Tag: 1980s

Olivia Newton-John + Cliff Richard | Suddenly

Olivia Newton-John, a winner of four Grammy awards and an artist who sold upwards of 100 million albums worldwide, passed away today after a multi-year battle with cancer. We’re featuring a tune from one of the many high points of her multi-faceted career.

“Longtime Olivia Newton-John associate John Farrar composed ‘Suddenly’ for the soundtrack to the movie Xanadu in 1980,” (AllMusic). “Recorded in Los Angeles in March 1980, a somewhat slight ballad was transformed into a genuinely heartfelt duet between the Australian and Cliff Richard, with whom she had enjoyed a decade-long association as friend and occasional co-performer (she was a regular guest on his early-’70s TV series). ‘We do have a good relationship and I think it really comes across in the song,’ Richard mused. Indeed, released as Richard’s 79th British single, ‘Suddenly’ reached number 15 in that country, despite the general failure of the accompanying movie. It also became Richard’s fourth U.S. Top 40 hit in a year, when it reached number 20 in October 1980.”

Newton-John was always more than just a pretty face; the same could be said for her UK duet partner! Richard was a massive star in the UK by 1980s, but was beginning to catch on in the US market as well — with plenty of boyish pop cred belying his age (40 vs. Newton-John’s 32). “Suddenly” was a central part of the Xanadu soundtrack, but on the eve of MTV’s appearance in 1981, a promotional video featuring both singers was called for, rather than footage from the fanciful rollerskating-centric movie. If the US Top 40 somehow had a baby with the visual aesthetic of TV soap opera General Hospital, one of the largest media blockbusters of the era, this video would have been the result (move over, Luke ‘n’ Laura … Cliff and Olivia are super cute and have pipes!) The chemistry here might not have been entirely the result of acting: upon her death, Richard said of Newton-John: “‘We hit it off straight away. She was the sort of soulmate that you meet and you know is a friend for life. When I and many of us were in love with Olivia, she was engaged to someone else. I’m afraid I lost the chance,'” (Daily Mail).

After a somewhat aimlessly wandering intro (OMG, we have synths now! Let’s use them a lot!), Richard’s half of the verse begins in Ab major (0:16) but ends in B major; Newton-John’s half begins in Bb major (0:35) but effortlessly glissades into the Eb chorus (0:53). Lots of pivots continue from there.

Michael Callen | Love Don’t Need A Reason

“Love Don’t A Reason” was written by Michael Callen, Peter Allen, and Marsha Malamet, and first performed at an AIDS Walk in New York City in 1987. Each of the composers subsequently recorded it for their own albums, and the song was also included in the 1998 musical The Boy From Oz. Callen’s cover, from his 1988 debut album Purple Heart, is featured here. The track begins in E and modulates up a whole step to F# at 2:43.

Debbie Gibson | Lost In Your Eyes

“Lost In Your Eyes” is featured on American singer Debbie Gibson’s second studio album, Electric Youth, released in 1989. The song, which Gibson wrote and produced, was her most successful single and sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks. Writing for the former British music newspaper Record Mirror, critic Betty Page said, “Golden larynxed Debs hits us with the big moodsome ballad, proving that she’s shaping up to be the Barry Manilow of the Nineties.”

The track begins in C and modulates to D at 2:14.

Bee Gees | Bodyguard

“The Bee Gees made a commercial comeback outside the U.S. with 1987’s E.S.P. and its single, ‘You Win Again,” (AllMusic). One (1989), on the other hand, had an improved chart showing in the U.S., while sales fell off elsewhere. The Bee Gees are remarkable pop craftsmen … say what you will, “One” and “House of Shame” are convincing pop music. ([the single] “One” was a Top Ten comeback hit that topped soft rock radio playlists.) This stuff works as pop for the same reason “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” and “You Should Be Dancing” did: the melodies are catchy, the hooks are deathless, and the vocals convey emotion over meaning. It may be weightless, but it’s polished.”

“‘I’m the last man standing. I’ll never be able to understand that as I’m the eldest,'” said Barry Gibb (SmoothRadio.com). All three of his brothers (twins Robin and Maurice of the Bee Gees, and much younger brother Andy) passed away between 1988 and 2012. “‘Nobody ever really know what the three of us felt about each other; only the three of us knew … It was such a unifying thing, the three of us became one person. We all had the same dream. That’s what I miss more than anything else.”

The disco grooves that propelled the Bee Gees to international superstardom were long gone by the time of this 1989 release, but “Bodyguard” features the fraternal vocal trio still firing on all cylinders. At 3:09, a whole-step modulation leads into a short guitar feature before the vocals return. Many thanks to Brazilian contributor Julianna for this submission!

The Tubes | Tip of My Tongue

Stylistically, it would be difficult to ask for a rock band more diverse than The Tubes. Over time, they’ve released punk-adjacent rave-ups, guitar-driven straight-ahead rock, keyboard-saturated power ballads, and more. Several prominent producers have worked with the band in the studio, including David Foster and Todd Rundgren.

“In 1983, after the huge success of their previous album The Completion Backward Principle, The Tubes released Outside Inside, another catchy offering, again with David Foster at the helm,” (Fozfan.com). “Foster, who was responsible for making the band’s sound more suitable for rock and pop radio, brought in many of his friends from Toto, plus other session greats like Nathan East and Freddy Washington to help raise the level of  musical sophistication in the Tubes’ sound. The voices of Patti Austin, Bobby Kimball and Bill Champlin were also smart additions to support Fee Waybill’s strong vocals. The overall sound of Outside Inside was a slick mix of rock and funk. It included a series of gems like ‘She’s a Beauty,’ that zoomed to the top of the charts, the powerful ‘No Not Again’ and the classy up-tempo ‘Fantastic Delusion.’

The second single was ‘Tip of My Tongue,’ a tight, funky affair co-written with (Earth, Wind + Fire’s) Maurice White, who also sings some uncredited ad-libs. This song definitely echoes the sound of EWF. Sure, the lyrical content fully belongs to the best Tubes’ tradition, but musically it could have come off any EWF album of those years.” The band has generally written its own material, but “Tip of My Tongue” is an exception. The tune’s allusions to oral sex go a bit beyond the point of double-entendre, which is right down the fairway for the band; much of its material seems to be written with its bull-in-a-china-shop stage shows in mind.

After starting in C# minor, a bridge in F# major (1:50), and a drum/bass break at 2:19 which hammers on C natural with a side order of mixed harmonic signals, “Tip of My Tongue” returns us to F# at 2:34; 2:50 drops us back into C# minor; thereafter, a series of choruses repeat and fade to the end. The horn section is full of swagger throughout, frequently shifting its complex filigree to the last bar.

Berlin | Take My Breath Away

Written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the 1986 film Top Gun, “Take My Breath Away” was recorded by the American new wave band Berlin.

There was tension within the group about whether to go forward with the song; lead singer Terri Nunn was all in, but John Crawford (the band’s founder, keyboardist and primary songwriter) was very resistant, not wanting outsiders to encroach on his turf. Ultimately the tune became one of their most popular hits, and won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

In 2017, ShortList named the song as having one of the best key changes in history. The unusual modulation, up a minor third from Ab to B, comes at 2:51.

Whitney Houston | Love Will Save the Day

“Love Will Save the Day,” according to RandomJPop, was “the one single from Whitney that I think is oft forgotten about due to the likes of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” and “So Emotional” being such huge hits and the songs most remember from the album,” (the singer’s 1987 debut, Whitney). “It was one of the few songs from the release which gave us Whitney’s personality in a way that not all of the other songs did. We got a bit of matriarchal Whitney. A bit of church Whitney. A bit of street Whitney.

‘Love Will Save The Day’ stuck out greatly on the album because of its sound, which could be seen as a response to the boom of Madonna at the time. Madonna was known for her uptempo cuts, whilst Whitney was still defined greatly by her ballads. But of course Arista records wanted to show that Whitney can compete with the club kids. After all, a bitch was from Jersey … ” Although the review dates from 2020, both it and the track seem relevant: ” … at a time when politics are a mess, the world is on literal fire and mental health is something that is being aired out in the open with more regularity than ever before, this song really does hit now.” The track never had the benefit of a music video, but “managed to chart well without one. So a music video probably would have secured Whitney yet another Billboard number 1 single.”

Roy Ayers’ immaculate vibes performance is most prominent during a duet feature with Whitney at 3:35, but keeps the groove at a low 16ths boil elsewhere. After 4:10 brings a blockbuster whole-step key change, the tune doesn’t let up a notch — right to the last second.

Jon + Vangelis | Italian Song

“Greek composer Vangelis was one of the most influential figures in the history of electronic music and as a composer of film scores,” (AllMusic). “His popular work utilized synthesizers in an orchestral manner, featuring romantic melodies and lush arrangements. However, his oeuvre encompassed many genres, from progressive rock and jazz improvisation to choral and symphonic music.

He achieved international mainstream success for his triumphant theme music to the 1981 film Chariots of Fire and several collaborations with former Yes vocalist Jon Anderson as Jon & Vangelis.” The composer, who died last week at the age of 79, found his largest success in his score for the massively influential dystopian science fiction film Blade Runner (1982). The Guardian describes the score as “a stunning sonic panorama of the fragmented, alienated world that (director Ridley Scott) depicted on the screen, where advances in technology were matched by the decay of human emotions. His music became almost like an extra character in the development of the story.”

Vangelis’ joint release with British singer Jon Anderson, 1983’s “Italian Song,” modulates several times and features a sonic palette which overlaps with the Blade Runner score in timbre but not in mood; the impression that the track leaves in its wake is one of a celestial lullabye. The first shift in tonality (0:37) is from F major to A major.

George Benson | Give Me the Night

“‘Quincy Jones was looking for artists for his new label, Qwest Records,” jazz/pop vocalist and guitarist George Benson remembered in a Guardian interview). ‘I’d started to cross over from jazz and Quincy asked: Do you want to make the world’s greatest jazz record – or go for the throat? I laughed and said: Go for the throat! … He said: George, put yourself in my hands. I know more about you than you do yourself. I was insulted at first, but calmed down, and things started happening.’

George was under pressure to have a crossover hit. Nobody yelled at each other but there was tension, because he wouldn’t always do what Quincy told him to. (The sessions for 1980’s ‘Give Me the Night’ were) a clash of the titans at first. ‘I asked for the same musicians he’d used on (Michael Jackson’s) Off the Wall. The sound they made inspired me. Quincy also brought in Rod Temperton, formerly of the band Heatwave … Rod was always in the background except for when something went wrong. He didn’t mind saying: George, you’re singing in the wrong key.” Patti Austin, now known for her own R+B, jazz, and pop material, was the accomplished background singer Jones hired. Austin remembers: “‘When I went into the studio, the tracks were already recorded. I used to be a jingle singer; you have to be able to walk in, sight-read, and make whatever product the jingle is plugging sound orgasmic. So I worked very quickly.'”

Built in F minor overall, the tune shifts to Ab minor for the chorus at 1:19 – 1:42, later repeating the pattern. The track crossed over with a vengeance; it wasn’t a smash hit, but managed to become a solid global presence (see below) while hitting top five on the US Pop, Soul, and Disco charts.

Simply Red | Enough

Sweetwater.com defines sophisti-pop as “the 80s’ most elegant genre … combining pop sensibilities with refined arrangements that were inspired by jazz, avant-garde classical music, and soul … looking simultaneously to the past and the future.”

Mick Hucknall, frontman for UK band Simply Red, fits the genre well: ” … in love with ‘60s soul, which he gives a high-tech overhaul and an ‘80s pop gloss,” (LA Times, reviewing the 1989 album A New Flame). “Refracted through the Hucknall filter, some of the hard-core earthiness of the style doesn’t survive. Hucknall has created a hybrid that’s laid-back and maybe just a little too slick — but still teeming with understated passion … Most of the album’s music is dreamily romantic and fairly mellow. One of the best songs is “Enough,” which reflects the fragile, wispy style of Marvin Gaye’s great What’s Going On album.”

As an album closer and a non-single, “Enough” was granted plenty of freedom. The percolating bassline and syncopated keyboard kicks of the verse, starting in C minor, open into a more uncomplicated chorus in Ab major (0:54); the cycle repeats at 1:12. At 2:25, a bridge appears (or second chorus, as we hear it more than once?), with its lead vocal featuring only a few emphatically repeated words (the title among them). At 2:43, an instrumental verse and chorus are home to piano and guitar features, followed by an outro featuring a lithe soprano sax at 4:21; all set a tone which wouldn’t be out of place at a jazz club, yet also for a time had a place on the pop charts.