The Laptop Sessions: “Do You Wanna Dance?” (Beach Boys Acoustic Cover Song)

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

By Jim Fusco:

Well, do you?

Welcome to another Jim Fusco Tuesday here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog.  I can’t believe it’s been another week- here I am again to send a new cover song music video your way.

I realized I’ve only done one Beach Boys song so far in 2009 (and a quite unknown one, at that), so I decided to please the Beach Boys faithful (who’d have to be REALLY faithful to wait three months for another video) by doing a song everybody knows in “Do You Wanna Dance?”!

Originally written and recorded by Bobby Freeman in the late 50’s, the Beach Boys version is very far removed from the original recording.  Freeman’s version has a more bossonova feel to it and is a little slower-paced.  Brian Wilson, clearly budding into an ambitious producer at the time, took the song and turned it pure mid-sixties rock and roll.  It peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at Nubmer 12, and was the highest charting record with Dennis Wilson on lead vocals.

This was a great song for Denny to sing- I love the Beach Boys version so much more because Brian gave Dennis a chance to sing on it.  The production on the Beach Boys version is very Phil Spector influenced, so my acoustic cover version of it married the Beach Boys verison (in terms of style) without all the guitars, tympanies, etc.

I had to fight siging this song like Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys, as in concert he’s the one who sings Dennis’ lead vocals.  He sings much differently than Dennis normally would, so there’s different inflection to the words.  I sing more like Bruce than Dennis, so I was inclined to sing the Bruce version- but stopped myself and tried to stay true to Denny’s original vocal style, raspy voice not included.

Right after “Do You Wanna Dance?” was released, the Beach Boys came out with one of their Number One singles in “Help Me Rhonda”, a great song.  1965 was an amazing year for music, but especially for groups like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan.  It was also the break-out year for the Byrds.  The Beach Boys’ “Today” album has to be one of the best recordings ever, especially because it combines the happiness of earlier Beach Boys albums and (some of) the production value of later recordings like “Pet Sounds”.

I hope you enjoy my version of “Do You Wanna Dance?”.  On a personal note, I’m scheduled to receive my copies of my new album, “Halfway There”, tomorrow on CD, but the release date still stands for April 7th.  I hope you’re as excited as I am!  When I get the CDs, I’m sure I’ll get ambitious and do a ton of promotion, so stay tuned!  Have a great week- I’ll try to post an original, but I’m pretty tired, so we’ll see.  Talk to you again soon!

The Laptop Sessions: “Livin’ With A Heartache” (The Beach Boys Acoustic Cover Song)

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

By Jim Fusco:

I kick off the year with a new Beach Boys acoustic cover song.  I bribed Chris (by making clams and spaghetti for dinner) tonight to do this video with me.  He was a welcome addition and really helped to fill-out this song.

Carl Wilson wasn’t the most prolific songwriter, but when he did come out with a new tune, he made it count.  He really took over the role as “leader” of the Beach Boys in the 70s and 80s.  When “Keepin’ the Summer Alive” came out in 1980, he had to juggle his brother Brian’s worsening condition and his brother Dennis’ increasingly tragic lifestyle.

It’s no surprise that I love this album.  Something about it… The Boys just knew what they were doing.  Yes, it’s really cheesy at points, but it’s a really diverse album.  The only true disappointment for me is the lack of ANY Dennis contribution at all.  Oh, wait, I take that back- I think he plays the tambourine on one song…  That’s especially disappointing because Denny had such an amazing contribution to LA (Light Album).  Those songs were supposed to be for his ill-fated (until recently) Bambu album, but even his vocals on Carl’s amazing “Angel Come Home” made the album that much better.  “Love Surrounds Me” is also an incredible song- to me, it just sounds EXACTLY like a song from 1979 should- with elements of rock, blues, disco and mostly funk.  Of course, Bruce Johnston took the “disco” part waaaaaayyyy too far on the horrible (and horribly long) rendition of “Here Comes the Night”.

Anyway, Carl’s best “albums” (meaning albums where he contributed the most) were “The Beach Boys (1985)” and this one, “Keepin’ the Summer Alive”.  These albums will forever remind me of the last day of school each year, as my father would pick us (my brother and me) up from school in the Camaro and we would go have fun on our first day out.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to love “Livin’ With A Heartache” more and more.  At times, Carl had a bit of a tendency to sound a bit over-dramatic and kind of like a lounge singer (”It’s Over Now” comes to mind), but that may have been just a style of the time.  In this song, Carl sounds angrier and his voice is in perfect form.  I love the country-tinge to this song- another trait I’ve gotten to like more and more as time’s gone on.

I hope you enjoy my first entry for the year.  I hope to bring you a very special duet next week with a new guest to the Laptop Sessions.  We’ll be doing a great Beatles tune, so make sure to come back each and every Tuesday for Jim Fusco Tuesdays!  Oh, and by the way- make sure to check out all the great new sections on the site.  As Chris mentioned yesterday, we have a new homepage design that makes all of the important information and links easier to find.  I hope that the site in its current form will welcome new viewers to the blog better than ever before.

The Laptop Sessions: “Live Let Live” (Brian Wilson Acoustic Cover Song)

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

By Jim Fusco:

This post will be a shorter one, as Ace Ventura 2 is on in the background.  Any time Jim Carrey’s on screen, my attention is pulled towards the television.  Today was a fun day, as the original seven cast members of WCJM Radio got together to do our first Moore Hits in the Morning show that was actually in the morning!  The 10th Anniversary Show went off without a hitch, except for the producing mistakes I made.  Those will be edited out LONG before you hear it online!  I’ll be working on the show soon and I hope everyone will go online and listen to it!

Tonight, I bring you a great song off of Brian Wilson’s new album “That Lucky Old Sun”.  I love this album and it proves how great this guy still is.  His singing voice just seems to get better and better.  It has such a full sound now that it didn’t have back in the late 80s.

This song I chose not for its lyrics, which are a bit on the unexpected side, but for its incredible tune.  I just love when the music kicks in after the first vocals-only part.  The chords are great and Brian’s voice is even better.  The lyrics provided by Van Dyke Parks are still very witty.  That man says things in song a way no one else ever has before.  It’s funny to me that probably my favorite song on the album was written by the classic duo of Wilson/Parks and not the new duo of Wilson/Bennett.

This is a short song, but I think it captures the essence of Brian’s efforts to speak out against pollution, etc.  When you think of California, you think of sunshine, beautiful views, and wildlife.  Brian sang about the other two things throughout the rest of the album, so this song covers the last topic and brings the album full-circle.

Enjoy this song tonight as I go off for a LONG winter’s nap and finish off my big weekend!

The Laptop Sessions: “Just Once In My Life” (Righteous Brothers & Beach Boys Acoustic Cover Song)

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Sunday, Sunday, Sunday edition of the Laptop Sessions here with me, Jim Fusco!

I’m a little sour on the whole goal and status of the Laptop Sessions right now, as views seem to have stalled on a plateau and the “excitement” factor has DEFINITELY waned over these past few months.  I’m still happy we’re doing the Sessions, but I long for next year when my Laptop Sessions day becomes more of an event rather than just an inevitability.

I’ll be writing my “State of the Laptop Sessions” address soon, but I don’t know when (or how long it’s going to be).  I think we’re kind of in the same situation Barack Obamba sees himself in- we’re doing well, but the consistency of doing equally well as the day before causes complacency.  Not good.

Anyway, onto tonight’s video.  Tonight, I bring you yet ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions.  I know this song mostly because of the Beach Boys’ superb version on their popular album, “15 Big Ones”.  That album isn’t great and I really hate those synthesizers in this song, but the vocal power of Carl Wilson (along with the wonderfully strained sound of Brian’s voice on the bridge) make this a standout track.  Plus, it’s a great ending song to the album.  I LOVE the harmonies on the middle 8, too.  It seems like they channelled vocals from the early 60s on that section of the song- something you really don’t get on the rest of the album.  By that time, the Beach Boys’ voices had “manned-up” quite a bit.  But in that section of the song, you’d think they were all 20 again.

It’s funny that the Righteous Brothers aren’t even brothers.  But how many people really do have the last name “Righteous”?

You might notice that this video both looks and sounds a bit different than my others.  The audio sync is off and the quality isn’t great.  Just do me a favor: DO NOT upgrade to iMovie 2008.  It cripples the program and truly ruined this video for me.  It took me an hour just to figure out the technical aspect.  But, the sound is great and the audio is nice and loud.  That’s the one thing the new version of the program did right.  So, I hope you can suffer through the video quality and just LISTEN for this video, as I think it’s one of my better performances.

Enjoy and I’ll see you on Original Wednesday for the first post-election song here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

The Laptop Sessions: “Disney Girls (1957)” (Beach Boys Acoustic Cover Song)

Friday, October 24th, 2008

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to the Laptop Sessions on your Friday night!  It’s another late night for us here, as we’ve just completed a grand game of Trivial Pursuit Genus III, which I won, of course.  But, just barely.  I’d love to have them play with my father, “The Old Quizzmaster”, as he’d probably beat us in one turn.

Tonight’s song is from The Beach Boys, whom I haven’t done a song from in quite some time.  Actually, tonight, I’ll be doing a song written by Bruce Johnston.  It’s clearly the best song he’s ever written: “Disney Girls (1957)”.  Yes, he did write “I Write The Songs” (one of the most famous songs of all time, sung by Barry Manilow), but I think this really is his best song.

I’ve always identified with this tune from the great “Surf’s Up” album.  I’ve always wished for “better” or more pure times.  I’ve always loved older music and even the vision of Christmastime in the 50s.  I think I gave the video my best Bruce tenor, and I think it’ll stand as one of my more ambitious videos.  I hope you enjoy my video tonight and I promise I’ll make up for this extremely short post next time!

The Laptop Sessions: “Getcha Back” (Beach Boys Acoustic Rock Cover Song)

Monday, August 11th, 2008

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome, one and all, to my favorite type of acoustic cover song — a collaboration with fellow Fusco-Moore Productions artist Jim Fusco. (I’ll be posting another one soon with Jim and his girlfriend — fiance, to be more precise! — Becky Daly.) Tonight, I’m happy to present our rendition of the Beach Boys’ “Getcha Back” from their 1985 self-titled release.

This is probably their last great record, as such. After this, Dennis’ absence is all the more profound and the overall quality of involvement and projects seems to decline. But this album should not be ignored, even taking into account how much it sounds like “eighties music.”

“Getcha Back” is the first track and sets the tone for the album as a whole. I used to turn this on, set it to repeat, turn off the lights in my room, and lay on the floor listening to it again and again. There’s so much running through Mike Love’s vocal and the instrumental accompaniment is both rocking and sad. It made me want to write and record a song that could be that simple, and yet that good!

Years later, I still love the track, and I feel privileged that Jim would relinquish his claim on a Beach Boys cover — one of my favorites — so that I could record it for the acoustic cover songs music blog. Not only did he let me record it, but he joined in to make it probably one of my favorite Laptop Sessions thus far. I hope you enjoy it too!

Don’t forget to hurry back tomorrow for a new acoustic rock cover by Jeff…

See you next session!