Tag: 2000s

Calvin Harris | Stars Come Out

The Guardian seems to be no fan of producer and vocalist Calvin Harris, who hails from Dumfries, Scotland: “Some musical genres have an everlasting impact: all subsequent rock and pop bears something of their influence. Others just vanish: once their time has passed, it’s as if they never happened. So it was with handbag house, which bestrode the charts in the mid-90s, the glittery, shallow sound of Britain’s mainstream dancefloors … Handbag house seemed almost wilfully depthless, which, you could argue, made it the perfect music to soundtrack the brainless antics of DJs and club promoters … Handbag was music that sounded like it thought that was quite a good idea.”

Harris released the track “Stars Come Out” on his 2009 album Ready for the Weekend. The track features ” … the sound of a producer frantically chucking ideas at a melody so slight it’s impossible to hit. When Ready for the Weekend is over, it vanishes, leaving no discernible trace: like the music that inspired it, it’s as if it never happened.”

Nonetheless, the uptempo tune has garnered nearly 400K Youtube views, while Harris’ channel has nearly 20 million subscribers! The track starts in D minor and cycles through multiple repeating sections before shifting up to A minor at 2:57.

Holly Near | I Am Willing

“Holly Near has had an amazing, exemplary life of artistry, performance, songwriting, and activism,” (The Progressive). “The arc of her professional life has spanned more than five decades in a most unique fashion, singing for a more peaceful, equitable, just, and feminist world. Through her music, she has been an insightful storyteller, consistently committed to keeping her work rooted in contemporary activism. Respected around the world for her music and activism, Near has released more than thirty albums and performed in many countries.

Near was born in 1949 in Ukiah, California, into a family that encouraged creativity. At age twenty-three, a half-century ago, she wrote her first feminist song, ‘It’s More Important To Me.’ About the same time, she started Redwood Records to support the release of her first album, Hang In There. Near was one of the first women to create an independent record company, paving the way for others in what had been a completely male-dominated industry … Near been recognized many times for her lifelong work promoting social change, including with honors from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Ms. magazine, and the Legends of Women’s Music Award.”

“I Am Willing,” released on Near’s 2006 album Show Up, draws on an elegantly simple melody and chord progression. Its gradually burgeoning power and anthemic, gospel-influenced contemporary folk sound carry the day, particularly after its whole-step key change (1:44). Many thanks to Amy C. for this submission (her second)!

What Dreams Are Made Of (from “The Lizzie McGuire Movie”)

Written by Dean Pitchford and Matthew Wilder, “What Dreams Are Made Of” is featured at the end of the 2003 Disney film The Lizzie McGuire Movie and performed by Hilary Duff. The disco-infused track begins in Eb and modulates up to E at 2:54.

Jamie Cullum | All At Sea

UK singer/songwriter/pianist Jamie Cullum, “… mostly self-taught, began playing in a rock band at age 15,” (Brittanica). “He soon became attracted to jazz and began playing and singing it in bars and on cruise ships. He spent a year in Paris and then attended the University of Reading, England, where he studied film and English, composed music, and acted … His second album, Pointless Nostalgic … became such a favorite on British radio that … major labels fought a bidding war to sign him. His singing and playing, which evoked swing and ballad moods rather than rock, were an anomaly in the pop music of the day, but the CD sold 2,000,000 units, 400,000 of them in the United States.” Twentysomething reached top three in the UK, and the Netherlands; it scored top 100 status in most of Europe and the USA.

“… This is not a jazz album in the unapproachable sense – there are Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Buckley covers here (CLUAS.com, 2004) … This is a bona fide listenable and enjoyable opus. Jamie Cullum is not your typical jazz pianist or singer … he straddles genres for fun. This is certainly not a jazz-only album … the end result is surprisingly great.”

The single “All At Sea,” wasn’t a big hit by any stretch of the imagination, but received slow but steady airplay in the US (Cullum’s success seems better measured through the relative success of his full albums as opposed to his singles). Built in Eb major overall, the tune’s bridge (2:44 – 3:26) is in Ab minor; then Eb makes its return. The 2015 live version below includes an extended Billy Joel quote in its closing bars, demonstrating the breadth of Cullum’s improvisatory sensibilities. The studio version benefits from a full instrumentation and vocal harmonies — but Cullum’s dense voicings, sharpened vocal and piano technique, and absolutely unsinkable time make the solo version more than a full portion.

Anne Murray + Céline Dion | When I Fall in Love

What’s Canadian and sweet? A Tim Horton’s doughnut? Yes, that, and the
voices of Anne Murray and Céline Dion harmonizing on the standard
“When I Fall in Love”.

The song, written by Victor Young and Edward Heyman for the 1952 movie
One Minute to Zero, has become a jazz standard ballad over the years. The tune has had myriad interpretations: Doris Day had a hit version that same year, and Nat “King” Cole recorded his well-known version in 1956. Céline Dion did a version with Clive Griffin for the movie Sleepless in Seattle in 1993, which was also released as a charting single. In 1996, Natalie Cole recorded the song as a virtual duet with her late father, winning a Grammy for her effort.

This live version, appeared on Anne Murray’s 2007 album Duets: Friends & Legends, although it was recorded in 1998 for a DVD release. Murray takes the opening verse in the key of A major. After a climb to D major at 0:54, Dion takes the next verse. The song continues in D, featuring both voices in sweet harmony. At 3:13, there’s a flirtation with F before a return to D at 3:20.

The Chicks | Long Time Gone

“Long Time Gone” was originally recorded by American singer/songwriter Darrell Scott, and subsequently covered by the Dixie Chicks (now known as The Chicks) and featured as the lead single on their 2002 album Home. The instrumentation includes banjo and fiddle but no percussion; critic Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe said the track “features the same empowered energy of their best hits…but with a sharper edge and a complete refusal to mince words as they slice and dice the contemporary country landscape that they still ruled at the time.” The Chicks’ cover won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

The track begins in D and briefly modulates to E following the second verse and chorus at 1:42. It returns to D at 2:10.

Noisettes | Never Forget You

“The Brit pop trio’s bubbly soul ditty is, thanks to Shingai Shoniwa’s sweet crooning, reminiscent of an early Motown party groove,” said USA Today upon the release of “Never Forget You” in 2009. Written by all the members of this English band, the track reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart. It begins in D and, after a more subdued bridge in B minor, modulates up to E at 2:09.

Once Upon a Time (from “Brooklyn”)

“Once Upon a Time” is from the 2004 Broadway musical Brooklyn by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson. The story follows a group of five homeless musicians in New York City who put on a play about a singer named Brooklyn under the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The original production ran for 284 performances.

The track, which features Eden Espinosa in the lead role, begins in Bb and shifts up a half step to B at 2:14.