1970s – Page 27

Elvis Costello | Oliver’s Army

Rolling Stone‘s capsule review of Armed Forces, the 1979 album by UK post-punk rocker Elvis Costello, proclaimed that the single “Oliver’s Army” was “…the pièce de résistance … on an album that’s a killer in several senses of the word. The tune sounds bright and bouncy, with a jangly keyboard riff along the lines of ‘Here Comes Santa Claus,’ and it’s enough to make you want to rock around the room.”

AllMusic elaborates: “‘Oliver’s Army’ was a 45 that radio could hardly refuse — that is, until programmers listened closely to the words and discovered it was a bitter screed about how impressionable youth were being used as cannon fodder by Tory leaders whose political agendas had little to do with the concerns of the man on the street.”

According to American Songwriter, keyboardist Steve Nieve’s “buoyant” piano part was stylistically inspired by ABBA’s 1976 hit single “Dancing Queen” — confirmed by Nieve himself. Starting in A major, the F# major bridge arrives at 1:35; Costello’s own backing vocals go out of phase here, echoing the lead or disappearing entirely, rather than the wide-ranging two-part harmonies which adamantly speak together elsewhere. Another jaunty verse kicks in at 1:53, this time in B major, carrying us to the end of the tune. Many thanks to prolific mod submitter JB for this classic!

Elton John | This Song Has No Title

“This Song Has No Title” is an album track from Elton John’s smash hit 1973 double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. According to the BBC Review, the album sold 30 million copies worldwide; the RIAA ranked it as an 8x platinum seller. In 2003, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Rolling Stone ranked the album #91 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list: “Elton John compared this double album to the Beatles‘ White Album, and why not? By this point he was the most consistent hitmaker since the Fab Four, and soon enough he would be recording with John Lennon. Everything about Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is supersonically huge…” From AllMusic’s review: “It was designed to be a blockbuster — and it was…a statement of purpose spilling over two LPs, which was all the better to showcase every element of John‘s spangled personality.”

The tune starts simply enough: A D minor verse featuring an acoustic sound with a straightforward lead vocal, piano accompaniment, and a gentle synth overlay. At 0:48, the chorus blooms abruptly, featuring a mix of keys, an electronics-inflected wall of sound, and Elton’s familiar layered vocal textures.

Many thanks to MotD regular JB for this submission!

The Delfonics | Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time

“The sound that producer Thom Bell created for the Delfonics was the antithesis of the soul sound that came from Stax in Memphis and Muscle Shoals in Alabama,” according to AllMusic. “He sandpapered away the grit, lightened up on the backbeat, brought in string sections, and created a smooth, airy sound…a different kind of groove where subtlety and nuance reigned.”

“All of the individual elements that helped create the distinctive ‘smooth grooves’ sound synonymous with the Delfonics coalesce with undeniable intensity” on the Delfonics’ fourth LP, 1970’s The Delfonics, AllMusic continues. “Indeed, the material has arguably never been stronger … ideally scored, incorporating string and brass sections without overpowering the vocal blend or seeming pretentious … several sides on this disc are among the group’s best-known works, as well as definitive entries into the distinct Philly-brand soul music scene. The leadoff track, ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),’ would not only become a staple of Top 40 and R&B radio in 1970, but nearly two decades later inspired the 20-volume soul music compilation Soul Hits of the 70s: Didn’t It Blow Your Mind.“

After an intro in F major, the verses are in A major (for the first time at 0:19); the choruses are in F major, prominently announced by a series of Bb/C kicks (IV/Vs) pushing the door open into the new key (for the first time at 1:01). The opening moments of the intro, 2:29, and a few other spots present prominent features for french horn — not exactly a typical part of most soul horn sections.

Grateful Dead | Sugar Magnolia

Grateful Dead makes their MotD debut today, with one of their most loved and well-known tunes, “Sugar Magnolia.” Originally released on the group’s fifth studio album, American Beauty, in 1970, it was subsequently included on many live albums, including Europe ’72, where it peaked at #91 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1973. The majority of the tune is in A major, but it abruptly modulates up a step to B at 2:30, where it remains for the duration.

Milton Nascimento | O Que Será? (À Flor da Pele)

An eons-overdue MotD debut today for Milton Nascimento, about whom AllMusic.com writes: “(A) Brazilian singer/songwriter whose soaring voice and plaintive songs have inspired and influenced musicians of all kinds. Nascimento may have his roots in Brazil, but his songs have touched audiences all over the world…he caught a break when the pop singer Elis Regina recorded one of his songs, ‘Canção do Sal,’ in 1966. Regina got him a showcase on a popular Brazilian TV program; after performing at Brazil’s International Song Festival the following year, his career was launched … His 1999 album Crooner won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Pop Album at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2000.

Whatever he writes and sings about, be it the planet, ways of living, and loving and dying, his music has always carried an eternally optimistic spirit. Elis Regina has said of Nascimento: ‘If God sang, he would do it with Milton’s voice.’”

In 1976’s “O que Sera (a Flor de Pele),” a vocal duet with fellow Brazilian musician Chico Buarque, we float above the complex, fast-moving harmonies so often found in Brazilian music. We encounter modulations at 1:52, 2:49 (for the duration of an instrumental interlude), and 3:18.

Chicago | Make Me Smile

“(‘Make Me Smile’) was written by James Pankow, a founding member of Chicago, whose primary instrument is the trombone,” reports Songfacts. “What made him smile was the thought of a beautiful relationship: ‘Relationships, if they’re good, put a big smile on our faces. Love songs have always been a powerful ingredient in the song’s process – the songwriting process has often taken writers to that place.’

(The 1970 single) is the first section from the 13-minute musical suite ‘Ballet for a Girl from Buchannon’ on the group’s second album (‘Colour My World‘ is also part of this suite). Without the band’s knowledge, their record company excerpted the ‘Make Me Smile’ section and pushed it to AM radio stations, which had thus far ignored the band. The band had mixed emotions upon hearing their musical masterpiece chopped down for radio play, but were thrilled when the song became their first hit. The first Pankow heard this song on the radio was when he flipped on the mighty Los Angeles radio station KHJ-AM in his car and the song came on. He had no idea the record company had packaged it as a single.”

This album version includes an extended intro not found on the single version (0:00 – 0:38), as well as an extended outro (3:44 – 4:10) before the single version’s ending picks back up at 4:11. Both the intro and the outro are unsettled, giving the horn section free rein over meters that shift on a dime; a settled 4/4 is reached as the first verse starts at 0:42, before the most noticeable key change hits as the bridge starts at 2:14. The band’s trademark horn-saturated kicks and ambitious multi-layered backing vocals were well on their way to icon status with this hit track.

Many thanks to our diligent stringer JB for contributing this tune!

Buzzcocks | I Don’t Mind

“With their crisp melodies, biting lyrics, and driving guitars, the UK’s Buzzcocks were one of most influential bands to emerge in the initial wave of punk rock,” AllMusic reports. “Buzzcocks were inspired by the Sex Pistols‘ energy, but they didn’t copy the Pistols‘ angry political stance. Instead, they brought that intense, brilliant energy to the three-minute pop song.”

Buzzcocks’ album Another Music In A Different Kitchen (1977) featured the single “I Don’t Mind,” which reached #55 on the UK Singles charts. The tune features a bridge at 1:16 — unusual for the punk genre. But at the end of the bridge, another rarity arrives: a half-step modulation (1:50), making this 2:20 track quite unusual within its genre.

Many thanks to Rob Penttinen for this contribution!

The Who | Joker James

The Who, already very well-established in 1973, indulged in an ambitious adventure: the rock opera Quadrophenia. The soundtrack spanned a full double album. AllMusic reports that the plot was “built around the story of a young mod’s struggle to come of age in the mid-’60s…re-examining the roots of (the band’s) own birth in mod culture. In the end, there may have been too much weight, as Pete Townshend tried to combine the story of a mixed-up mod named Jimmy with the examination of a four-way split personality (hence the title), in turn meant to reflect the four conflicting personas at work within the Who itself.”

“Joker James” begins in D major, loses a bit of steam as it transitions to the bridge at 1:46, and then returns with renewed energy as it modulates to E major at 2:02.

Many thanks to MotD fan Aaron for submitting this tune!

The Lawrence Welk Show | One Toke Over the Line

San Francisco-based folk duo Brewer + Shipley scored a top 10 hit in 1971 with “One Toke Over the Line.” Their website details that “while the record buying public was casting its vote of approval by buying the single, the (soon to be disgraced) Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, labeled (us) as subversives, and then strong-armed the FCC to ban ‘One Toke’ from the airwaves just as it was peaking on the charts.” The band was even added to Richard Nixon’s notorious Enemies List!

Songfacts.com reports that “some radio stations refused to play this song because of the drug references, but not everyone got this meaning. In 1971 the song was performed on the Lawrence Welk Show by the wholesome-looking couple Gail Farrell and Dick Dale, who clearly had NO clue what a toke was. Welk, at the conclusion of the performance of the song, remarked, without any hint of humor, ‘there you’ve heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.'”

The original tune has no modulation, but the Welk crew’s cover, which broke the earnestness meter from its first few bars, added a half-step upward key change at 1:36. The AV Club adds that “Welk’s big band had been carefully pulled together over his years touring and on the radio, and it was filled with the sorts of nice, Midwestern boys like Welk himself (a North Dakota native). The primary goal of the program was to make sure the music never stopped playing, and that it never got to be too much for the show’s predominantly older audience. And that audience was loyal, sticking with the program as it moved from a locally based Los Angeles show to a national one to one that ran in first-run syndication. Welk had a program on the air somewhere in the country from 1951 to 1982, a staggeringly long run that no other musical variety program can really touch. And he did it all without catering to changing whims or fashions, outside of the occasional badly misjudged musical number, such as …”

…and just for good measure, the original:

Frankie Valli | My Eyes Adored You

A submission from MotD fan Kent: “Perhaps my favorite ballad of the 1970s, Frankie Valli’s ‘My Eyes Adored You’ (1974) starts out in A major (after an intro that keeps you guessing which key it’s going to land in).” Written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, it reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Easy Listening chart, and was ranked by Billboard overall as the #5 song of that year.

The path to each of the modulations is cleared by a V/IV compound chord in the new key, announced by a syncopated kick not found anywhere else in the arrangement. The first one hits at 0:39 at the end of the first chorus; oddly, the tune doesn’t start with a verse. But although that initial kick features the V/IV chord, it’s just a warmup: there’s no modulation. At 1:33, the first half-step modulation hits with the same syncopated kick, followed by more at 2:29 and 2:52.