Author: Mod of the Day

Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | La Fachada

“If you are a fan of the organ (and we know you are), gritty funk, and beautiful original soundtracks, these guys are for you,” (Cole Mine Records). “The SFSE is a heavy, original, instrumental soul band based out of San Diego, CA that released their debut self-titled album on Colemine Records in June of 2015.”

“The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble rock an instrumental style of soul and funk with a long history, drawing upon contemporaries like Budos Band and El Michels Affair, then going back through a lineage that includes Poets of Rhythm, The Meters, and The Bar-Kays … It’s a gritty and raw style of funk …” (Scratched Vinyl). “SFSE is a large group, with three percussionists, three horn players, keyboards, bass, guitar, and drums, which gives them a nice full sound. Of course, it only makes sense to rock a group this big if you can be tight enough to make it worth it … SFSE lay(s) down grooves that will have you bobbing your head and making stank face …”

The SFSE’s 2022 track “La Fachada” begins in Bb minor, shifts to a strings tremolo feature section in Gb major at 0:28, and then drops into a horns-driven section built on a spicy Cb augmented chord at 0:50. These sections alternate until a bridge section in C major appears (1:59 – 2:20) before returning to the regular rotation.

Sharon Tandy | The Way She Looks At You

In 1964, Sharon Tandy moved from her native South Africa to the UK to pursue her musical career. Through the end of the 1960s, she released a string of UK singles, mostly on Atlantic, achieving moderate success. A few of the Atlantic sides were recorded at the Stax studio (à la Dusty in Memphis). Her material spans the gamut of the popular music of the period, with songs that fit into the “pop”. “soul”, and “rock” categories.

Her cover of “Our Day Will Come” is notable: Originally performed as a bossa nova by Ruby and The Romantics, the song is turned into a raw Janis/Big Brother-flavored uptempo rocker, with backup provided by Southampton band Fleur de Lys.

“The Way She Looks At You” (1968) falls neatly into the pop category. The song was written by Brian Potter and Graham Dee. Potter is best known for his collaborations with Dennis Lambert, with hits like “Don’t Pull Your Love” (by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds) and “Two Divided By Love” (by The Grass Roots). The swinging horn arrangement shouts “1960s London,” doesn’t it? The groove falls away for a harmonically dynamic instrumental transition begins at 1:39. The tune settles into a new key one half-step up at 1:50.

Jamie Cullum | All At Sea

UK singer/songwriter/pianist Jamie Cullum, “… mostly self-taught, began playing in a rock band at age 15,” (Brittanica). “He soon became attracted to jazz and began playing and singing it in bars and on cruise ships. He spent a year in Paris and then attended the University of Reading, England, where he studied film and English, composed music, and acted … His second album, Pointless Nostalgic … became such a favorite on British radio that … major labels fought a bidding war to sign him. His singing and playing, which evoked swing and ballad moods rather than rock, were an anomaly in the pop music of the day, but the CD sold 2,000,000 units, 400,000 of them in the United States.” Twentysomething reached top three in the UK, and the Netherlands; it scored top 100 status in most of Europe and the USA.

“… This is not a jazz album in the unapproachable sense – there are Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Buckley covers here (CLUAS.com, 2004) … This is a bona fide listenable and enjoyable opus. Jamie Cullum is not your typical jazz pianist or singer … he straddles genres for fun. This is certainly not a jazz-only album … the end result is surprisingly great.”

The single “All At Sea,” wasn’t a big hit by any stretch of the imagination, but received slow but steady airplay in the US (Cullum’s success seems better measured through the relative success of his full albums as opposed to his singles). Built in Eb major overall, the tune’s bridge (2:44 – 3:26) is in Ab minor; then Eb makes its return. The 2015 live version below includes an extended Billy Joel quote in its closing bars, demonstrating the breadth of Cullum’s improvisatory sensibilities. The studio version benefits from a full instrumentation and vocal harmonies — but Cullum’s dense voicings, sharpened vocal and piano technique, and absolutely unsinkable time make the solo version more than a full portion.

Jonatha Brooke | Glass Half Empty

“Jonatha Brooke is one of those artists whose name always sounds familiar … but whose music you may not be familiar with … though, frankly, you really should be,” (Popdose). “She’s a talented singer-songwriter who first got her career rolling in the early ’90s as a member of a duo called The Story, with collaborator Jennifer Kimball, but Brooke soon stood on her own two feet and has trotted out album after album … some on major labels, some on indies … to critical acclaim and a decidedly diehard following.”

In a 2001 interview, Brooke held forth on the seismic shift in the music industry brought set in motion by Napster and file sharing. She had a front-row seat to both the “before” and “after” cultures of this shift: “‘… it still breaks my heart that music has been so devalued and I think labels — especially the majors — are the worst culprits at not defending the value of art, of music. And because songs are the easiest, tiniest files to steal at this point, the cat’s out of the bag. But I think it comes down to no one being educated as to what really goes into doing what someone like me does … yeah, there are tons of opportunities and great ways to network and share stuff on the Internet, but it’s hard making a living … you have to seek out gazillions of other revenue streams because records just don’t sell the way they used to.'”

1997’s 10-Cent Wings, an early solo effort, was well reviewed: “ … essential, like taking a deep breath after witnessing something magnificent,” (Billboard). “Glass Half Empty,” a mid-tempo track, is quintessential Brooke: polished musicianship, unpredictable and rangy melodies, a rich harmonic vocabulary, and lyrics that are likely to feed an earworm for days on end. You could search for a frayed edge in Brooke’s songwriting, but instead you’re too engaged in the narrative, the mood, or the shifting textures to even start. The intro and verses are in A minor overall (with a shift in emphasis to C major at times); the chorus throws some grit in the gears, shifting to G minor (1:28). Next is a return to the lighter tread of the interlude and then the next verse at 1:50, both in A minor. The alternating pattern continues from there.

Monster Ceilidh Band | Red Monster

“Monster Ceilidh Band … bring something quite unique to the folk world,’ (BrightYoungFolk). “(They) act as a strong bridge between traditional ideas of folk music and the more modern sounds of dance and techno.

This can sound like a bizarre style to try and adopt, but the simple fact is that it works so well in its context. As the band name alone suggests, the focus is on music you can dance along with. To do this, they simply one-up the use of folk instruments by merging them with sound effects, electric guitar tricks, and other methods of really getting a beat pumping.”

From the band’s own website: “Disc 2 of the Monster Ceilidh Band’s 2011 double-album Mechanical Monster (is) a mix of traditional Folk music and dirty electronic beats … the UK’s first Drum ‘n’ Bass Ceilidh crossover!” Starting in A minor, “Red Monster” shifts into B minor at 0:33 before returning to A minor at 0:49. The alternating pattern continues from there.

David Lanz | Valentine Hill

American pianist and composer David Lanz has released dozens of albums, and this is the title track from his latest record, which came out last February. It begins in D minor, modulates very briefly up to Eb at 1:33, and returns to D minor at 1:42. There is a return to Eb at 2:18, followed by a shift to G minor at 2:28 and a final return to D minor at 2:38.

Barry Manilow | I Made It Through the Rain

“Barry Manilow penned ‘I Made It Through the Rain” with Jack Feldman, Gerard Kenny, Drey Shepperd, and Bruce Howard Sussman. It was the only hit in the US from Manilow’s self-titled Barry album (1980) … it was Manilow’s 11th and final Top 10 hit on the Hot 100. It also peaked at #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart (Songfacts). Gerard Kenny recorded the original version, which had different lyrics, for his 1979 album, Made It Through The Rain. In the liner notes to his 1992 compilation The Complete Collection and Then Some, Manilow recalled how he connected with the song’s message about ‘how musicians struggle to keep their songs safe and sound.’

But after recording it, he was surprised at the lukewarm reaction he received. ‘I would play it for people, assuming that it would move them as much as it had moved me. But it didn’t,’ he explained. That’s when he realized people didn’t want to hear about the obstacles of a profession they couldn’t relate to. So he brought in Feldman and Sussman to help him write new lyrics about everyday struggles. That did the trick, but he still has a soft spot for the original, which he included on The Complete Collection.“

After the tune starts in Bb major, the pre-chorus and chorus hint at stepping out of the key (0:50 and 1:08, respectively) — but then a second verse arrives at 1:50, solidly grounded in Bb. At 2:59, a trademark Manilow descending chromatic instrumental counter-melody alerts us to an important intersection approaching — and indeed, at 3:05, there’s a whole-step key change upward. By this point, the arrangement has grown from soft piano accompaniment to full orchestral swagger.

Anne Murray + Céline Dion | When I Fall in Love

What’s Canadian and sweet? A Tim Horton’s doughnut? Yes, that, and the
voices of Anne Murray and Céline Dion harmonizing on the standard
“When I Fall in Love”.

The song, written by Victor Young and Edward Heyman for the 1952 movie
One Minute to Zero, has become a jazz standard ballad over the years. The tune has had myriad interpretations: Doris Day had a hit version that same year, and Nat “King” Cole recorded his well-known version in 1956. Céline Dion did a version with Clive Griffin for the movie Sleepless in Seattle in 1993, which was also released as a charting single. In 1996, Natalie Cole recorded the song as a virtual duet with her late father, winning a Grammy for her effort.

This live version, appeared on Anne Murray’s 2007 album Duets: Friends & Legends, although it was recorded in 1998 for a DVD release. Murray takes the opening verse in the key of A major. After a climb to D major at 0:54, Dion takes the next verse. The song continues in D, featuring both voices in sweet harmony. At 3:13, there’s a flirtation with F before a return to D at 3:20.

Go West | Don’t Look Down

” … unlike their (UK) peers, the duo didn’t come up through punk or have any connection to the New Romantic scene,” (ClassicPopMag). “As their name alludes, most of their influences were American – Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan and what today would be dubbed ‘yacht rock.’ ‘When punk was happening, we were listening to The Doobie Brothers. We couldn’t have been more out of step with what was going on.'”

The band shopped its demos for years, but caught fire quickly after its first release, also titled Go West (1985). “‘The very first gig with the band was recorded for Radio One In Concert. Then we all got on a bus and went up to play The Tube. Then came the first Top Of The Pops. After that we did this massive show at Yokohama Baseball Stadium with Culture Club, The Style Council and The Associates … Then there was the States – we played Soul Train. I mean, how on earth did they get us on Soul Train?’ The year culminated in the duo picking up Breakthrough Act at the 1986 BRIT Awards.”

“Don’t Look Down,” one of the album’s singles, starts big and stays there. The whimsical (and no doubt expensive!) crane shots played right into the song’s dizzy mood. The track was the last of five singles from the album, which made top 100 on the year-end charts for 1985 in the US, Canada, the UK, much of the rest of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Built in A# major overall, the synth-saturated track shifts to F# mixolydian during the bridge (2:18 – 2:35) before returning to the original key.