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Eric Clapton’s “Back Home” (2005) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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Eric Clapton’s Back Home (2005) – MAYBE NOT

Eric Clapton's "Back Home" (2005)

Eric Clapton's "Back Home" (2005)

(August 29, 2005)

Review:

The only “revolution” that happened between 2001’s excellent Reptile and Back Home was Eric Clapton’s conversion to the school of light contemporary snooze rock, filling up his new album with instrumentally pedestrian and lyrically boring recordings; Clapton’s guitarwork is, as always, interesting, but that can’t save most songs from dragging on a minute too long (“Love Don’t Love Nobody” has no business being over seven minutes!) or the background singers from drawing a smirk.

Top Two Tracks:

“So Tired” & “Back Home”

Honorable Mention:

“Love Comes to Everyone” (yes, the George Harrison song, recorded as a tribute following his death and recognized here for sounding so much like the original)

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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STP’s “Stone Temple Pilots” (2010) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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STP’s Stone Temple Pilots (2010) – MAYBE

STP's "Stone Temple Pilots" (2010)

STP's "Stone Temple Pilots" (2010)

(May 25, 2010)

Review:

This time around, Stone Temple Pilots have gone for the obvious with the album title yet have taken a surprising turn toward the realm of power pop; the first half is populated by dumb but fun rockers, being the rare case where the real gems are sprinkled through the second half.

Top Two Tracks:

“Cinnamon” & “First Kiss on Mars”

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

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Guster’s “Easy Wonderful” (2010) – YES, NO, MAYBE SO?

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Guster’s Easy Wonderful (2010) – MAYBE

Easy Wonderful (Guster, 2010)

Easy Wonderful (Guster, 2010)

(October 5, 2010)

Review:

The Easy Wonderful CD design is telling: the disc is a vibrant, organic hand-drawn color wheel (see the cover) with a massive “FBI Anti-Piracy Warning” stamped over it; this design — whether the band approved the warning or not — finds Guster, as always, an engaging band with a knack for beautiful songwriting but with too much feeling forced or underwhelming this time around to truly impress alongside their back catalog (i.e. Keep It Together, anyone?).

Top Two Tracks:

“Jesus & Mary” & “Architects & Engineers”

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“Roundabout” (Yes cover) – The Guest Sessions

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Do I have a Guest Sessions cover song post for you today…

I don’t think anyone out there would’ve guessed that someone (yes a single person) could cover “Roundabout” by Yes. But, Víctor Santafé submitted his cover song version to me and I couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Now, I love this video, but I have to tell you upfront- this video is in no way “perfect”. This man is playing an extremely difficult song with a ton of very specific keyboard parts while singing (which is in a very difficult register). The magic, for me, in this video is that this man figured out all of those layered keyboard parts and managed to play the whole song and sing at the same time. The song is over 9 minutes long- how impressive is that?

Now, I know this video isn’t in the standard single-camera style I require all Laptop Sessions cover song videos to be in. But, I couldn’t help it on this one- I just was floored when I heard such a solid version of “Roundabout” played by one person that I couldn’t pass-up the opportunity to feature it on the music blog.

For fans of Yes, it’s about time we got one of their songs here on the blog, right? And for those that may not think they know this song, if you know any classic rock, you almost certainly do! Just fast-forward a couple minutes into the song and you’ll recognize it.

So, thanks to Víctor Santafé for his submission to the Guest Sessions here on The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog. Stay tuned for more- who knows what incredible one-man-band videos we’ll present next!



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