Happy 2015, everyone! For my first post of the year, I’m proud to bring you the full video from my concert celebrating the release of my 2014 album, “The Easy Ways”! In this concert, I play the album in its entirety. I made a special mix of the album without the lead vocals and lead guitar. So, I was able to play alongside that backing track to give the audience a real preview of what the album sounded like!
We had a great turnout and performance went off without a hitch. If you weren’t able to make it, it’s a great opportunity to watch and listen to the whole album! And, if you went, I’m sure you’ll want to relive the concert again and again. 🙂
The concert, like the album, is split into two sections. So, make sure to watch both videos. I’d love to hear any comments about the album and hope everyone enjoys.
Hello all, and welcome to my first installment of Original Wednesday this year!
Today, I reveal the second song from my upcoming album, “The Easy Ways”, due out on September 20th, 2014. “Everything That’s True” is the song that kicks off part two of the album (there’s a short interlude song called “Looking For An Angel” that plays before it, but this is the first full song on the second half of the album).
“Everything That’s True” is a classic Jim Fusco love song. It reminds me of the kind of tune I used to write years ago. That was back when I was in high school and was the hopeless romantic type. Oh, who am I kidding- I’m exactly the same now! It’s interesting to me that it took about ten years for me to write another song like this. I guess I was feeling sentimental that day.
There are a couple of lines I’m proud of in this song, one being, “The weight I give to things I can’t control is still above the morals I uphold. But when you’re here it doesn’t take that toll.” What did I mean by that? (That question is an inside joke for my dad- Ron Darling/Bob Ojeda-esque?) Well, I meant that I give way too much value to things that are out of my control. Or, at least I think I do. You know the old prayer about giving the strength to accept the things I cannot change? Yeah, I guess I never got that memo…
Here’s another line I’m proud of: “The strength you hold was never as profound as when you weren’t near me.” I’m saying that I never realized the power that my wife has over me (figuratively speaking, of course) until she went away on a vacation with her friends one time. When she’s here, I guess I take her companionship for granted. And when she was away from me those few days, I realized how much I really do “need” her around. Funny how it takes someone not being there to make you realize that.
So, I hope you’ll apply these sentiments to some of the people you care about in your life. I also hope that you’ll head on over to http://jimfusco.com and buy my album when it comes out on September 20th and hear the full version of this song. It has some awesome harmonies on the chorus that probably features one of my lowest-pitch vocals ever. It’s not to be missed!
I’ll be back next week with another cover song. And a week after that, I’ll be back again with another original song! Starting to see the pattern? It’ll go that way until “The Easy Ways” is finally released! See you then.
That’s right, everyone- the new album from Jim Fusco, “The Easy Ways”, is being released on Saturday, September 20th, 2014 when Jim hosts his Album Release Party! If you’re in the Connecticut area, please join us for the celebration at Silver City Restaurant in Meriden, CT at 5:30 pm. Jim will perform the entire album live with a special mix of the disc that allows him to play and sing along with the backing track. It’s the best way to experience the album live!
Welcome everyone to the first new Jim Fusco Laptop Sessions cover song video for over a year and a half! I can’t believe it- doesn’t feel like that long ago AT ALL. The last cover video I did was “What Am I Doing Hanging ‘Round” by the Monkees on February 7th of 2013. Yikes.
As all fans of the music blog know, I’m releasing a new album called “The Easy Ways” in September! It’s been the spark I needed to get back into recording more Laptop Sessions cover song videos. I’ve compiled an incredible list of songs over the past 18 months and I can’t wait to get back into the full swing of it. I’ll even be re-recording some of my older videos. Yes, even I messed-up now and again, so I’m going to finally fix those mistakes and make the videos the best they can be. I went back and listened to over 220 cover song videos I’ve done in the past and only found 14 that need to be redone. That’s not so bad! I may do a few others that were poorly lit (or when I didn’t shave, was in my pajamas, etc.), as well.
Speaking of lighting, I’m still trying to perfect it, but I’ve got a new lighting kit to go along with my new video recording process. I’m now recording on my new iPad (should we change it to the “Tablet Sessions”?) with my trusty ZOOM H2 microphone. I”m also doing the video editing on the iPad. It’s so much faster and easier, but I’ve noticed a lot of features are lost on the watered-down mobile version. Thankfully I’ve found workarounds for the issues I’ve found so far. I hope there are updates to the app in the future that will allow me to enhance the colors in the video and normalize the audio better.
But these first few videos I’m doing came out pretty good and they took less than a quarter of the time it used to take me to record. And that’s the biggest part- I’ll do many more videos if they’re easy to create. That’s what was great about the Laptop Sessions in the first place: I could just open the laptop and hit record. But now, I’ve got to light it properly, have a nice background, and even comb my hair! I’ve noticed that people really like seeing a nicely lit frame with my electric guitars in the background and I think some of my older videos don’t get viewed much anymore because of their poor video quality.
So now, onto today’s video:
“Suspicious Minds” is a song by Elvis Presley that he debuted around the time of his big comeback special in 1968. I really need to see that video- I heard he really knocked it out of the park. Isn’t it so sad that the man was only in his early thirties and he already had to make a “comeback”? That’s show-business, I guess. Anyway, the song was a big hit for Elvis and it’s been a song I’ve known and loved for just about my whole life. It’s a fun one to sing, too, as it has some real passion in that slower middle section. I hope I did the song justice!
Stay tuned for an original song to come at you next Wednesday for my first Original Wednesday post for quite some time. I’ll be alternating original songs and cover songs until my new album comes out. In the meantime, you should be checking out http://jimfusco.com for previews of some of my new songs, plus the album cover artwork that will blow you away! See you all again next week and enjoy, “Suspicious Minds”, originally done by Elvis Presley!
