Elise – Page 2

Tavito | Tua Ramalhete

“One of the members of Som Imaginário, a band organized to back Milton Nascimento in the ’70s and which also accompanied Gal Costa and other artists, Tavito had his song ‘Hey Man’ (with Zé Rodrix) successfully recorded by the group on its first LP. In 1973 he became a music producer,” (AllMusic). “In 1979 he recorded his first solo album, Tavito, followed by two others recorded before 1982. His biggest hit was ‘Casa no Campo’ (with Zé Rodrix), recorded by Elis Regina in 1971, and ‘Rua Ramalhete’ (with Ney Azambuja)” in 1979.

In the central Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte is a street called Rua Ramalhete (Bouquet Street). The area is well known for its romantic setting, where couples often stroll in the evenings. Tavito lived nearby; a plaque recognizing his work has been placed on a wall overlooking the street.

Online information about Tavito is sparse, but the same can’t be said for his arrangements! After “Tua Ramalhete” starts in E minor, 0:37 brings a pre-chorus leading to a chorus at 0:56 in C# major and a harmonically meandering interlude. At 1:36, E minor returns for another verse. The pattern continues from there. Many thanks to our frequent contributor, Julianna A. from Brazil, for submitting this beautiful tune!

Wang Chung | To Live and Die in L.A.

“… A strong case can be made that To Live and Die in LA is (director William) Friedkin’s masterpiece … Friedkin (director of The French Connection and The Exorcist) gave the British pop group, Wang Chung, near free rein and the results chime perfectly with the gritty neon tinted vision of a city enslaved by Reagan era greed,” (Sense of Cinema). “The title track lays down the unsparing tone in the pre-credit opening. A presidential motorcade moves through the sun scorched streets towards a Beverly Hills hotel. Cut to night time; President Reagan can be heard giving a speech advocating tax cuts to a well-heeled banquet room crowd as his security team warily moves through the hotel …

With its fatalistic lyrics (‘I wonder why we waste our lives here / When we could run away to paradise / But I am held in some invisible vise’), the title track is not so much a love theme as a requiem for the casualty rate that ensues in the film. The song makes clear that Los Angeles in the mid-‘80s is a place whose glamour is out of reach for most inhabitants, but addictive all the same … Wang Chung’s music makes the film’s resonance with the grotesque Malthusian tenor of Trump’s America all the more haunting, but mercifully tinged with a hint of grace and absolution.”

Within the overall bounds of 1980s pop, the film’s atmospheric theme song “To Live and Die in LA” (1985) couldn’t be much more different from Wang Chung’s marquee hits (the relentlessly energetic “Dance Hall Days” and “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”). The intro starts in F minor and transitions to a verse in Bb minor (0:32), punctuated by a rapid-fire, percussive keyboard hook. After a grand pause grants us a moment to breathe, a gentler chorus begins at 1:09, shifting among several tonalities. At 1:31, the pattern repeats with another verse, followed by another chorus at 2:16. In the middle of an interlude (2:42), the track climbs up a whole step to G minor, for another verse and chorus (3:05). From 3:27 to the track’s end, we’ve returned back to the original F minor for an outro/chorus.

Journey On (from “Ragtime”)

“A turn-of-the-century tale of race, class, and hope … Set at the dawn of the 20th century, Ragtime intertwines the lives of three families in pursuit of the American Dream,” (Show-Score.com). “Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Black pianist, and his beloved Sarah navigate a society rife with racial tensions. Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia, seeks a better life for his daughter amidst the challenges of assimilation. Meanwhile, a white upper-class family grapples with their own evolving ideals. Their stories converge, painting a vivid portrait of a nation on the cusp of change.” The musical was composed by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally. Based a novel of the same name (1975) by E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime initially opened on Broadway in 1998. The show has enjoyed several revivals, including a current Broadway run.

“As the characters’ lives collide, a world wracked by racism, anti-immigrant hate, social inequality, and violence comes into unsettling view,” (New York Theatre Guide). “You don’t have to squint to see Ragtime’s enduring relevance. That’s a great thing about the show, though not about the state of current events.”

After a protracted spoken intro, the melody of “Journey On” begins at 0:58 in E major. At 1:36, a shift up a whole step to F# major underscores a change in the storytelling’s focus, then again upward to G# major at 3:13.

Commodores | Won’t You Come Dance With Me

“Known as Zoom in the UK, the Commodores’ eponymous fifth LP … very much a transitional work, highlighting the greasy southern funk that the group so ably practiced before pianist and saxophonist Lionel Richie firmly took centre stage.” The album included the hits “Brick House” and “Easy” and “was a huge hit in the US, setting the Commodores fair for their chart-topping scene stealing as the 70s became the 80s,” (BBC). “In the UK, the reaction was a little more muted. However, ‘Easy’ paved the way for ‘Three Times a Lady’ and ‘Still,’ and Lionel Richie’s unshakeable place as a favourite artist of millions.”

“The fifth album by the first self-contained band signed by Motown at the start of the 1970s,” (Motown.com). “Commodores became the first of the Commodores’ three consecutive Top 3 albums on the pop charts during 1977-78 … (it) spent a year among the Billboard best-sellers, including eight weeks at Number One on the R&B rankings. The Commodores graduated into Motown’s biggest group during the second half of the ’70s, not least due to their creative collaboration with record producer James Anthony Carmichael, and the astute leadership of their manager, Benny Ashburn. ‘One reason we’ve been successful is that we treat it like a business,’ Ashburn once told Billboard. ‘After a show, people will come up and ask, Where’s the party? It’s all right to have fun, but every day when people go to work, do they party? The guys have to get rest to do it tomorrow in the next town. If you treat it as a business, it will treat you well.'”

“Won’t You Come Dance With Me,” adorned with plenty of shifts in texture and groove, pivots among several closely-related keys. After a short intro and a chorus-first section in E major, A major at 0:25 and F# minor at 0:58 are also visited before the pattern repeats at 1:19 with an intro-mirroring interlude and another chorus.

The Supremes | Who’s Lovin’ You

“The legacy of The Supremes is so firmly established today — from the group’s influence on fashion, to music, to Broadway musicals and films — that is seems impossible to imagine a time when it didn’t exist,” (Diana Ross Project). “From 1964 until the end of the decade, The Supremes would become the savior of American music, almost single-handedly defending a corner of the industry from the British Invasion while conquering the rest of the world through sell-out tours and hit singles. The group’s astounding string of a dozen number one singles (racked up in just five years) is something modern pop acts still struggle to match, and those hits continue to win over audiences though appearances in movies, commercials, and through radio airplay and album reissues.

But success wasn’t overnight for Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard (and, in the beginning, Barbara Martin) … after signing with Motown Records, the group suffered through eight lackluster singles before finally striking gold with ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ in 1964. The earliest of those singles were collected and released as Meet The Supremes in late 1962, an album that’s basically a patchwork of songs recorded during various sessions at the beginning of the decade … Perhaps the most recognizable song on Meet The Supremes, ‘Who’s Lovin’ You’ is a widely covered Smokey Robinson tune first recorded by The Miracles in 1960. This was one of the earliest songs recorded by The Supremes at Motown; it had been placed on the b-side of the group’s second single, “Buttered Popcorn,” released in 1961 on Tamla (the single failed to chart) … it’s raw and imperfect, dominated by a high, ‘go-for-broke’ lead vocal by Diana Ross over a bluesy, oil-smudged track … Diana was still a high school student when the song was recorded.”

Built in F major overall, the tune shifts briefly to the relative D minor during its bridge (1:20 – 1:50) before returning to the original key.

Plush | Soaring and Boring

“Liam Hayes is an accidental perfectionist. In hindsight, the Chicago-bred/Milwaukee-based songwriter’s disjointed two-decade trajectory — under his nom de pop Plush and, now, his birth name — was pretty much spelled out in the title of his early signature “Soaring and Boring”: high expectations followed by agonizingly long periods of inactivity,” (Pitchfork). “On the surface, Hayes’ backstory boasts all the hallmarks of a contrarian eccentric genius, whether he was answering the orch-pop promise of Plush’s splendorous 1994 debut single “Three-Quarters Blind Eyes”/”Found a Little Baby” with 1998’s starkly somber solo-piano effort More You Becomes You; tinkering with the symphono-soul follow-up Fed so much he had to release it in two different versions; or issuing certain albums in Japan only. But the uncommon lags between albums have mostly been a factor of Hayes losing his money rather than his mind, and trying to find sympathetic label backers to support a vision of tastefully constructed, soft-focus pop music that’s always been out of step with both mainstream and underground orthodoxies.”

“While it’s hip for contemporary pop acts to toss out Burt Bacharach’s name as an influence, few even remotely approximate the master’s melodic savvy, emotional resonance and simple elegance; Plush’s Liam Hayes comes much closer to the mark, with his debut More You Becomes You — an intimate, often gorgeous collection of piano ballads — recalling the handful of solo records Bacharach cut during the late 1960s,” (AllMusic). “Gentle yet disarming, the record’s only hint of irony is in its title — Hayes smartly favors a less-is-more approach, stripping his music of virtually everything but piano and vocals; both are more than adequate to convey the somber beauty which lends the album its seductive powers.”

Starting in A minor, “Soaring and Boring” (1998) drifts down to Ab minor at the 0:17 mark before rebounding at 0:26. The alternating pattern continues until 0:44, when the track settles into a longer patch of G minor during the chorus. More harmonic shifts continue from there.

Many thanks to regular contributor Ari S. for yet another distinctive submission to MotD!

Limahl | Neverending Story

“In 1983, Limahl was abruptly, unceremoniously fired as the lead singer of Kajagoogoo, only a few months after the British new wave band had scored a massive hit with ‘Too Shy.’ But the following year … Limahl met super-producer Giorgio Moroder at the Tokyo Music Festival and was invited to test his voice on Moroder’s theme song for the epic fantasy film The NeverEnding Story.” (Yahoo Entertainment). “And a new chapter began. ‘The NeverEnding Story’ ended up being Limahl’s only major worldwide solo hit, but it has stood the test of time.

And now the kaleidoscopic pop song is adding yet another chapter to Limahl’s career story and finding new fans of all ages. That’s all due to its placement in an adorable Stranger Things scene … (when) Stranger Things Season 3 premiered, “The NeverEnding Story” shot to No. 4 on Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart, with on-demand audio and video streams for the track surging by more than 2,000% and YouTube views increasing by 800%. Interestingly, this revival (coincided) almost exactly with the 35th anniversary of the film’s U.S. theatrical release on July 20, 1984.”

After a start in C major, the tune shifts quickly to Eb major for the chorus (first heard at 0:28). At 0:44, C major returns while the end of the chorus is still in progress. At 1:47, an interlude starts in G major before shifting to Bb major at 2:02; 2:22 brings a return to the original key with another verse. At times, vocalist Beth Andersen takes over the melody while Limahl harmonizes. Although it only reached #17 in the US, the track was a worldwide hit, reaching #1 in Sweden, Spain, and Norway and top 10 status in a dozen other countries, including Limahl’s native UK.

Franz Liszt | Vallée d’Obermann

“Franz Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann (‘Obermann’s Valley’) is a virtual tone poem for solo piano,” (The Listeners’ Club). The Hungarian composer “wrote this music in the 1830s at a time when he lived in Switzerland with the countess Marie d’Agoult, with whom he had eloped. The piece was later revised and published as part of the first of a collection of three suites titled Années de pèlerinage (‘Years of Pilgrimage’).

Vallée d’Obermann begins with a gloomy and desolate descending theme in the pianist’s left hand, accompanied by hollow triplets in the upper register. Chromaticism and wrenching dissonances evoke a sense of aimless wandering, exhaustion, and angst. These opening bars bring to mind Liszt’s description of Obermann as ‘the monochord of the relentless solitude of human pain.’ This initial motif forms the seed out which the entire piece develops, using the process of thematic transformation that we find throughout Liszt’s orchestral tone poems. Through this metamorphosis, Vallée d’Obermann briefly transcends the darkness of E minor and floats into the celestial sunshine of C major. In its final moments, the music surges upward to an exhilarating climax.”

“In a letter Liszt once confessed that, ‘My piano is the repository of all that stirred my nature in the impassioned days of my youth. I confided to it all my desires, my dreams, my sorrows. Its strings vibrated to my emotions, and its keys obeyed my every caprice.’” (Classic FM).

The transition from E minor (and transient departures from that key) to C major falls at the 4:48 point. The lighter mood is further accentuated at that point by a noticeably higher range and softer dynamic — for awhile, at least!

Eagles | Already Gone

“Eagles were an ascendant country-rock band by 1974, with a handful of hits to their name,” (Ultimate Classic Rock). “With their third album, On the Border, they began courting the rock listeners they so desperately wanted to win over — beginning with the LP’s lead single, ‘Already Gone.'” The tune was “built around a rousing guitar riff from their newest member, Don Felder, and his and Glen Frey’s dueling solos.

… Released on April 19, 1974, ‘Already Gone’ peaked at #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 — no small feat, but one that paled in comparison to On the Border’s third single, the chart-topping ballad ‘Best of My Love'”

The track is built primary in G major, but after two verses, two choruses, the guitar feature, then another verse and chorus, 3:18 brings a late key change up a fourth to C major for the chorus-based outro.

Tracey Ullman | Move Over Darling

“More often than not, when TV personalities dip their toe in the pop pool, it’s meant as a brief detour from the day job, with little expectation of prolonged success.” (Record Collector). “Comedienne Ullman bucked the trend with some style, going as far as chalking up her label Stiff Record’s only US Top 10 hit. That came with her carbon cope of Kirsty MacColl’s ‘They Don’t Know.” Her UK stats stretch to half a dozen hit singles and an album that hung around the charts for close to six months.

Ullman excelled at aping bygone girl pop sounds, be it the Shangri Las, Sandy Shaw, or Blondie … a strong of memorable videos clearly boosted her music profile, but that’s taking nothing away from Tracey’s own ability to inhabit the material with wit and radio-friendly pizazz.”

“Move Over Darling” (1983), originally recorded in 1963 by Doris Day for a movie of the same name, begins in A major, shifts up a half step at 1:02, and then drops another raise of a half step at 1:37.