JB – Page 10

Jonatha Brooke | Glass Half Empty

“Jonatha Brooke is one of those artists whose name always sounds familiar … but whose music you may not be familiar with … though, frankly, you really should be,” (Popdose). “She’s a talented singer-songwriter who first got her career rolling in the early ’90s as a member of a duo called The Story, with collaborator Jennifer Kimball, but Brooke soon stood on her own two feet and has trotted out album after album … some on major labels, some on indies … to critical acclaim and a decidedly diehard following.”

In a 2001 interview, Brooke held forth on the seismic shift in the music industry brought set in motion by Napster and file sharing. She had a front-row seat to both the “before” and “after” cultures of this shift: “‘… it still breaks my heart that music has been so devalued and I think labels — especially the majors — are the worst culprits at not defending the value of art, of music. And because songs are the easiest, tiniest files to steal at this point, the cat’s out of the bag. But I think it comes down to no one being educated as to what really goes into doing what someone like me does … yeah, there are tons of opportunities and great ways to network and share stuff on the Internet, but it’s hard making a living … you have to seek out gazillions of other revenue streams because records just don’t sell the way they used to.'”

1997’s 10-Cent Wings, an early solo effort, was well reviewed: “ … essential, like taking a deep breath after witnessing something magnificent,” (Billboard). “Glass Half Empty,” a mid-tempo track, is quintessential Brooke: polished musicianship, unpredictable and rangy melodies, a rich harmonic vocabulary, and lyrics that are likely to feed an earworm for days on end. You could search for a frayed edge in Brooke’s songwriting, but instead you’re too engaged in the narrative, the mood, or the shifting textures to even start. The intro and verses are in A minor overall (with a shift in emphasis to C major at times); the chorus throws some grit in the gears, shifting to G minor (1:28). Next is a return to the lighter tread of the interlude and then the next verse at 1:50, both in A minor. The alternating pattern continues from there.

Monster Ceilidh Band | Red Monster

“Monster Ceilidh Band … bring something quite unique to the folk world,’ (BrightYoungFolk). “(They) act as a strong bridge between traditional ideas of folk music and the more modern sounds of dance and techno.

This can sound like a bizarre style to try and adopt, but the simple fact is that it works so well in its context. As the band name alone suggests, the focus is on music you can dance along with. To do this, they simply one-up the use of folk instruments by merging them with sound effects, electric guitar tricks, and other methods of really getting a beat pumping.”

From the band’s own website: “Disc 2 of the Monster Ceilidh Band’s 2011 double-album Mechanical Monster (is) a mix of traditional Folk music and dirty electronic beats … the UK’s first Drum ‘n’ Bass Ceilidh crossover!” Starting in A minor, “Red Monster” shifts into B minor at 0:33 before returning to A minor at 0:49. The alternating pattern continues from there.

Bellowhead | Gosport Nancy

“Bellowhead formed in 2004 and after 12 amazing years, they called it a day in 2016,” (bellowhead.co.uk). “In their active years they played to thousands of people at festivals and on tour, recorded five studio albums (selling over a quarter of a million copies), were the proud recipients of two silver discs and won a staggering eight BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

During lockdown in 2020, the 11 members of Bellowhead first re-connected online to remotely record ‘New York Girls – At Home’. That led to re-uniting in person for a one-off performance … one of the biggest online streams of 2020, confirming that Bellowhead are still one of the biggest and most in demand UK folk acts, despite not performing for nearly five years. The stream led to pleas from fans for more and the stars aligned for a mammoth reunion tour in November 2022 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their fourth album, Broadside.“

Released in 2016, “Gosport Nancy” is unusual for its horn section. Contributor JB adds: “It’s rare for an English trad band to include horns at all, and yet rarer to feature such a funky horns arrangement.” Adding to the intrigue, the tune also includes plenty of syncopation and a few compound chords. Starting in D major, the tune modulates up a whole step to E major at 2:49, layering more shifts in the subsequent measures before landing back in D major.

The Band | Stage Fright

After a wait of too many years, MotD is happy to finally feature a tune by a legendary band whose name likely created more than a few promotion challenges: “After many tours of duty backing the rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins and providing the muscle behind Bob Dylan’s move towards electric rock, the four Canadians and one Arkansan comprising the Band were pedigreed to a legendary extent even before making their first album,” (Pitchfork). “By the time they issued the twinned masterpieces Music From Big Pink in 1968 and The Band in 1969, their polymathic command of multiple genres, and self-conscious embrace of traditional American folk, country, bluegrass, and zydeco had established them as the thinking fan’s alternative to the diminishing returns of psychedelia and the counterculture … For critics, audiences and no-lesser peers than the Beatles, they had come to represent authenticity personified. So. How do you follow that up?

The answer came in the form of Stage Fright (1970), a charming, loose-limbed collection that elides the chore of living up to the previous records by basically not even trying. If their first two LPs inspired the Beatles and Stones to return to basics, Stage Fright connotes an entirely different sphere of influence: it’s a nonpareil boogie album, whose in-the-pocket playing establishes the Band as the equal of groovemaster peers like Booker T. and the Meters and sets a predicate for followers like Little Feat and NRBQ … What Stage Fright lacks in history lessons it makes up for in palpable joy. They would never seem so happy again.”

The album’s title track shows off the group’s unique songwriting sense; at times it’s often difficult to predict what might be coming next in terms of either overall form or harmonic progressions. G major holds sway overall, but between 1:47 and 2:41, there’s a clear shift in emphasis to the tune’s relative minor, E minor.

Frankie Valli + The Four Seasons | Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You

“Once the Four Seasons became a consistent success, Frankie Valli established a side career doing solo recordings whose style hearkened back to pre-rock pop,” (AllMusic). “The best and most successful example of his solo work is ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ (1967), (which) would be perfectly at home on one of Frank Sinatra’s mid-1950s albums … The music skillfully blends ballad and pre-rock pop feels by wedding gentle, yearning verses that ebb and flow in a cocktail jazz style to a swinging chorus that bounds along on a series of surging, soaring melodic motifs.

(The track) starts in a ballad style with stately horns drifting a smooth, jazzy beat, undergoes a change midway through where the horns and the beat both start to swing in an uptempo, lounge music style and then shifts back and forth between these two feels for the rest of the song. Valli navigates this tricky set of tempo shifts with graceful style, using a silky tenor croon for the lighter moments and a swaggering baritone in the uptempo moments … (it) became a #2 smash hit and an instant standard that was extensively covered by … Andy Williams, Paul Anka and Englebert Humperdinck … (and has) become an oldies radio favorite and popped up in films as diverse as The Deer Hunter and Conspiracy Theory.“

After starting in E major, the verse features with plenty of harmonic motion over a tonic pedal-point bass. At 2:08, there’s a shift upward to G major for verse 2 — impressive enough that you won’t even mind when you hear verse 1’s lyrics are re-used wholesale. At 2:38, the boisterous instrumental hook returns, but drops back into the original key E major for the chorus, which repeats as the track fades.

Little Anthony + The Imperials | Tears On My Pillow

“In the summer of 1958, Jerome Anthony Gourdine found himself simmering in a hot classroom at a brick high school in Brooklyn,” (thirteen.org). “Gourdine, better known as Little Anthony, had recently recorded his first single, ‘Tears On My Pillow,’ as a member of the singing group The Imperials. But that year he had skipped so many days of school, he was at risk of missing out on a diploma and was forced to complete the remaining credits over the summer.

‘That was a sentence, man,’ Little Anthony says now. He says he stuck through it, until one moment changed everything for him. ‘So one day, I heard these little girls in the back of the classroom snickering,’ he said. ‘And they had these little transistors in the air and I could hear music coming out of there and they kept pointing at me.’ When they handed him the radio, he heard himself singing ‘Tears On My Pillow.’ He promptly closed his books, walked out, and never looked back at his alma mater.” Gourdine later became a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Clocking in at only 2:20, the 1958 single reached the top ten in the US and Canada, going on to sell over a million copies. After a start in C major, the tune shifts up a whole step to D major at 1:50 as the brief bridge comes to an end.

Humble Pie | Sweet Peace and Time

“There was a lot riding on this album (Smokin‘, 1972). After the general economical failure of (UK band Humble Pie’s) first two albums released in the States, Humble Pie and Rock On, their live album, Rockin’ the Filmore shot them up to top-billing across the country and into a major name,” (TheUncool). “So, when Smokin’ hit the racks it would provide exposure of the studio side to a band that became famous on their live side. The reception would be significant …

Actually there is nothing extremely original about the band. They play a brand of rock ‘n roll that is definitely not unique to them. So…just what is it about Humble Pie, or for that matter Smokin’, that in actuality puts them in a class above so many others? … Humble Pie is a confident band. They don’t bashfully kick around a number of styles and techniques … Humble Pie is a band that works with the bare essentials of rock ‘n roll. Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore proved them as a great live band. Smokin’ proves them as a great band. Anywhere.” (Courtesy of the Door [aka San Diego Door] – Cameron Crowe)

After beginning in A minor, “Sweet Peace and Time” shifts up to B minor at 0:45, then hangs out in E minor for an instrumental section from 1:09 – 1:39. At 1:39, the same A minor pattern from the intro and first verse is once again in effect. The pattern continues from there.

Tamsin Elliott | Emerging/Full Squirrel

“Tamsin is a folk musician, composer and film-maker based in Bristol, UK,” (TamsinElliott.co.uk). “With roots in the dance tunes of the British Isles, her interests and playing styles extend to European and Middle Eastern musics as well as experimental and ambient sounds. Her ‘beautiful, filmic compositions for accordion, harp, whistle, and voice’ (The Guardian) are rooted in tradition, whilst pushing boundaries and exploring minimalist, neo-classical, sound art and other non-traditional formats.

Her debut solo album Frey (2022), which features the playing of Sid Goldsmith and Rowan Rheingans … explores themes of limbo, pain, healing and acceptance, reflecting on the microcosm of her personal experience of chronic illness alongside wider themes of societal disconnection and environmental grief. ‘One of the most accomplished debut albums we’ve heard in a long time… the influence of tradition pulses through every track,’ (Tradfolk).”

After an extended rubato intro in A minor, an accelerated waltz section begins at 1:48. A shift to A major begins at 2:08, returning to A minor at 2:25. More transitions continue from there.

Alana Davis | Blame It On Me

The daughter of jazz vocalist Ann Marie Schofield and jazz pianist Walter Davis Jr., Alana Davis made her own reputation as a singer and songwriter whose style bridges folk, rock, jazz, and R&B (AllMusic) … Although she began writing songs at the age of 18, Davis didn’t turn to music as a career until briefly attending Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York.

Leaving school to devote her full attention to music, she recorded a demo tape of her original tunes and was signed by Elektra. They released her debut album, Blame It on Me, in late 1997. It reached number 157 on the Billboard 200, and her first single, a cover of Ani DiFranco’s ’32 Flavors,’ became a Top 40 single in early 1998 … Drawing equally from folk and pop, Davis comes on as a refined, refashioned DiFranco — one with a stronger melodic sense and a willingness to indulge in slick production … The single’s success also led to an invitation to participate in the Lilith Fair.” Davis went on to release several other albums, most recently 2018’s Love Again.

After a start in D major, “Blame It On Me” shifts briefly to Bb minor at 1:06 before reverting to the original key (1:30) for a vamp that leads into verse 2. A break featuring a laddered series of key changes starts at 3:33, but then Davis climbs back down and once again returns to the D major for a final verse at 4:14.

Scritti Politti | Perfect Way

“Scritti Politti is … an act that’s had almost more of an interesting life outside of the spotlight as in it,” (Treblezine). “Green Gartside, a stage name for Paul Strohmeyer, was a politically-minded art school student who became inspired by the punk movement, started his own band, and gained the attention of enough people through his own philosophical and politically charged songs to gain a spot on a tour with Joy Division and Gang of Four. Unfortunately, Green … had massive stage fright … couldn’t perform, and had his first heart attack at the age of 23 … He eventually put together a series of singles which became the landmark Cupid & Psyche 85.

This album was a breakthrough at the time, but … every song still holds up today as one of the best pop records ever produced. Green … has a voice that one critic has stated is ‘eternally 14 years old.’ … Add to that some of the first sampling ever to be used in popular music, and you’ve got a recipe for an innovative record. ‘Perfect Way’ was the huge hit in the US, and it’s easy to hear why. Various loops and studio wizardry add to a sonically dense and exciting mix, but it is Green’s vocals, way with words, and delivery that make this song stunning.” The tune was so ornate that it created yet another barrier to performance: “… it became apparent pretty immediately that we couldn’t reproduce the sound of Cupid & Psyche live … The current Scritti line-up figured out a way to play ‘Perfect Way’ live, so we debuted it in Japan 30 years, or more, after it was recorded,” (Green’s comment on the YouTube video page).

After “Perfect Way” unwinds an intro in F# major, the leadup to the first verse shifts to A# major at 0:12. The pre-chorus starts at 0:49, featuring a restless melody and a wandering tonality as well. The chorus returns to F# major. At 1:18, the pattern starts over again with verse 2. An interlude follows, starting with a quick scene change smoothed over by tiny percussion breaks at both ends, where a simple, prominent piano solo unfolds in C major (2:25 – 2:43). There is likely no better example of the chaotic mid-80s MTV fast-cut video style — which quite possibly helped to make this track the hit that it became. Its top chart positions were UK #48 and Canada #32; in the US, #11 Pop, #6 Hot Dance/Disco, and #85 on the Hot Black Singles chart!