Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco! Today I go back to my ol’ stomping grounds to give you another Beach Boys cover song.
“California Calling” is from their self-titled album from 1985. It’s the only track on the whole album that features real drums…and as an added bonus, they’re played by Ringo Starr! Of course, Dennis Wilson, the band’s drummer since they began, passed away in 1983. I think Ringo is just about the only drummer fitting enough to be the first person to play drums on a Beach Boys song after Dennis’ passing. And the drumming on “California Calling” is very similar to what Dennis would’ve played. I like to think they did that as a tribute to Dennis. Supposedly, the sequenced drum track on the hit “Getcha Back” was done in the style of Dennis Wilson as a tribute. I hope that’s true because it would be a great tribute.
To be honest, this really wasn’t one of my favorite songs on the album for many years. I think I was just irked by the fact that it’s another Love/Jardine “Don’t F with the formula” song that didn’t fit in with the rest of the album. But I’ve changed my mind on that recently. I mean, when you’re looking for a Beach Boys song, you’re looking for a song just like “California Calling”! Plus, it’s a good tune and I’m a sucker for that classic Beach Boys sound.
Onto some personal business: “The Easy Ways”, my new album, is coming out very, very soon- on September 20th, in fact! It’s an album full of 16 original songs that are assembled into a true “album” instead of just a collection of songs. You’ll just have to check back soon and grab a copy of the album on CD or digitally to hear what I mean! I’ve been practicing non-stop for my album release party, so I hope everyone in the Connecticut area will come check it out! It’s at 5:30 on Saturday, September 20th at Silver City Restaurant in Meriden, CT.
I’ll be back next week with another original song in anticipation of my new album’s release. I hope everyone enjoys tonight’s Laptop Sessions cover song music video of The Beach Boys’ “California Calling”!
Hello and welcome to another week of new music and material, brought to you by the best acoustic cover song music video this side of the Alpha Quadrant! (That’s a little Star Trek: Voyager reference for those of you nerds out there…)
For my song tonight, I’ve chosen my first Radiohead cover. How did I get to this song? Well, I’ve been listening non-stop to A Singer Must Die, Steven Page’s collaboration with the Art of Time Ensemble. The final track on that album is a cover of Radiohead’s song “Paranoid Android.” That song is from their 1997 album OK Computer. Listening to that album today, I came across “Exit Music (For A Film),” a great little track that has a strong acoustic foundation.
And, after all, I realized that Jeff is the only contributor to the blog who has recorded a Radiohead track, and all four of his selections are from their album The Bends. Now, I’ve never heard The Bends, but of the albums I’ve heard, my favorite has always been OK Computer.
What better reason to pull out a track from that release for tonight’s video?
The other story behind tonight’s session is that I had originally planned to cover a song in honor of the final edition of the Johnny Cash “American” series, American VI: Ain’t No Grave, which comes out tomorrow. I would have loved to record Sheryl Crow’s “Redemption Day,” but I couldn’t work out an arrangment I was happy with. The only other song I was halfway interested in taking on was Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times.” I had learned, practiced, and planned to record it until I got home and realized I was too bored by it. It would have been an extremely simple song to record — easy chords, basic country structure, etc.
But what fun would that be?
So, I kept coming back to Radiohead and the fact that we’ve never recorded a cover from the classic OK Computer. Figuring out the chords for “Exit Music” was more difficult than “For the Good Times.” I found a couple different versions online, and what confused me most was how both sets that I found began with the same couple chords but then varied wildly. In some cases, the first was accurate. In others, the second was accurate. In others, neither were accurate. In the end, that was half the fun of this session: I feel like I got acquainted with the song through having to figure it out, so I felt a lot more passionately about recording it.
I suppose I’ll just have to wait for Johnny Cash’s versions of “Redemption Day” and “For the Good Times”…
Going back to the reason I started listening to Radiohead today in the first place, I wanted to repeat that I have been enjoying Steven Page’s A Singer Must Die much more than I initially thought I would. When I first learned of this release, the prospect of an album of covers performed with an ensemble did not appeal to me in the slightest. As time went on, I became more and more interested to hear what it sounded like. Although I couldn’t bring myself to pay for the shipping that it would have taken to get a physical, autographed copy, I had assumed that Newbury Comics would be stocking it. Then, last Tuesday, I was shocked to learn that it wasn’t available at any retailer in the U.S., nor was it available on iTunes. I thought I would have to wait…
…that is, until Steven Page tweeted the link to his online store that had just added the digital version of the album. As you can read in my review (CLICK HERE!), I found the choice of songs, the performances, and the arrangment of tracks to be outstanding. To be fair, it’s not an album I’ll be cranking up in my car, but it is certainly an album that has and will continue to get a lot of air time at home. The most exciting part about this week’s edition of the Weekend Review is the endorsement it was given. After I wrote and posted the review yesterday, I also posted a tweet with a link so that people who follow me could read it. Then, Mike retweeted my post and added Steven Page (@stevenpage). Finally — and this is the exciting part — Steven Page actually retweeted Mike’s post! So, in summary, Mike and I both managed to be retweeted by, as I wrote in my text to Mike, STEVEN FRICKIN’ PAGE!!! In all seriousness, I was thrilled that he took the review seriously enough to retweet it, and I was happy to see the increased traffic on the page for yesterday and today.
As a final, non-music related note, I spent my first hour and a half after school today camped out in the living room with snacks and season five episodes of The Office. The reason? Not just because I’m lazy, although that was probably a contributing factor. No, it had to do with the stench coming from my dishwasher. There’s some kind of issue with the pipes or the dishwasher itself, and nothing I did seemed to help the smell. So, after retreating for a while and feeling a bit depressed about the whole situation, I got excited about this session, which revived me. Then, Nicole came home from her class with some advice from her father. Fifteen minutes later, problem solved! At least for now, as this will only work permanently if it’s an issue with the pipes. If it’s the actual dishwasher, then I’ll probably return home today (or, at the latest, when I run the dishwasher next weekend) to a not so pleasant odor.
I’m not sure why I felt the need to share that, other than the fact that it is a great example of the power of the Laptop Sessions — they have the power to ruin a night (computer issues, multiple takes, etc.), or to revive your day.
And, with that, I hope you have a great week, keep checking back for new material this week, and I’ll see you next session!
To see how it’s played in a music video, CLICK HERE!
“Up in the Air”
Kevin Renick
C G C
I’m up in the air,
C G C
Choices drifting by me everywhere.
C Am Em
And I can’t find the one
Em Am Em
That would help me do the work I’ve left undone,
Em G C
‘Cause I’m up in the air.
I’m making some plans,
Finding out there’s always new demands.
And I can’t be precise;
When people ask me what I’m doing with my life,
I say, “It’s up in the air.”
C G C
I’m hearing from friends.
C G C
It’s that tired, old advice again:
C Am Dm
“You just cannot keep floating all around.
Dm Am Dm
Oh, you got to get your feet back on the ground.”
Dm Am Em
But it’s hard to come down
Em G C
When you’re up in the air.
C G C
Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
C G C
Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
Am Em Am Em
Daaaa, daaa; daaa, da-da-da
C
Mmm-mm…
I’m traveling in my car,
Always lost, though I don’t go that far.
I find that I can live most anywhere.
Everyone I meet has so much they can share.
But I don’t settle down,
‘Cause I’m up in the air.
I’m thinking of my past,
The comfort in my home that couldn’t last.
Now my family tells me work for your success,
And they want to see me find some happiness.
But I’m not sure where that is,
‘Cause I’m up in the air.
I’m talking with my peers,
Listening to them tell their inner fears.
Some have lives that haven’t gone the way they planned,
And some are trapped in situations they can’t stand.
But I don’t want the same for me,
So I stay up in the air.
Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
Daaaa, da-da, da, da-da.
Daaaa, daaa; daaa, da-da-da
Mmm-mm…
I’m out in the woods;
Something here does my heart so good.
I breathe the air, and I know that I’m alive.
And I stare at all the birds as they fly by.
I guess it all comes down to them,
‘Cause they’re up in the air…
** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **
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.
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.
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!
