“Ari Shagal’s … bold, brash, electrifying album, To Each! channels Laura Nyro, Donald Fagen, jazz in general, Broadway, and a lot more,” (Soundstage Experience). Songwriter Ari Shagal “proves to be a triple-threat performer, singer, and composer/arranger.
Though there are up- and down-tempo songs on this set, it’s full of swagger and confidence — the same feelings I get from a Steely Dan album. Shagal’s music is chic, cool, and invigorating, even when it’s the blues. It goes down easy while leaving a lasting impression.”
“Limerent Buzz,” a track from 2014’s To Each! by the Shagal-led band The Summarily Dismissed, starts in Bb major, but shifts to Db major for all but the tail end of its chorus, first heard between 0:50-1:14). At 1:21, we return to the original key for the next verse; the pattern continues from there.
“The self-produced Wake of the Flood … originally came out in October 1973,” (Americana Highways). “… when you compare Wake of the Flood with the group’s most recent previous studio efforts, 1970’s Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, those earlier LPs found the group forsaking extended psychedelic jams and improvisation in favor of succinct, country-flavored rock statements that relied heavily on vocals and acoustic instruments.
You’d never describe Wake of the Flood that way, which is not to say that it takes off in a wholly new direction. Yes, there are horns and there’s also more jazz influence as well as funk and ragtime, but the album is less of a reinvention than a vinyl presentation of the sort of music the Dead had been performing in concert for years. It also retains some elements of earlier studio albums.”
“Let Me Sing Your Blues Away,” the second track on Wake of the Flood, features an consistent level of intensity throughout, which seems to be one of the band’s trademarks. There are no buildups, no quiet bridges, no intense shout choruses … rather, an eternal “now” for which the band was well known. But a more unusual quality of the track is its frequency of unconventional, generally unprepared key changes. After a start in Bb major, there’s a cavalcade of unceremonious keys of the moment starting at 0:50 leading into a section in A major at 1:15, B major at 1:30, C# major at 1:45, and some frequently shifting key of the moment connective tissue leading to a return to Bb major at 1:56. Finally, here’s a shift to G major at 2:21 and a chromatic lead-in back to Bb major at 2:47.
“Philadelphia coffee shop waitress Angie Falco (Donna Pescow) starts a romance with customer Bradley Benson (Robert Hays), a pediatrician,” (ABC.fandom.com). “While she assumes he is a struggling young doctor, he reveals that he is actually rebelling against his wealthy family, presumably residents in the Main Line region of the city’s suburbs. The other Falco family members are Angie’s mother Theresa (Doris Roberts) and her younger sister Marie (Debralee Scott).
… Angie and Brad later marry, merging their two very different families: the blue-blooded Bensons and the urban Italian-American Falcos … Angie premiered on February 2, 1979 (and ran for) two seasons and 36 episodes.”
The show’s theme song, “Different Worlds,” was performed by Maureen McGovern. Written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, the tune was released by McGovern as a single from her eponymous fourth studio album in June 1979. The track peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was #1 for two weeks on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Starting in C major, the tune shifts to Eb major at 0:25, wearing its late-disco era on its sleeve. Many more key changes follow — more than anyone could reasonably expect from a 90-second opening theme!
“Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) is Eric Clapton’s tortured love letter to the wife of his friend, George Harrison … Clapton poured his heart into the songs on Layla,” (American Songwriter). “The five co-writes with (Derek + the Dominos bandmate) Bobby Whitlock – songs like ‘Anyday’ and the bluesy ‘Tell The Truth’ – fuse high-energy rock with some of the most emotional electric blues of all time … Clapton would never again present the blues with such urgency as on the album versions of ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out’ and the Big Bill Broonzy staple ‘Key to the Highway.’
‘Bell Bottom Blues,’ the only song on the album Clapton wrote entirely by himself, is a portrait of a man on the brink of collapse. After the record’s release, Clapton sank into depression and addiction. As Whitlock recalls, one of the great all-time rock and roll bands ‘didn’t break up, it just kind of dissipated … Eric locked himself away for a couple of years, and that was that.'”
Starting in a slightly de-tuned C major, the tune shifts up to A major for its plaintive chorus (heard for the time between 0:41 – 1:16). Verse 2 reverts to the original key. The pattern continues from there.
“Up until this February, alt-pop veteran Ben Folds was an artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra.” (Stereogum). “When Donald Trump took over the Kennedy Center, Folds resigned his post, writing, ‘Not for me.’ Fair enough! It’s not like Folds wasn’t making his own music when he had that job; he released the Christmas album Sleigher last year. Now, Folds has another new project ready to go. He’s co-written the song for Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, a new special coming out on AppleTV+ this summer.
According to an Apple press release, the forthcoming 40-minute special Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical is ‘the first Peanuts musical in 35 years.’ It’s about the Peanuts gang going to summer camp. Jeff Morrow, Ben Folds collaborator on the songs, has scored a number of more-recent Peanuts specials, as well as films like Disney’s live-action Snow White and The Little Mermaid remakes. Ben Folds, a regular Schroeder, has been in the Peanuts system before; he wrote and performed the theme to the 2022 AppleTV+ special It’s The Small Things, Charlie Brown.” The production of Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical will debut 7/18 on AppleTV+.
“It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown” finds Folds indeed channeling the warmup moves of the Peanuts franchise’s resident pianist before he digs into the tune. Starting in G major, the track features Folds’ trademark vocals-forward sound. After the quieter texture of the bridge starts at 2:20, there’s a late key change up a whole step to A major at 2:50.
“Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, comedian, composer, actor, writer and director,” (artist website). “He has toured extensively in the US, UK and Australia, performing solo, with bands, and with symphony orchestras. He’s released five DVDs, the most recent recorded with the Heritage Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. He is the composer lyricist of two hit West End / Broadway musicals, Matilda and Groundhog Day, both of which won the Olivier Award for Best West End Musical and garnered nominations for Best Score and Best Musical in Broadway’s Tony Awards.
Minchin wrote, produced and starred in the Sky Atlantic / Foxtel TV series, Upright, in 2019. Other screen-acting credits include Atticus Fetch in Season 6 of Californication, a Logie Award-winning Smasher Sullivan in the ABC’s Secret River, and Friar Tuck in Lionsgate’s Robin Hood reboot. Stage highlights include Judas in the UK / Australian Arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar in 2012, and Rosencrantz in the Sydney Theatre Company’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead the following year. He has published two books: the graphic novel, ‘Storm,’ and the illustrated childrens’ book, ‘When I Grow Up’. He is a member of the Order of Australia, a philanthropist and a mediocre juggler. ‘Simultaneously an excellent stand-up comedian, a purveyor of physical comedy, an accomplished musician and a lyricist of diabolical ingenuity. Witty, smart, and unabashedly offensive.‘ (The Age, Melbourne)”
Minchin’s “Three Minute Song” needs little description, as it tells its own story. This 2011 performance of the tune was composed specifically for the BBC program Ruth Jones’ Easter Treat. 2:28 brings a whole-step key change, shoe-horned in among a huge number of syllables per minute and plenty of fast piano riffs.
“Toronto, Canada quintet Ocean’s … first single, ‘Put Your Hand in the Hand,’ a #2 pop hit in America in 1971, was written by Gene MacLellan, who’d played with Robbie Robertson in both the Consuls and the Suedes,” (Songfacts). “Several singles followed during the early ’70s, but none were as popular as the debut. Ocean disbanded in 1975.
The song also references when Jesus calmed the sea in (the books of) Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the midst of a storm that threatened to overturn their boat, the panicked apostles woke Jesus and begged him to help. Jesus didn’t see what all the fuss was about and simply commanded the waves to be still. He asked his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ Ocean wasn’t a gospel group, didn’t feel a strong connection to the religious aspect of the song … and were hesitant to release the single … They were right. The group was typecast as a gospel rock band thanks to the Jesus-themed debut.”
Starting in E major, the tune features a big downward leap to A major (1:13) to accommodate the shift from the female lead vocal to verses featuring several of the band’s male singers on lead.
“Brian Wilson, who co-founded the iconic California band The Beach Boys and turned teen pop into a poetic, modernist musical form, has died at age 82,” (NPR). “‘We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world,’ Wilson’s family wrote in a statement on his website Wednesday.
The most frequently invoked description of Wilson’s music came from the artist himself when, playing on a phrase coined by Phil Spector, he declared that his goal was to write a ‘teenage symphony to God.’ Grounded in dreams of an idealized youth, his songs reflected vast ambition enmeshed in the belief that pop could be a conduit to the sublime.
… His greatest musical works made room for the deep melancholy he experienced while evoking an almost otherworldly beauty, the sunset smear of a soul longing for peace.” After the upbeat sun-and-surf early hits, 1966’s Pet Sounds was “the apex of Top 40 pop as existential reverie … a modest success upon release (but) now generally acknowledged as one of the greatest albums of all time. (The rock-era canonizing institution Rolling Stone magazine ranks it at No. 2 — right behind Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.)”
There are so many tunes we could feature today, but “When I Grow Up to Be a Man” is our choice — a track we initially featured in 2020. It’s a release from the band’s earlier days, but with a few odd chord qualities that only begin to hint at the complexity that Wilson’s writing increasingly brought to the Beach Boys. Written and composed by Wilson and Mike Love (1965), it reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has a lyric written from an adolescent’s POV. According to the book Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson’s Lost Masterpiece, Wilson had a “fervent desire to reinvent himself as an individual, not as a boy.” The single, with a run time of only two minutes, modulates at 1:32.
“Irish President Michael D Higgins called her ‘A National Treasure’ and after 20 of her own albums, countless DVDs, filmed concerts, musical collaborations and a career that has spanned 40 years, Sharon Shannon in 2024 is still breaking new musical ground,” (artist website).
“… Sharon continues to redefine and re-imagine the boundaries of Irish traditional music, elevating the genre through her experimental collaborations with reggae, rap and classical musicians. Her list of collaborators is as extensive as her musical repertoire. She has recorded and toured with Bono, Willie Nelson, La Bottine Souriante, Shane Mc Gowan, Nigel Kennedy, Steve Earle, Justin Adams, Johnny Depp, Linton Kwesi Johnston, The Waterboys and Dessie O’Halloran, and the RTE Symphony Orchestra, to mention just a few.
… The genre-defying star has achieved multi-platinum album sales and has had several chart topping albums, singles and DVDs in her home country. Her album Galway Girl went 4x platinum in Ireland, with the title track winning her the Meteor award two years running for the most downloaded song. She also celebrates being the youngest ever recipient of the Meteor Lifetime Achievement Award.”
MotD regular JB adds: “Irish dance tunes are often played in sets of two or three tunes, where each tune is in a different key. Because each tune is distinct, however, these mixed-key sets don’t really qualify as modulations. This tune has a very similar feel to a mixed-key set, but because it was composed as a single tune, the mods are fair game.”
Starting in D major, “Bag of Cats” (1997) by Shannon’s Big Band shifts nearly seamlessly to A minor at 1:07, A major at 2:43, then finally E major after a measure’s pause (3:47).
“Sly Stone, the remarkable, eccentric frontman, singer, songwriter and producer of his family group, Sly & the Family Stone, died in Los Angeles on Monday, June 9,” (NPR). “The musical icon had been battling lung disease, according to a statement provided by his family. He was 82. ‘While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come,’ the statement reads.
… Sly & the Family Stone’s sound was a dazzling fusion of psychedelic rock, soul, jazz, gospel and Latin … The Grammys gave him a lifetime achievement award in 2017 … Sly Stone was a musical visionary whose charismatic stage presence and distinctive vocals are now woven into the fabric of American joy.”
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We reprise a post from 2020 in honor of the life of Sly Stone, covering a track which is among the Family Stone’s most affirming and joyful:
Sly & the Family Stone “harnessed all of the disparate musical and social trends of the late ’60s,” AllMusic explains, “creating a wild, brilliant fusion of soul, rock, R&B, psychedelia, and funk that broke boundaries down without a second thought. Led by Sly Stone, the Family Stone was comprised of men and women, and blacks and whites, making the band the first fully integrated group in rock’s history. That integration shone through the music, as well as the group’s message. Before Stone, very few soul and R&B groups delved into political and social commentary; after him, it became a tradition in soul, funk, and hip-hop.”
Released in 1968, “Stand” is just one of a full line of unusual singles from S&TFS, not easily described by the vocabulary that preceded them. AllMusic continues: “Like Brian Wilson, Sly Stone incorporated beautiful, magical moments on his records that were some of the most musically progressive. In this song, a simple but brilliant four-on-the-floor drum pattern and gospel vocals create what would be the virtual blueprint for what was to become known as disco. Moreover, the song is yet another message song that helped bridge the gap between the black and white rock audiences…one of the most timely records of its age.”
The verse is built around a de-tuned Ab major (I / IV / I / bVII); the bVII major serves as a sub-V for the new key of F major (0:14), repeating the same pattern for Verse 2 (0:28) before reverting to Ab for the one-word chorus (0:51). Each switch from Ab to F is accentuated by a 2/4 bar among the overall 4/4 meter (heard for the first time at 0:13 – 0:14). An entirely new groove, built around a 4-bar pattern, kicks in for an extended outro in C minor at 2:18. The outro is a joyful, uproarious shout chorus featuring multiple vocalists on a repeated wordless vocal hook, instrumentalists playing at full tilt, and gospel-style eighth-note claps building on the already high energy — just as the slow final fade kicks in.
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