Elise – Page 73

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

Coldplay | Trouble

From Pitchfork’s review of Coldplay‘s debut album Parachutes (2000): “… Coldplay’s secret deadly weapon is vocalist Chris Martin. With the ability to mimic a Brit-accented Dave Matthews one minute, Jeff Buckley revived from the dead the next, and sometimes even a young Peter Gabriel, Martin’s heartfelt delivery seems to be what’s winning the hearts, wallets and alternative radio request lines of Americans young and old.”

Parachutes produced four singles, the most prominent being “Yellow,” and enjoyed popularity in the UK and US. Billboard reports that the third single was “Trouble,” which reached number 10 in the UK charts. It was released more than a year later in the US, reaching #28 on the US Alternative Songs chart. Martin has claimed that the single had saved them from being a “one-hit wonder” band, notes MTV. The band incorrectly guessed that the single wouldn’t perform well in the United States.

After starting in G major, the tune progresses through a hook-centric instrumental intro, a verse, an interlude which mirrors the intro, and another verse before shifting to A major for the chorus at 1:31; the key then reverts to G major at 1:57. The choruses grow in intensity, fueled by a compelling chord progression that seesaws between I major and a distinctive v minor.

Dappy | No Regrets

North London MC/vocalist Dappy, born Costadinos Contostavlos, most prominently worked with the trio N-Dubz before going solo, reports AllMusic. “After several years of plugging away on the pirate radio scene … they went on to score a number one single alongside Tinchy Stryder (‘Number 1’), several MOBO Awards, and three Top 20 albums … “

In 2011, Dappy went on to release his debut solo single, “No Regrets.” The lyrics are about moving on from the past — perhaps not surprising, given the artist’s penchant for controversy in the UK tabloids. Songfacts notes that “the song’s elevation to pole position was the eleventh successive UK #1 by a British artist. This beat the all-time record set between January and July 1963, when there were 10 consecutive chart-toppers by a domestic act.”

Fusing elements of pop and hiphop, the tune shifts up a half-step at 3:14. A complete disappearance of the groove telegraphs the modulation’s arrival.

Hall + Oates | I Ain’t Gonna Take It This Time

Hall and Oates came into being during the height of the Philly Soul sound. “Daryl Hall had become friends with The Temptations as they rose to stardom from the streets of Philadelphia,” reports SoulCountry. “‘They were an outrageous influence on me,’ Hall said. He joined them on the road some, ‘trying to be their assistant,’ picking up their suits at the cleaners and grabbing their coffee.

‘After the show, they would just go and sing gospel songs and stuff,’ Hall said. ‘I felt that was something I belonged doing. It was really a lot of interracial interaction, and it’s why I sing the kind of music that I sing,’ he continued. ‘There’s been a lot of misunderstanding over the years by people who can’t even imagine that.'”

The 1990 power ballad “I Ain’t Gonna Take It This Time,” like so much of the band’s output, straddles the lines among rock, pop, and soul. The tune starts in D minor; at 1:37, a multi-section bridge builds tension until 2:37, which brings a mammoth shift to F# major.

Neil Young | Winterlong

To quote novelist Anne Lamott: “If you don’t die of thirst, there are blessings in the desert. You can be pulled into limitlessness, which we all yearn for, or you can do the beauty of minutiae, the scrimshaw of tiny and precise. The sky is your ocean, and the crystal silence will uplift you like great gospel music, or Neil Young.”

Young, the longtime folk/rock sage and a resident of LA’s storied Laurel Canyon during its heyday as a music nexus, has penned a dozen or more well-known hits. But “Winterlong” was a concert-only rarity for the Canadian-born artist — until the track inexplicably showed up on a compilation album. Songfacts reports: “One of Neil Young’s rarities, ‘Winterlong’ finds him yearning and waiting, possibly for a woman, but that’s no sure thing. All we know is, he’s looking to find his way, and not sure how to get there. The song contains one of the more evocative lines in Young’s catalog: ‘It’s all illusion anyway.’ Fans recall hearing Young perform this song as early as 1970. It’s likely he recorded it in 1974 during the session for his album On The Beach, but ‘Winterlong’ wasn’t released until 1977, which it appeared on the Decade collection.”

Starting in C major, the chorus starts squarely in C but ends in D major at 1:18. At 1:38, C major returns. 2:21 – 2:40 brings another D major patch before the tune ends in C major.

Jonatha Brooke | Back in the Circus

A singer/songwriter since the early 90s, Jonatha Brooke has a sound which the San Francisco Chronicle describes as “catchy original melodies and thorny lyrics.” She rode the tectonic shifts of that era’s music business: “I was in the middle of a national tour when (the record label) MCA dropped me. One second you’re a princess on the throne, and the next week no one will return your phone calls.”

AllMusic reviews Brooke’s 2004 release, Back in the Circus: “(Brooke’s) perseverance has paid off. Like Aimee Mann, she’s maneuvered a broken staircase of fluctuating acceptance, band breakups, and record label shakeups with nimble feet and a consistent songwriting vision. Now, she’s arrived on the top floor landing with Back in the Circus, a typically audacious effort that showcases her singing and writing even as it flirts with new musical directions … The title track is an unbalanced and dizzying cocktail, with accordion, keys, guitar, and laptops all joining in the fray. ‘Back in the circus / But at least I know the routine / Got back-to-back matinees / Me and the drag queens.’ Is the roller coaster ride a reference to her career, or life in general?”

The tune’s spare accompaniment could indeed be mistaken for a circus pit band, keeping the lyric front and center. The Bb minor verse gives way to Ab minor on the chorus (initially at 1:03).

Tigran Hamasyan (feat. Berklee Middle Eastern Fusion Ensemble) | Drip

“With pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan,” reports the artist’s own website, “potent jazz improvisation fuses with the rich folkloric music of his native Armenia … he’s one of the most remarkable and distinctive jazz-meets-rock pianists of his generation … Tigran’s career has included an impressive number of accolades, including top piano award at the 2013 Montreux Jazz Festival and the grand prize at the prestigious 2006 Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition … he was applauded by NPR Music: ‘With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk and songwriterly elements … Hamasyan and his collaborators travel musical expanses marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies.'”

Our regular contributor Carlo Migliaccio has submitted Tigran’s tune “Drip,” performed here in 2018 with the Berklee College of Music Middle Eastern Fusion Ensemble. The tune combines elements of Middle Eastern music with metal — just for starters. Carlo hasn’t taken on the huge task of charting the tune out, but sends his initial findings: “The tune starts in B minor. The first modulation is at 5:03, which seems to ascend up a major third to D#, but it quickly drops down a half step in a modal shift. The tonal center definitely moves to D on a G harmonic minor scale … so is that D harmonic minor mixolydian(?) The second modulation is at 7:08 and travels briefly down a major third to Bb minor, a half step below the starting key. A few bars later, the final modulation takes it down another half step for an ending in A minor, a whole step below the starting key … I think. My ears are playing tricks on me with this one, but I’m now on a Tigran Hamasyan kick as a result of this tune.”

Maxime Cholley, a French drummer and Berklee alum now based in New York City, has long been a proponent of Tigran’s work. Maxime performed on this track and recounts the session: “Working with Tigran Hamasyan was an incredible experience. He was very humble, patient, and thrilled to play with us and try new ideas on his own songs. At the end of a rehearsal, Tigran was working on a part and I joined him while the rest of the band packed up. As we played together, I clearly felt something that could be described as his ‘musical aura.’ His playing enhanced mine and both our sounds merged in the most satisfying way — as if each of his notes had some kind of sonic glue on it. His presence was absolutely mind blowing!”