Tag: 1990s

Seal | Dreaming in Metaphors

“The 1990s were a great decade for music,” (Sputnik). “While the output wasn’t always consistent, it was undeniable that there was quality abound. Such is the case for Seal, an oddity himself in that his nationality is officially British, while his mother was Nigerian and his father Brazilian (and he himself was born in Nigeria). As such, Seal, having had this interesting background, would go on to sell several million records during the 1990s; this (eponymous 1994) record being his most remembered one.

… Unlike such pop artists as Michael Jackson and Prince, Seal is hardly the upbeat or danceable type … Instead, he goes for a softer, melodic style, emphasizing a smooth groove, which serves his lyrics well. While his vocal rage is limited, it fits the music perfectly as well, which makes each listen a rather hypnotic experience. His music is not meant for parties at the disco, but for reflective listening. Nevertheless, his songs stick once you get a taste for them. Indeed, it’s fair to say that Seal is the best at what he does, and this album proves it very well. This isn’t music for pop haters, or for lovers of exclusively upbeat music. This is an album for personal reflection. If you dig some refreshing pop, with deep lyrics, and ballads that don’t feel sappy, this album is for you.”

A perfect example of one of Seal’s “sticky” songs might be “Dreaming in Metaphors.” Driven by a fast-flowing yet peaceful 7/8 meter, the track’s harmonic rhythm is generally pretty slow, centering the unusual meter, layered percussion, and vocal throughout. The intro and verse alternate intriguingly between F# minor and F lydian. At 0:56, the pre-chorus focuses only on F lydian. At 1:14, A major is prominently added into the mix, but the pull of F lydian remains.

Laura Mvula | Ready or Not

“Birmingham (UK)-born Laura Mvula is a soul singer-songwriter who graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire with a degree in composition,” (National Portrait Gallery). “In 2013, she signed a multi-album record deal with Sony, and her debut album Sing To The Moon was released in 2013, reaching number nine in the UK albums chart. Guardian critic Paul Lester coined her music as ‘gospeldelia’. She won awards for Best Female Act and Best R&B or Soul Artist at the 2013 MOBO Awards. She received the 2017 Ivor Novello Award for her second album, The Dreaming Room (2016). She lists her influences as Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott. In 2017, the Royal Shakespeare Company invited her to compose the music for their new production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.”

“It’s a bold move to cover The Delfonics’ ‘Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide from Love)’ — especially when considering The Fugees did so years ago with huge success — but British singer Laura Mvula has created a version that does it justice,” (Cool Hunting). “Mvula’s iteration modernizes the song, while remaining faithful to the original: it’s vibrant and danceable, while keeping a bit of the creepy, stalker darkness. With layer upon layer of background vocals, Mvula’s honeyed voice and delightful accent, this version takes on several different lives before its over.

Mvula’s 2016 version lacks the earthy hiphop factor of The Fugees’ 1996 smash hit cover, but keeps us on the edge of our seat from the opening seconds via some odd meters. A larger difference yet is the shifting tonality of Mvula’s version (absent from the Fugees’ version, but present in the Delfonics’ gentle, diminutive 1968 original, which features a run time of only two minutes). Mvula’s cover starts in B minor, shifts improbably to F minor at 0:30, then visits D minor at 0:52. At 1:12, we’ve returned to the opening key of B minor; the pattern continues from there, running at top intensity until the groove drops out for the unresolved ending.

Kirk Franklin | Melodies From Heaven

“Kirk Franklin, set up with his band and choir in a corner of Uncle Jessie’s Kitchen, makes a declaration. ‘I know you’re at home right now, in your draws, listening to some Jesus music. It’s ok. Jesus loves you in your draws!’ The Arlington, Texas studio, named after a long time close friend, features a large photo of the iconic ‘I AM A MAN’ protest signs from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike on the wall,” (NPR Music). “The jubilant energy that Franklin and company emit, juxtaposed with a visual reminder of the strife that Black people have endured, is illustrative of the importance of gospel music in the Black community.

For nearly 30 years, Franklin has been widely regarded for revolutionizing gospel. He incorporated secular music, particularly hip-hop, while preserving the message and integrity of traditional gospel. Here, he and his powerhouse choir pace through a decades-long, sixteen Grammy award winning discography of faith, praise and encouragement while cracking plenty of jokes. I cannot recall a more moving Tiny Desk home performance.”

The triumphant half-step key changes in the abbreviated NPR Tiny Desk version (2021) of “Melodies from Heaven” hit at 8:38 and 8:49. In an older live version of the tune, originally released in 1996 (also posted below), we hear the shifts at 2:21 and 2:43.

Dougie MacLean | Ca’ the Yowes

“Technically, Dougie MacLean is a ‘Scottish singer-songwriter.’ But that minimal moniker doesn’t tell half the tale … the Perthshire native can look back on a hugely successful recording career with more than 15 albums,” (Seven Days). “MacLean toured as a member of the rocking Scottish folk supergroup the Tannahill Weavers in the 1970s and was briefly a member of Silly Wizard, another legendary traditional band from Scotland. But his popularity was assured in the early 1980s with his solo album, Craigie Dhu. This recording contains MacLean’s ballad ‘Caledonia,’ a love song to his homeland that has become a veritable Scottish national anthem.

… MacLean sings and plays his own pretty compositions as if each song were a lullaby for a loved one, or for his own pleasure, as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. His vocals are silky and crystal-clear, his guitar work unhurried and graceful. His is not music for the cynical. If you dislike the texture and sentiment of, say, James Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’ or Cindy Kallet’s ‘Working on Wings to Fly,’ MacLean’s sound may not be for you. He has a deep sentimental streak, which seems indigenous in Scotsmen who write folk songs — or folk ballads, or something more acoustic-music specific than just ‘songs.’ But to his fans, that sweetness is one of the reasons so much of his work is memorable. His recordings could also function as master classes in how to accompany a voice with acoustic guitar.”

“Ca’ the Yowes,” from 1995’s Tribute, indeed features a gentle lullaby feel, starting in C minor. At 1:59, the tonality shifts to D minor underneath an instrumental interlude. At 2:58, the tune passes back into C minor in advance of more vocal verses; the beginning of the D minor section seems more difficult to discern than its end. According to the Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary, ca’ the yowes tae the knowes means ‘drive the ewes to the knolls.’ The tune was based on a poem written by Robert Burns in 1789.

The High Llamas | Triads

“Under the direction of multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and arranger Sean O’Hagan, the High Llamas have developed a very specific sonic fingerprint — Baroque ’60s melodies, sweeping orchestral strings, and warmly bleeping vintage synths all co-mingled in smooth harmonies — that helped define the indie sound of the ’90s and has proven to be influential to quite a few artists in the decades that followed,” (TiVo/Qobuz). “The group released albums throughout the decade that balanced Steely Dan-styled soft rock songcraft (Gideon Gaye), circular arrangements (Hawaii), and trippy easy listening music (Cold and Bouncy) but never strayed far from O’Hagan’s original idiosyncratic template.

… O’Hagan’s debut solo album, High Llamas, was released in 1990, and the Beach Boys-inspired instrumentation (and general West Coast smoothness) of the record provided a glimpse at where things were headed. O’Hagan then formed the High Llamas as a vehicle to indulge his Baroque pop/Beach Boys/space age electronic interests, and released Santa Barbara in 1992 … “

“Triads” (from 1999’s Snowbug) features an increasingly intense intro based on alternating G major and F/G chords. Verse 1 begins with a syncopated melody driven by a light swing feel at 0:43. An interlude/chorus(?) built around G# minor with a prominent hook from the vibes, supported by low brass, is in effect from 1:13 – 1:51. Then we’re back to verse 2, again in G major. The two sections continue to alternate throughout, until the tune begins to gradually deconstruct itself in its final minute or two.

Many thanks to regular contributor Ari S. for yet another distinctive find, which she describes as “dripping with Bacharach influence.”

Counting Crows | Bulldog (demo)

“Counting Crows have enchanted listeners worldwide for more than two decades with their intensely soulful and intricate take on timeless rock and roll,” (BendConcerts.com). Exploding onto the music scene in 1993 with their multi-platinum breakout album, August and Everything After, the band has gone on to release seven studio albums, selling more than 20 million records worldwide, and is revered as one of the world’s most pre-eminent live touring rock bands.

… Over the last 30 years, the masterful songwriting from frontman Adam Duritz put the band at #8 on Billboard‘s 2021 “Greatest Of All Time: Adult Alternative 25th Anniversary Chart.” After nearly seven years, the award-winning rockers announce their highly anticipated new project, Butter Miracle, Suite One. Produced by Brian Deck, the four-track, 19-minute suite is set for worldwide release this spring.”

Starting in E minor, the unreleased demo track “Bulldog,” featuring an insistent energy throughout, shifts at 0:55 to a chorus that shifts to an alternating B major and B minor. At 1:23, verse 2 returns to E minor. The pattern continues from there until the tune’s end, which features an unresolved F major chord at the end of a chorus — an unsettling tri-tone away from the tonic of the key.

for Kelli

Faith Hill | The Way You Love Me

Breathe, the 1999 album by country/pop artist Faith Hill, hit #1 on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart and became the second most successful album of 2000 on the Albums chart. Breathe reached top 40 album status in ten countries (Wikipedia).

“The Way You Love Me,” a single from the album, was released at first only country radio, where it hit #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. The song later migrated to pop radio, reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to spend 56 weeks on the chart. The song was Hill’s most successful single at the time, reaching the top ten in Hungary and Spain, the top twenty in the UK, and the top forty in New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Sweden, and Ireland.

Songwriters Keith Follesé and Michael Dulaney packed a lot into a tune just a shade over three minutes in length. After a start in C major, 0:42 brings the pre-chorus in D major, followed by the short chorus (1:01) in E major. The cycle continues through a second verse/pre-chorus/chorus, leading us into a bridge (1:58), which pivots a bit before landing in A major. At 2:10, we’re back to the pre-chorus in D and then the chorus and outro in E.

Lena Horne | Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me

“In 1943 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra introduced ‘Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me’ with featured vocalist Al Hibbler.” (JazzStandards.com). “The record became a best-selling rhythm and blues hit and appeared on the R&B charts in early 1944, climbing all the way to #1, where it would stay for eight weeks … Despite the flurry of recording activity following its initial release with lyrics in 1944, this tune languished until pianist Oscar Peterson brought it back into favor in 1952. Again, the tune went into hiding for a few years when Peterson’s mentor, Art Tatum, dusted it off … Billie Holiday also revisited the number (1955).

‘Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me’ is considered by many as one of the high points, perhaps even a masterpiece, of Duke Ellington’s body of work. The song was created when Bob Russell fitted lyrics to the predominant theme of the 1940 Duke Ellington composition ‘Concerto for Cootie.’ … In The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America’s Great Lyricists, Philip Furia praises Russell’s ability to coax genuine sentiment out of an Ellington melody and calls it ‘probably the slangiest pledge of romantic fidelity ever written.'”

Lena Horne’s 1995 version is kitted out with full big band. The form is AABA; Horne’s version built in C major overall, with a diversion to Ab major during the first portion of the B section (0:42-0:51) before returning to the original key. Then the entire tune moves up to Db at 1:16. Even at age 78, her performance here shows her trademark range, built throughout her career with one foot in Hollywood and another in the music world. “Born in Brooklyn in 1917 … at the age of sixteen she was hired as a dancer in the chorus of Harlem’s famous Cotton Club,” (PBS). “There she was introduced to the growing community of jazz performers, including Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and … Duke Ellington.” No wonder she seemed so very at home with this performance!

SWV | Weak

“… the ’90s slow jam against which all ‘90s slow jams would be judged … (peaked) at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1993 (Pitchfork) … ‘Weak’ clearly didn’t leap out to its singer as the era-defining ballad it would become, but then, nor did SWV immediately scan as the pop stars they would turn into months after the release of their 1992 debut, It’s About Time … a certain scrappiness was key to their appeal. They were three self-described around-the-way girls from New York … They blended classic girl-group harmonies and church singing … They embodied the ’90s ideal of not trying too hard …

As if guided by destiny, SWV found themselves in a sweet spot, conversant with R&B radio’s contemporary trends and a greater soul tradition, while offering flair distinct enough to make them really pop … Much of the group’s uniqueness can be chalked up to (lead vocalist) Coko’s candied voice: so guilelessly chirpy as to be surreal … A perpetual source of melisma, she renders short words multisyllabic as a matter of course … the union of hip-hop and soul, the allegiance to the remix, the street style, and conscious elegance all contribute to their status as a quintessential ‘90s R&B group, but more than anything, it was their ability to make it all look easy … “

The original version of this classic tune is worth another listen. But the group’s recent appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts shows the extra depth that live performance offers, as well as a more dynamic arrangement than the original. After a start in F major, 17:32 brings a bridge (enhanced with plenty of audience participation on this version!) which leads to a key change to G major at 17:49.

Brian Wilson | Your Imagination

“Few musicians, if any, have contributed as much to the American myth of summer as Beach Boys leader Wilson,” (TheSecondDisc). “Years after galvanizing popular music with albums like 1966’s much-reissued Pet Sounds and singles such as the same year’s psychedelic ‘Good Vibrations,’ Wilson embarked on a solo career in 1988 … the music produced by Wilson between 1988 and 2000 over the course of five albums, one of which remains unreleased to this day, is startlingly ripe for rediscovery.” Imagination was released in 1998.

“… Album opener ‘Your Imagination,’ co-written with Joe Thomas and Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl, shimmers with the buoyant charm of Wilson’s most effervescent compositions … Certainly many fans would like to see Brian’s vocal tracks stripped of Joe Thomas’ glossy production, but it’s difficult to dislike Imagination even in its existing mix.  Recently, Wilson has embraced the distinct sound he pioneered so many years ago … his sound refined Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and is instantly identifiable for trademarks such as sleigh bells, clip-clopping percussion, and densely layered harmonies. Imagination represents a final attempt to marry Brian Wilson’s style with (somewhat) modern production … it remains a great and breezy listen for a summer afternoon.”

The track’s varied instrumentation, from classic rock combo to small orchestral groupings, keeps things moving throughout. A textbook whole-step unprepared key change hits at 2:11, followed by a sparkling instrumental break. Unexpectedly, another key change (this one only a half-step) appears at 2:40 after a grand pause.