Mod of the Day

Stevie Wonder | Please, Please, Please

“Stevie Wonder is a soul music giant, a beloved American icon, and an indisputable genius of popular music,” (AllMusic). “The musician’s heightened awareness of sound — a consequence of his blindness — has helped him create vibrant music teeming with joyous positivity, even when he’s written about heartbreak and addressed issues of race, spirituality, and society in general. Wonder’s recordings are a richly eclectic and singular brew of soul, funk, rock & roll, Broadway/Tin Pan Alley-style pop, jazz, reggae, and African elements. Combined with his elastic voice, peerless melodic facility, gift for complex arrangements, and taste for lovely ballads, his broad appeal over the decades has been unmatched.”

The 1967 album I Was Made to Love Her “was rushed out to capitalize on the success of the title song, which was Wonder’s biggest pop hit since ‘Fingertips, Pt. 2,’ and would not be bettered until ‘Superstition’ in 1972 … There are several contributions from the Wonder team at Motown, covers of other Motown hits, and stabs at sounding like Ray Charles, James Brown, and Otis Redding. At 17, Wonder was becoming both a remarkable mimic, and an original talent on his own.”

Between the prominent piano fills, the layers of female backup singers, and Stevie’s interpretation on lead vocal, it certainly seems that this was the Ray Charles section of the album! At 1:24, at just about the tune’s half-point, a half-step key change hits, followed by another at 1:53.

Ethan Carlson (feat. Kerstin Anderson) | Jericho

Dubbed by Ryan Scott Oliver as “one of the most gifted up-and-coming composer-lyricists I know,” Ethan Carlson’s music has been performed at iconic NYC venues such as Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, and Don’t Tell Mama. “Jericho” is part of Carlson’s show Her Sound, which was performed at the Public Theater last year, and is sung here by cast member Kerstin Anderson. The song begins in Db and modulates up to Eb at 4:12.

Count Basie | Moten Swing

“In the ‘20s and ‘30s Kansas City was a hotbed of jazz, and pianist/bandleader Bennie Moten was at the heart of it,” (JazzStandards.com). “The recordings with his Kansas City Orchestra from 1923 to 1935 document the evolution of his style as he moved from ragtime to jazz in the mid-to late ‘20s, establishing what came to be known as the ‘Kansas City style.’ He began raiding another established K.C. band, Walter Page’s Blue Devils. By the end of the decade Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Hot Lips Page, Eddie Durham and Ben Webster had left the Blue Devils to join Moten. When Moten died suddenly in 1935, Basie took over leadership and the group eventually developed into the Count Basie Orchestra.

In A New History of Jazz, Alyn Shipton describes the development of Moten’s style. ‘Whereas his first discs show a rhythmic stiffness and a debt to ragtime, despite a reliance on the harmonic structure of the blues, he went on to define the loose, blues-influenced style, with a four-bar pulse, which became the predominant local jazz genre, and underpinned the work of later Kansas City bands like those of Count Basie and Jay McShann.’”

Many covers of 1932’s “Moten Swing” exist, but the standard is strongly associated with Basie. After a opening section in Ab major where the piano hearkens back to the light touch that was Basie’s unmistakeable trademark, 1:38 brings an explosive, syncopated modulation to C major. At 1:53, we’ve returned to Ab major for the final A section.

Gary Lewis + the Playboys | This Diamond Ring

“Of all the Gary Lewis and the Playboys’ sixties hits, their first, ‘This Diamond Ring,’ was the biggest,” (Forbes). “It took just six weeks to climb to #1 on the U.S. Billboard 100 chart, on February 20, 1965, knocking The Beatles’ ‘Eight Days A Week’ from the top spot. The tune has since stood the test of time: It is still a staple on classic rock radio stations.”

Lewis remembers how the tune came to be the foundation of his career: “‘We were 19 years old, in college, our first or second year. The band played sorority and fraternity parties for 40 bucks a night. We auditioned at Disneyland, and got a job there in the summer of ’64. Our producer, Snuffy Garrett, was out at the park with his family. He was head of A&R at Liberty Records. After our show, he came backstage to talk about recording. He had (the) song … and asked us to come over to Liberty to tell him what we thought of it. I said sure, but I would have said I liked it no matter what it was. It just happened to be ‘Diamond Ring,’ and we cut it. It stunned the hell out of us … We ended up with seven top-10s in a row. We and The Beach Boys were the only American groups able to stay on the charts during the whole British Invasion.'”

After a start in C minor, the chorus shifts to F# major at 0:22, then pivots up a half-step to the dominant of the original C minor (0:40) and back to the original C minor (0:44). The pattern holds throughout. Quite an upbeat tune in comparison to the sad lyrics! Many thanks to our second-time contributor Dave Mandl for this submission.

Paul McCandless | We Gather Together

Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless plays oboe on this arrangement of the Christian hymn “We Gather Together,” originally written in 1597 and often associated with Thanksgiving Day in the United States. The track is the first cut on the 1998 Windham Hill collection Thanksgiving. It begins in G, and modulates up to A at 2:18.

Aretha Franklin | Border Song

“Border Song” was written by Elton John, appearing on his 1970 eponymous album. Aretha Franklin offered a gospel-tinged version, stretching the melody to new places.

“The song was one of the first Elton John singles released in March 1970. It featured John’s vocals, his strong piano performance, plus a generous gospel-style chorus,” (PopHistoryDig). “However, the song did not chart in the UK. In North America a few months later, it did better. In Canada, it peaked at No. 34, and thereby became Elton John’s first chart appearance in any country. In the U.S., meanwhile, during October 1970, the song broke into the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 92, and No. 69 on the Cash Box chart. But good news on the song was soon to come from another quarter.

… Aretha Franklin decided in 1970 that she wanted to do a cover version of ‘Border Song.’ Aretha was 28 at the time, at the peak of her rising stardom, and involved with civil rights … Although Elton John by then had his American performance debut at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles in late August 1970, the news that Aretha Franklin would be doing a cover of ‘Border Song’ was a big affirmation for both him and Bernie Taupin … knowing what Aretha Franklin’s performance of their song would mean for their newly launched careers.”

The modulation appears at 2:12.

Beatles | Now and Then

“This single feels like a super-human attempt to re-frame the group’s ending,” critic Robin Murray wrote in Clash magazine. “Instead of rancour, unity. Instead of solo competition, studio unity. Instead of losing his friends, finding their voices once more. Maybe it’s the sentimental Beatle-maniac in us, but ‘Now And Then’ feels like something beautiful, something to cherish.”

The track, originally written by John Lennon in 1977, was finally released earlier this month, with Lennon’s voice extracted from his original demo with audio restoration technology. It quickly shot up the charts in countries across the world, and is accompanied by a music video directed by Peter Jackson featuring never-before-seen footage of the group.

The song subtly switches between A minor on the verses and G major for the choruses, with the relative majors of each key being tonicized occasionally as well.

Yusuf / Cat Stevens | Land of Free Love + Goodbye

One of the most prominent singer/songwriters of the 1970s, UK native Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf) had many hits in the first half of that decade, releasing more than one album a year during a brief period. Just as his popularity started to wane a bit, Stevens released Numbers” … subtitled A Pythagorean Theory Tale … based on a fictional planet in a far-off galaxy named Polygor,” (from the liner notes).

“Numbers (1975) sits in a peculiar position in Cat’s back catalogue – the last real attempt at making something ‘new’ and different’ in his ‘first’ career, the last album started from scratch before his conversion to Islam and, most interestingly of all, the only real half-concept/story album in his back catalogue,” (AlansAlbumArchives). “Even when concept albums were all the range at Cat’s peak (1970-73) Cat never made an album like this one, based on one rounded theme (his songs almost always share the same theme but are separate discussions of each topic and sub-topic – he never again takes us on a half-hour journey somewhere like this again).”

After an intro in F# major, the verse tumbles into D major (0:16). At 2:25, an instrumental outro turns around a few times before landing us in B major.

The Tubes | Let’s Make Some Noise

“… I was happy to hear the band cash in on their talent,” (Propography.com). (The band’s 1981 album) “The Completion Backward Principle benefits from good packaging (the band re-envisioned as a business, which wasn’t much of a stretch at this point) and great production from David Foster, who also co-wrote many of the songs. It isn’t a concept album … just a collection of songs that seem to take their inspiration from a bad day of TV programming (are you getting the sense they were watching too much television?): serial killers, giant women, amnesia.

Is The Completion Backward Principle a sellout? The answer probably depends on who you ask. Capitol didn’t bring in David Foster to make another convoluted concept album, yet The Tubes weren’t ready to become Toto 2.0 just yet. That said, lampooning the business side of the music business doesn’t change the fact that The Completion Backward Principle is (good) product.”

The album’s closing track, “Let’s Make Some Noise,” represents the glossiest New Wave/pop edge of the veteran band’s broad sonic range. The synth-heavy arrangement also makes good use of the band’s strong vocal firepower, with nearly all the personnel pitching in on backing vocals behind frontman Fee Waybill’s lead. After an intro and verse in D major, the verse shifts to C# minor (0:43). The pattern holds for verse 2 and chorus 2. At 2:04, the chorus shifts up a whole step to D# minor.

for Eric

This second video shows the band in the full simulated corporate regalia which was the centerpiece of the album’s concept. Album promotion via simulated industrial film(?) Why not?

Backstreet Boys | Never Gone

“Never Gone” is the final track on the Backstreet Boys’ eponymous 2005 album. The record marked a transition for the group from a teen pop style into a more pop/rock, contemporary sound, and is the first album of theirs to exclusively use live instruments. It debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

The intro of the track is in D minor but quickly transitions to F, the relative major, when the vocals enter. There is a modulation up a whole step to G following the brief bridge at 2:43.