Mod of the Day

Duran Duran | The Reflex

“All too often, transformative acts don’t score their first #1 singles until the party is almost over,” (Stereogum). “Duran Duran may have been the peak early-MTV group, the band whose flashy and pouty and colorful visual presence came to stand in for a generational shift in pop-music tastes. Perhaps because of that radical newness, it took a little while for American radio to embrace Duran Duran — or, at least, to embrace them tightly enough that one of their singles finally fought its way to #1. By the time that happened, Duran Duran had already started to bloat, and the giddy charge of their best records had begun to dissipate … already well into their tax-exile phase, spending too much money to overthink their drum sounds and to wonder whether they really wanted to cause any more teenybopper mob scenes …

Readers of this column have informed me that Birmingham, the town that birthed Black Sabbath and Electric Light Orchestra and Dexys Midnight Runners, is not, in fact, a Northern town, that it’s really a Midlands town. But wherever Birmingham exists on the English map, it’s not a particularly glamorous place. Thankfully, nobody told Duran Duran … ” (The band’s third studio album, 1984’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger), “isn’t breezily, gloriously ridiculous, the way that Rio was. Instead, it was ridiculous in some of the wrong ways.”

“The Reflex” begins in G minor, shifting to D major for the chorus (first heard from 1:22 – 1:51. Well, D major … more or less, since at several points during the section, there’s a prominent F major chord. In fact, F major is the final chord of the chorus, functioning as a bVII to the G minor verse as the bass line walks chromatically back up into its original key. As Stereogum summed it up: “… grand, ultra-produced, too big to fail.”

Jacob Collier | Summer Rain

“Now five albums into his career, it’s clear Jacob Collier is a once-in-a-generation musician,” (Undertone). “For anyone that’s been following him since he broke out via harmonically complex a capella covers on YouTube, that’s old news. In reality, it was clear from that very first album – Hideaway, toured solo with Jacob jumping around stage from drums to keys to double bass with the help of a loop pedal – that Collier isn’t like your average singer-songwriter, not even your average jazz musician. He plays everything brilliantly and effortlessly, all with Herculean powers of humility, and has an immense grasp of musical harmony in all its nuances. His insatiable urge to learn new instruments is matched by his appetite for a dizzying array of genres and a rare respect for music in all its nebulous forms: Djesse Vol. 4 (2024) has everything from choral ambience to cinematic pop and oppressive death metal – and that’s just track one. As a result, Djesse Vol. 4 is in turns awe-inspiringly virtuosic and discombobulating, as has Collier’s entire career up to this point.

‘Summer Rain’ is the pick of the ballads, Collier showcasing the depths of his lovesick tenderness before a soaring, delightfully uncomplicated finale that evokes Coldplay in ‘Fix You’ mode. It’s more proof that when Collier can successfully harness his immense talents into developing a single strong idea – like the Hulk trying not to smash everything he holds – the result can be stunning.”

Collier is joined by mandolinist/vocalist Chris Thile (best known for his work with Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek) and singer/songwriter/guitarist Madison Cunningham on vocals. Beginning in D major, the tune runs along a largely uncomplicated course for its first three-plus minutes. At 3:30, a bridge shifts to D minor before dropping into an unexpected C minor (3:58). By 4:29, the tonality has been pulled gradually back to its ultimate resting place — a return to D major.

Many thanks to Ellie D. for submitting this memorable track to MotD — hopefully not her last!

Hall + Oates | Love You Like a Brother

Psychologists say that contempt is the #1 indicator of a future divorce. For anyone wondering why Hall and Oates (the best-selling pop duo of all time) broke up a few years ago, here’s an excerpt from an Popdose interview (September 2009):

“Me (interviewer): You two have been making music together for nearly 40 years. What do you consider to be the secret to your success?

Oates: Well, Daryl and I have a healthy balance of give and—

Hall: (interrupting) Take one-fourth of John and three-fourths of me and you’ve got the winning formula. We’re the Beatles of the post-Woodstock generation, no question. It was the same with them in their day: three-fourths Lennon and McCartney, one-fourth George, and one-fourth Ringo.” …

The interview continued along these lines, with Oates walking out at one point. You do the math.

In any case, “Love You Like a Brother” from 1977’s No Goodbyes, was clearly released during better times. The intro (0:00 – 0:16), in D minor, repeats as an interlude (1:20 – 1:32). But the majority of the tune is in G major.

Pablo Cruise | Love Will Find a Way

“For the longest time I assumed Pablo Cruise took their name from an obscure Mexican revolutionary leader. This is not the case,” (The Vinyl District). “Others assumed there was a guy named Pablo Cruise in the band. This is also not the case. When asked ‘Who’s Pablo Cruise?’ the quartet said simply, ‘He’s the guy in the middle.’ I like a band with a sense of humor and I like Pablo Cruise (in a very small measure) and I am not ashamed.

Robert Christgau of Village Voice fame wrote of Pablo Cruise’s 1975 breakthrough album Lifeline, ‘You can take the Doobie Brothers out of the country, but you can’t turn them into Three Dog Night.’ I haven’t the slightest idea what this means, but I’m pretty sure it’s an insult … But if Pablo Cruise get no respect, that’s not to say they don’t deserve a smallish modicum of the commodity … The Pablo Cruise sound was a melting pot of faux soul, power pop, standard issue Yacht Rock, funk, fusion, Latin music, and New Wave even.” The critics might have panned the tune, but the public loved it: the track reached #6 on the pop charts in 1978.

The intro and verses are built in G mixolydian; the verse melody, given its repeated prominent flatted-seventh degree of the scale, is practically a poster child for the mixolydian mode! The sunnier choruses (first heard from 0:47 – 1:07) are in D major.

Ludwig van Beethoven | Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61

“Ideas for the Violin Concerto (1806) can be found in the same notebook that Ludwig van Beethoven was using for the Fifth Symphony,” (Nashville Symphony). “While the latter required several years to be hammered into being, he produced the concerto in a matter of months, in 1806. But Beethoven did keep his soloist, a friend named Franz Joseph Clement who had been a former prodigy, waiting until the very last minute; he completed the score barely in time for the premiere two days before Christmas.

Beethoven had written his piano concertos up to this time for himself as soloist, but here he tailored this piece to the musical personality of Clement, who was acclaimed for the delicacy and tender refinement of his style—aspects that Beethoven highlights throughout the piece. But for all the celebrity of the soloist, the work did not catch on right away. While not as outwardly radical as the Eroica, the Violin Concerto was path-breaking in its own way and may have disappointed concertgoers expecting a mere display piece. There are few documented performances over the next three decades or so, and the Violin Concerto had to wait for such advocates as Joseph Joachim.”

After beginning in D major, the orchestra shifts with a sudden burst of increased volume (1:02) to D minor. Many more shifts occur throughout, but this one takes place before the violin soloist’s part even begins. This frequently-programmed piece is quickly recognizable — even from this introductory section alone.

Jackson 5 | Mama’s Pearl

“Let’s go back to the end of the 60s. Motown needed to modernize their sound. The company had been showing its first hairline fractures as public mores shifted to albums rather than the singles on which it had built its reputation,” (BBC). “But then, the Jackson 5 came along and became the label’s big thing for the new decade. Well drilled in performance for several years previously, they burst on to the world stage with eagerness and vitality – and genuine youth.”

“‘Mama’s Pearl’ was the fifth single released by the Jackson 5 and the first release by the boys for 1971. 1970 proved to be the year of success for the Jackson 5.” (J5 Collector). “With four back-to-back number one hits, three top pop albums, numerous TV appearances, and a successful tour, what more could the boys ask for?” Here’s the most profoundly 70s pop trivia you’ll see today: “Mama’s Pearl” was kept from the #1 slot on the pop charts by the Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple”!

The intro is initially in F major, with a second section in Ab major, complete with an eighth-note walking bass pattern so compelling that it could drive the whole tune by itself. At 1:19, there’s a shift back to the original key as the verse starts. The alternating pattern continues from there.

Renaissance | Touching Once (Is So Hard to Keep)

Renaissance is a prog rock band which frequently has amibtions which were symphonic in scope. Founded in the late 1960s, it’s been intermittently active through the present day; in fact, it’s currently on tour as of this writing! Its sound has centered primarily around the voice of Annie Haslam.

“Their album Prologue, released in 1972, (featured) extended instrumental passages and soaring vocals by Haslam,” (AllMusic). “Their breakthrough came with their next record, Ashes Are Burning, issued in 1973 … their next record, Turn of the Cards … had a much more ornate songwriting style and was awash in lyrics that alternated between the topical and the mystical. The group’s ambitions were growing faster than its audience, which was concentrated on America’s East Coast, especially in New York and Philadelphia — Scheherazade (1975) was built around a 20-minute extended suite for rock group and orchestra that dazzled the fans but made no new converts … The band’s next two albums, Novella and A Song for All Seasons, failed to find new listeners; as the 1970s closed out, the group was running headlong into the punk and new wave booms that made them seem increasingly anachronistic and doomed to cult status.” Several breakups and revivals followed over the next decades.

“Touching Once (Is So Hard to Keep),” a track from Novella (1977), starts with a short intro in E minor before settling into a verse in B minor (0:09). Plenty of quickly passing keys of the moment, further adorned and obscured with plentiful chromaticism, lead us to the next notable shift in tonality at the chorus (1:10), which starts in F major. 1:35 brings us back to the next verse in B minor. Pace yourself: the 9.5 minute track unfolds from there with an extended midsection loaded with twists and turns, then unfolds some more before ending with a half-time restatement of some of the opening sections.

Utopia | Mated

“Todd Rundgren’s music has always been an acquired taste. His chart hits have felt like flukes, strange cracks in the system,” (PopShifter). “You aren’t supposed to know who Todd Rundgren is. He leads a cult that resides so far underground, they may as well be Morlocks. One of the reasons for this status is Rundgren’s musical twitchiness. He jumps from style to style, from Philly white-boy blues to synth-pop, from down and dirty rock and roll to salsa. Never knowing what he’ll do next is exciting for some, laborious for others.

In the late Seventies, Rundgren formed a band called Utopia. It was designed to be his big foray into progressive rock, exploring grand concepts and incorporating deep philosophical lyrics. As it gradually shrank from seven members to four, Utopia became one of the sharpest New Wave bands of its time, delivering perfect three-minute pop songs, deliciously textured with soaring, shifting harmonies. Utopia was never as gritty as The Cars or as raunchy as Blondie. It’s feasible to consider them as a bridge between New Wave and the New Romantics, with their ‘Shape of Things to Come’ fashion sense and lyrics ranging from sweet to snappy.”

1985’s POV featured cover art with a theme of military world domination; unfortunately, that was a concept completely at odds with reality. As the band faced flagging sales and the confusion and frustration of sustained troubles with several floundering and even failing boutique record labels, the album became Utopia’s last. “Mated” begins with a verse in F minor; the first chorus (0:52) shifts to Eb major. That pattern continues through the second verse and chorus; from 2:32-2:55, the bridge climbs to a new chorus in F major.

Herman Griffin | True Love

“Herman Griffin was a dynamic live performer who would wow audiences with his outrageous physical dances; his jumps, splits, somersaults and back-flips not only captivated the crowds in the predominantly white clubs he played, but also caught the attention of Berry Gordy, who wrote a song for him in 1958 (‘I Need You’).” (Motown Junkies). “Gordy also provided an ‘in’ for Griffin to cut another single with Berry’s big sister Gwen’s label Anna Records in 1959 (at the time, a bigger and more successful label than Tamla or Motown), and finally produced and released this single on Tamla in 1960.

… Griffin turns in a likeable enough slice of late-Fifties rock ‘n’ roll, with some excellent guitar work courtesy of composer Don Davis, later Johnny Taylor’s intuitive producer at Stax and Columbia … The song is poorly produced – as happened with Smokey Robinson on the first version of the Miracles’ Shop Around, his delivery is too forceful and too loud for the primitive recording technology available in Hitsville Studio A to cope, causing massive amounts of hiss and distortion. Either that, or he was just far too close to the microphone. … Griffin would go on to record one more Motown single, Sleep (Little One), in 1962, spending two more years as part of the label’s live show setup … “

Starting in Bb major, the 1962 track shifts to the relative G minor for the bridge between 1:10 – 1:33. Then just like that, this early Motown-era miniature is over, with a total run time of only 2:13!

21 Guns (from “American Idiot”)

“When young dirtbag punk trio Green Day signed to a major label in 1994, their first album, Dookie, captured the small pleasures of a disconnected working-class youth that was fast running out of options,” (The Guardian). “Their songs about getting high, jerking off and defiantly refusing to participate in the system were relatable and catchy – pleasingly melodic with 1950s doo-wop influences, coupled with California punk-style bass and drums. Pop-punk would later explode as a genre, in part to emulate Green Day’s singable raucousness.

Their ideas back then were scattershot, more informed by feeling than sociopolitical thought. But 10 years later, the band found their political voice and released their manifesto: American Idiot. Billed as a “rock opera”, the album was a sophisticated, horrified portrait of America in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the conservative Bush presidency, and rapidly disappearing opportunities for those living close to America’s poverty line. American Idiot was a smash, selling 15 million records – and in 2010, a stage adaptation landed on Broadway. The album’s driving rock structure was coupled with songs from Green Day’s next album, 21st Century Breakdown, and caressed into soaring, edgy vocal arrangements and new orchestrations by the band and composer Tom Kitt, whose musical Next to Normal picked up a Pulitzer prize that same year.”

The original “21 Guns,” released on 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown, was written in one key throughout. But the Broadway version, while built around the same repeating melodic phrases and lyrics-forward delivery, features several changes in tonality. Starting in G minor, the tune shifts (after two verses and a chorus in the relative Bb major performed by female vocalists) to D minor as Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong takes the reins. For the second chorus, the key flips over to the relative F major at 2:34. More key changes follow throghout.

The original video by the band is included after the cast version from the 2010 stage producion, below.