We’re looking for more Guest Sessions submissions! So, sit down, pull up your acoustic guitar and camera, post the video on YouTube, and CLICK HERE!
It’s finally Friday and it’s time to add yet another guest to this, the Guest Sessions project, hosted at the best cover song and new music video blog on the web — the Laptop Sessions!
For tonight’s video, we are happy to bring you only the second Green Day cover that’s been released on the blog. Tonight’s guest comes to you from Bournemouth, UK. Isn’t that the beauty of the Internet? Mike White, our “Guest” performer, can record a video in the UK and I can post it on this music video blog while sitting in bed in Connecticut, United States. We’ve become so used to this web that it’s not all that amazing to most of us, particularly the younger generation (myself included). I take it for granted sometimes, but every so often I step back and consider how amazing this really is…
Tonight’s selection is “Church on Sunday,” the third track on Green Day’s Warning: album. Warning: was released in 2000 and rose to both gold status and number 4 on the Billboard charts. Even still, this was the least impressive showing the band had ever had, since their debut album Dookie. What makes material from Warning: ideal for the Laptop Sessions, though, is the fact that this album incorporates acoustic elements more than any previous Green Day release.
And you may be seeing another Green Day cover song soon, as the band is planning to release their new album, 21st Century Breakdown, in May 2009. Supposedly, it has been strongly influenced by the work of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and the Beatles, and is “more power pop than punk.” Interesting… (I hope…)
So, without further ado, you should click on the video below and let Mike White’s energetic performance speak for itself!
Hello and welcome to another week of all-new material here at the Laptop Sessions blog, your source for excellent acoustic cover song music videos!
Well, it’s that and then some this week, as the next seven days are jam-packed with posts.
Let’s just say we’re partying like it’s 2008!
Here’s the low-down: After my Chris Moore Monday post tonight, I’ll be back tomorrow with a full-length article. Then, you can look forward to three videos in a row: an Original Wednesday post, Thursday’s regularly scheduled programming, and Friday’s Guest Session. And the weekend isn’t a time of rest, as you can look forward to the second installment in the Saturday “Playlists on Parade” series and Sunday’s “Weekend Review.”
For my video tonight, I’ve gone back to one of my favorites: Wilco. I heard this Yankee Hotel Foxtrot deep track on a colleague’s iPod over the weekend before band practice, and I took a moment to figure it out. It’s a straightforward progression, which makes it a lot of fun to play and sing along to. So, it was a no-brainer when I thought about my session for the week. I’ve made it my business to cover a wide range of Wilco material. Thus far, I’ve translated songs from their 1995 debut A.M., the following year’s Being There, Summerteeth (albeit a members-only video), Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and last year’s Wilco (the album). I’ve also pulled from both collaborations with Billy Bragg, 1998’s Mermaid Avenue and 2000’s Mermaid Avenue Vol. II. This leaves A Ghost is Born and Sky Blue Sky.
However, instead of filling in the gaps, I had to go with a fun track from one of my favorite albums of all time. “Heavy Metal Drummer” starts with a beat machine, and builds up to an all-out rock song. What I like about it is how well it evokes a sense of fond memories for one’s past, particularly with reference to music. Now, my nostalgia is not for heavy metal bands and Kiss cover songs, but I will never forget the enjoyable outings my friends and I made to concerts, starting with my first Bob Dylan concert back in high school and on from there — Brian Wilson, Barenaked Ladies, and so many more…
…including an amazing two and a half hour performance by Wilco last summer!
So, it is with great pleasure that I bring you “Heavy Metal Drummer,” hoping to stir some of your own fond memories of the past. It is, after all, inevitable that the years pass and our lives change. Still, there will always be songs and experiences that we harken back to for years and years to come. Which are yours?
Acoustic cover of “Sunday Morning” played outside on a porch filmed in HD. Follow Dave’s musical career (he’s hit #1 on MTV.com): http://www.davepatten.typepad.com/
** EDITOR’S NOTE: **
For the second Guest Session in a row, we’re happy to introduce a new performer to the blog: Dave Patten.
His song today is a cover of “Sunday Morning” from Maroon 5’s 2002 debut release Songs About Jane. This is a band that has yet to be seen on the blog, so it’s always good to include new selections like this.
Dave’s video may be a bit more meticulously filmed than our average session, but it is a live acoustic performance, and so it meets the core Laptop Sessions format requirements. We hope that this production only serves to add to your enjoyment of his take on this hit song.
Hurry back in two weeks for another all-new Guest Session!
Hello and welcome to the final Monday edition of the Laptop Sessions before Christmas Day! There’s been a lot of Christmas music being posted this month, and it’s hard to believe that this season is almost coming to a close.
Regardless, it’s an honor to kick off Christmas week here at the best cover song music video blog in the universe.
(And the most modest, too…)
“Here Comes Santa Claus” is a track from MoU’s expanded Christmas chord book. It fits all the criteria for an enjoyable live song — easy to play, upbeat, instantly recognizable, and just plain fun. There have been so many versions of this song recorded since Gene Autry’s original. He himself re-recorded it not once, but twice. In addition, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and Bob Dylan have all recorded their own versions over the years.
In fact, in my favorite music/TV crossover this year, Dylan’s version was used as the opening song in the first few minutes of a Bones episode a couple weeks ago. Of course, it faded out just as a bank robbery and a bombing were about to occur, but somehow I think Dylan must have enjoyed this macabre twist on the season for peace on earth and good will toward men.
That is, if he watches television. I’m not entirely convinced he’s moved on from the radio…
It’s not only difficult to believe that Christmas will be this Friday, but that the new year is also just around the corner. You should know that you have a special Guest Session to look forward to this Friday, with new sessions regular Jeremy Hammond bringing yet another all-new artist’s material to the blog. It’ll be one of those “how have we not included a song from this guy” moments, I promise. Being that it’s the end of the decade as well, there’s a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks. To celebrate the decade’s best albums, The Weekend Review is in the middle of a Top Five Albums of the Decade, 2000-2009 countdown, with number 3 having been revealed yesterday in Ben Folds’ 2001 release Rockin’ the Suburbs.
On a side note, yesterday’s review brings me within one review of my twenty-six review commitment for the year, as suggested by Jim back in February of this year. I hope he’ll be happy to hear that, in the spirit of continual progress, I’ll be committing to one review a week this year for a grand total of fifty-two! Because I’ll be reviewing albums on a very regular basis, I’ll be able to really vary the type of reviews that I do. For instance, I tend to review the albums I like most because I’ve always figured, why waste my time on the music I’m not crazy about?
Well, no more.
This will be a year of exercising my critical abilities as I review new 2010 releases, revisit the classic hits and infamous misses of the past, as well as continue my Deep Racks Report series (for which I already have five albums lined up — I’ve featured albums that begin with A, B, and C, so you maybe you can imagine where I’m going with this…). And I’ll be continuing the five star rating system I introduced a couple of weeks ago. While I’m still hesitant to comfortably box an album into a fraction like that, I really like the feel of the five star rating system.
In other end-of-the-year highlights, the Laptop Sessions will be featuring some great lists, including the Weekend Review’s take on the following:
“The Top Thirty Rock Albums of the Decade”
“The Top Ten Rock Albums of 2009”
“Yes, No, or Maybe So: One Sentence Reviews of 2009 Albums”
“The Top Ten Rock Songs of 2009”
“The Best Packaging of the Year”
“The Best Deluxe Edition Features of the Year”
As a final note, I would like to call on Jim and Jeff to share their thoughts for the best music of the decade. We all have our overlapping areas of mutual appreciation, but we certainly have room for debate. Considerable room, at times.
I know what my picks are for the best albums and songs of the decade, but I would love to be reminded or learn of Jim and Jeff’s picks.
With that, I’m done for tonight. As I sign off, I wish a merry Christmas to all those out there eagerly awaiting a Christmas Eve service or the pitter-patter of eight tiny reindeer overhead. As for me, I’m going back to the MoU 2006 Christmas Concert CD for a stroll down memory — and also Santa Claus — lane.
