“Mozart’s last three symphonies come from the extraordinarily creative summer of 1788,” (RedlandsSymphony.com) “In the space of slightly over six weeks, he composed the Symphony in E-flat, K. 543; the Symphony in G minor, K. 550; and the Symphony in C major, K. 551 …
Of the three 1788 symphonies, the Symphony in G minor, K. 550 (popularly referred to as No. 40, but probably No. 53), is the most original and has had the greatest influence on future composers. Few works from the 18th century are as intense, chromatic, and unconventional … few classical works more clearly point the way toward 19th century romanticism.”
Beginning in G minor, the movement transitions to the relative major key, Bb, for the first time at 0:27. Many other shifts in tonality follow.
“Dolly Parton hasn’t really had a single as great as ‘I Will Always Love You’ or ‘9 To 5’ in a while (AV Club) … You can’t blame her for the fall off, considering her (2014) LP, Blue Smoke, is her 42nd career full-length … imbued with bluegrass melodies, instruments, and heart, making them seem like actual products of Parton’s brain rather than radio-savvy grabs at staying commercially viable … She’s written the songs to make her an icon, obviously, but it’s her down-home charm, apparently genuine goodness, and witty turns of phrase that have solidly put her in the hearts of the people. On Blue Smoke, she handily harnesses those charms — coupled with that stellar musicality, of course — to produce an absolutely lovely LP.”
Although the review describes the up-tempo track as “hokey” with “theme park-styled lyrics,” it’s also nothing short of infectiously charming. After suspending the groove momentarily, Dolly shifts the tune up a whole step via glissando at 1:48.
“In interviews, he has attributed the radical shift in his mid-20s less to his own changing perspective than to other people’s perspective on him—he got tired of being seen as merely another piano-playing, lovesick troubadour,” (Pitchfork). “While he still stands by the folk-pop simplicity of his earliest solo records, Rundgren is quick to note their lack of depth, citing their obvious reference points (thematically, a high-school break-up; musically, the work of Laura Nyro). After achieving commercial success on his 1970 debut with the slick single ‘We Gotta Get You a Woman’ and critical success a year later with his moodier sophomore album, Rundgren sought to expand his range. And he wanted to do it by himself.
Throughout (the 70s), Rundgren was one of the first prominent artist-slash-producers, as competent behind the scenes as he was in front of the microphone, earning him the admiration of a young Prince and, later, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. As he discovered his own identity on record, Rundgren was hellbent on learning what happens when those two roles converge. When everything about a record is fully under the artist’s control, he suspected, the product can become something singular.”
Todd (1974) featured the single “A Dream Goes on Forever” and “I Think You Know,” ballads which are at the very heart of Rundgren’s catalog for most fans. However, much of the rest of album is comprised of shorter tracks which form a dense audio collage, including “Izzat Love.” In some ways, the track is right down the fairway when considering Rundgren’s younger years marinating in Philly Soul; with a slower tempo and more relaxed arrangement, the track might have been a hit. But instead, a frenetic feel and relentlessly uptempo rock delivery ruled the day, shifting up a whole step at 1:08. Be forewarned: the loud connective tissue to the next album track, “Heavy Metal Kids” (apparently the sound of analog recording tape being suddenly rewound) is inextricably included at 1:52.
“The English Beat is a band with an energetic mix of musical styles and a sound like no other,” (NPR Music). “The band’s unique sound has allowed it to endure for decades and appeal to fans, young and old, all over the world. When The English Beat (known simply as The Beat in their native England) rushed on to the music scene in 1979, it was a time of massive social and political unrest and economic and musical upheaval. This set the stage for a period of unbridled musical creativity, and thanks in large part to the Punk movement and its DIY approach to making music, artists like The Beat were able to speak out and speak their mind on the news of the day, as in ‘Stand Down Margaret’, things that mattered to them and the youth culture, as in ‘Get A Job’, and universal matters of the heart and soul, as in their classic hits ‘I Confess’ and ‘Save It For Later’.”
Massachusetts-based ArtsFuse reviewed a 2019 performance in Lowell, MA: “(The band has) always embraced both love and social justice in its music, from joy to anger. Now in its 40th year, the Birmingham, England-bred band was born in the punk movement but based its messages and beats in ska … to form what was called the two-tone movement in England. The result was highly danceable and lyrically edgy.”
1982’s “She’s Going” packs all of that edginess into a track which clocks in at just barely over two minutes, yet seems anything but incomplete. After a start in B major, 1:00 brings an instrumental break which goes airborne at 1:17, quickly shifting through several keys and landing us in E major for a frenetic closing verse and chorus.
Daryl Hall released BeforeAfter, a retrospective double album, this year. From Goldmine‘s coverage: “As Jeremy Holiday writes in the accompanying liner notes, ‘How paradoxical that Daryl Hall is most associated in the public imagination with a long-term musical partner. Because few artists are as individualistic, and individually complete … Yet Daryl Hall is also a brilliant collaborator, and, perhaps ironically, that quality is equally if not more apparent within his solo work. More than a chance to work alone, Hall’s individual pursuits have granted him license to be more eclectic in his choice of collaborators and to push further outside the expected bounds.’”
Hall’s 1993 solo outing Soul Alone paid homage to the singer’s early roots in Philly soul, including the Top 100 hit “I’m In a Philly Mood” and an adaptation of Marvin Gaye’s classic track “When Did you Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You.”
“Wildfire” is one of many polished, harmonically rich tracks from the album, which leaves Hall and Oates’ 1980s pop sensibilities in the rearview mirror. This live version finds the quality of Hall’s vocals typically indistinguishable from the studio version. The track shifts up a whole step at 3:54.
“Carly Simon and James Taylor where performing in 1979 for the MUSE No Nukes concert in New York City (Daily Rock Box). The ‘Mockingbird’ performance was lively and magnetic. Their energy was absolutely addicting. The duo’s dancing and stares were definitely a welcomed form of PDA. Carly and James did fall in love. They were married for a decade and had two children. Their music was so good because they were so good.”
The live track, which reached #34 on the pop charts, shifts up a whole step at 1:55.
“Dawn (2021) doesn’t sound like the debut of a burgeoning pop sensation hopping onto trends,” (New York Times). “The album has a rich retro palette, draws deeply from jazz and R&B and is set in a dusky register that gives Yebba’s flexible voice room to roam … The album’s title doesn’t just refer to the break of day; it was her mom’s name, too.” Yebba’s mother died by suicide just as the artist was rising towards her current prominence. “’I feel like now I get to be 26, instead of always being so immersed in grief … I no longer feel like my life is some chore that I haven’t completed — that my mom is hanging over my head. There are new ways to honor her.’”
“The retro and the contemporary find a nice equilibrium throughout Dawn, but the draw is still Yebba’s voice and the way she massages every note into a sigh,” (The New Yorker). “She possesses an explosive melisma on par with some of the great power-pop divas of the past, but finesse is her strength. She allows the depth and purity of her tone to reverberate, even in the quieter moments. The album’s opener, ‘How Many Years,’ lets threads of whisper-song fray into a gossamer veil, mirroring her apprehension and her doubtfulness … The greatest triumph of Dawn is that Yebba never loses her sense of self in remembrance. A tragedy of this magnitude threatens to overwhelm a début’s statement of identity, but Yebba won’t allow her story to be defined only by what happened. Instead of romanticizing her grief, she pushes through it, untangling a mess of emotions in search of closure.”
“How Many Years,” co-written by Yebba, seems to embody its lyric Where can I run when the ground moves beneath my feet? After the music begins at the 0:50 point, the verses change harmonic direction every phrase or two, all the more profoundly because the shifts happen during phrases rather than between them. However, the melodic shape of the choruses is constant — stated and re-stated with increasing emphasis, perhaps in an attempt to counteract shifting tonalities. The first chorus (1:31) is in Bb major; the second (2:37), in E major; the third (4:04) is something of a harmonic question mark, augmented and artfully blurred by subtle reharmonization.
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We’re including a live track as well as the heavily produced studio track, simply because they stand in such stark contrast to each other.
“For all the success that this Philadelphia-based duo would experience later on in their career, Daryl Hall and John Oates struggled to find a commercial footing early on,” (ClassicRockReview.com). “That’s not to say that they didn’t produce interesting and creative music as demonstrated brilliantly on their second album, Abandoned Luncheonette, released in late 1973. Despite only reaching #33 on the album charts during its initial run, this album slowly grew in stature and would finally reach platinum-selling status about three decades after its release.
For Abandoned Luncheonette, the group and production team moved from Philadelphia to New York where their disparate influences of folk, rock, and soul were refined with the help of expert session players to forge the album’s musical tapestry as well as the group’s signature sound for the next decade.”
In addition to one of their breakthrough hits, “She’s Gone,” Abandoned Luncheonette featured “Laughing Boy,” a ballad which showcased Daryl Hall’s vocals and keyboard skills. An unusually high percentage of the tune’s sonic real estate features chromatic basslines; for example at 0:08, we start out with a bassline alternating between C and B; at 0:31, we’re down to Bb, then D/A before the pattern breaks. The short chorus (0:57 – 1:10) is built around F# minor, which makes the tritone jump to C Lydian at the start of the next verse quite distinctive. There’s not a strong feeling of tonality to begin with, so modulation isn’t really on the menu per se, but that tritone shift (which recurs several times) is quite the statement!
Guitarist and composer Maurice Cahen was born in Saint Germain en Laye, France. He began studying classical guitar while playing jazz in the Paris area. He traveled back and forth to Spain, where he discovered his love for traditional and contemporary Spanish music. In 1982, Maurice moved to the United States to study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, followed by studies with Charlie Banacos and Dimitri Goryachev. Since then, he’s collaborated with various Boston and New York based musicians and has published original chamber music for flute and guitar, including the Impromptu #1.
Cahen has toured Israel with The Little Big Band and later toured Brazil with his own quartet and duo. Since then, Maurice has created numerous ensembles: Reflection, Brazilian Serenade, and various duos and trios featuring his original work, improvisation, etc. and exploring many styles, instrumentations, and genres (Classical, Latin, etc.) Maurice is currently studying North Indian Classical music and sitar technique with Jawwad Noor.
Impromptu #1 for flute and guitar, featuring Cahen on guitar and MotD co-curator Elise MacDonald on flute, begins in an overarching B minor and D major, but shifts to B major at 1:03. After touching on several other keys of the moment, we return to B minor and D major at 1:44.
Released in 1982, “You’re My Number One” was a track from the Average White Band’s album Cupid’s In Fashion. ” … the group decided to keep things a bit funkier on this release … ” (Soulfinger). ” … they brought in some cool cats like Dan Hartman to write ‘You’re My Number One’. Say what you will about Hartman, but that man can make a fun song … AWB could do LA pop without losing their soul … “
Hartman is perhaps best known for his own release “I Can Dream About You” (which reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984 and #12 on the UK Singles chart in 1985). He wrote and/or produced many other successful tunes for other artists, including “Living in America” for James Brown (1986), as well as tracks for a wide-ranging list of artists including The Plasmatics, Steve Winwood, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Dusty Springfield, and Bonnie Tyler. Hartman passed away from HIV in 1994 at the age of only 43.
1980s LA pop could hardly have a better standard-bearer than this track. Its funk foundation, nimble horn section, glossy production, and an entire instrumental verse devoted to a sax solo all belie the fact that Average White Band is from … Scotland! The modulation kicks in at 1:46.
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