From live theatre critic Michael J. Curtiss comes this knockout crowd-sourced 2019 cover of “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen. Boys’ choruses from Welsh towns and cities large and small were brought together through Only Boys Aloud, the boys’ division of The Aloud Charity. Aloud’s mission is “to engage young people across Wales with the power of choral singing.”
The modulation is at 2:29 after a gorgeous transition passage starting at 2:18.
According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, “‘Jackie Blue’ has a certain structure that happens to sound good on a car radio.” The tune was the first of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils‘ singles to feature drummer Larry Lee on lead vocal. The Montreal Gazette, assuming that the track was sung by a woman, scolded the band for producing a track that sounded like “an outrageous knockoff of Fleetwood Mac’s sound, down to the female lead.” The track hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1975.
The verses are in Eb minor, transitioning to G majvor for the choruses (0:28) and back to Eb for the next verse (0:46), etc.
Duke Ellington’s ballad “In a Sentimental Mood” (1935) was recorded several times by its composer, including this version with saxophonist John Coltrane from 1963. The tune starts in Bb minor and ends in Db major, with a middle eight in A major (1:10 – 1:35). The tune saw prominent covers by Art Tatum, Sonny Rollins, and McCoy Tyner, among others.
Of the recording session, Coltrane said: “(Duke) has set standards I haven’t caught up with yet. I would have liked to have worked over all those numbers again, but then I guess the performances wouldn’t have had the same spontaneity. And they mightn’t have been any better!”
Some hard funk/electronica from KNOWER: The band has recently opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and has featured prestigious guest artists such as percussionist/vocalist Nate Wood of Kneebody and keyboardist/vocalist Jonah Nilsson of Dirty Loops.
The frenetic pace of “Overtime” (2017) finds the entire band in an almost impossible flow state, led by drummer/keyboardist/composer Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi, vocalist. After the tune starts in F# minor, the main groove hits at 0:33. A modulation to G# minor (0:50) is introduced by a 2-bar break, sparely punctuated by a few huge syncopated kicks. At 1:18, the tune reverts to F# minor and the cycle repeats.
Ever pushing the envelope, composer/pianist Burt Bacharach wasn’t content to throw a routine modulation into the 1964 ballad “A House Is Not a Home.” Instead, the tune’s bridge starts in the original key at 2:40, waits to change key until after the bridge has started at 2:53, and then reverts to the original key at 3:21.
While it was only a modest hit (#71) on its initial release, the song has spawned dozens of covers over the years, from Cher to Aretha Franklin to Sonny Rollins. The late Luther Vandross, a legendary 8-time Grammy winning vocalist, clearly made the tune his own. But the song’s original vocalist was frequent Bacharach muse Dionne Warwick.
Singer/songwriter Jacques Brel produced music which AllMusic calls “literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that brought him a large, devoted following in France. His audience eventually extended internationally, making him a major influence on English-speaking writers and performers including Leonard Cohen and David Bowie.” After releasing many albums, often built around a contemporary chanson style, Brel produced a musical revue, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, off-Broadway at NYC’s Village Gate in 1968. The show has since enjoyed dozens of well-received revivals.
The show’s 26 story songs included a restless, ever-building waltz, “Marieke” — as much an ode to his Belgian homeland as to his beloved. Modulation at 2:23.
Lyric translation here.
The winner of the 1993 Recording Academy / GRAMMYs for Best World Music Album, Sergio Mendes‘ Brasilieiro featured 14 tracks, including “Lua Soberana” (Sovereign Moon). The album featured American contemporary jazz musicians such as pianist Russell Ferrante of the Yellowjackets and rock drummer Jeff Porcaro of Toto as well as a huge slate of Brazilian musicians.
The tune doesn’t feature one lone modulation, but rather an ever-shifting harmonic continuum.
0:00 unaccompanied verse
0:35 A major verse
1:08 multi-key chorus
1:38 A major verse
1:54 multi-key chorus
2:24 transition
2:32 B major verse
2:49 instrumental bridge
3:23 B major verse
The Four Freshmen, formed in 1948, released “Shangrila” in 1962. Known as a vocal band because all of the group’s members self-accompanied the quartet’s vocals with their own instrumental playing, the Freshmen featured jazz-infused open harmonies. According to his biographer, a young Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys found the 1950s output of the Freshmen to be an inspiration: “It brings a feeling of love inside me…that feeling of harmony.” The modulation is at 1:39.
The synth-pop track “Getaway Car” was a 2018 release for pop princess Taylor Swift, now seemingly a permanent expatriate from the country music world that launched her career.
The whole-step modulation hits at the beginning of the bridge at 2:17.
“Perfect Illusion,” a 2016 dance release by Lady Gaga, reached #15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in France, Finland, and Greece. It also achieved a top 10 ranking in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Scotland, and Slovakia. The Verge likened the song to “Bad Romance” but with the “extra adrenaline shot of a big stadium rock song and some twinkly, vaguely creepy ’80s synthesizers.” The whole-step modulation is at 1:50.
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