Mod of the Day

Kirk Franklin | I Smile

AllMusic calls Kirk Franklin “one of contemporary gospel’s brightest and most awarded stars, a soulful singer with a revivalist spirit and just a twist of hip-hop.” Franklin’s life could have been profoundly troubled, given his troubled early origins, but his talent came to the fore early: “Abandoned by his mother and having never known his father, Franklin was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, by his Aunt Gertrude, a deeply religious woman who maintained a strict Baptist household. When he was four years old, his aunt paid for his piano lessons by collecting aluminum cans. A natural musician who could sight-read and play by ear with equal facility, Franklin received his first contract offer at the age of seven, which his aunt promptly turned down. At age 11, he was leading the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir near Dallas.”

Franklin is a multi-Grammy winner, including categories such as Best Gospel Album, Best Gospel Performance/Song, Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album, and Best Gospel Album by Choir/Chorus.

2015’s gospel-driven “I Smile” walks the most secular edge of Franklin’s material. This performance was featured at the 2015 Dove Awards, which honors Christian and gospel music. A half-step modulation arrives triumphantly at 3:45.

The Feeling | Love It When You Call

“Love It When You Call” was featured on Twelve Steps and Home, the 2006 debut album of the English rock band The Feeling. The track peaked at #18 on the UK Singles Chart, and was also performed at a live concert in 2006 produced by the BBC’s charity Children in Need, which supports disadvantaged children in the UK. Key change at 2:53, then back to the original key at 3:11.

Always Starting Over (from “If/Then”)

If/Then, a 2014 original Broadway musical with a libretto by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, tells the story of woman named Elizabeth who moves back to New York City at age 38 looking for a fresh start. The show, which ran for 401 performances and starred Idina Menzel, received Tony nominations for Best Score and Best Lead Actress in a Musical. “Always Starting Over” is Elizabeth’s climactic Act 2 number and features a number of key changes throughout, with the most prominent one occurring at 3:42.

O.C. Smith | Little Green Apples

“O.C. Smith began as a jazz vocalist and later moved into country and R&B,” reports AllMusic. After singing in Count Basie‘s band in the early ’60s, Smith then moved into into a unique soul/country mix, scoring a hit with “Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp.”

Smith then went deeper into the soul genre. “Little Green Apples,” released in 1968, went to #2 on both the pop and R&B charts. Later in life, he became a pastor of a Los Angeles church while also continuing to perform and record until his passing in 2001.

The unusual modulation, up a minor third, hits at 2:07. Many thanks to MotD regular Rob Penttinen for this submission!

Jean Berger | The Eyes of All Wait Upon Thee

According to the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, composer Jean Berger was born Arthur Schlossberg in Germany in 1909. After earning a Ph.D. in musicology in 1931, he moved to Paris and changed his name to Jean Berger as the Nazis came to power in Germany. He later moved to the United States, became an American citizen, and enlisted in the US Army in 1942. After the war, he became an arranger for CBS and NBC and toured as a concert accompanist. During the latter part of his career, he taught for decades at several American colleges and universities while continuing to compose.

Choral works were very much the central focus of Berger’s composition. “The Eyes of All Wait Upon Thee” (1959), one of Berger’s best known pieces, is based on text from Psalm 145. This performance, taken from a 2012 collection entitled Worthy to Be Praised, is by the Messiah University Choirs’ Chamber Singers.

After starting in E minor, the piece features a mid-section (0:49 – 1:18) which shifts across several keys. The third section partially mirrors the first, with the substantial difference of closing the piece in E major.

Jamie Cullum | Anyway

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Jamie Cullum, makes his MotD debut today with “Anyway,” included on his 2013 album Momentum. Shortly after the album’s release, Cullum elaborated on the inspiration behind it and how he chose its name in an interview with the German magazine Nothing But Hope and Passion:

“Well, it seems like a good title for the album for a lot of reasons. One is that this album was entirely made with a sense of momentum. My life’s changed in a lot of ways since the last few records, you know, I’m a father now, I have multiple responsibilities, far beyond just looking after myself, and so this album was made in pockets of time, rather than the luxury of all the time in the world. So I just kind of hurled myself into it, and the whole thing happened without a great deal of thought, which sounds careless, but I’ve come to realize that thought is the enemy of creativity in a lot of ways.
The other thing, the album is really about that crossover period where you’re really still a young man, but also you’ve got one foot in this incredibly grown-up, adult world where you’re the leader of your pack, and the album really is about that kind of balance of your childish fantasies with these grand and quite epic responsibilities. I think it’s momentum that carries you through that, really, so that’s how I came up with the title.

The tune is primarily in Eb minor, briefly modulating to G major at 2:59 before returning to Eb minor at 3:16.

We See The Light (from “Something Rotten”)

Nominated for 10 Tony Awards, the 2015 Broadway production Something Rotten is one of few wholly original musical comedies to hit the Great White Way in recent years. Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick collaborated in writing their first Broadway score for the show, receiving Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominations for their work, as well as a Grammy Nomination for Best Musical Theater Album. Key change at 3:14.

Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul | A World of Our Own

AllMusic calls Little Steven Van Zandt a “renaissance man and champion of the rock & roll underdog … one of rock’s most colorful figures.” In addition to his multiple lengthy stints in Bruce Springsteen’s bands going all the way back to the late 1960s, Van Zandt has worked with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes; written for Gary “U.S.” Bonds; formed Artists United Against Apartheid, which produced the all-star Top 40 1985 single “Sun City”; intermittently fronted his own band, The Disciples of Soul; and was a featured actor on the groundbreaking TV drama The Sopranos.

With a sound that stands somewhere between that of his longtime employer Springsteen and one of the several pop phases of rock chameleon Elvis Costello, Van Zandt’s “A World of Our Own” (2019) starts big — and stays there. Rather than relying on burgeoning dynamics or lyrical arc to build interest, Van Zandt uses modulations to propel the listener through a wall of sound.

Starting in A major, the tune shifts to C major at 1:35, then to G major at 2:02. At 2:35, we’ve arrived back to A major, but by then, it feels like a new chapter rather than a return.

Many thanks to perpetual mod submitter JB for this contribution!

Robbie Williams | Something Beautiful

“Something Beautiful” was released as the third single from English singer Robbie Williams‘ fifth studio album, Escapology (2002). The tune, written by Williams and Guy Chambers, reached number 3 on the UK Singles chart, and peaked within the top 10 in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Romania as well. Key change at 3:21.

Julian Lennon | Valotte

Julian Lennon released his debut, Valotte, in 1984, not even a full four years after his father John‘s assassination,” reports Allmusic. “The wounds were still fresh and there were millions of listeners ready to embrace the son of a Beatle, particularly when he sounded remarkably like his father on the stately piano-led ballad ‘Valotte,’ the first single from the album.” At its best, the album “demonstrated a keen ear for Beatlesque pop songwriting, drawing equally from Lennon and McCartney…by any measure the debut of a gifted pop melodicist.”

The staid, calm sound of the album’s lead single differentiated it from the often frenetic pop scene of its release year. A Rolling Stone review called the album simultaneously “exciting and irritating,” given its uncanny similarities to the work of John Lennon. The review noted “a middle-aged sensibility” in the 21-year-old Julian’s work, “reinforced by Phil Ramone’s elegant but often stodgy production, applied to unashamedly youthful themes.” Further demonstrating the multi-generational appeal of the track was its top-ten single status on the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts in both the US and Canada: not exactly a typical trajectory for a new pop artist.

While the tune’s intro and verses are in C major, the choruses progress through several keys of the moment and end on a prominent A major chord (heard for the first time at 0:51 – 1:20). The tune also ends on a sustained A major chord.