“Stable Girl” is featured in Joel & Julia‘s Haunted Holiday Singalong, a variety special which premieres and is available on-demand online tomorrow. “They’ve been awoken from permanent sleep by Santa and they’ve found themselves in a cabin owned by the Christmas Witch,” says the website describing the show. “They find out that the Christmas Witch’s clams have lost their dingle bongle (aka. Christmas Spirit) and they set out on a musical journey to help them get their dingle bongle back.”
The track begins in Ab and modulates up a half step to A at 2:47. Thanks to long-time MotD fan and first-time contributor Leah Pye for this find!
MotD mainstay Jacob Collier’s arrangement of “In the Bleak Midwinter,” originally written by Gustav Holst based on a poem by 19th century English poet Christina Rossetti, is a modulatory feast. While the melody is mostly still discernible amidst the dense harmonic texture, there is extensive reharmonization.
Grammy-nominated and songwriter pianist Jim Brick released a new holiday collection titled A Very Merry Christmas in October, and is currently on a nationwide tour performing selection from the album. “When It Snows,” featuring vocalist Matt Doyle is the opening track; it begins in G and dramatically modulates up a third to B at 2:51.
The Backstreet Boys released their first Christmas album, A Very Backstreet Christmas, in October. The record debuted in the #1 spot on the Billboard Holiday Album chart and #17 on the Billboard 200 chart. “Silent Night” is the ninth track and features an unorthodox modulation from Eb up to Ab at 1:41
“What Christmas Means to Me,” written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy, has been covered by artists ranging from Stevie Wonder to Jessica Simpson to Train. English singer Joss Stone released the tune as her first single for her 2022 Christmas album Merry Christmas, Love. It modulates from C up to Db at 1:50.
American singer Thomas Rhett released his first holiday music, the EP Merry Christmas, Y’all last October. This is the second track, and modulates from D up a half step to Eb at 2:11.
Switchfoot, a Grammy-winning band based in San Diego, CA, have released twelve studio albums. “Hometown Christmas,” which also features the rock band Needtobreathe, is the final track on the group’s first Christmas record, This is Our Christmas Album, which was released last month. The tune begins in C, modulates up to D at 1:59, and returns to C at 2:44.
“…traversing a broad musical landscape from pop to soul to folk to jazz, (Roberta Flack) is the only solo artist to win the Grammy Award Record of the Year for two consecutive years: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face won the 1973 Grammy and Killing Me Softly with His Song won the 1974 Grammy,” (RobertaFlack.com).
“Classically trained on the piano from an early age, Ms. Flack received a music scholarship at age 15 to attend Howard University. Discovered while singing at the Washington, DC nightclub Mr. Henry’s by jazz musician Les McCann, she was immediately signed to Atlantic Records. With a string of hits, including The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Where Is the Love (a duet with former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway), Killing Me Softly With His Song, Feel Like Makin’ Love, The Closer I Get to You, Tonight I Celebrate My Love, and Set the Night to Music, Roberta Flack has inspired countless artists with her musical brilliance and honesty … In 2020, Ms. Flack received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.” Over the past few years, the singer has been affected by ALS disease and is no longer able to perform.
Flack’s 1988 album Oasis features an exhaustive list of heavy-hitting studio musicians; the title track boasts bassist Marcus Miller and alto saxophonist David Sanborn. The tune reached #13 on the Adult Contemporary chart and topped the US Hot R+B/Hiphop chart in early 1989 — rather unusual, given its long run time of more than six minutes. Starting in C major, the track shifts to Ab major for the chorus at 1:13 before reverting to C major for the next verse at 1:34. That pattern continues throughout as the expansive tune grants Sanborn plenty of running room for solos and the extended outro unwinds a African-themed backing vocals feature.
“One of the most popular fusion and light jazz groups to emerge during the 1980s, Flim & the BBs comprised bassist Jimmy “Flim” Johnson, keyboardist Billy Barber, percussionist Billy Berg, and reeds player Dick Oatts. Debuting in 1982 with the album Tricycle, Flim & the BBs’ fusion sound proved ideally suited for the onset of the compact disc boom; they were among the first artists to record utilizing digital technology, and albums like 1985’s Big Notes and 1987’s Neon quickly found a following not only among contemporary jazz fans but also among tech-heads.” (AllMusic). The group continued to release albums until 1992.
In producing 1982’s Tricycle, “because of the ‘direct-to-disc’ setup (recording directly onto a lacquer platter) the band was required to play the entire LP side without stopping and without being able to do any editing afterward. When the resulting acetate disc was deemed inferior in sound quality to the digital master tape, the LP record was pressed from that digital backup tape, making it the second-ever U.S. commercially available digital recording. Since the machine used was a one-of-a-kind prototype, built before any digital recording standards were established — and dismantled within months — there is currently no way to reissue that first album on either LP or CD.” (from Tricycle‘s liner notes).
“On the Avenue,” built around a swaggering reggae-tinged groove and what appears to be an excellent sense of humor among the band, starts in G minor. At 2:29, a section that sounds an awful lot like a second intro shifts up to Ab, despite the saxophone’s lower register making the modulation feel more like a descending one. 3:35 brings a suddenly groove-less bridge and a shift of tonality to F# mixolydian; 3:49 brings another change, this time to D minor. 4:02 returns to G minor, as well as the groove.
Tommy James, along with his band, The Shondells, scored a Billboard #4 in 1967 with the just-over-2-minutes bubblegum rocker “I Think We’re Alone Now”. The song, written by Ritchie Cordell (who also co-wrote another Shondells hit, “Mony Mony”), stuck to one key throughout.
Over 50 years later, in 2019, James reprised the song on his album Alive, featuring only acoustic guitar and background vocals, and a much slower tempo. Missing in this version are the percussive “heartbeats” from the original, perhaps because at this tempo, they would be suggestive of brachycardia. James’ voice, perhaps sweetened by a touch of autotune, is really the highlight here.
The song starts in A; in addition to some subtle re-harmonization here and there, it features an elegant modulation to C at 2:18.
modulationoftheday.home.blog 