“The Brit pop trio’s bubbly soul ditty is, thanks to Shingai Shoniwa’s sweet crooning, reminiscent of an early Motown party groove,” said USA Today upon the release of “Never Forget You” in 2009. Written by all the members of this English band, the track reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart. It begins in D and, after a more subdued bridge in B minor, modulates up to E at 2:09.
Author: Mod of the Day
Maurice Ravel | Boléro
“Before he left for a triumphant tour of North America in January 1928, (French composer) Maurice Ravel had agreed to write a Spanish-flavoured ballet score for his friend, the Russian dancer and actress Ida Rubinstein … Ravel had long toyed with the idea of building a composition from a single theme which would grow simply through harmonic and instrumental ingenuity,” (ClassicFM). “Boléro’s famous theme came to him on holiday … He was about to go for a swim when he called a friend over to the piano and, playing the melody with one finger, asked: ‘Don’t you think that has an insistent quality? I’m going to try to repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can.’
… By Ravel’s standards, the piece was completed quickly, in five months – it had to be ready for Rubinstein to choreograph. ‘Once the idea of using only one theme was discovered,’ he asserted, ‘any conservatory student could have done as well.’ The relentless snare-drum underpins the whole of the 15-minute work as Ravel inexorably builds on the simple tune until, with a daring modulation from C major to E major, he finally releases the pent-up tension with a burst of fireworks.” In this live recording from the 2014 BBC Proms, those fireworks arrive at the 13:22 mark, although C major makes a boisteous return shortly thereafter to end the piece.
“Boléro was given its first performance at the Paris Opéra on November 20, 1928. The premiere was acclaimed by a shouting, stamping, cheering audience in the midst of which a woman was heard screaming: ‘Au fou, au fou!’ (‘The madman! The madman!’). When Ravel was told of this, he reportedly replied: ‘That lady … she understood.’ … Although Ravel considered Boléro one of his least important works, it has always been his most popular.”
Snuper | Platonic Love
It would be understandable to think that all KPop bands hit it big immediately, given the huge promotional machines backing them. But some develop only limited cult followings before fading away. One such band is Snuper 스누퍼, meaning “Higher than Super.” The group was a South Korean sextet formed by Widmay Entertainment in 2015, the first Korean pop group from that label.
The band debuted on November 16, 2015, with the EP Shall We, which included the single “Shall We Dance,” (KPopN). The group consisted of six members, many of whom had to go on hiatus to fulfill their mandatory national military service; the group’s resulting reduction in numbers slowed its momentum and it disbanded in 2023.
“Platonic Love” (2016), a showcase for the group’s dance chops, features multiple hook-driven instrumental breaks. After a rap break and a sudden grand pause, a key change from Eb major to E major hits at 2:27.
Many thanks to our multi-tune contributor Ziyad for this submission!
Jimmie Rodgers | Honeycomb
“Jimmie Rodgers, known professionally as the ‘Singing Brakeman’ and ‘America’s Blue Yodeler,’ was in the first class of inductees honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame and is widely known as ‘The Father of Country Music,’ (Country Music Hall of Fame). “From many diverse elements—the traditional folk music of his southern upbringing, early jazz, stage-show yodeling, the work chants of Black railroad section crews and, most importantly, African American blues—he forged a lasting musical style that made him immensely popular during his own lifetime and a major influence on generations of country artists to come. Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, and Tanya Tucker are only some of the dozens of stars who have acknowledged Rodgers’s impact on their music.
… Best known for his solo appearances on stage and record, Rodgers also worked with many other established performers of the time, touring in 1931 with Will Rogers (who jokingly referred to him as ‘my distant son’) and recording with such country music greats as the Bill Boyd, the Carter Family, and Clayton McMichen, and, in at least one instance, with the legendary jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who appears with him on ‘Blue Yodel Number 9 (Standin’ on the Corner).’ One of the first white country stars to work with Black musicians, Rodgers also recorded with the fine St. Louis bluesman Clifford Gibson and the popular Louisville musical group the Dixieland Jug Blowers.”
1957’s upbeat “Honeycomb,” written by Bob Merrill, is a blend of country and rockabilly. The track modulates up a half-step at 0:44 and again at 1:25. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for sending in this tune!
Bellowhead | Gosport Nancy
“Bellowhead formed in 2004 and after 12 amazing years, they called it a day in 2016,” (bellowhead.co.uk). “In their active years they played to thousands of people at festivals and on tour, recorded five studio albums (selling over a quarter of a million copies), were the proud recipients of two silver discs and won a staggering eight BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
During lockdown in 2020, the 11 members of Bellowhead first re-connected online to remotely record ‘New York Girls – At Home’. That led to re-uniting in person for a one-off performance … one of the biggest online streams of 2020, confirming that Bellowhead are still one of the biggest and most in demand UK folk acts, despite not performing for nearly five years. The stream led to pleas from fans for more and the stars aligned for a mammoth reunion tour in November 2022 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their fourth album, Broadside.“
Released in 2016, “Gosport Nancy” is unusual for its horn section. Contributor JB adds: “It’s rare for an English trad band to include horns at all, and yet rarer to feature such a funky horns arrangement.” Adding to the intrigue, the tune also includes plenty of syncopation and a few compound chords. Starting in D major, the tune modulates up a whole step to E major at 2:49, layering more shifts in the subsequent measures before landing back in D major.
Jigsaw | Sky High
“Sky High” (1975) by UK band Jigsaw was recorded for the film The Man from Hong Kong. A global hit, it reached UK Top 10, #2 on the Japanese charts (where it remained for three years!), #3 in Australia, #3 on the on the Billboard Hot 100, and #8 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. As the video makes clear, the band didn’t shy away from kitsch; its short-lived life on the charts was likely further boosted by the novelty of a drummer (Des Dyer) on lead vocals.
“… this band had been around since the late 60s and had released four albums before this single came out,” (7 Inches of 70s Pop). “… they throw everything at you: a full orchestra complete with swirling strings, quick horn stabs to provide some tension, even some rolling tympani to start it off.” To say nothing of the soaring french horn line (2:29) as the track fades! However, the orchestra is nowhere in evidence for this performance, which is actually the studio version on playback.
Beginning in B minor, the track transitions to B major for its chorus (initially at 0:46). at 1:22, the B minor intro repeats in advance of the next verse; the pattern continues from there.
Hall + Oates | So Close
“Throughout their spectacular run of hit singles in the ’80s, Hall + Oates took full advantage of emerging technology, applying layers of synths and programmed rhythms to their rock/soul hybrid sound,” (Ultimate Classic Rock). “But by the end of the decade, they were ready for a change. That restlessness manifested itself on the duo’s 14th studio album, the suitably titled Change of Season … Although it happened to arrive in the midst of an acoustic boom helped along by the popular MTV Unplugged series, Hall + Oates insisted they were simply heading back to their roots after riding the crest of pop stardom as far as it could take them.
Yet if Change of Season … offered a measure of liberation from Hall + Oates’ pop-star past, it came with a price. After nearly 20 years of working side by side, the duo — only recently returned from a three-year mid-’80s hiatus — knew their days as a working recording act were coming to a close. ‘The essence of our working relationship hasn’t changed over the years. We collaborate the same way and for the same reasons,’ Oates told the Inquirer. ‘The only change has been with our personalities. A decade ago, we were wrapped up as Hall & Oates and our career. The individuality was defined as part of the group. You’ll see more solo projects from each of us in the future.'” The new albums indeed stopped; equally unfortunately, the touring did, too: the duo are now battling bitterly over their divergent views on the management of their shared publishing rights.
“So Close” opens in C major, with several verses and choruses leading to a bridge (3:13 – 3:57). Halfway through the bridge (3:37), there’s a whole-step shift up to D major as the sonic and lyrical energy builds: There’s a restless look in your eye tonight / there’s a secret hurt in my heart / and the dream that pulls us together, girl / is a dream that’s gonna tear us, tear us apart. Although the tune reached #11 on the pop charts, it was the duo’s last major hit. It was a great half-century-plus career while it lasted: Hall + Oates remain the most successful duo of all time, ahead of the Carpenters, the Everly Brothers, and Simon + Garfunkel (Billboard).
Todd Rundgren | Worldwide Epiphany 1.1
“Todd Rundgren has long made a career out of alternatively (and sometimes simultaneously) confounding and delighting his most ardent fans.” (MusoScribe). “Resolutely following his muse wherever it takes him … the result is a body of work like that of no other artist: rich with gems, but wildly varying and with little in the way of consistency. In fact, consistency is a quality in which Rundgren likely places little stock; for him, unexpected stylistic left turns are a feature, not a bug.
Even against that backdrop … Rundgren’s 1993 album No World Order remains among the most challenging and polarizing projects in his lengthy recording career … Then enamored of the new CD-i media format — a development that for a brief moment looked like entertainment technology’s Next Big Thing — Rundgren crafted a cache of what might be termed songlets or song snippets (the No World Order CD-i contained nearly one thousand four-bar segments). The idea of the CD-i was that users could interact with the media, creating their own mix of the music by adjusting the sonic elements … Despite the album’s dodgy reputation, Rundgren’s near infallible sense of melody — one arguably on a par with that of Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson — rarely fails him.”
“Worldwide Epiphany 1.1” is a shortened version of a tune with a full version that clocks in at well over five minutes, but the “1.1” version includes all of the track’s basic elements in a shorter form. An F# minor verse, starting with and strongly featuring a “9” tension in the melody, shifts to an E minor chorus at 0:50.
Building Momentum (from “How To Dance In Ohio”)
Composer Jacob Yandura and lyricist/bookwriter Rebekah Greer Melocik adapted the 2015 HBO documentary How To Dance in Ohio into a musical of the same name, which premiered on Broadway late last year. The story follows a group of autistic teenagers as they prepare to attend their first spring formal. It was the first Broadway show to cast autistic characters with autistic actors. A UK production is planned for next year.
“Building Momentum” comes near the end of the show. It begins in Ab, shifts up to A at 1:04, and modulates again to Bb at 2:05.
Astrud Gilberto + Stan Getz | The Girl from Ipanema
A classic which has somehow hidden in plain sight for many years! “‘The Girl from Ipanema’ shot 24-year-old Astrud Gilberto to worldwide fame in 1964 … The full-length album version of the song opens with Gilberto strumming his guitar and singing in Portuguese; then comes a verse in English written by Norman Gimbel and sung by João Gilberto’s then wife, Astrud Gilberto,” (Financial Times). “She had never sung professionally before, but it was her untrained, beguiling voice that made the song (along with Getz’s breathy sax solo). A shortened version of the song, featuring only Astrud’s voice, was released as a single and was a worldwide hit, and came to define an entire genre, bossa nova, blending Brazilian samba with jazz and blues.
By the time the song won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1965, bossa nova was in decline in Brazil. The light, frivolous sound was eclipsed by more politically charged tropicalia music that responded to the country’s slide into dictatorship. In the US, however, bossa nova appealed to jazz singers such as Frank Sinatra … Ella Fitzgerald, and Nancy Wilson before her, also sent the tan and tall figure walking, but this time as a boy … Girl or boy, the track is one of the most recorded songs in history.”
Initially in F major, the tune’s 16-bar bridge (first heard from 0:43 – 1:13) goes to Gb major, then Gb minor before transitioning back to F major for the final A section.
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