I’m happy to welcome not only a new band but also a new performer to the best acoustic cover song music blog in the universe. Today’s Guest Session reaches deep into Belle & Sebastian’s catalog to a b-side on their “Legal Man” single. When it was released in 2000, it quickly became their highest charting single up to that point, so fans of the band are likely to remember “Winter Wooskie.”
If not, here’s your reminder…
Seeing as how we have no Belle & Sebastian covers here on the Laptop Sessions blog, I probably would have featured Rodrigo’s video if it had been halfway decent. I was thrilled to find that it was not only decent, but an outstanding performance of this song. There is a natural reverb effect on his acoustic guitar that adds a beautiful texture to his recording, and his vocal is strong and fitting for the track.
Thus, without further ado, I give you Rodrigo Palhano’s first featured video on the site. I know I enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too!
Hello Laptop Sessions music video blog viewers! It’s been quite a while, but it’s officially time to get back to the music. And I start with a major release: that’s right, it’s the music video for the lead track off of my new album, “The Easy Ways”, entitled, “The Easy Way”!
The video features the actual track you’ll hear on the album, plus visuals of some of the guitars in my growing guitar collection. Those that have seen my videos are probably wondering why I chose my Seagull acoustic for this music video instead of my Martin. Well, I actually wrote the song when I first got the Seagull and wanted to feature it in the video for the song, too. “The Easy Way” is also the only track on the album that has the Seagull acoustic on it, so that’s a bit of Jim Fusco Trivia for you!
“The Easy Ways” (the plural is the album title) is an ambitious album of 16 tracks where all the songs run together. Various musical and thematic elements are intertwined throughout- the album is meant to be listened-to as a whole. That’s not to say there aren’t some catchy “single-worthy” songs (like this one) to grab your interest! I think I’ve finally achieved the good balance of serious, fun, happy, sad, fast, and slow over a full 55-minute album. I can’t wait to release it and blow some minds. 🙂
Okay, enough talk- let’s get to the music! Enjoy the music video for “The Easy Way”- I hope you’ll share it and comment on it.
…an acoustic performance of the debut single from The 2010 Project!
The title of the album is a bit misleading, as it was only just released in July 2011, but the concept of the album is that of rebuilding and reassessing, venting anger and achieving forward motion. For me, the year 2010 was a 365-day-long process of accepting that which I couldn’t change and grabbing hold of all that truly mattered. This extended to all realms: personal, professional, music, reading, and more.
The 2010 Project represents the culmination of a year’s worth of ideas and conflicts and hopes, all wrapped up inside twelve songs (and a hidden track…), produced by someone who has believed in me and my music since my very first album, One Step Behind the Finish Line. In fact, there’s an interesting cyclic feeling about the fact that Mike Fusco was the producer/mixer on One Step and has now produced my most recent album — the first for Em Eff Records — The 2010 Project.
“It All Comes Around,” like my previous video a couple weeks ago (“You Will Thank Me”), was written near the end of the sessions for the album. In fact, I believe “It All Comes Around” was the final song I wrote, and I know it bumped not one but two songs off from the original track listing. It was originally slotted lower, but got bumped up to track four and has taken lead role as the first single from the album. Of course, I say “single,” but I’m not sure what that exactly means anymore. I suppose what I mean is that this is the first song I would play someone from the album, and it is the one that works to my strengths — acoustic guitar and harmonica.
What I will say, also, is that this is perhaps the most difficult song on the album to perform live. I think this is true because of the specific harmonica part and the rapid-fire lyrics. In fact, listening back to this video now as I’m posting it, I realize that I can definitely play it better live now than even a few weeks ago. By the time I perform it, hopefully later this year or early next year, I’ll have it down even better.
That’s the plan, at least. 🙂
So, without further ado, I give you “It All Comes Around,” and I remind you that, if you like it, you should visit www.ChrisMooreMusic.com and go to the Store link. The album is currently streaming online for anyone to listen to, and of course, to buy if they like it enough…
Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco! It’s been a long time since my last video blog post. Before my new season of cover song videos begins, I decided to post a few leftover cover songs that I recorded a few months ago. I guess I never got around to posting them! Life can get busy…
Now that school is starting up again (my wife is a teacher, so she’s really busy 10 months out of the year)I should have a bit more time to focus on my musical endeavors. I’m excited to bring The Laptop Sessions Acoustic Cover Songs Music Video Blog to new heights this year! I just signed an agreement to promote my existing cover songs and I hope that these efforts will allow me to expand the website even further.
Tonight, I bring you an obscure song from The Beach Boys. Well, it’s not really The Beach Boys- this is a Dennis Wilson solo project put under the Beach Boys’ name. In the early 70s, Dennis Wilson was creating music at a very fast pace. “Sunflower”, one of the Beach Boys’ best albums, shows a large contribution from Dennis. In my opinion, his songwriting was second to only Brian Wilson in the band and after Brian slipped away from participating in the band, Dennis filled the void the best. I think there was a time when the band decided to push Dennis as the front man of the band. But, Dennis’ songs didn’t catch on commercially and eventually, they went back to the Brian Wilson formula once again (before he was ready, but that’s a whole different story). Honestly, I’m not sure if the move away from Dennis as the face of the Beach Boys was due to his songs not receiving critical acclaim, or because of Dennis’ lifestyle. Like Brian, it’s been said that Dennis had a hard time seeing projects through to the end. Even though he was prolific during this period, I have a feeling he would get bored with projects very quickly and either not finish them or simply get them done and move on.
“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” is an interesting song. Dennis had a great way of taking a simple sounding song and making it lush and beautiful. “Lady” isn’t the hardest song to play or sing, but the string orchestration (most likely done by Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tennille fame) is breathtaking. That’s one of the reasons, though, that I wanted to do a solo acoustic cover version of “Lady”. I wanted to show people what the song would sound like in it’s bare-bones form. I think it’s still a really moving song.
Dennis’ voice on the original recording is so nice- it’s such a shame that he let it deteriorate so much. I can only imagine the songs he could’ve come out with if he didn’t allow his personal demons to overtake him.
“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” was actually the flip side of a solo Dennis Wilson single, which is fascinating to me. “The Sound of Free” was the A-side. Of course, the single didn’t go anywhere, but up to that point, only Brian had released a solo single in “Caroline, No” four years earlier. I’m glad the Beach Boys and Capitol Records finally got it together to release “Lady” on their Summer Love Songs compilation. This song deserved a new audience.
Enjoy tonight’s Dennis Wilson/Beach Boys cover song music video here on the Laptop Sessions video blog! Stay tuned for more videos very soon with me, Jim Fusco!
