The Laptop Sessions Cover Songs & Original Music Video Blog

By Chris Moore:

Spirits of the Western Sky (Justin Hayward)

Producer: Justin Hayward & Alberto Parodi

Released: February 26, 2013

Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Top Two Tracks: “In Your Blue Eyes” & “One Day, Someday”

For Moody Blues fans, it has been a long stretch indeed since the band last released a studio album of all-new material: since 1999’s Strange Times to be specific.  With the release of this latest Justin Hayward solo album, his first since 1996, it would be difficult not to see this as the most exciting Moody Blues-related recording of the past decade and a half.  (No pressure, right?)  Whether you are a glass-half-full person who sees any new Moodies-related music as a win or a glass-half-empty person who feels his/her expectations impossible to meet after all this time, Spirits of the Western Sky has something to offer, though it may be less than a new Moodies album would offer.  From the signature Hayward opening track “In Your Blue Eyes” to the soaring “One Day, Someday” and the beautiful, expansive “The Western Sky,” Spirits gets off to a strong start.  “The Eastern Sun” is well-rendered, if a bit underwhelming, but the pacing is promptly reinvigorated by the rollicking “On The Road To Love,” a track vaguely reminiscent of a late sixties rock-paced album track.  The pace again slows down for the aptly titled “Lazy Afternoon,” though this track offers many more subtle layers and charms for repeated listens.  “In the Beginning” follows, offering up one of the mid-album gems that have practically become expected on Moody Blues albums since the sixties.  The following three songs form a suite of country/bluegrass tracks, only one of which is previously unreleased.  (Ironically, at least one Spirits  review has referred to these songs as a new direction for Hayward.)  Fans will quickly recognize Present alum “It’s Cold Outside of Your Heart,” as well as his solo track “Broken Dream” that was first released as track two on The View from the Hill (1996).  “What You Resist Persists” is the clear standout here, and not only because it is the only new effort.  The album proper concludes with “Captivated By You,” a fittingly dynamic ending to a strong solo effort.  What follows – an alternate, extended version of “One Day, Someday,” the hiccup of “Rising,” and two progressively worse remixes of “Out There Somewhere” – is a bit baffling, especially considering that it is not separated from the core tracks by so much as an extra space on the back of the album.  All told, with a couple exceptions, Spirits of the Western Sky is what you would expect from a Justin Hayward solo album and should only serve to fan the flames of desire burning in the hearts of Moody Blues fans for another release from what is perhaps the greatest, most ambitious studio band in the history of rock music.  For now, Spirits will have to do; and, to be fair, it is clearly a labor of love that is equal parts soaring energy and careful production, evidence that Justin Hayward’s smooth vocals and expert guitar work are as strong as ever, and a reminder that time and age have not removed or diminished the ambition and vision of this Moody Blue.

By Chris Moore:

RATING:  2.5 / 5 stars

Let me begin by saying I love and have the utmost respect for Jimi Hendrix’s music, as much if not more than the average music fan.  Although many simply know a couple hits (and are, even from that sampling, able to acknowledge the fact that he was a guitar legend), I have heard all of his albums multiple times — hits, misses, deep tracks, and all.

Although Electric Ladyland is widely considered the pinnacle of his recording career, I must adamantly argue that it is not.

There is no denying the mastery that Hendrix demonstrates on the third and final studio release of his brief career.  Even on a track like “Little Miss Strange,” his guitarwork is intricate, interesting, and unsurpassed.  “Voodoo Chile” is a testament to his mastery (and his justification for moving beyond) the blues.  And his production on “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)” is nothing short of expansive and impressive.

And yet, great songs do not in and of themselves a great album make.

To be fair, there are some excellent tracks on this album.  In addition to those aforementioned gems, the highlights of Electric Ladyland are certainly to be found in the brilliant rock’n'roll of “Crosstown Traffic” and their electrified take on Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” a version that redefined the way Dylan himself approached the song in concert.

On Electric Ladyland, the Jimi Hendrix Experience is tighter and yet more relaxed than on any previous release.  Hendrix is more experimental stylistically and vocally, Noel Redding’s bass parts are even more manically masterful, and Mitch Mitchell’s drums are both an anchor and a vivid instrument unto themselves.  There’s something compelling about a band that can run through a fourteen minute blazing blues epic like “Voodoo Chile” and go on to construct such a melancholy opening as you find on “Burning of the Midnight Lamp.”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Electric Ladyland" (1968)

Where this album begins to fall short is in all the nooks and crannies, all the self-indulgent jams that stretch some wonderful tracks out beyond a reasonable length, all the inferior, overly-simplistic tracks that never would have found their way onto a previous Experience release.

From the opening, Electric Ladyland is a unique and exciting album.  “…And the Gods Made Love” is a forgettable, albeit tone-setting album opener.  “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)” is a warm, inviting, and promising number.  “Crosstown Traffic” and “Voodoo Chile” make good on that invitation, putting an outstandingly tight, single-worthy track back to back with a jam-based track that takes its time — a quarter of an hour, to be more precise.

After this is where the album loses some of its focus.

The Redding-penned “Little Miss Strange” suffers from the same assessment as Axis: Bold As Love‘s “She’s So Fine”:  it’s okay.  Nothing more, nothing less — neither the track you’ll run to first, nor the track you’ll skip.

Then comes a trio of tunes that are not terribly impressive.  “Long Hot Summer Night” is good, “Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)” is an excellent, unique take on this cover, and “Gypsy Eyes” has its moments.  If this is the best that can be said about these tracks, then they have no business being at the heart of a Jimi Hendrix Experience album.

I can even look beyond the ho-hum nature of “Rainy Day, Dream Away,” if only for its thematic, lyrical tie-in three tracks later on “Still Raining, Still Dreaming,” but it never ceases to amaze me how, depending on the artist and on the general trends in music criticism at the time, an album that has strong ties to what has come before can either be a masterful sampling of genres or a derivative romp in mediocrity.  In this case, the former was decided upon, as evidenced by the slew of five-star ratings the album has accrued.  Still, I find it difficult to view some of these reviews as unbiased.  Is Electric Ladyland a breakthrough effort, an album that took the ways we view genres and recordings and turned them upside down?  Yes.  But is that to say it should overshadow the cohesion, uniqueness, and beautifully tight arrangements of Are You Experienced? Should it cause us to set Axis: Bold As Love aside as a sophomoric, somewhat forgettable effort?

No!

Let us not forget that this is an album with a track like “Moon, Turn the Tides… gently gently away,” a song with no content and with no discernible purpose as anything more than a transition between tracks, perhaps a tone setting device.

By the time “House Burning Down” comes, I often find myself suffering from jam fatigue.  This is an excellent track, and yet I have a hard time getting fired up for it, or for the album-closing “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).”

I do find myself seeking sweet refuge in the track that comes between them… “All Along the Watchtower.”

This is what Electric Ladyland lacks — others may praise the jazz mentality of this record, but I find myself yearning for the rock’n'roll mentality that Jimi Hendrix practically created on his first two releases.  Others see the expansive and the interpretive as mastery, but I long for the tightness and originality of those early Jimi Hendrix recordings — hits like “Purple Haze,” “Stone Free,” and “Bold As Love” and deep tracks like “Love or Confusion,” “51st Anniversary,” “Spanish Castle Magic,” and “Little Wing.”

It is no wonder that John Mayer has gone to the Hendrix well thrice for covers — an excellent version of “Wait Until Tomorrow” for the Experience-imitating John Mayer Trio, an okay take on “Bold As Love” on Continuum, and “The Wind Cries Mary” live in concert.  After all, his career has generally followed the patterns I see in Hendrix’s: a mind-blowing debut, a strong follow-up, and a critically acclaimed, if inferior third release.  Say what you will about Mayer — channeling Hendrix, however criticized a move it may be in some circles, has worked as planned.

So, I will continue listening to Electric Ladyland and loving it at times.  For me, it can’t compare to what came before, and to what may have come after…

By Jeff Copperthite:

You know, it is time to ask the age-old question that I have asked multiple times this year.  I think i’ve lost count just how many times.

Any idea what it is?

Ok, here it goes.

“Why does Youtube feel like it’s time to have a maintenance only when it is my night to post for the day?”

Yes that’s right.  Youtube will be undergoing scheduled maintenance in a short while – probably after I finish typing this post.

But thankfully, I have uploaded the video already!  Ha!  And it’s a good one too.  It’s “Like bashing in the head of whomever schedules the time for Youtube maintenance so badly he looks at you and vows never to do it again and you force feed him various videos involving Mister Ed and movies with Paul Reiser until his eyeballs can’t take it anymore and he screams for mercy” good.

But seriously, it’s Original Wednesday – the BEST day of the week!  Where you get to hear another original tune from the library of yours truly.

The song I have chosen for tonight, ironically, is my own self-declared “Most Depressing Song i’ve ever written”.

From the 2003 Quilt album Expressions, the song is “Unexplained”.  There was a time towards the end of my senior year in college where I suddenly realized how “aware” I was of the world.  It’s what my teachers talked about throughout my years of school that “you’ll have to grow up and realize you aren’t invincible, there’s people around you, etc.”  It’s really a kind of awakening.  But that sudden awareness of things around you includes the positive…and the dreadfully negative.  I wrote this song after a period of questions that are embedded in the lyrics of this song.

It’s weird though.  Nowadays I tend to think about that subject matter at night as I drift off to sleep.  It’s discomforting for sure.  Funny thing is if you saw me at any point of the day where I was awake, you’d think I was the happiest person alive.

Well, I am quite happy.  I’ve got a great job, great wife, great condo, and an overall great life (my wife wants me to put “wife” first, but she doesn’t understand the literary prose that is at work here).  I even wrote in the liner notes of this album that the lyrics do not reflect my true overall state of thinking.

I decided to throw in some fingerpicking into this song, despite the recorded version having all normal picking.  The recorded version is also a bit slower than this one.  Also, 5 years later, I have more insights of how to sing songs properly.  I’m really pleased with the quality of this video!

Now, you know that tomorrow is Thumpin’ Thursday.  I’m still mad at my voice for supplanting my previous Thursday.  However, Jim “Like three octaves of pure unadulaterated BAM for your ears Good” Fusco will be here to show us his 2nd consecutive Thumpin’ entry.  It’s going to be that good.

I’ll see you in 3 days!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to the first Weekend Review of the new year.  I hope you’ll enjoy our new monthly format, optimized for ease of use with the hope that you’ll be able to turn to LaptopSessions.com for new music news in 2011.  Hurry back next weekend for the February report!

The King is Dead The DecemberistsProducer: Tucker Martine Released: January 14, 2011 Rating: 4.5/5 stars Top Two Tracks: “Rox in the Box” & “Rise to Me”

After the impressive – and yet distracting – complexity of 2009’s The Hazards of Love, the Decemberists return to kick off 2011 with what may very possibly be the best album of the year.  The King is Dead, referred to as a “barn album” by band members in the deluxe edition doc Pendarvia, is an album of simple and yet profound beauty.While, to be fair, it lacks the mind-blowing scale of recent previous efforts, there is something to be said for a cohesive and eminently listenable collection of tracks. Think of it as an acoustic rock masterpiece, headlined by the soaring “Rox in the Box” and the sing-along anthem waiting to happen “This is Why We Fight.”  Even the fully acoustic, balladic tracks like “Dear Avery” are gorgeous to such an extent that you won’t be able to skip the track, even if you’re on the road looking for a rock song.  Although the lead single, “Down By the Water,” lacks something of the “x factor” that makes songs truly great, it is still a tightly packaged, catchy tune indicative of the best of the King is Dead sound.  Oh, and if you think “Calamity Song” sounds like an aural love-child of R.E.M., you won’t be surprised to learn that it actually features Peter Buck on lead guitar. Good, good stuff, and a high bar to be set this early in the year.

Mine is Yours Cold War KidsProducer: Jacquire King Released: January 25, 2011 Rating: 2.5/5 stars Top Two Tracks: “Royal Blue” & “Flying Upside Down”

2008’s Loyalty to Loyaltywas the album that introduced me to and left me in awe of the Cold War Kids.  Their unique sound and keen sense for mixing the slow and off-center with the straightforward and single-worthy led me to high expectations for their next release.Well, as is often the case with high expectations, the reality rarely compares. Whether my reaction is due to what I had expected to find on Mine is Yours is honestly too early to say, but what I’ve heard here is a collection of underwhelming tracks, many of which seem to promise more than they deliver and are often longer than they deserve to be.  Tracks like “Royal Blue,” “Sensitive Kid,” and “Flying Upside Down” stand out as excellent without need of qualification, but others like “Broken Open,” “Louder Than Ever,” and “Cold Toes on the Cold Floor” beg for more consideration, more development, in order to reach the heights established on the previous record. This is not to say that it should be like a sequel to Loyalty to Loyalty, but the songs of Mine is Yours should at least be as interesting.  While I was initially turned off by the slicker production values, I’ve entirely come around on that, which makes me wish that more attention to detail had been paid.

The Party Ain’t Over Wanda JacksonProducer: Jack White Released: January 25, 2011 Rating: 3.5/5 stars Top Two Tracks: “Shakin’ All Over” & “Nervous Breakdown”

Slogans like “The Queen of Rockabilly” don’t typically entice me to purchase music, but in this case, it was bookended by Jack White’s name in the production credits and a nod to Bob Dylan’s “Thunder on the Mountain.”In short, I couldn’t resist at least one listen. I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Party Ain’t Over holds up to repeated listens, fronted by the outstanding “Shakin’ All Over,” a track that aptly blends the gritty alternative sound for which White is so well known with the sonic signature of 50s rock and, I suppose, rockabilly.  Here, as on the rest of the record, riffs abound and Jackson’s ragged voice establishes her in my mind as the female equivalent of a contemporary Dylan, in vocal delivery if not in lyricism, craftsmanship, etc.  In the area of originality, it is clear she doesn’t hold a candle to aforementioned Bard, but her choice of covers is impeccably fitting: a devastating take on “Busted” (see: Johnny Cash), the closest anyone has come to covering a 2000s Dylan track without earning a sneer from me, and a redefining arrangement of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know That I’m No Good.” Even the latter half tracks are enjoyable, foot-tappers like “Nervous Breakdown” and “Dust on the Bible,” as well as slower tunes such as “Blue Yodel #6” (not to be confused with #4, or my personal favorite, #9).  All in all, for an impulse purchase out of raw curiosity, The Party Ain’t Over is a testament to Jack White’s capabilities as producer and studio musician; it may not be the best album of 2011, but it bears a certain quality and strength of arrangement (both within tracks and across the album) that it deserves to be noticed.

By Jim Fusco:

Okay, better late than never!  I just forgot to post this video and even though I kept reminding myself, I’ve been very burned-out lately, so I just couldn’t go through all the motions.  Thankfully I recorded this video a few weeks ago when I was in slightly better spirits.  Not that anything is particularly wrong- I just feel a tad bit overworked, in general.  But, that feeling comes and goes.  I hope that, after a day finishing up yard work and such outside on a beautiful day, that we’re entering a calmer time soon.

I tried making plans today to hang out with 0ne of my best friends, but when I looked at my calendar, it was all booked up every weekend until Thanksgiving.  It’s all fun stuff- concerts, parties, get-togethers at our house- but, it was a pretty sad feeling to say to him, “Sorry, man, I’m booked.”  It’s tough juggling a new marriage,  new house, a website, three jobs, and the massive amount of projects and ambitions I have.  When all these things are working at full-tilt, I feel great- like I can rule the world.  But then, I slowly start to realize that I cannot rule the world and then everything gets overwhelming.  So, it stinks for a few days and then I’m back to sorting things out again.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation, but I felt it necessary considering that I take this Laptop Sessions project very seriously and don’t want it to become a “whenever I get the chance” thing.  I don’t work that way- when someone says, “I’ll get to it when I get a chance,” they really mean that it’s never going to get done.  And for those that are currently enjoying the last Masters of the Universe album, “Homestead’s Revenge,” well then, you’re probably happy that I don’t for people to finish things “whenever they get a chance”.

Onto tonight’s video:

“I Dreamed Last Night” by Blue Jays is simply one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard.  Other than a guitar solo and harmonies (two things I love, but aren’t necessary in this song), this is a PERFECT song.  If you haven’t heard the original, do yourself a favor and download it.  This is a great story for me because of the way I remembered this song:

I was in Northampton, MA for a day trip and went into this small record store.  In the top section above the rest of the albums, they had a Moody Blues Starter Pack.  There were four records for eight bucks and they were in amazing condition.  In fact, the copy of “Long Distance Voyager” (one of my all-time favorite albums) was never played.  To this day, I don’t have the heart to play it- it’s over 30 years old now and is brand new!  Anyway, inside the set was a copy of “Blue Jays”, which was a one-off album for Justin Hayward and John Lodge of the Moody Blues.  There’s a cool story behind that album, too:

Justin Hayward and Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues decided to work on a project together after the Moodies broke up after the “Seventh Sojourn” album.  But, Mike Pinder (like Gene Clark of the Byrds) is a notorious homebody and backed out of the project after a while.  So, Justin Hayward called in John Lodge to collaborate and to add a few of his own songs.  The album was titled “Blue Jays” because they’re the two members of the Moody Blues with names that start with “J”- get it?  Blue-J’s?

Well, I fired-up the turntable and put the album on.  I instantly loved it.  Here I had a brand-new (to me) “Moody Blues” album!  I knew all the rest of their albums, but we never got this one on CD, so I never heard it growing-up.  I knew “Remember Me, My Friend” from a Moody Blues compilation I got recently and loved that song.  So I knew I’d love the rest of the album.  There’s something about the sound on “Blue Jays”- it’s very “classic rock” sounding with great guitars and a wonderfully full production.  The songs themselves, for the most part, are some of the best Hayward ever did.  Lodge’s songs were good, too, but I liked some of his earlier work, including “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock’n'Roll Band)” and “Ride My See-saw”.

Then, as I was listening to the album, “I Dreamed Last Night” crackled onto my speakers.  I instantly remembered it.  It must’ve been on a compilation set my father played a lot.  My brother remembered the song, too.  And when I heard it, I instantly ran over and played it again.  I called my wife upstairs and embarrassingly sang it to her at the top of my lungs.  I couldn’t stop talking about it for days- this song has one of the best tunes I’ve ever heard.  It has slow parts and fast parts.  It’s sad and yet triumphant.  In a word, it’s amazing.

So, when it came time to do the new season of the Laptop Sessions, this was near the top of the list.  Even though I don’t play the song in the same guitar tuning as Justin Hayward does, it’s still in the same key and I think it gets the sentiment across very well.  I hope you’ll love this song as much as I did and will check out this album- it’s a lost gem if I’ve ever found one.

Have a great one and I’ll be back on time for my video on Thursday, October 28th.  Enjoy tonight’s cover song acoustic version of “I Dreamed Last Night” by Blue Jays!