Elise – Page 63

Richard Marx | Heaven Only Knows

Cleveland.com describes songwriter and performer Richard Marx as a “supremely talented, instinctual songwriter who rode the wave of MTV fame for a decade or so and then, when the heat dissipated, reinvented himself as a producer and songwriter for others. ‘It was just about 10 years straight where everything I put out had success. And then I put out a record that I joked went double plywood instead of double platinum.’ … He says it took a year for him to grasp the change. ‘I started to think, well, you know what? I had a really great turn for about 10 years. And it’s not my turn now. It’s somebody else’s turn.’”

Marx has had 14 #1 songs as a writer. Cleveland.com continues: “He and Luther Vandross’ ‘Dance With My Father’ won the 2004 Grammy for Song of the Year. He’s written or performed hits on Billboard’s country, adult contemporary, mainstream rock, holiday and pop charts.” Marx’s earlier run as a performer centered around his own material, best known for hits like “Right Here Waiting,” “Hold On to the Nights,” “Hazard” and “Angelia.” Some up-tempo tracks, such as “Should Have Known Better” and “Don’t Mean Nothing,” also hold a place in his repertoire, but Marx has a particular gift for harmony-saturated power ballads.

“Heaven Only Knows,” a fastidiously constructed track from Marx’s eponymous debut album (1987), wasn’t even a single — giving some idea of the overall quality and detail of his songwriting, right out of the gate. The verses and choruses, built with plenty of inverted and compound chords, pivot all over the place. The tune’s short phrases traverse one blind alley after another, with questioning and longing the only common factors. The bridge (3:08), built around major chords, finally transitions the forecast to partly sunny, but it leads to a key change to C# minor (4:00) for the last chorus and extended outro.

Dionne Warwick | Anyone Who Had a Heart

Dionne Warwick’s first US Top 10 single, “Anyone Who Had a Heart” (1964), was written by frequent Warwick collaborators Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Burt Bacharach, in Record Collector magazine, stated “‘It’s very rich, it’s very emotional. It’s soft, it’s loud, it’s explosive. It changes time signature constantly, 4/4 to 5/4, and 7/8 bar at the end of the song on the turnaround. It wasn’t intentional, it was all just natural. That’s the way I felt it.’

According to AllMusic, Bacharach “‘never bothered counting the bars, regarding seeing whether or not there were eight bars in the first section, etc. He once said: ‘I never paid any attention to a changed time signature. I think it was Dionne who told me the turn-around bar was in 7/8. She counted it out, and I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t intentional, that’s just the way it came out.'” (Songfacts).

The verses are in A minor; the choruses (first appearing at 0:26) are in Ab major. Similar to the unsettled meter, the modulations are anything but off-the-rack. “…more often than not, the key changes in Bacharach’s songs are so woven into the fabric of the song that the listener doesn’t even register that there is a shift in key,” (David Bennett Piano).

Gabriel Fauré | Berceuse (Henrik Dam Thomsen, cello)

“Gabriel Fauré is sometimes overshadowed by the generation of composers that followed the trail he had quietly illuminated. He was more than the composer of one much-loved piece, the Requiem. He was crucial to a movement that aimed to establish a characteristically French style of composition,” (DeutscheGrammophon.com). A student of Camille Saint-Saëns, Fauré later became “a founding member of the Société National de Musique, along with Saint-Saëns … The aim of the Société’s concerts of new music was to encourage an indigenously French style of musical composition and shake off German influence. It paid special attention to chamber music, (which) had until then been under-represented in 19th-century Paris, where opera was the predominant measure of a composer’s success …

Fauré’s music was characterized from the start by an innate sense of balance and beauty … Saint-Saëns was naturally a tremendous influence. So were Liszt, whom Fauré met through Saint-Saëns, and Chopin, on whose piano genres Fauré substantially built.” In terms of his lasting impact on music, “Fauré’s influence lived on not only through his works but also through his pupils. He helped them strengthen voices that were as individual as his own. This might explain the profound differences among Ravel, Enescu, Charles Koechlin, Florent Schmitt and Arthur Honegger.”

The Berceuse (lullabye), written in 1879, is performed here by Henrik Dam Thomsen on cello and Ulrich Stærk on piano. Shifts among closely related keys are a subtle but nearly constant presence in this piece. “The mixing and reuse of material is an example of familiarity … familiarity works because new ideas are only subtly different, or they are accompanied by familiar gestures, harmonic overlap, or both. The harmonic movement therefore is experienced as subtle shifts rather than exhausting journey of departure and arrival. It is like floating on a calm river instead of climbing up a mountain.” (Brandon Kinsey). According to the video’s description, “The Berceuse is charming, irresistible, and impossible to fall asleep to.”

Robert Glasper | Forever

Robert Glasper’s Black Radio III, released in February 2022, features heavy-hitting guest artists on each track, including Common, Esperanza Spalding, Jennifer Hudson, Killer Mike, Q-Tip, Ty Dolla $ign, Yebba, and many more. It’s the third release in the Black Radio franchise; The New Parish describes the concept in its review of Black Radio (2012), which has continued throughout its subsequent chapters:

“’Real music is crash protected,’ state the liner notes of Black Radio … (it) boldly stakes out new musical territory and transcends any notion of genre, drawing from jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and rock, but refusing to be pinned down by any one tag. Like an aircraft’s black box for which the album is titled, Black Radio holds the truth and is indestructible …

Robert Glasper has long kept one foot planted firmly in jazz and the other in hip-hop and R&B,” (working with Q-Tip, Mos Def, Maxwell, and many others). “The Los Angeles Times once wrote that ‘it’s a short list of jazz pianists who have the wherewithal to drop a J Dilla reference into a Thelonious Monk cover, but not many jazz pianists are Robert Glasper,’ adding that ‘he’s equally comfortable in the worlds of hip-hop and jazz,’ and praising the organic way in which he ‘builds a bridge between his two musical touchstones.’”

After starting in F major for the first verse and chorus (PJ Morton, lead vocals), “Forever” shifts up to F# major at for vocalist India Arie’s feature at 1:11. By now showing its colors as an earnest love song, the tune continues with an almost trance-like repeating chorus. Arie and Morton create a subtly shifting tapestry of sound, alternating between tightly coordinated parallel leads and soaring ad libs. By 4:30, the tune has faded out entirely, but then fades back in, its focus completely shifted, in a brief reprise — a Glasper trademark. The reprise explores a few strands of the harmony and textures over a subdued but complex drum solo before fading out again.

for Kym and Marcus

Paul Davis | ’65 Love Affair

“Davis wrote this as ’55 Love Affair,'” (Songfacts). “His record company wanted the song to appeal to a younger audience and had Davis change the title. The lyrics, however, remained squarely in the ’50s, with references to drive-ins, car hops and doo-wop.” Either way, the track unmistakably features an early 80s pop sound!

Davis is perhaps best known for his ballad “I Go Crazy” (1977), which peaked at only #7 on the Hot 100 but remained in the Top 100 for 40 weeks, setting what was then the record for the longest run on that chart. He scored a 1982 hit with “’65 Love Affair,” which reached #6 on the Hot 100 and later spent 20 weeks on that chart. It also reached #5 on Billboard‘s Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.

In an interview with ClassicBands.com, Davis was asked about the lyric stating that the earlier era’s music was “simple and clear.” His response: “There’s something magical and inspirational about the discovery of what was the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll. The songs were simple. They weren’t real complicated. All of them didn’t deal in real heavy thoughts, either. It was just fun back then, and much simpler, easier to understand.”

Starting in C mixolydian mode, the tune shifts to regular old C major for the chorus at 0:37, then back to C mixolydian at 1:02. At 3:15, there’s a shift up a whole step to D major just before the tune starts a long fade.

Barry Manilow | Looks Like We Made It

” … there’s a good chance you’re Facebook friends with your ex. But in 1977, when people still had to run into their exes at parties or whatever, that feeling still got a drippy Barry Manilow ballad dedicated to it,” (Stereogum). “Around the time that Barry Manilow got to #1 with 1976’s ‘I Write The Songs,’ he apparently figured out what the world wanted from him. He could sing silly, frisky, jazzy numbers, but those songs weren’t what the world wanted from him. They wanted big, grand, feelings-on-display adult-contempo ballads full of pianos and woodwinds and showy Broadway notes.

… you can hear that formula at work on ‘Looks Like We Made It,’ Manilow’s third and final #1. As with (his) two previous #1 hits, Manilow didn’t write ‘Looks Like We Made It.’ Instead, the song’s music came from Richard Kerr, the pianist who’d already co-wrote the 1975 #1 ‘Mandy.’ (No surprise that it sounds a whole lot like ‘Mandy.’) The lyrics, meanwhile, were written by Will Jennings, a ballad specialist … Manilow’s got an impressive voice, and he’s not shy about showing it off. He and producer Ron Dante pile on the strings, which makes for a whole lot of big, crashing moments.”

After a start in C major, a short bridge at 2:28 starts sweetly, continues with the piled-on strings mentioned above, and ends with the drummer sounding like the host of an “instrumental petting zoo” at an elementary school. After pulling out all the stops, 2:44 opens the curtains, shines the spotlights, and sounds the figurative trumpet fanfare as the new key of Db major arrives.

Roy Orbison | (Oh) Pretty Woman

Released by Roy Orbison in 1964 and co-written by Orbison and Bill Dees, “Oh, Pretty Woman” was later covered by Del Shannon, Al Green, Van Halen, Chris Isaak, Pomplamoose, and many others across multiple decades. Clocking in at less than three minutes, the tune became a #1 pop hit for Orbison in both the US and the UK. In fact, “in 1964, Orbison was the only American artist to have a #1 UK hit, and he did it twice — with ‘(Oh) Pretty Woman’ and ‘It’s Over'” (Songfacts).

“This was Orbison’s last big hit,” Songfacts continues. “His career faded fast, but was revived in the ’80s when prominent musicians like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison cited him as an influence and invited him to join various projects. He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and joined The Traveling Wilburys with Dylan, Tom Petty, Harrison and Jeff Lynne. As he was enjoying this career revival, he died of a heart attack on December 6, 1988 at age 52.”

Starting in A major, the chorus shifts to C major at 1:06 before reverting to the original key at 1:34; the pattern then repeats.

Joao Gilberto | Chega de Saudade

Composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes in 1958, “‘Chega de Saudade’ is widely regarded as the first recorded bossa nova song,” (Songfacts). Bossa nova translates approximately to “new tendency” from the original Brazilian Portuguese. “(It was) first recorded by Joao Gilberto on guitar with singer Elizete Cardoso in 1957. Two years later, Gilberto re-recorded the song with a simpler arrangement for his debut album, Chega de Saudade, causing a sensation when the melodic, samba-influenced groove hit Brazilian radio. The Portuguese-language love tune finds the lonely narrator desperately hoping his lover will return. Vinícius de Moraes admitted he struggled writing the lyrics because of ‘the arduousness of trying to fit the words into a melodic structure with so many comings and goings.’

Frank Sinatra, accompanied by Jobim, recorded the tune for his 1967 album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. The bossa nova-influenced pop album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, but lost to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” But Gilberto’s version became part of the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.

The tune is equally balanced between sections in D minor and D major, with the first transition at 0:49 before the form repeats at 1:37. The guitar accompaniment is working overtime to cover the fast chord changes while providing a bass line as well. But Gilberto’s casual vocal delivery obscures the highly syncopated nature of the melody line.

The Reign of Kindo | The Man, the Wood + the Stone

“Play with Fire is The Reign of Kindo’s third full length record,” (CandyRat Records). “… music that pinpoints the middle ground between a respect for past greats and a boldness to pave tomorrow. This is, quite modestly, the definition of The Reign of Kindo. Citing influences from Dave Brubeck to Ben Folds to Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto to John Mayer, there’s not a degree of pomposity in this sound, just an honesty in the group’s craft to blend such diverse influences into an identity.”

Perhaps some of the highest possible praise for this eclectic indie/prog/jazz/rock/etc. band comes from Sputnik Music: “… me and my dad can listen together in the car without one of us saying ‘God, this sucks.'”

Starting in A minor, “The Man, the Wood and the Stone” (2013) is full of harmonic pivots. At 2:01, we’ve shifted to Db major; 2:19, C major; 2:30, A major … accelerating and building from there. Other than a difference in meter, the final melodic phrases of the album-closing track (3:24) mirror the first phrases of the opening track, “The Hero, The Saint, The Tyrant, & The Terrorist” — weighty bookends for a wide-ranging album.

Belinda Carlisle | Heaven is a Place on Earth

Belinda Carlisle, lead singer of the girl group synonymous with early 1980s pop, The Go-Go’s, later left for a solo career. Stereogum reports that in December 1987, “Carlisle had the #1 single in America, and she had it with a fiercely, fervently, almost defiantly mainstream song. Carlisle’s big hit is a simple, straightforward love song built around terms so overstated that they cross over into actual religious territory. In the video, Carlisle makes out with her husband, a Hollywood scion who was once part of the Republican political machine … (In the decade proceeding the hit), Belinda Carlisle went full normie. Along the way, though, she made a hell of an impact.”

“‘Heaven Is a Place on Earth’ is a glimmering, expensive-sounding pop record, with that shiny-synth/big-drum thing that you hear on practically every successful record of the era … On his Hit Parade podcast a couple of years ago, Chris Molanphy points out that (songwriters Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley) took that trick from Bon Jovi, who’d used it on ‘You Give Love A Bad Name.’ Later on, that chorus-up-front move became a go-to trick for late-’90s boy-band producers. It’s some effective shit! When a chorus is big enough, there’s no need to be subtle about it. You can just bludgeon it directly into somebody’s brain before the song even starts.” Songwriter Ellen Shipley sang backup on the song, as did Diane Warren and Michelle Phillips (of The Mamas and The Papas fame); synth-driven songwriter and music tech groundbreaker Thomas Dolby served as a session keyboardist for the track. Stereogum continues: “You almost certainly can’t pick out those individual voices or keyboard tones … but you can definitely hear that there’s money in the song … it’s the sound of ’80s blockbuster pop cranked all the way up to full power. It sounds like Top Gun.”

After a start in E major, 3:23 brings an unprepared shift upward to F# major — if “unprepared” is a broad enough term to include a bombastic instrumental chorus (starting at 3:09), plenty of percussion pyrotechnics, an insistent re-statement of the keyboard hook, and a 2/4 bar thrown into the 4/4 mix to bring us to the key change with the g-force of a hairpin rollercoaster turn.