“Groovin'” was written and first released in 1967 by the American rock band The Rascals (formerly known as The Young Rascals.) Its Afro-Cuban groove and relaxed vibe quickly led to the tune becoming one of the band’s signature songs, and it has since been covered by numerous other artists. This performance, by the British/Irish boy band The Overtones, was featured on the 2012 album Higher. Key change at 2:16.
Utopia | Monument
“Perennially underrated” are the first words of the headline on AllMusic’s Utopia page. The band was a sustained 1970s/1980s side project for songwriter/producer/performer Todd Rundgren, rock’s consummate hyphenate. Starting as a prog rock outfit in the early 70s, Utopia “evolved into a shiny mainstream rock quartet … Rundgren retreated into the background as each of his bandmates contributed songs and lead vocals to the albums. By the early ’80s, Utopia had developed into a hit-making entity in their own right.” 1980’s “Set Me Free,” a tune written by Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton, led the band’s singles by reaching #27 on the US pop charts.
According to the Rundgren-centric TRConnection, Rundgren remembers that “… at a certain point in time, Utopia was performing live as well as any quartet in the world.” But the band’s fanbase was miles deep, without nearly enough breadth to match. Drummer Willie Wilcox added, “The fan/band relationship was still fine. But when you’re still playing the same halls after ten years, getting the same guarantees, and expenses are going up, there start to be repercussions.” In addition to the band’s fervent but oddly finite following, Utopia went through a series of record label woes resulting from corporate consolidations, internecine squabbling, and pure bad luck. By the mid-80s, Utopia finally decided to call it a day, though they never officially disbanded.
Given Utopia’s often cerebral focus, 1986’s “Monument” certainly might have been written in the abstract. But for plenty of the band’s fans, the tune measures the distance between the quartet’s democratic ideals and the cold realities of making ends meet. At their collective best, each member wrote songs, sang lead vocals, and covered notoriously complex backup vocal harmonies in addition to top-drawer instrumental playing. But as one of the band’s final releases, “Monument” strongly evokes the tone of elegiac anthem not for a person, but for a time and place: “you can’t go home again.”
I got the message in my mailbox / Nobody goes to church no more
They’re closing down your little altar / They’ve locked the sanctuary door
Don’t fight it / Who can say that you didn’t try
Don’t fight it / Old soldiers never die …
Starting in G minor, the intro then jumps to a verse in Ab minor (0:36) as Sulton’s expressive tenor outlines a stark endgame, despite all efforts. At 0:58, the pre-chorus shifts to F minor; 1:10 brings a return to another verse and pre-chorus. The F major chorus (1:44 – 2:06) seemingly provides a reflection on the band’s unique vision, meticulous craft, and overarching legacy:
And if we don’t meet again
I know somewhere a monument
Stands in the name of our love …
Postscript:
Once the aftermath of its effective dissolution subsided, the band eventually reunited in Japan in the early 90s and a presented a full North American tour in 2018. Rundgren and Sulton continue to collaborate regularly. Demonstrating that the band was anything but a studio creation despite Rundgren’s famed production abilities, here’s a live 2018 version: the only change in the lineup is keyboardist/vocalist GLASYS in original keys player Roger Powell’s stead.
Ariana Grande | Greedy
We briefly covered this tune in January 2018. We hope you’ll enjoy this expanded post by our intern, Maya.
The release of Dangerous Woman, Ariana Grande’s head-bopping 2016 album, marked the start of the singer’s transition from innocent Nickelodeon singer/actress to full on pop idol. The album is full of dangerously sexy hits, but one song in particular ties up all of Grande’s sass and style into one stellar track.
The A.V. Club captures the essence of the tune with its review: “The horn-peppered “Greedy” is an exuberant R&B-pop earworm on which (Grande) has a blast indulging her inner gospel diva.”
The song features a brilliantly arranged horn section which enhances and reinforces the songwriting and production genius of Max Martin. It isn’t surprising that Martin also happens to have co-written and produced Brittany Spears’ hit, “… Baby One More Time,” as well as P!nk’s dance party must-have, “Raise Your Glass.”
On “Greedy,” Martin takes an epic sing-along chorus and transforms it into a wall of sound which hits listeners from the moment the song begins. The tune has that “early 2000s dance floor” sound, but also includes some 2016 trademarks such as the lush vocal stacks that are featured in the song’s hook. With funk undertones in the bass, gospel-style vocal stacks, and a disco groove, the song is appealing to a wide audience and really takes synth-pop to the next level.
The song is just repetitive enough for the modulation at 2:37 to pull the listener back in as the song explodes into a final chorus, sprinkled with Grande’s whistle tone adlibs and breathy riffs.
Maya Wagner is a singer/songwriter and music producer currently studying at Berklee College of Music. Maya is passionate about sharing her experiences with mental illness and her LGBTQ identity through her music. She blogs about all things music production on her website and has established a broad web presence as an artist, performer, and producer.
Maya is MotD’s first intern. Watch this space for her continuing contributions!
Shoshana Bean | I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Written and originally recorded by Whitney Houston, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1988 Grammy Awards, and was Houston’s first platinum single in the US with over a million copies sold. This cover, performed by singer/songwriter and Broadway actress Shoshana Bean with Troy Laureta on keys, features some subtle reharmonization and a key change at 2:52.
Buckshot Lefonque | Phoenix
Saxophonist, composer, and former Tonight Show with Jay Leno bandleader Branford Marsalis has long been a proponent of musical egalitarianism. Born into one of the most prominent families of jazz artists in the US, he’s kept a foot in that style while also performing R&B, classical, rock, and more. From Marsalis’ website: ” … there will be those who insist on sorting even the most adventurous music into neat and compact categories. Fortunately, Branford Marsalis will always be around to shove his square pegs into their round little pigeonholes.” Marsalis has collaborated with Sting, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Hornsby, his brothers Wynton and Delfeayo and his father Ellis, Dizzy Gillespie, Bela Fleck, and dozens of others; won a Grammy in 1993 for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for his album I Heard You Twice the First Time; and released a trio album, Bloomington (1993), which was hailed as a landmark in contemporary jazz.
Using a name which served as a pseudonym for jazz saxophone great Cannonball Adderly when he was moonlighting on pop and R&B records in the 50s, Buckshot LeFonque “blends rock, hip-hop, jazz, reggae, and African elements. In summing up his thoughts on what has been one of the most musically diverse projects he has yet undertaken, Marsalis says, ‘We took some interesting left turns… which is what I expected.’ The members come from widely diverging backgrounds yet find common ground … ‘You might get on the tour bus one day and hear Italian opera; the next day you’re hearing hip-hop.’ Singer Frank McComb agrees. ‘Everybody gets to stretch out in his own way. Everybody is an artist in this band and not just a backer. We’re all loose, free and easy.'”
McComb, a solo artist in his own right, covers the vocals on “Phoenix,” a slow ballad from the band’s second album, Music Evolution (1997). The track ramps up its energy gradually — at first. With a seemingly devastating breakup in the rear view mirror, the protagonist unflinchingly revisits the pain, then gathers strength to move on. The transition in point of view is matched by a brightening of the tonality: starting in F# minor, a huge shift to to F# major declares itself at 4:46, leading to an ending on an unresolved yet hopeful IV/V.
Where Am I Now (from “Lysistrata Jones”)
A musical adaptation (updated for the 21st century) of Greek playwright Aristophanes’ 411 BC comedy Lysistrata, Lewis Flynn (music & lyrics) and Douglas Carter Beane’s (book) Lysistrata Jones opened on Broadway in 2011 and ran for 30 performances. Reviewing the production for Backstage magazine, critic David Sheward said, “Each of the characters starts out as a broad stereotype—just as Aristophanes’ figures are—but Beane turns the cultural expectations inside out, creating complex people within a comic context.”
“Where Am I Now” is performed here by Patti Murin, who played Lysistrata in the original Broadway cast. The key change from Eb to D at 3:09 is preceded by the sustained vocal D changing function from the 3rd of the Bb major chord to the root of a D major chord. Murin then sets up the new key a cappella before the orchestra dramatically re-enters.
Thanks to Madeline Ciocci for this submission!
Sabaton | To Hell and Back
Sabaton is a Swedish band comprised of “heavy metal military historians,” according to The Guardian, which describes a recent pre-COVID gig: “A vast crowd of people are singing raucously, raising large beer tankards skyward and grinning like they have just won the lottery. In this small and sweaty venue, a Swedish heavy metal band are opening their set with a song about the exploits of Field Marshall Rommel’s infamous 7th Panzer Division in the second world war. They follow it with a number about the horrors of Passchendaele in the first world war.
By the end of the night, we will have had exuberant hymns to Lawrence of Arabia, an all-female Soviet bomber squadron and the military genius King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Everyone in the room, the vast majority of whom are wearing Sabaton shirts, sings along with absolutely everything. Meanwhile, the venue gently rocks from side to side, because we are on a ship in the middle of the Baltic Sea. Welcome to the 10th annual Sabaton Cruise: The Battleship, where passions for military history and Olympic-standard drinking collide.”
“To Hell and Back,” released in 2014, focuses on the Battle of Anzio (referenced in the chorus), part of the Italian Campaign of World War II fought in January 1944. Starting in D minor, the guitar solo (2:30 – 2:47) rises up into E minor before a reprise of the hook. At 3:06, the outro climbs up to F minor. Many thanks to first-time contributor Erik Lofgren for this submission!
Brett Domino Trio | The Pub
The Brett Domino Trio is a British comedy music duo consisting of Rob J. Madin and Steven Peavis. Madin (a comedian with many alter-egos, including the eponymous Brett Domino) and Peavis create their unique style by blending meme humor and awkward comedy with driving pop, disco, and funk beats. From the name of the band (which has no third member) to small Easter eggs interspersed in many of their music videos, Madin and Peavis keep their music light-hearted.
However, the theory and rhythm is often more complex than one would expect from songs which nit-pick marathon runners for being too healthy, or are written entirely with snippets from fly-fishing magazines … to pick just two of the many wonderfully quirky songs produced by the Trio. Madin is a talented musician and writer, proficient in several instruments. These skills ensure that the band’s tunes – whose accompanying videos regularly feature the Trio awkwardly dancing – somehow still achieve maximum groove. The Brett Domino Trio have a loving online community which has co-created two entirely virtual collaborative tunes with the band: the fans submitted recordings of themselves playing their instruments, which Madin and Peavis then edited into a cohesive song.
The Trio’s most recent release, “The Pub,” feels like an introvert’s view of post-pandemic socialization. Over a solid funk/disco groove, Madin excitedly anticipates the prospect of sitting in a pub, with or without friends. The song begins in G major, then modulates to C major at the end of the bridge at the 2:06 mark. Hope you enjoy!
Taylor Swift | betty
Taylor Swift’s graceful storytelling talents continue to baffle industry professionals and average listeners alike. Swift has remained at the forefront of commercial music since the release of her first pop-country album in 2006. Her ability to keep the world on its toes with a constantly shifting image and musical style proves that Swift has branding prowess.
Before Covid-19 overtook the world with its devilish tendencies, Taylor Swift’s chordal structures and harmonic content persisted in fitting nicely into the “basic pop chord progressions” box. Before 2020, Swift had only two songs in her catalogue featuring key changes (“Love Story” and “Getaway Car”). As the Covid pandemic unfolded, Swift had no choice but to postpone and eventually cancel the oh-so-anticipated LoverFest, a Boston-based concert event where she’d planned to perform alongside some of today’s biggest pop music icons. Upon the cancellation of the event, Swift’s social media presence dwindled and the hype began to fade … until July 24th, 2020, when Swift’s longest album ever, folklore, was suddenly available for streaming. Months later, Swift announced that yes, another surprise album would be available for streaming only hours after its release was announced. Swift considered this album, evermore, the “sister album” to folklore.
Both folklore and evermore feature poetic writing which flows through the biographies of an array of characters and contrasts with Swift’s previously autobiographical content. The aesthetic is one of storytelling and encompasses the namesakes of the album, creating a flow of thoughts and ideas which all somehow fit together like puzzle pieces in a world of diverging characters and shifting perspectives. The new sister albums explore music theory to a depth which was simply never present in Swift’s previous releases. New chord structures, modal interchange, and modulations flow throughout the albums. Evermore even features two songs in 5/4 (“tolerate it” and “closure”)!
One piece which has caught the attention of many old-time Taylor lovers is folklore track “betty.” The song’s story is told from the perspective of a teenage boy, James, as he struggles with his feelings for Betty, whom he deeply hurt. The song’s musicality is phenomenal in many ways, including a bass line which walks down the C major scale and a progression featuring a bittersweet C/B chord in the verse. We find a beautifully executed whole step key change at 4:05 which leads listeners into the final chorus with a release of passion as James finally decides to “show up at [Betty’s] party” and ask for her forgiveness. The song’s storytelling, form, and modulation are reminiscent of Swift’s “Love Story,” which also uses a key change in the final chorus to create a burst of hope and happiness as the story shifts in climax towards positive resolution.
“betty” is nostalgic for lovers of Taylor Swift’s early pop-country writing and brings something those long-time Swifties love into an album full of stories. The song is calculated, raw, and rich with musical elements to analyze. With well-treated guitar samples and a beautiful use of panning, the track is polished and sophisticated while remaining spritely and zestful. Take a listen for yourself …
Maya Wagner is a singer/songwriter and music producer currently studying at Berklee College of Music. Maya is passionate about sharing her experiences with mental illness and her LGBTQ identity through her music. She blogs about all things music production on her website and has established a broad web presence as an artist, performer, and producer.
Maya is MotD’s first intern. Watch this space for her continuing contributions!
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!
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