

Then, I was reminded of Cohen yesterday when Alberto picked a cover of his “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley to play on our WCJM “Tenth Anniversary Show.”  This was interesting for me, as it got me wondering if Cohen is one of those artists whose songs are more well-known when done by other performers.  That’s the only song I know of, but I’ll have to do some research to find out…

Speaking of the WCJM show, we had a blast yesterday as we met to record a new installment of Moore Hits in the Morning in the… believe it or not… morning!  The music was as diverse as ever, coming on the heels of Jim’s idea for each of the seven cast members to contribute two of their favorite songs.  This inspired such disparate responses as Jim’s new music choices — BnL’s “Wind it Up” from ’06 and Brian Wilson’s “Live Let Live” from this year — to Dave’s classic music choices — WCJM favorites “All the Things” by the Byrds and “A Simple Game” by the Moody Blues.  I chose one of each — the classic Moody Blues song “Question” and the contemporary “Living Well is the Best Revenge” by R.E.M.

Aside from the music, we had skits, skits, skits!  We had an impeccably delivered segment of Matt’s standup.  We had new skits by classic characters — Ronco, the Food Critic, Dr. Keck, Stuffy D. Bear, and more.  We had brand-new skits, including my Scam Wow parody.

In short, it was fun!

And it was really great to see all the guys in one place one more time.  We had a touch of nostalgia unlike any other on the previous shows, and for good reason — it was our tenth anniversary, for crying out loud!  Seriously though, I was proud to sit there for almost three hours and share in this crazy, creative experience we call WCJM!  Stay tuned to WCJM.com, as the show will be posted soon…

Well, that’s enough for me for one post.  Thanks for stopping by for your daily fix of acoustic rock cover songs; I hope you enjoy my music video.  I’ll be back on Original Wednesday, but until then, don’t miss Jeff’s Monday post and Jim’s Tuesday video.

See you next session!

“Thin Air” (Pearl Jam Cover)

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For Pearl Jam chords and lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to a special Saturday edition of the Laptop Sessions!  I finally passed the 90,000 mark on YouTube, so I figured, “What better way to celebrate than to post an all-new session?”  The answer to that question is the video you’re about to view.

So, why this song?  The truth is that I know very little about Pearl Jam.  Binaural is the first Pearl Jam album that I’ve bought, and there’s a funny story behind that.  I bought it along with two other discs that were marked down at Circuit City.  The other two albums were ones that I’ve been waiting and waiting for a decent price to buy.  I bought Binaural because it was $4.  Brand new!  Now, Circuit City going-out-of-business sale or not, that’s an outstanding price!  My first response was to check the packaging over for signs of a compilation album.  Was this all rarities and b-sides?  Was this an EP? It appeared to be a full album.  So, I did what anyone in my position would do…

I pulled out my iPhone and jumped onto the good ole World Wide Web!

Sure enough, Binaural was a full studio album.  With that in mind, as well as my interest in the upcoming remastered release of their debut album, Ten, I bought it.  At first, I wasn’t crazy about much of it.  Then, at some point during the second listen, songs began to click.  The booklet is really well done, so although Eddie Vedder’s lyrics are unclear at times, I was able to refer to the booklet.  One by one, I fell in love with the tracks and couldn’t stop listening to it.  Now, it turns out that this $4 CD has been my most worthwhile album purchase in a long time!

Before I say much more, I should stop and save my thoughts for tomorrow’s posting of the second installment in my “Deep Racks Report” series.  After the response to last week’s report on Wilco’s A.M., I’m pumped up to finish writing this one.  I was lucky last week that someone found my article and posted the link on an oft-frequented Jay Farrar message board.  If only I knew how I could get my articles seen each week…

So, without further ado, I bring you my first Pearl Jam cover song music video, joining Jeff, who is already six songs strong!  I hope that this holds up to Jeff’s standards for this 90’s alternative rock band that he knows far better than I do.  Or, at least, for now.  (I’m learning…)

See you next session!

“One Headlight” (Wallflowers Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Okay, so I have good news and bad news. Good news — MoU has finally released their highly anticipated second album, Homestead’s Revenge. It’s really the next step up from the more “live-in-the-studio” sound of our debut. And the songwriting includes all members. Not only do Jim, Mike, Cliff and I have our own songs, but we co-wrote three as a full band! I hope you’ll listen to album and purchase it at http://jimfusco.com/albums.html !

Now, for the bad news… While it’s been a lot of fun to record these Laptop Sessions, I’m afraid I’ve become far too busy to keep fitting them in. So, today I bring you my final, my farewell Laptop Session…

This Wallflowers song, “One Headlight,” is the first song I ever truly loved. I was in 7th grade, and whenever my dad and I were in the car and heard this song, we would crank the volume. This is saying something, because music wasn’t all that important to me back then. I never did buy the album, as the Sam Goody’s store in my local mall only had a copy with a cracked case. I couldn’t bring myself to spend what was then a lot of money for me on a less than perfect product. Ironically, I would go on to listen to songwriter Jakob Dylan’s father (yes, Bob Dylan!) and he would become my absolute favorite artist.

When I eventually did buy the Bringing Down the Horse album, I fell in love with not only this song, but the band. And I recently recorded “Sixth Avenue Heartache,” another BDTH alum, for a previous Laptop Session.

All right, I can’t go on with the lie — April Fool’s! This is far from my final Laptop Session, as Jim, Jeff, and I continue to record a new session-a-day for all of 2008. That’s right, all 366 days! I hope you’ll come back to https://guitarbucketlist.com tomorrow for a new session from Jeff!

See you next session!


Ibanez ARX300 Electric Guitar – Jim Fusco’s Guitar Collection

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another edition of “Jim Fusco’s Guitar Collection” here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!  The Ibanez ARX300 electric guitar, the subject of today’s post, is one that I loved at first sight.

Ibanez ARX300 Electric Guitar with EMG 60 and 81 pickups

I remember the moment quite well- looking through a Musician’s Friend catalog and seeing  its wonderful double cutaway body and flamed maple top.  I noticed that it was from Ibanez, my favorite guitar company at the time.  Then, I only had two real guitars- my Ibanez Artcore acoustic and my Ibanez AM73T electric guitar.  So, I knew it would be another Ibanez in my collection after seeing this ARX300!  The funny thing is that I only just now learned that this has a CARVED maple top!  That’s the kind of top you only see on much higher-end guitars, like American-made Gibsons.  Most guitars in this price range (I think it was about $300 to $350 at the time) have laminated or veneered tops.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but a carved quilted maple top is oh-so wonderful.

I was also interested to learn today that this is the ARX300 and not the ARX320 like I’ve been calling it for so long.  I guess the ARX320 came out a bit later.  It looks essentially the same, except mine (the ARX300) has a black painted faded edge and the 320 doesn’t.  The 320 also has silver-looking rings around the pickups where the 300 has cream-colored rings.  Personally, I think I like the cream color better- I guess more “shredders” (who this guitar was made for in the first place) like the more “metal” look.

Of course, anyone that knows the style of music I play here on the music video blog knows that I don’t “shred”.  But, I wanted this guitar for the look alone.  I was getting tired of everyone pigeon-holing my musical style because of the look of my AM73T guitar.  That looks like an old-fashioned electric guitar from the 1950s.  I wanted to be known as a more modern rock’n’roller while I was in the band Masters of the Universe, or MoU.  So, the Ibanez ARX300 would be my “harder rock” guitar.

So, I played it for a few years before I got another electric guitar.  I actually didn’t even have another 6-string electric until I bought my Fender Deluxe Player’s Stratocaster many years later.  So, this was my only alternate to my semi-hollow electric I love so dearly.

When I realized I had too many electric guitars (that was before I got the newest two, mind you), I decided that the best way to quench my thirst for new stuff was to upgrade the guitars I already have.  So, I started thinking of ways to give each guitar its own identity.  I already had the semi-hollow guitar with the Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups in it, the Strat with single-coils, the Epiphone with hand-wound PAF pickups, the Gretsch with its own signature sound, the P90s with their own type of biting sound, etc.  So, what would the identity of the beautiful Ibanez ARX300 be?

Well, I decided to go back to its “metal” roots and make it my hard rock/soloing guitar.  I did a ton of research and eventually decided on something completely different- new active (battery-powered) pickups from EMG!  I chose the same pickup combination that James Hetfield from Metallica uses.  I didn’t do that on purpose- just turned out that way.  After removing my old pickups and doing an intricate splicing job (as the Ibanez was wired much differently than a normal guitar- just my luck), I was greeting with a great new look on my guitar (as these are “blackout” pickups that have just a matte-finished black covering on them) and an axe that was ready to rock.

Ibanez ARX300 Electric Guitar with EMG 60 and 81 pickups

To be honest, I’m not in love with the bridge pickup.  I think it’s the EMG-81.  It’s too tinny for my tastes- sounds like a fly buzzing when you play it.  I’m sure it’s great for certain types of music, but for my style, I just don’t hear it fitting-in.  But, the true magic of this set is the EMG-60 pickup in the neck position.  Good God.  The thing has this full sounding overdrive without even turning it up- it’s so “fluid” sounding.  I just love the way it makes you instantly feel like a better player.  I can’t wait to bust this out on a future recording- I’m telling you, my guitar solos are going to sound so much better than ever before.  I hope that these new EMG pickups will make my solos stand-out better in the mix, as well!

So, that’s it- I now have an upgraded electric guitar for soloing that looks the part, as well- I’m so glad I was able to breathe new life into my Ibanez ARX300 guitar because I think I’ll always be in love with its amazing looks.  Listen for it on my future original songs!