The Laptop Sessions: “In My Life” (The Beatles Acoustic Cover Song)

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

 By Mike Fusco:

Hey there!  First self-written blog on the laptopsessions site, and Im excited to be learning all the ins-and-outs of the process.  (Not really EXCITED, cuz it’s lots of work, but the end result is exciting!)  So I was in kind of a bind because 3 days comes and goes so fast, and suddenly I was left to do another cover.  And anyone who knows me knows I used to HATE doing cover songs, so I have zero in my prelearned catalogue.  However, I figured out this Beatles tune, my second favorite Beatles tune of all time (The first being “Something”, which I will do in a future session on the Uke in tribute to George Harrison!)  I’ve always loved “In My Life”, Ringo’s drums are great… they sound like feet shuffling during a slow dance, and I think anyone who gives this song a good listen will have a slide-show of their whole life playing in their head.

As I sing it to myself pictures of faces I dont speak to anymore still pop up, (”some are dead and some are living”- it’s true!), and loves that have come and gone.  I dont know exactly what this song means to me, I guess just because there’s no current love to sing it to makes me believe it’s sung to my soul… and whoever out there shares it with me, and the Big Man upstairs who is responsible for it all.  (No, not my father upstairs! haha!)  Not bad for a 4 am recording on a binge of candy and diet Dr. Thunder.  Enjoy!

~mikey

The Laptop Sessions: “Feel For Love” (An Acoustic Rock Song by Indie Music Songwriter Chris Moore)

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to yet another all-new installment of the Laptop Sessions! Being that it’s Hump Day, I’m excited — for those of you who may be new to the blog, I’m excited because every Wednesday here is “Original Wednesday.” For just a moment, we songwriters who contribute to this acoustic rock cover song music blog just take a moment to put aside the covers and record a song that we have written. It comes but once every three weeks for us…

Tonight, I’ve recorded “Feel For Love,” a song from my most recent solo release, the EP entitled Love Out of Fashion. To be honest, I’ll never know why I didn’t just finish recording one more song during the recording sessions (and I actually did have one demo with basic tracks that never made the final cut).  If I had, then I would have accumulated nine songs and I could have called the EP a full album.  But, I guess nine is kind of a cop out after most of my earlier solo albums have an average of 12 songs or so.  Either way, I was satisfied that an 8-song EP was not a cop out, so…

I don’t know that I’ve ever told anyone, but “Feel For Love” was the first song recorded for the project.  I actually began recording with the idea of making a set of demos to present to Jim Fusco in order to convince him to produce an album for me the following summer.  Once I got into the process, I just devoted too much time and energy to let the songs sit as demos — I would lay down one acoustic, then add electric to give it the right sound.  After all, I wanted the songs to be presentable to him.  Then I would add background vocals.  And then some more background vocals.  I practiced again and again and again to perfect the solos I wanted for the songs, both harmonica and electric / acoustic guitar.

By the time I had finished eight songs, it was clear that I couldn’t simply burn the songs onto a blank disc for Jim to listen to; I had an EP on my hands.

To this day, I still haven’t recorded an album with Jim as producer, but to be honest, I probably won’t record another project until I’ve fully polished a set of songs and convinced him to let me hire him or at least bribe him with fast food and TNA cards to produce the next Chris Moore solo album.  The simple fact is — especially after hearing the new Masters of the Universe album — I can’t go back to self-producing without drums and without mastering.  Instead, I’m starting to save my pennies and save my dimes…

As a final note, the tracks for Love Out of Fashion became an obsession for me.  I listened to those songs in every way possible — on the computer speakers, on different pairs of headphones, on my stereo, and I even burned multiple copies at different phases to listen to in the car.  One early morning around one a.m. or so, I pulled over in the shopping plaza near my house to be able to listen to the tracks clearly and loudly.  I leaned over the console of my car to get myself as close to the middle as possible, closing my eyes and listening to every nuance of the mix to decide what needed to change and what aspects were finished.  Someone actually pulled into the lot next to me to ask if I was okay and was my car working?  I, of course, said I was fine.  What I should have said was that I was, for the first time, really becoming a confident producer of my own music.

Of course, the conspicuous absence of time-keeping drums will forever label Love Out of Fashion a second-class album, which I suppose I’ve come to terms with.  But I’m still proud of it!

Okay, that’s more than enough from me.  I hope you enjoy this and will take the time to comment on it here.  Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for an all-new track from our very own Jeff Copperthite…

See you next session!

Video Blog Milestone - Jeff Copperthite eclipses 30,000 views!

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

By Jeff Copperthite:

That’s right - another milestone to file away to the books. Jeff Copperthite has climbed to over 30,000 views on Youtube, achieving the mark only 39 days after reaching 20,000 views.

“This is the fastest that we have been obtaining video views ever. It took me nearly 6 months of Laptop Sessions acoustic cover videos to reach 20,000. To only take 39 days to increase that viewcount 50% is simply amazing”, says Jeff.

Jeff is well ahead of the pace to obtaining 40,000 views by the end of August, a goal he established at the start of summer.

We at Laptopsessions.com would like to thank you - our loyal fans - who keep coming back for a brand new acoustic cover video every day. As long as you keep returning, we’ll keep covering!

The Laptop Sessions: “Let It Ride” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive BTO Acoustic Rock Cover Song)

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to yet another edition of The Laptop Sessions with, you guessed it, another new band to music video series!  Jeff, Chris, and I have really been turning up the heat on the new bands lately- I’ll be featuring another new one on Friday this week.  And I’ll give you a hint- let’s just say that today’s song is the first in my week of songs that start with “Let It”.  Now, remember, I already did “Let It Be” by the Beatles- that was one of my first ever Laptop Sessions cover songs.  So, we’ll wait until Friday to see what I pull out of my bag of tricks!

Today’s cover song is another one of those, “I was obsessed with it in high school”, tracks alongside last week’s “Temptation Eyes”.   I hope to do more songs from BTO in the future, but I have to be careful to transpose them from heavy electric to acoustic.  This one, I thought, was less about the great electric guitar and more about the great vocals.  I decided to up the passion on the vocals to account for using only an acoustic guitar.

We’re really moving along here on the music video blog- I’ve had a bit more (unexpected) time to work on this stuff, and with the efforts of Jeff and (especially) Chris, we’ll be getting hundreds of new viewers every day.  I can feel it- we’re right on the cusp.  I hope the extra work I did today will push us over the edge.  Either way, you can bet that we’ll keep doing great acoustic rock cover songs and continue to surprise you with new bands all the time!

The Laptop Sessions: “Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd Acoustic Cover Song)

Monday, July 28th, 2008

By Jeff Copperthite:

What can I say - I just enjoy clicking the “add new category” button to the right of me when I write my posts every three days.

Jeff Copperthite introducing a new band to the sessions?  Again?

Yes! Yes! And yes!  Chris may kill me…

I am proud to introduce one of the greatest rock acts of all time to the Laptop Sessions.  I think they’re so great, that i’m going to be doing 2 more sessions from them for my next two.  In fact, if you request a song from them, I just might change the songs I have in mind!

Pink Floyd is the band today, and i am performing a song from their bestselling, multi-platinum 2-CD album “The Wall” called “Comfortably Numb”.  You may know that “The Wall” is considered a rock opera, and if you are a fan of any of Pink Floyd’s songs, or classic rock at all, you would do well to get your hands on this album.  This song is in the middle of the 2nd half of the album.  It is a slow song with two awesome guitar solos, and a spacy synthesizer.  None of those things are on this performance, however.  Just me and my acoustic, like usual.

I think I really did a good job on voice switching.  Roger Waters has many singing styles and uses two of them in this song - his evil, sneering voice, and his kind, smooth voice.  Not to mention the “scream” in the song.  I try to replicate that in this performance, but again - it’s one of me on the video, and its like 5 of him on the album.  That’s just how we roll here on the Laptop Sessions.

Remember, request a Pink Floyd song and I just might change my mind on my next two performances!

Come back tomorrow for (perhaps - I was wrong last Friday) a cover song by Jim Fusco.  By the way, congratulations to Mike on his first Laptop Session.  He really nailed that Elvis song - I suggest you look down the page a bit and watch for yourself if you haven’t done so already.

The Laptop Sessions: “Thought I Knew” (Weezer Acoustic Rock Cover Song)

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

By Chris Moore:

Welcome back to the best acoustic rock cover songs music blog on the Internet! What a mouthful…

It’s my pleasure today to bring you a new song from Weezer’s 2008 self-titled album, also known as The Red Album. This is, of course, a nod to their past self-titled albums that were colored blue (The Blue Album) and green (The Green Album). To be certain, Weezer had a lot to live up to when they released their album this year, and I was a bit put off by the remix of “Automatic” that leaked to YouTube videos via a video game trailer.

Then I bought the album and fell in love with it!

Well, to be honest, I found the album a bit quirky at first. I couldn’t decide if I thought the lyrics were catchy or cheesy. The first few songs had so many different sections and styles that it was difficult to get a handle on them. But, after a few listens, I had already decided that this was one of my favorite albums of the year. Aside from some great, catchy, upbeat, rocking, and experimental tracks by frontman Rivers Cuomo, the other three members of the band all contributed in the songwriting and singing departments.

I especially enjoyed “Thought I Knew” by guitarist Brian Bell from the first time I heard it, which is why I chose it as my first Laptop Session from The Red Album. I hope you enjoy it as well, and I can’t wait to play more from this great album!

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for another all-new and great acoustic rock cover song by Jeff Copperthite…

See you next session!