Elise – Page 40

World Party | Ship of Fools

“World Party was essentially a one-man band, with Karl Wallinger writing and performing all the songs, while also producing and playing most of the instruments,” (American Songwriter). “‘Ship Of Fools’ … from the 1986 album Private Revolution … battled its way into the US Top 40, which, considering the downbeat subject matter, says something about the innate catchiness of the pop-funk that is embellished by Anthony Thistlewaite’s honking sax … ‘Ship of Fools’ takes the tone of a Biblical parable, with a smattering of mythical archetypes and historical atrocities thrown in as well. Wallinger doesn’t kid anybody about where this journey is headed: ‘We’re setting sail to a place on the map from which no one has ever returned’ is the song’s very first line.”

The UK-based Wallinger re-made the song’s video, making use of unsettling news footage from the past several years, to accompany a re-issue of the entire World Party catalog a few years back. Wallinger died less than a month ago from a stroke at the age of only 66. The videos share an overarching theme of environmental degradation as a tragic state of business as usual for the planet, supercharged by political dysfunction. “World Party records were notable for their persistent commitment to green and environmentalist issues, initially at a time when this was unfashionable,” (Mojo4Music) … “Wallinger’s perspective on these matters has been labelled ‘prescient and heartfelt, a fervent post-script to ’80s consumerism,’ and ‘well ahead of the times.'” The final caption of the new video speaks starkly: “Now more than ever.”

The intro and verse are essentially a long D minor passage, which builds in intensity and melodic complexity. The chorus (heard first from 1:13 – 1:46) opens up into more varied territory via a flip into a strongly emphasized relative F major, an even rangier melody, and a much broader harmonic vocabulary.

Many thanks to first-time contributor Linda P. for reminding us about this iconic and all-too-prescient track.

Utopia | Rock Love

“Released just after Christmas in December 1979, (Adventures in Utopia) featured ten songs … as a collection of songs from a group with four writers, it was Utopia’s most balanced songwriting effort to date (MusoScribe) … Time has dimmed some of the band’s recollections about the genesis of Adventures in Utopia, but there’s a general agreement that it was devised in part as a kind of audio answer to the concept of a television pilot. The group had recently built its own multimedia production studio in upstate New York, and had hoped that the album would serve as a calling card for more work in that regard.

Those ambitions aside, Adventures holds together as a suite of songs … credited to the group as a whole, so it’s difficult to know who’s responsible for what … the biggest surprise of all would be ‘Set Me Free.’ The bouncy pop song would be the biggest hit Utopia ever scored; it reached #27 on the U.S. singles charts. On the strength of that single, Adventures in Utopia did well on the album charts as well, making it all the way to the #30 spot in 1980.”

Written primarily in a driving C minor, a contrasting bridge in D minor arrives at 2:08, followed by an instrumental verse in F minor at 2:24. After a grand pause, the tune returns for another pre-chorus and chorus in C minor at 2:59. This live 1982 performance shows the band hitting on all of its power-pop cylinders. The three-part backing vocals are demanding and nearly constant. Bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton pitches in with a vengeance on guitar and the considerable bass duties are handled by keyboardist Roger Powell, freeing up frontman Todd Rundgren to testify sans six-string from just about every free square inch of the stage.

The Boys of the Lough | Farewell and Remember Me

“A fun-loving approach to Celtic music has made the Boys of the Lough one of folk music’s most influential groups. Since they formed in the 1960s, the Ireland-based band have been instrumental in the evolution of traditional Irish music,” (Qobuz).

“Boys of the Lough are one of the masters of celtic music, combining members from several celtic traditions with a long history (Ceolas.org) … Like that other long-running act, the Chieftans, their music tends to the formal; impeccable technique and sensitivity, with large, sometimes classical-style arrangements, and very tight ensemble playing. They lack the fire and roughness of other groups; the overall feeling is of a group of skilled, well-integrated musicians playing together for the pure pleasure of it.”

“Farewell and Remember Me,” from the group’s 1987 album of the same name, is a ballad largely built in F# major. Accompanied by piano and fiddle, the solo vocal line takes center stage for several verses, each ending on a suspended tonic chord. At 2:12, the final verse shifts to F# minor, closing the tune without resolution on a wistful VI chord.

Yellowjackets | It’s Almost Gone

A nearly criminally overdue MotD debut for Yellowjackets, a band which was centrally important to the sound of jazz fusion in the 1980s and has continued its work into the 2020s. “Most contemporary jazz or instrumental pop albums released over the past 25 years owe one thing or another to the style and sound advanced by this 1981 (self-titled) debut (AllAboutJazz.com) … keyboardist, composer and arranger Russell Ferrante pulled drummer Ricky Lawson and bassist Jimmy Haslip into his fledgling swarm … ‘It wasn’t like the earlier fusion of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever, which was a very chopped kind of rock sound,’ recalls Ferrante. ‘We were influenced by fusion that was more melodic and compositional.'”

“A leading crossover jazz outfit, Yellowjackets found success combining polished funk and R&B grooves with a strong post-bop- and fusion-influenced sound (AllMusic) … In addition to their commercial success, they picked up accolades including the Grammy for R&B Instrumental Performance for “And You Know That” off 1986’s Shades, and the Grammy for Jazz Fusion Performance for 1989’s Politics. The band’s ability to balance crossover appeal with a dedication to improvisational excellence has attracted top-level players over the years.”

“… Ferrante introduces and closes ‘It’s Almost Gone’ with sadly beautiful solo piano,” (AllAboutJazz) but the tune’s midsection is something entirely different. The track begins in F# minor, with the bass line descending in alternating major and minor thirds. At 0:14, an identical pattern starts, but this time in G# minor. The pattern continues as a rangy melody is added at 0:30. A “B” section provides contrast from 1:33 – 1:53 before the initial F# minor section returns — this time with a 6/8 groove, complete with an insistent syncopated overlay, until a gentle outro mirrors the feel of the track’s opening.

Tori Amos | Happy Phantom

An extremely overdue MotD debut for Tori Amos: “‘Happy Phantom’ was written and recorded during the first phase of creating Little Earthquakes. … (It) was included on both a cassette tape Tori submitted for copyright in June 1990 and the original rejected version of Little Earthquakes in December that year,” (ToriPedia). “In the Little Earthquakes songbook, Tori noted that ‘when the songs began showing up I wrote their names on separate envelopes and made a faery ring in the middle of the house. I’d sit in the middle of the ring to focus on a song’s direction. All of the songs seemed to work toward the completeness of the other. They decided we needed to hang out with death for awhile.'”

Amos’ first major-label release, Y Kant Tori Read, saw her fronting a synth-pop band of the same name during the late 1980s. The album “sunk without a trace; she had to dig deep inside herself, in her search for her true identity,” (Songfacts). “She told Rolling Stone this meant killing her old self: ‘To talk about death was really important on Little Earthquakes because there was a part of me had to die. The image that I had created for whatever reason, had to die.'”

“Happy Phantom,” is largely built in Bb major, but erupts into a surprising instrumental interlude in G major (1:45 – 1:57), then pivots around a bit more until returning to familiar territory at 2:14. Wrapping up by returning to Bb major, the tune then falls off the edge of the earth during a few formless closing bars.

Jay and the Americans | She Cried

“Early-’60s rock & roll albums are a funny animal — no one, not critics or fans, ever really knew what to make of them, mostly because they were usually so superfluous to how we knew and understood the artists involved,” (Qobuz). “Except for Elvis Presley, who still commanded a lot of attention even as he began what ultimately proved to be the downward arc (in terms of quality) of his movie career, no one ever heard the album tracks except the most serious, dedicated fans, who were a tiny, almost microscopic portion of the audience. It wasn’t until the Beach Boys began surprising people with album cuts that were almost good enough to be singles that audiences started to given them a wider listen, though it took the Beatles — who stirred insatiable demand from fans and whose albums met the same standard as their singles — to drive the sale numbers up to significant levels.

Until then, you had fine LPs like She Cried (1962), Jay & the Americans’ debut LP, fine efforts that most fans never heard or even knew about. A Leiber & Stoller production, it reflected their other work of the period, including the group’s covers of then-current Drifters/Ben E. King hits, and also reflected the influence of Phil Spector …”

The title track was the group’s first major hit. Built around a I major / bVII major vamp, the track’s slightly off-kilter instrumental verse (1:45 – 2:02), with strings front and center, leads us to a late whole-step modulation. The single reached #5 on the US pop charts and was the first of four US Top 10 hits for the group.

Robert Schumann | Widmung

“Marked by its technical bravura, Widmung (or Dedication in English) … is much more than a mere showpiece – containing probably the most passionate music writing and most heartfelt feelings,” (Interlude). “Written by Robert Schumann in 1840 (from a set of Lieder called Myrthen, Op.25), this piece was later arranged for piano solo by Franz Liszt. Myrthen was dedicated to Clara Wieck as a wedding gift, as he finally married Clara in September, despite the opposition from Clara’s father (who was also Robert’s piano teacher).

The work starts with a flowing sense of pulse, while the first phrase (‘Du meine Seele, du mein Herz’) already captures Schumann’s love for Clara and devotion to the relationship. Here, Schumann sincerely confesses to Clara, declaring how important she is to him. For him, Clara is his angel, his spiritual support, and his entire world. Nevertheless, there is still a sense of fear and insecurity in the music, due to separation and uncertainty about their future. This complex mixture of feelings, as a true and full-bodied representation of love, certainly strengthens the emotional power of the music.”

At the 0:35 mark, Ab major shifts dramatically down to E major via a common-tone modulation. Amy Broadbent is the soprano in this 2014 performance; Christopher Koelzer is the pianist.

The Offspring | Self Esteem

“The Offspring is perhaps the quintessential SoCal punk band of the 1990s — survivors of the 1980s hardcore scene who revamped themselves for the heavier alt-rock era … ” (AllMusic). “The group released their second album, Ignition, on Epitaph in 1992 but it was 1994’s Smash and its accompanying singles ‘Come Out and Play (Keep Em Separated)’ and ‘Self Esteem’ that pushed the band toward blockbuster national success.

Shortly afterward, the Offspring made the leap to the major labels and continued a streak of snotty, satirical alt-rock hits such as ‘Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)’ and ‘Why Don’t You Get a Job?’ that kept the group squarely in the hard rock mainstream through the 2000s.”

“Self Esteem” spends most of its runtime in A minor, including its “snotty” wordless a capella intro, verses, and choruses. But a bridge (1:59 – 2:35) suddenly jumps up to D minor before reverting to the original key. At 3:39, the D minor section repeats, seemingly falling back into A minor only for the last beat (the tune cuts off abruptly on the first beat of a measure).

Steely Dan | Two Against Nature

“When Steely Dan released Two Against Nature on a leap year’s February 29 (2000) … (then their first album in two decades), critics instantly adored it,” (Esquire). “‘What makes [the album] work isn’t its cerebral ellipticity but its stunning musical clarity,’ Rolling Stone wrote in their review at the time. ‘It is a showcase for what Steely Dan’s core twosome can do—reluctant guitar god Becker remains a fluid, precise player, while Fagen covers the keyboard waterfront with a variety of jazz and R&B styles.’ ‘We might just want to jump into the disc and let the duo take us away from all this teen choreography,” Entertainment Weekly mused in their own take. ‘Even if their particular Shangri-la is peopled by perverts, creeps, miscreants, and clavinets.’

The album, dark, strange, and a near 180 musical degrees from plastic pop that was dominating the charts at the time — think Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and Destiny’s Child — cracked the Top 10 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and the Top 20 on the UK counterpart.”

The angular title track is built in either a very big, very subdivided 3/4 or a swiftly-flowing 6/8, relentlessly accented and driven by two handclap-like hits in the last third of each measure of the intro and verse. The percussion smooths out during the chorus, which shifts from Ab up a tritone to E (first heard at 1:24 – 1:40). Both sections keep the color of the keys somewhat fluid, with both major and minor third degrees mixed in. The pattern continues from there, with the exception of a meandering interlude/instrumental bridge from 2:36 – 3:28. Some neat harmonic tricks for sure, but considering the source, they’re more like routine.

Sergio Mendes + Brasil ’66 | The Joker

“Musician Herb Alpert, co-founder of the highly successful A&M record label, was so keen on a newly signed act that he lent his name to the group’s debut LP; Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66,” (San Diego Troubador). “The album’s back cover featured straight forward liner notes by Alpert and the creative wordplay of Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor. Alpert’s hunch about the group would eventually exceed all expectations; for the remainder of the decade, the sound of Brasil ’66, a tempting mixture of bossa nova/samba and “Bacharachesque” arrangements, was seldom out of the spotlight. With consistent Top 40 hits, launched by the groundbreaking single,”Mas Que Nada,” Brasil ’66 was a fixture on AM radio, television variety shows, and concert stages around the globe.

… Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 joined the 2012 class of “Historically Significant Recordings.” His LP was in good company: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” Speech, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA were among the other recordings to enter the class. These selections found a permanent home in the Grammy Hall of Fame.”

After a start in a slightly de-tuned G minor, “The Joker” features a transitional section (1:10 – 1:25) which leads us up to A minor. The transition later repeats, but this time with no additional upward modulation. The live version has somewhat lower sound quality and doesn’t allow for embedding, but please check it out as well! Many thanks to our regular contributor Jamie A. for this submission.