Category: Elise

Herb Alpert + The Tijuana Brass | Theme from “Casino Royale”

AllMusic reports on the theme from Casino Royale: “Burt Bacharach appropriately comes up with a rambunctious soundtrack for the 1967 James Bond spoof, Casino Royale. Things get underway with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass‘ performance of the fast-paced main title, which features the usual Bacharach mix of pop phrasing and complex arrangements.”

Jazz.FM adds more detail about the impact of Bacharach’s iconic sound. Dusty Springfield’s “The Look of Love” was also a cornerstone of the soundtrack: “The story goes something like this: Driving home from ice hockey practice, (comedian) Mike Myers flipped on the radio and heard ‘The Look of Love’ … When it was finished, the comedian said to himself, ‘Where have all the swingers gone?’ He also must have realized that the movie it was from, Casino Royale, was a jape of the James Bond series. Then and there he conceived the Austin Powers character. Enamored by the song’s composer, Myers cast Bacharach in each of his three Austin Powers films — not as a character, but as a performer playing his own music to set the scene.”

A boisterous half-step modulation announces itself at 1:14. Many thanks to the late Chris Larkosh, a faithful supporter of MotD over the years, for this submission!

Franz Schubert | Piano Trio 2 in E-flat Major, movement 4

Though probably best known for his lieder, Austrian composer Franz Schubert also wrote symphonies, wonderfully intricate miniatures for solo piano, two masses, and more. Classic FM details Schubert’s popularity: “…musical soirees known as Schubertiads became all the rage, during which Schubert might sing some of his own songs while accompanying himself at the piano.”

However, his public’s fondness for the music translated into neither rapidly growing fame nor consistent financial compensation during the composer’s lifetime. Schubert heard only some of his later works in performance, reports Classic FM: “With little money and nothing much more than his ‘groupies’ to support him, Schubert began to produce a seemingly endless stream of masterpieces that for the most part were left to prosperity to discover, including the two great song cycles, the Eighth (‘Unfinished’) and Ninth (‘Great’) Symphonies, the Octet for Wind, the last three string quartets, the two piano trios, the String Quintet, the ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy and the last six sonatas for solo piano.” The exact cause of death is not known, but many historians have suggested mercury poisoning. Duncan, Edmondstoune’s Schubert (1905) suggests that the last musical work Schubert requested to hear was Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131. Violinist Karl Holz, Beethoven’s secretary, commented: “The King of Harmony has sent the King of Song a friendly bidding to the crossing.”

The Piano Trio 2 in E-flat Major was written in 1827, when Schubert was only 30. It was to be the last year of his life. The Trio begins with a more positive mood, but its fourth movement is far more complex, perhaps following the trajectory of its creator’s health. Starting in Eb major, there’s a shift at 1:15 to C minor, then a passage through a Bb major section. 2:46 starts with a bang and continues through a tour of myriad keys. 4:00 brings a profound jump to B minor, an extraordinary step indeed in comparison with the home key; from there, the piece continues onward through similarly varied and unpredictable territory.

Lisa Stansfield | Set Your Loving Free

“The most convincing white R&B singer since Teena Marie,” declares AllMusic, “Lisa Stansfield reached the mainstream after nearly a full decade in the music industry … (1989’s) solo single ‘All Around the World‘ gave Stansfield a tremendous boost by reaching number one in several countries, including the U.K. From that point, throughout her distinguished if sporadic recording career, she was known for sophisticated, soul-inspired releases that appealed to a broad audience.”

Stansfield’s sleek yet evocative stage presence made her a natural for music video and for her live shows. The UK native’s distinctive, open expression (so celebrated in the iconic video for “All Around the World”) might have made her a silent film star had she been born 60 years earlier.

In addition to the custom-written dance tracks she’s best known for, she has reverently covered a wide range of classics by artists ranging from Billie Holiday to The Four Tops, from Barry White to Marvin Gaye. “Set Your Loving Free” is a single from Stansfield’s second album, Real Love (1991), written by Stansfield, Ian Devaney, and Andy Morris. This expansive 1994 live performance provides all of the lush instrumentation of the studio version, if not more. The verse starts in B minor at 0:28. At 1:04, the pre-chorus in C# minor quickly sets the stage for the chorus in E minor (1:22).

The Academic | Sarah

“Sarah” was a single first released by Dublin Ireland’s Thin Lizzy in 1979; it reached #24 on the British pop charts and #26 in Ireland.

The Academic, a band from just west of Dublin, met while attending the same secondary school during the 2010s. AllMusic reports that the group ” … rode a series of punchy, melodic singles to national success when their 2018 debut album topped the Irish charts. They soon netted a deal and followed up with a couple of dreamy singles … “

“Sarah” was apparently a live one-off for the band; the track wasn’t included on either of its studio releases. This performance was live on Today FM, an Irish radio station. After starting in A major, 1:48 brings an instrumental bridge, followed by a shift to Bb major at 2:08.

Boys Like Girls | Love Drunk

“A shimmering, textured guitar line gives way immediately to huge gang vocals,” reports the Alternative Press in its review of Boys Like Girls‘ 2009 release Love Drunk. The Boston-based band’s ” … slick production values, airtight harmonies, charging disco-rock beats and crowd sing-along prompts (a trick they resort to throughout) prove the band are capable of condensing the recognizable signifiers of recent modern-rock history into sugary pop adrenaline … if (the) overall enthusiasm and high-energy pop doesn’t win over even the snarkiest of reviewers after a few listens, then they probably don’t have a heart. Everyone else will love it anyway. Pop-rock like this is popular for a reason.”

Unfolding like a CliffsNotes version of a contemporary pop songwriting textbook, the tune delivers a whole-step modulation at 2:38.

Sting | Fortress Around Your Heart

For his first solo album after his groundbreaking work with the Police, The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985), Sting formed a new band. Rolling Stone reports that the group included “young jazz hotshots from Weather Report (drummer Omar Hakim) and the Miles Davis group (bassist Darryl Jones), plus saxophonist Branford Marsalis and keyboardist Kenny Kirkland. These aren’t the usual sleepy gang of veteran sidemen; they never bothered to learn pop-jazz clichés, but they know their Jimi Hendrix, Chic, Herbie Hancock and Led Zeppelin, along with their Duke Ellington … Sting still writes short, modal melody lines … if you listen to the way verses and phrases end, there are new twists, surprising extended chords by way of Steely Dan, Weather Report and Ellington … (with) delicate-to-martial dynamics.”

In Musician magazine, Sting explained: “‘Fortress’ is about appeasement, about trying to bridge the gaps between individuals. The central image is a minefield that you’ve laid around this other person to try and protect them. Then you realize that you have to walk back through it.”

The verses leave a light footprint in terms of feel, belying difficult subject matter and complex harmonies. Three keys are touched on during the verse (0:45 – 1:22) before the tune opens up into the relatively straightforward chorus. Calling it “one of the most complex pop songs ever,” Rick Beato dissects the tune’s physiology in detail here (1:57 – 8:13).

Donald Fagen | The Nightfly

“Donald Fagen‘s solo debut established him as a more grounded, autobiographical writer away from Steely Dan. It also launched a trilogy of albums that wouldn’t conclude for decades,” notes Ultimate Classic Rock. “The Nightfly, released on Oct. 1, 1982, uses an overnight stint by a DJ at the fictional WJAZ to transport listeners back to a moment in time from Fagen’s youth at the turn of the ’60s. ‘I used to live 50 miles outside New York City in one of those rows of prefab houses. It was a bland environment. One of my only escapes was late-night radio shows that were broadcast from Manhattan – jazz and rhythm and blues. To me, the DJs were romantic and colorful figures and the whole hipster culture of black lifestyles seemed much more vital to a kid living in the suburbs, as I was.’

Fagen was searching ‘for some alternatives to the style of life in the 50s – the political climate, the sexual repression, the fact that the technological advances of the period didn’t seem to have a guiding humanistic philosophy behind them. A lot of kids were looking for alternatives, and it’s amazing how many of us found them in jazz, in other kinds of black music, in science fiction and in the sort of hip ideas and attitudes we could pick up on the light-night radio talk shows from New York City. More and more of us started looking, until the whole thing sort of exploded and you had the 60’s.'”

The album’s jazz pedigree might have a more obvious presence on its other tracks, based solely on instrumentation or arranging (for instance, the close-harmony vocals on the ballad “Maxine,” where Fagen’s multi-tracked vocals behave like an exquisitely phrased big band saxophone section.) But the adventurous harmonies and storytelling on “The Nightfly” make it an appropriate fulcrum for this album, somehow constructing an updated niche for the treasured audio iconography of jazz. Among other impressive chart positions worldwide, the album was certified platinum in both the US and the UK.

After starting in G major, the track shifts into a high-strung bridge (beginning at 3:20 in B major, but featuring multiple short excursions just about everywhere else), then returns to G major at 4:10.

U2 | Gloria

Pitchfork reports: “In the early 1980s, U2 had earned critical respect and a swelling fanbase but, despite a UK #1 album, were far from superstardom … U2 weren’t yet an arena band but they carried themselves like one. What’s more, they actually sounded better the bigger and brasher and bolder their music got.”

Released just months after the game-changing debut of MTV, the video for 1981’s “Gloria” combines a vast outdoor location, sweeping cinematography, and the happy involvement of the band’s fans from the margins. AllMusic describes the tune as a clear point in the band’s development, “marry(ing) the message, melody, and sound together.”

Starting in Eb minor, there’s a big shift at the outro (3:06) to Bb major.

Mocedades | Eres Tú

Spain’s 1973 Eurovision entry, Mocedades’ “Eres Tu” (It’s You), was voted by Spanish fans as the nation’s all-time favorite. Its win was in spite of the song’s having secured only the silver medal at the global competition that year, according to Wiwibloggs, a site devoted to Eurovision.

Billboard details that the tune peaked at #9 in the Hot 100 chart and also reached the top 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. With “Eres Tú”, Mocedades are one of the five musical acts from Spain to have scored a top ten hit in the United States (including Los Bravos, Julio Iglesias, Enrique Iglesias, and Los del Río with “Macarena”). It was also the only song to become a top ten hit sung entirely in Spanish. The song was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2015, it ranked #47 on Billboard’s 50 Greatest Latin Songs of All Time.

The half-step modulation hits at 2:24. Many thanks to Christopher Larkosh for submitting this tune to MotD months back, and for the many other modulations he sent us over the past several years. MotD will never forget you!

for Chris