1980s – Page 25

Jacob Collier | All Night Long

Vocalist/arranger/multi-instrumentalist and overall musical wunderkind Jacob Collier released a cover of Lionel Richie‘s 1983 hit “All Night Long” this month, featuring a cappella legends TAKE 6 and the cutting-edge Metropole Orkest.

Starting in F major, a bridge at 3:16 lands us in Ab major at 3:54; lastly, we transition to A major at 5:58. But modulation is really the very least of the special effects here. The rollercoaster bridge, saturated with quick key-of-the-moment progressions and exotic harmonic tensions, illustrates Collier’s any tone/any time practice (not just those in a diatonic scale). The sheer variety of the lush arrangement is striking — and worth every second of this seven-minute listen.

Boy Meets Girl | Waiting for a Star to Fall

“Waiting For A Star To Fall” was released in 1988 by the pop duo Boy Meets Girl, eventually reaching #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

After the first two verses and choruses in Eb, the tune modulates to Gb for the third chorus (2:47) before landing in F (3:08) for the duration.

Joan Jett + The Blackhearts | Bad Reputation

“Bad Reputation,” an uptempo guitar-fueled tune which clocks in at well under three minutes, was the title track of a 1981 album by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Thanks to MotD fan Rob Penttinen for submitting this track!

Music Connection Magazine reports that “Jett took the record to a number of major record labels, none of which were interested in releasing the project. Rather than continue to hunt for a willing label, Laguna (the producer) and Jett decided to fund the pressing of the album themselves … (and) sold directly to concert-goers and record stores out of Laguna’s car trunk.”

Typical of Jett, (also known as “The Godmother of Punk”), the track is a classic 3-chord rocker — with the exception of a full-step modulation at 1:07.

Hall + Oates | I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)

Another track from the “obvious” files: “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” by Hall & Oates has been staring me in the face for decades, but its modulations only just hit me. Perhaps an explanation might lie in its catchy groove: sampled repeatedly by hiphop artists for the intro’s distinctive percussion, layered hooks, and bass line, the DNA of the 1982 track has gradually transcended its original mainstream pop context.

After an extended F minor vamp intro, the verse begins in C minor (0:58), then shifts to a bright C major for the pre-chorus (1:15) before reverting back to F minor for the chorus (1:32), etc.

Level 42 | Lying Still

BBC World Service says of UK band Level 42: “For one brief, shining moment…they were outsiders.” By the mid-80s, the band had seen huge success, becoming one of the best-selling UK groups of the decade, best known for their uptempo funk-driven tunes like “Something About You.” But the band also produced some gorgeous melancholy-drenched ballads, including 1985’s “Lying Still.”

Starting in G minor, the tune transitions to B minor for the chorus at 0:44. At 2:50, the bridge starts as an instrumental (roughly in B minor), then transitions back to vocals for a lushly layered, multi-key-of-the-moment, meter-shifting section at 3:11. At 3:29, an extended outro, built around G minor, rolls out and tapers to the end.

Howard Jones | Don’t Always Look at the Rain

From our Twitter follower Christopher G. (@cedgray) comes Howard Jones‘ ballad “Don’t Always Look at the Rain.” Jones released 1984’s Human’s Lib, his debut album, to a wonderful reception, reaching #1 on his native UK’s Album Charts in its first week and remaining on that chart for just over a year. The album went gold across the US and much of Europe and made a big splash in Japan.

Christopher points out the “unusual minor-third modulation at 1:39 (and elsewhere),” amid plenty of hybrid harmonies.

Pat Metheny | Are You Going With Me?

It’s difficult to categorize contemporary guitar/guitar synth pioneer Pat Metheny‘s “Are You Going With Me?” (1989). But the key changes are far less ambiguous.

The tune’s intensity grows little by little, driven by the Metheny Group’s trademark wordless vocals and Lyle Mays‘ fluid keyboard lines. The performance was likely heightened by the huge scale of the live setting, Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. The first modulation hits at 3:44; the second key change “telegraphs” melodically by hinting at the shift slightly before its arrival at 5:20.

Pretenders | I Hurt You

Pretenders‘ breakthrough third album Learning to Crawl (1984) spawned six singles, but also the devastating non-single track “I Hurt You.” For the album’s re-issue in 2004, Rolling Stone‘s Kurt Loder wrote of the band’s founder and frontwoman Chrissie Hynde: “To say that Learning to Crawl reconfirms Hynde as the most forceful female presence in rock already demeans her achievement: The matter of gender aside, she is the most unaffectedly personal of contemporary singer/songwriters, and surely the most astringently intimate lyricist working within a real rock & roll context.”

Starting in D minor, a series of unconventional modulations starts at 1:53 with a switch to Bb minor. Later, the mournful tune returns to D minor at 2:28 and ends in Bb minor with a spare, jagged guitar solo outro at 3:37.

Billy Childs | Twilight Is Upon Us

AllMusic‘s review of Billy Childs‘s album, Twilight Is Upon Us (1989), asserts that the pianist/composer’s “second CD as a leader puts as much emphasis on his composing and arranging talents as his skills as a pianist…It was clear even at this fairly early stage that Billy Childs was on his way to developing an original voice.” Having cut his teeth playing with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard‘s band for half a decade and keeping his varied list of role models in mind, from Herbie Hancock to Maurice Ravel to Keith Emerson, it seems that Childs was on the road to that original voice very early on.

The title track is nothing short of a sonic journey — it clocks in at 8.5 minutes, but is definitely worth the time.

The gentle intro yields to an unsettled, multi-meter, multi-key accompaniment under a plaintive saxophone melody line at 0:59. We’re thrown headlong into a bass-heavy, groove-driven solo section for the sax at 2:32, clearly in 6/4 time. The clearest pivot in tonality arrives at 3:46; from there, the piano solo and rhythm section rebuild gradually. We eventually return to the maelstrom, with Bob Sheppard‘s sax lines navigating skillfully over the turbulent, angular accompaniment.

Sergio Mendes | Never Gonna Let You Go

A weekend bonus mod from MotD fan Christopher Larkosh:

“‘Never Gonna Let You Go'” (1983) marks a moment where Brazilian composer, keyboardist, bandleader, and performer Sergio Mendes, formerly of Brasil 66, can be considered to be fully assimilated into the US musical scene. The song was a smash hit, spending weeks on the charts — which at the time meant Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 and the TV show ‘Solid Gold.'” The Solid Gold Dancers, emblematic of the popular weekly show, apparently took their coffee break during this segment.

This tune’s keys-of-the-moment and modulations are too numerous to track: Exhibit A, the shift from the intro to the first verse (0:23).