Elise

The Style Council | You’re the Best Thing

“In 1982, Paul Weller disbanded The Jam at the height of their popularity, citing a desire to pivot toward using a more soulful approach to his music,” (Albumism). “He felt The Jam were stuck in a rut and not growing as a band. Bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Ric Buckler did not share this opinion and the split took them by surprise. To this day, Buckler and Weller are not on speaking terms.

In 1983, Weller enlisted keyboard player Mick Talbot, who previously had stints in Dexys Midnight Runners and The Merton Parkas to form The Style Council. To round out the lineup, The Style Council used a rotation of studio musicians and guest stars like Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt from Everything But the Girl, forming a unit known as the Honorary Councilors. With this new group, Weller was able to branch out and experiment with soul, jazz and pop in a way which was not possible with The Jam.

‘You’re the Best Thing’ is The Style Council’s homage to the ‘70s soul, slow jam era. It borrows themes from popular R&B songs from the previous decade and puts Weller’s spin on it.” After an intro and two breezy verses in E major, 1:18 brings a whole-step shift upwards to F# major. At 1:41, an interlude returns us to E major. The pattern continues from there.

Tavares | Don’t Take Away the Music

When asked to name the Soul Music supergroups of the ’70s and early ’80s, folks tend to gravitate to familiar names such as Earth, Wind and Fire, the Spinners, the Commodores and the Isley Brothers,” (Soul Tracks). “However, five brothers from New Bedford, Massachusetts – Ralph, Tiny, Chubby, Butch, and Pooch Tavares – created some of the most consistently high quality soul music of that period.”

Tavares’ hits (“It Only Takes a Minute,” “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel,” and “Don’t Take Away the Music”) are all likely more familiar to listeners than the name of the group that recorded them. But a cover of the Bee Gees’ “More Than A Woman” was included on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, “giving the group its greatest exposure ever (as well as its only Grammy award) but bringing with it a label that Tavares would spend years trying to shake – that of ‘Disco Group.’ … In a decade that highlighted so many groups, from the last Detroit days of Motown to the arrival of hot sounds in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, the Tavares brothers proved themselves to be incredibly versatile, effectively covering all of those sounds … Their wonderful harmonies and consistently strong selection of material made every one of their albums a keeper.”

The Cape Verdean-American group released “Don’t Take Away the Music” in 1976. The brothers’ vocal blend takes center stage throughout the tune. The track’s 6:12 run time was unusually long, even during a period of influence of disco sensibilities over pop music; the leisurely length of the track results in a mid-point half-step key change rather than an outro at 3:04.

The Beau Brummels | Laugh Laugh

Hard to believe, but an American band at the heart of the Beatles sound-alike trend of the mid-60s received a substantial favor from Sly Stone (later the frontman of the Sly and the Family Stone band). “Sly Stone’s first taste of national notoriety began at the tender age of 19 when he produced the moody 1965 pop single, ‘Laugh, Laugh,’ for the San Mateo folk-rock band the Beau Brummels.” (Rolling Stone Australia). “As a teen guitarist, Stone’s various gigs around San Francisco lead him to cross paths with Autumn Records’ Tom Donahue, who gave the budding talent a shot at producing. ‘Laugh, Laugh’ was one of Sly’s first efforts; by early 1965, it had climbed into the Top 20.

As Ben Fong-Torres said of the single in 1970: ‘Sly had produced the very first rock & roll hits out of … a city then known for little more than Johnny Mathis and Vince Guaraldi.’ The ‘San Francisco Sound’ would soon be in full bloom, but here Sly was planting the seeds early on.”

“Laugh Laugh,” which Sly co-wrote with Ron Elliott, begins with a verse in G# minor. At 0:45, the pre-chorus works its way through a segment of the circle of fifths, landing in E major for the very short chorus (1:00). The pattern continues with another verse at 1:07. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this music time capsule!

Young Gun Silver Fox | Kids

“Musical chemistry is a rare, intangible thing. However, for Andy Platts and Shawn Lee, the creative force behind Young Gun Silver Fox, the unmalleable, unspoken connection that gives their work such a unique and distinctive sound was apparent from their first experiences together in a studio,” (Glide Magazine). “Alongside their now decade-plus-long tenure as Young Gun Silver Fox, both have already received plaudits for their creative excursions.

American-born, UK-based musician Shawn Lee (is known for) his extensive catalog of recordings with the likes of Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra and his well-received solo albums, as well as a go-to award-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist for the likes of Hannah Williams and Joel Culpepper.” The multi-talented UK-born Andy Platts is “chief songwriter and leader of much loved Brit-soul sensations Mamas Gun. He’s also clocked up many songwriting collaborations with legends such as Rod Temperton and Brian Jackson.”

YGSF’s compact release “Kids” (2020) beings in D major, shimmies through a short but dynamic bridge at 2:06, and lands in E major at 2:24.

Ella Fitzgerald | Tea for Two

“’Tea for Two’ was introduced … in the Broadway musical, No, No, Nanette, which opened on September 16, 1925 … ” (JazzStandards.com). “The song was known to the public well before its official introduction, as the pre-Broadway run of No, No, Nanette was so successful in Chicago that its producer, Harry Frazee, let it play there for over a year. Although sentimental, operetta-like lyrics were fading in popularity in the early 1900s, they had not completely fallen from favor by 1924, especially in Broadway musicals. But by the middle 1900s, songs like ‘Tea for Two,’ thought to be corny and dated, were relegated to novelty tune status. A case in point: ‘Tea for Two’ was the number Doc Severinsen’s Band would play while Johnny Carson broke into a soft-shoe dance when a joke or skit failed.

Saving the song from extinction, and responsible for its popularity as a jazz standard, is the repetitive and energetic nature of Vincent Youmans’ composition. Its refrain is almost entirely dotted quarter and eighth notes; its narrow range is just over one octave; and the bridge is almost not a bridge, repeating the main theme in a different key.”

Ella Fitzgerald’s version with Count Basie’s band (1963) starts in F major; the AAAB tune travels up to A major for its second A section (heard for the first time between 0:27 – 0:41) before reverting to the original key.

George Benson | Lady Love Me

“Simply one of the greatest guitarists in jazz history, George Benson is an amazingly versatile musician whose adept skills find him crossing easily between straight-ahead jazz, smooth jazz, and contemporary R&B. Blessed with supreme taste, a beautiful, rounded guitar tone, terrific speed, a marvelous sense of logic in building solos, and, as always, an unquenchable urge to swing, Benson’s inspirations may have been Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, but his style is completely his own.

Not only can he play lead brilliantly, he is also one of the best rhythm guitarists around; and works often as a sideman. He’s a dangerous swinger, particularly in a soul-jazz format; skills he first got attention for as a member of Brother Jack McDuff’s band in the early ’60s. Benson can also sing in a lush, soulful tenor with mannerisms similar to those of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway. In a sense, he is the guitar-playing equivalent of Nat King Cole, a fantastic instrumentalist whose smooth way with a pop vocal helped solidify his prowess in the marketplace.” It’s not surprising to read that Benson started his career in his native Pittsburgh not as a guitarist, but as a vocalist!

Benson’s funk-infused up-tempo 1983 single “Lady Love Me” starts in F# minor, lifts to A minor at 2:36, and finally ascends just before the fadeout to F minor at 3:31.

Dougie MacLean | Solid Ground

“Dougie MacLean, originally famed for writing the song ‘Caledonia’, has built an international reputation as songwriter, composer and extraordinary performer on his own terms,” (artist website). “He’s taken his performance to concerts and festivals all over the world and to the stages of Carnegie Hall in New York, London’s Festival Theatre, and the Sydney Opera House. Other appearances of note include sharing the stage with Lou Reed and Eddi Reader in the grounds of Culzean Castle at the Burns and A’ That festival, featuring on the BBC Hogmanay programme from Edinburgh Castle with James Taylor, and sharing the bill with the legendary Mavis Staples at Glasgow‘s Royal Concert Hall.

He has received two prestigious Tartan Clef Awards, a place in the Scottish Music Hall of Fame, a Lifetime Achievement Award from BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and an Order of the British Empire award.”

MacLean’s 1988 tune “Solid Ground” is built primarily in G minor, but shifts to C minor at 4:05 as the vocal ends and a pipes solo closes out the track.

Neil Sedaka | The Hungry Years

“From ‘Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen’ to ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do,’ Neil Sedaka drew on a seemingly endless well of onomatopoeic hooks to enliven his early rock-and-roll records, leaving no Tra-la-la or do-be-doo untouched.” (The Second Disc). “The Juilliard-trained musician and native of Brooklyn, New York was one of the relatively rare few rockers of his generation equally adept at both performing and songwriting. As active members of Don Kirshner’s Aldon Music stable (alongside Carole King and Gerry Goffin as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil!), Sedaka and his frequent lyricist Howard Greenfield turned out one tune after another for a great number of famous artists including Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, and Little Anthony and the Imperials.”

“During his lifetime, Sedaka, who died Feb. 27 in Los Angeles at age 86, translated his craft into beloved Billboard chart hits, including three #1s among nine top 10s as a recording artist on the Billboard Hot 100,” (Billboard). “He totaled 30 entries on the chart overall as a singer, from 1958 to 1980, 26 of which he co-wrote, the bulk with writing partner Howard Greenfield (who passed in 1986). Sedaka co-penned all of his top 10s.”

In addition to writing “Love Will Keep Us Together” (released by Sedaka but later made famous by Captain + Tenille), “Bad Blood” (featuring Elton John), “Laughter in the Rain,” and other hits from his earlier years, Sedaka continued to release albums of his own while writing for other artists.

The Sedaka/Greenfield ballad “The Hungry Years,” a track from the 1975 album of the same title, was released on Elton John’s Rocket Records. Beginning in A major, the track shifts to C major for its second verse and the following chorus (0:35). At 1:58, there’s a return of A major for the next verse. The pattern continues from there. Though something of an also-ran upon its release, the track subsequently became one of most requested tunes at Sedaka’s shows. Sedaka’s distinctive, expressive tenor leads us through a nostalgia-saturated love story. While the arrangement is sweetened by strings, Sedaka’s piano remains central — easily conjuring up his early career in the Brill Building. RIP to a master singer/songwriter — who gave meaning to that term long before its heyday in the 1970s!

The Miracles | Love Machine

The United States turned 200 years old in 1976, and as the bicentennial celebrations ramped up that spring and summer, the music scene was in the middle of a seismic shift,” (Parade). “February 1976 captured American pop music at a crossroads—disco was exploding onto the mainstream charts, soft rock still had a firm grip on radio and the remnants of early ’70s soul were making their last stand before the decade’s second half changed everything. Fifty years later, the songs that climbed the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1976 tell the story of that cultural moment. Some became enduring classics that still get airplay today. Others were brilliant flashes that defined the era before fading into oldies rotation.

Smokey Robinson had left The Miracles five years earlier, but the group proved they didn’t need their legendary founder to craft hits. ‘Love Machine’ became one of their biggest successes, reaching #5 and introducing a more funk-influenced sound than their Motown classics from the ’60s. The song’s mechanized, almost robotic concept of romance felt perfectly timed for the disco era. Lead singer Billy Griffin stepped confidently into Robinson’s formidable shoes, delivering a performance that helped the track become one of 1976’s most memorable dance hits.”

The tune’s form starts with a chorus in a slightly uptuned D minor, followed by a verse in the same key. 0:34 brings a pre-chorus which touches on D major, but leads back to the chorus in the original key (0:47). But it’s the wordless sing-along break (first heard from 1:00 – 1:14) that really leans into D major; the pattern continues from there. Yes, the sections really are that short — this tune moves fast!

Midnight Oil | Beds Are Burning

“Australian rock ’n’ roll band Midnight Oil broke into the U.S. charts with an explosive single from their album Diesel and Dust. ‘Beds Are Burning’ was powerful on every level: musically, politically, sonically, even visually,” (MixOnline). “In fact, anyone who had an ear to the modern rock radio format in 1988 can almost certainly name this song in three notes: Those effected horn-and-drum blasts make an unforgettable intro. Midnight Oil were already a huge band in Australia before they made Diesel and Dust. They had put out three Top 10 albums and had gained popularity as well as notoriety for their political activism. The lyrics of ‘Beds Are Burning’ demand reparations to Australia’s Pintupi people, who—like Native Americans in the United States—had been relocated and marginalized by whites: ‘The time has come/To say fair’s fair/To pay the rent/To pay our share.’

Midnight Oil was a band with a message as well as ambition, and they enlisted the help of producer Warne Livesey—who had already achieved significant success with The The and Julian Cope, among others—to help take their sounds to a larger audience. ‘We spent a long time with them sending me demos and having conversations about the direction of the record … (It) was one of the last songs they wrote for the album; it was in the last batch of demos they sent me. That demo didn’t have any verse lyrics on it, but it did have the chorus, and it was very long—a jam. I responded immediately to that absolutely first-rate, killer, hook-y chorus with a great lyrical message.'”

After a gradual intro, the verse and pre=chorus are in E major. The iconic 3-note horn line announces the epic chorus in E minor at 1:13. At 1:58, E major returns for the next verse and the pattern continues from there.