JB – Page 13

Led Zeppelin | The Wanton Song

“With Led Zeppelin, there was no break-in period, no ‘early phase’ where they figured out what kind of band they wanted to be,” (Pitchfork). “They were fully formed from the first repetition of the ‘Good Times Bad Times’ riff, and they powered along through their first half-dozen albums crushing everything in their path. Zep never had their Sgt. Pepper’s, their Exile, their Who’s Next, because every album was more or less that good — for a while, anyway.

This was a band that knew the music it wanted to make and executed it with ruthless precision … Physical Graffiti … found the band inhabiting what Neil Tennant once described (and Tom Ewing fleshed out) as their ‘imperial phase’ … everything they tried during these years somehow worked. Physical Graffiti … (is) Led Zeppelin’s White Album, the one they made when they were at their creative peak and had a million ideas, but were also under a tremendous amount of strain and saw the end starting to come into focus.”

After barreling along in G minor through the first verse, the Physical Graffiti track “The Wanton Song” (1975) next features a multi-key interlude (0:58 – 1:23) before returning to G minor. The surprisingly contrasting interlude is back at 2:03, but this time we land in an F major instrumental section at 2:28. At 3:03, we’re back on the express train of the G minor verse — with a quintessential Zeppelin guitar riff at its heart.

The Boys of the Lough | Farewell and Remember Me

“A fun-loving approach to Celtic music has made the Boys of the Lough one of folk music’s most influential groups. Since they formed in the 1960s, the Ireland-based band have been instrumental in the evolution of traditional Irish music,” (Qobuz).

“Boys of the Lough are one of the masters of celtic music, combining members from several celtic traditions with a long history (Ceolas.org) … Like that other long-running act, the Chieftans, their music tends to the formal; impeccable technique and sensitivity, with large, sometimes classical-style arrangements, and very tight ensemble playing. They lack the fire and roughness of other groups; the overall feeling is of a group of skilled, well-integrated musicians playing together for the pure pleasure of it.”

“Farewell and Remember Me,” from the group’s 1987 album of the same name, is a ballad largely built in F# major. Accompanied by piano and fiddle, the solo vocal line takes center stage for several verses, each ending on a suspended tonic chord. At 2:12, the final verse shifts to F# minor, closing the tune without resolution on a wistful VI chord.

Tori Amos | Happy Phantom

An extremely overdue MotD debut for Tori Amos: “‘Happy Phantom’ was written and recorded during the first phase of creating Little Earthquakes. … (It) was included on both a cassette tape Tori submitted for copyright in June 1990 and the original rejected version of Little Earthquakes in December that year,” (ToriPedia). “In the Little Earthquakes songbook, Tori noted that ‘when the songs began showing up I wrote their names on separate envelopes and made a faery ring in the middle of the house. I’d sit in the middle of the ring to focus on a song’s direction. All of the songs seemed to work toward the completeness of the other. They decided we needed to hang out with death for awhile.'”

Amos’ first major-label release, Y Kant Tori Read, saw her fronting a synth-pop band of the same name during the late 1980s. The album “sunk without a trace; she had to dig deep inside herself, in her search for her true identity,” (Songfacts). “She told Rolling Stone this meant killing her old self: ‘To talk about death was really important on Little Earthquakes because there was a part of me had to die. The image that I had created for whatever reason, had to die.'”

“Happy Phantom,” is largely built in Bb major, but erupts into a surprising instrumental interlude in G major (1:45 – 1:57), then pivots around a bit more until returning to familiar territory at 2:14. Wrapping up by returning to Bb major, the tune then falls off the edge of the earth during a few formless closing bars.

The Offspring | Self Esteem

“The Offspring is perhaps the quintessential SoCal punk band of the 1990s — survivors of the 1980s hardcore scene who revamped themselves for the heavier alt-rock era … ” (AllMusic). “The group released their second album, Ignition, on Epitaph in 1992 but it was 1994’s Smash and its accompanying singles ‘Come Out and Play (Keep Em Separated)’ and ‘Self Esteem’ that pushed the band toward blockbuster national success.

Shortly afterward, the Offspring made the leap to the major labels and continued a streak of snotty, satirical alt-rock hits such as ‘Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)’ and ‘Why Don’t You Get a Job?’ that kept the group squarely in the hard rock mainstream through the 2000s.”

“Self Esteem” spends most of its runtime in A minor, including its “snotty” wordless a capella intro, verses, and choruses. But a bridge (1:59 – 2:35) suddenly jumps up to D minor before reverting to the original key. At 3:39, the D minor section repeats, seemingly falling back into A minor only for the last beat (the tune cuts off abruptly on the first beat of a measure).

Jamiroquai | Two Completely Different Things

“There was a time when you could rarely set foot in a public place without being reminded of the omnipresence of UK funk-pop sensation Jamiroquai,” (abc.net.au). “The band, led by constantly behatted frontman Jay Kay, were a dominant force in the music of the late-90s and early-2000s, their blend of acid jazz, funk, disco and house a constant on radio, in nightclubs, at cafes and parties the world over.”

“… You can’t shake the feeling that pop is a giant feedback loop, in which Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield begat Jamiroquai and Pharrell, and the influence of Jamiroquai must have fed, consciously or subconsciously, into the aural landscapes of both Daft Punk and Pharrell.” (HeyMusicOfficial).

The intro of 2010’s “Two Completely Different Things” alternates between D major and D minor. At 0:23, the verse shifts into F major, remaining there for the chorus. 1:06 – 1:17 brings an interlude which echoes the intro (D major and minor). The pattern continues throughout.

Mr. Mister | Broken Wings

“If you’re looking for reasons to make fun of ’80s pop music — the fashion, the keyboards, the blaring guitar leads, the almost disarmingly terrible band names — then (Richard) Page’s band Mr. Mister makes for a great target,” (Stereogum). “Mr. Mister didn’t rock. They made ultra-produced, vaguely worded expensive-digital-studio music, and they embodied a moment when that was what pop radio wanted.” After working with Andy Gibb, REO Speedwagon, Amy Grant, Al Jarreau, Neil Diamond and DeBarge, “around the time Mr. Mister got together, Page turned down some big job offers … he claims that he was recruited for lead-singer roles in some bigger bands — replacing Bobby Kimball in Toto, replacing Peter Cetera in Chicago. He turned both gigs down, and he may have regretted it” — perhaps not surprising, as Mr. Mister wouldn’t break big until the release of its second album, Welcome to the Real World (1985).

Regarding the album’s lead single, “Broken Wings:” Stereogum continues: “(the) level of drama is absurd, almost fantastical, and it pulls it off … The song is all ominous churn, and it never really kicks in. Instead, it captures a state of sustained anticipation. The synths drone and sigh. The guitars whine and howl. The bassline mutters dejectedly to itself. Little funk-guitar ripples glide across the surface. Even when the drums come thudding in, they’re off-kilter, never quite locked-in. ‘Broken Wings’ works as a five-minute digital gasp. It’s like the whole song is holding its breath, waiting to see if the whole ‘take these broken wings’ line is going to save this relationship.”

Central to that ominous churn is the use of sus2 chords, which keep the listener on the edge of her seat while somewhat obscuring the song’s tonality; all of the chords appearing before the 1:04 mark (the intro and verse 1) are sus2 chords. Sus2 chords were all over pop music during the 1980s, but “Broken Wings” is a particularly good example of the sound. After a start in G# minor, there’s a brief change of weather during the instrumental bridge from 2:31 – 3:10, when the keys of F# minor and its relative A major alternate. Unusually, this is a modulation which is more noticeable as it ends than when it begins, likely affected by the sudden change in texture as we move to a new verse (featuring yet more spartan sus2 chords)! All of the complex songcraft and meticulous production paid off — the tune reached #1 for two weeks and has become a true classic of its era.

The Jacksons | This Place Hotel (a.k.a. Heartbreak Hotel)

The Jacksons’ 1980 release Triumph kept Michael Jackson in the forefront among his brothers. In retrospect, the track “Heartbreak Hotel” (later changed to “This Place Hotel” to avoid confusion with Elvis Presley’s hit song) was a clear precursor to the pop/r&b/funk/horror blend so clearly on display with Thriller, Michael’s subsequent smash hit solo album.

“… ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ … plods along nicely, loaded with strings and lead guitars,” (PopRescue). “There’s an odd repeated noise that made me pause the record to see if it was a problem with my house pipes… but no, it’s there in the chorus for some reason. When released as the album’s second single, this track stumbled at #44 … Overall, this album is a slick production, showing the Jacksons as well-versed musicians and vocalists.”

Bass lines aren’t always the first choice to host a hook, but the Jacksons make it happen here. Amplified by syncopated piano kicks, the rangy bass line takes center stage from the first moment, when it’s first stated as a rubato cello line, followed by an extended intro that takes us up to the 0:50 mark. E minor is the overall key, although an interlude from 3:28 – 3:42 takes us on a diversionary path through a series of cascading keys of the moment. From 4:42 – 4:56, the diversion returns, but this time we emerge out of the rapids into a peaceful string-sweetened rubato piano feature that wraps up the tune in B major.

Gospel Church | Anthem of Praise

” … composer, pianist, and arranger Richard Smallwood has clearly and solidly changed the face of gospel music,” (Kennedy Center). “He can impeccably blend classical movements with traditional gospel, and arrive at a mix that is invariably Smallwood’s alone. A diverse and innovative artist, Richard Smallwood has achieved many honors; Dove Awards and a Grammy also attest to his talents … Smallwood has been honored by the Smithsonian Institution as a ‘gospel innovator and songwriter,’ and his hometown, Washington, D.C. heralded two separate occasions as ‘Richard Smallwood Day,’ also, distinguishing him with the Mayoral Art Award for ‘precision and excellence in artistic discipline.'”

… His debut album, The Richard Smallwood Singers, spent 87 weeks on Billboard’s Gospel chart. “The next project, Psalms, received a Grammy nomination. Two years later, another nomination for Textures, the album that contained the classic ‘The Center of My Joy,’ penned by Richard Smallwood along with Bill and Gloria Gaither.” His career has only grown from there.

Gospel Church, a prominent French gospel ensemble, produced this video performance of Smallwood’s “Anthem of Praise” in late 2023. After a cinematic instrumental intro establishes the piece in Bb minor, the choir enters at 1:03. At 3:33, the arrangement transitions to Bb major; from there, there are half-step upward modulations with each successive vocal soloist, eventually landing in Db major. The final few seconds bring an emphasis on the original Bb, now clearly the implied relative minor even in the absence of any chord color.

Howard Jones | Hide and Seek

UK native songwriter/performer Howard Jones’ career blossomed with his signature single, “Things Can Only Get Better.” That uptempo tune, which acknowledges life’s complexities but maintains an infectiously positive attitude, seems to have set the tone for Jones’ career. From a 2022 interview with 48Hills: “‘From the first album, the first single, I wanted the music and the lyrics to be of use to people to help them get through difficult times in the same way that music helped me. It had been such a comfort and an inspiration to me as I was growing up … I was consciously writing the music for the times when people, including myself, needed a boost, to get over some really difficult situation that life is constantly throwing at us … we need everyone on this planet to be functioning at their highest, most positive level if we’re going to overcome the difficulties we’re facing.'”

“Howard looks at the big picture in this song, where he goes back to the big bang and asks us to remember a time when there was ‘nothing at all, just a distant hum,'” (Songfacts). “Howard Jones performed ‘Hide and Seek’ at Live Aid in 1985 on Freddie Mercury’s piano.” Stepping the tempo up noticeably compared to the studio version of this ballad, Jones somehow gathered the courage to perform this track solo at the piano amidst Live Aid’s otherwise saturated aural textures and huge bands. The transatlantic concert was witnessed by 70,000+ audience members in London and 80,000+ for the US set; “an estimated audience of 1.9 billion, in 150 nations, nearly 40% of the world population” viewed the broadcast on TV or listened via radio (CNN).

After an intro and a verse in D minor, the chorus lifts the mood with a shift to D major (first heard from 1:52 – 2:23) before reverting to the hook-driven minor interlude and verse. The connective tissue in the transition from minor to major is a prominent Dsus4.

Aimee Mann | Knock It Off

“Mental Illness (2017) is Aimee Mann’s quintessential statement, tempering the discord of life with elegant chamber folk,” (Pitchfork). ” … Mann doing an album called Mental Illness is a concept so fitting it took her a lifetime to find it. Having already delivered a new wave smash, scored an Academy Award nomination, recorded eight stylistically diverse solo records as well a fiesty collaboration with punk’s Ted Leo, Mann is rightfully pissed that she’s nevertheless pigeonholed as a dreary fabricator of slow, sad-sack songs. So she’s answered her critics with her slowest, sad-sack-iest album yet, one populated by ordinary people struggling against operatic levels of existential pain at odds with their humdrum lives.

Mann has long been an expert of articulating this tension. Originally written about her attraction to a woman on the down low, her 1985 ‘Til Tuesday single ‘Voices Carry’ found its defining shape when record company meddling forced Mann to recast it as a heterosexual melodrama that became a feminist anthem about overcoming male dominance. Yet no one would’ve predicted then that Mann would rank among the few new wave survivors who’d achieve both consistent sales and artistic credibility well into the 21st century … A rocker at heart if not always in practice, Mann has sometimes been muted but never mellow; her new wave training and constitutional angst haven’t allowed it. To prepare for her latest, she studied the gentle craftsmanship of Bread, Dan Fogelberg, and other unhip smoothies that punk tossed on the anti-establishment bonfire with Yes and ELP. Mental Illness is accordingly made of skeletal strings, coolly regulated commentary, and minimal drums. Juxtaposing elegant chamber folk against the discord of lives out of balance, it’s musically more delicate than even her soft rock models.”

After a start in Bb major overall, “Knock It Off” features a soft-spoken breezy bridge between 1:46 – 2:02, shifting us into Db major. Returning to Bb major for the balance of the tune, Mann decisively closes with a simple plagal cadence.