Tag: dance

Kool + the Gang | Ladies Night

“Over nearly six decades, Kool & the Gang have released 25 albums and toured worldwide, playing Live Aid in 1985 and Glastonbury in 2011,” (New York Times). “Their 12 Top 10 singles are funk, disco, and pop classics, underpinning movies including Pulp Fiction and Legally Blonde: ‘Jungle Boogie,’ ‘Ladies Night,’ ‘Hollywood Swinging,’ the undeniable 1980 party anthem ‘Celebration.’ They are foundational for hip-hop and have been sampled over 1,800 times, according to the website WhoSampled, including memorable turns on Eric B. & Rakim’s ‘Don’t Sweat the Technique’ and Nas’s ‘N.Y. State of Mind.’ (Questlove played a three-hour-plus set of songs featuring the group’s samples during a 2020 livestream.)”

Released on a 1979 album of the same name, “Ladies Night” includes “a small detail at the end (of the track which) turned out to be crucial — Meekaaeel Muhammad, a member of the group’s songwriting team, fleshed out the chorus with a countermelodic ‘Come on, let’s go celebrate.’ It pointed to the band’s next hit: ‘Celebration.'” The earlier hit reached the top 10 in Finland, Switzerland, and the UK, top 20 in a dozen more countries, and rose as high as #8 in the US.

Built in C# minor overall, the track shifts to a more explicitly disco-centric A minor section at 1:28, then a C minor section featuring the previously referenced counter melody at 1:44, then returning to the original key for the next verse at 2:05. Later, there are restatements of the A minor (3:48) and C minor sections (4:05), with the final C minor section morphing into an extended outro lasting more than two minutes. Both the A minor and C minor sections are constructed entirely of a repeating i-ii-v progression.

Anastacia | Paid My Dues

“Paid My Dues” is featured on American singer Anastacia’s 2001 album Freak of Nature. Reviewing the album for Slant magazine, critic Sal Cinquemani wrote “her tenacious attitude on songs like “Paid My Dues” and the funky title track carve a unique niche for the singer.”

The track reached the #1 spot on the charts in Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland. It begins in C# minor and modulates up to D minor for the last two times through the chorus at 2:38.

Rick Astley | Whenever You Need Somebody

“(Rick Astley is the) British baritone behind some of the most impeccably crafted pop hits of the ’80s, including ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and ‘Together Forever.’ Wielding a rich, deep voice, Rick Astley became an overnight sensation in the late ’80s with his well-crafted dance-pop,” (AllMusic). “… (While) Astley’s often captivating debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody (1987) … (featured) high-tech production (that) is very ’80s, Astley’s soul/pop/dance music approach is very much a production of the ’70s — sort of the Average White Band meets Philly soul/disco meets Tom Jones … this CD proved Astley to be a welcome addition to the British R&B scene.”

“Whenever You Need Somebody” is the second track on Astley’s 1987 debut album of the same name; it was the album’s second track, appearing after the smash hit “Never Gonna Give You Up,” the song that much later launched a thousand “RickRolls.” The track wasn’t released as a single in the US, but went top 10 through much of Europe and reached #1 in Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland. However, on the importance of the US to his career, Astley reports ” …a lot of my favorite singers came from America, and I use the term ‘taught me to sing.’ But I think I’m not alone in saying a lot of R&B and soul records, like Luther Vandross, James Ingram, those records were what I was trying to emulate in my way. I was doing it in a northern English, red-haired, freckly sort of way,” (USAToday).

After a intro in Bb, the verse follows a mini-AABA format, dividing its time between B minor and Db minor (for the “B” section, 0:35 – 0:43). The chorus moves back up to Bb major at 0:52 and stays there during the bridge. The pattern continues from there. Astley’s towering, nearly vibrato-free vocal is utterly unmistakable from the first few notes.

Culture Club | Miss Me Blind

“For a time England’s biggest pop sensation, heralded in America as leaders of a second British Invasion, Culture Club capitalized on Boy George’s outrageous nightlife cross-dressing and aimed-to-shock intelligence to slip their mushy mainstream soul-pop into respectable homes the world over,” (Trouser Press). “Phenomenology aside, the foursome never sounded anywhere near as bizarre as they originally appeared …

Dropping the silly “white boy” crypto-sociology that threads through the first album, Colour by Numbers gets right to the business at hand, which is the creation of irresistible pop hits in a variety of molds. And in that regard, the album is a real success … prominently features singer Helen Terry, who provides a powerful foil to George’s smooth crooning.”

One of the band’s most successful singles was 1984’s “Miss Me Blind,” a soul-inflected, danceable pop hit. With songwriting credits split among all four members of the band, the track hit #5 on the US Hot 100 and #6 on the Canadian pop charts. Built in G minor overall, the early bridge (2:14 – 2:30) shifts to E minor before returning to the original key. Culture Club seemed to largely avoid over-indulgence in synthesized textures, instead maintaining a focus on the human voice (both George’s and Terry’s). As a result, many of the band’s tunes seem a bit less dated than others of the same vintage.

Various Artists | Doctor’s Orders

In the late 1960s, UK producer and songwriter Tony Hiller created the vocal group Brotherhood of Man to showcase his songs. In 1970, the group scored an international hit with “United We Stand” (UK #10, Billboard #13). The original lineup consisted of Tony Burrows, an established session singer, Roger Greenaway, a songwriter in his own right, and sisters Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. That incarnation of the group lasted until 1971. The following year, Hiller put together a new version of the group, which is performing to this day.

The sisters had recorded a number of singles as Sue and Sunny, without a lot of success. But they kept busy as background singers on many recordings by prominent artists, including Elton John, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, and Tom Jones. Sunny’s solo recording of “Doctor’s Orders” became a hit in the UK (#7 in 1974). The tune was written by her former bandmate Greenaway, with Roger Cook and Geoff Stephens.

In the US, a disco-flavored version by Carol Douglas became a 1974 hit (Billboard #11, Canada #1). “An ad (was run) in Showbiz magazine specifically to recruit a singer to cover Sunny’s UK hit for the US market: the successful applicant, Carol Douglas, was a veteran performer who had remained an unknown recording artist.

Douglas, who reports that she is a cousin of Sam Cooke’s, recalled when she first auditioned she was told ‘I sounded great, but too black. [The track’s] producers wanted to capture my more melodic pop/commercial tones which undeniably made me sound white on the radio,’ (EurWeb). Although Douglas admitted to reservations about the song itself – ‘I really [would have] wanted a more soulful song’ – she’d also recall ‘I felt the minute I heard the music that it was going to be something, and after hearing my voice on the track it was even more amazing…[It] did throw me off when they played me the [Sunny] version. So I had to approach [singing the song] in my own way.'” The Douglas version shifts up a whole step at 3:48.

Archie Bell + the Drells | I Could Dance All Night

“While their funky Texas (and later Philadelphia) sound was often overshadowed by the music coming from Detroit and Memphis, (Archie Bell + the Drells’) contribution to the musical landscape of the time was significant … ” (SoulTracks).

In 1968, the band’s release ‘Tighten Up,’ … (reminiscent of the sound James Brown was popularizing at the time) … turned into an international smash.” Later, the band worked with “songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and became the an important foundation for Gamble & Huff’s fledgling production empire and, later, their Philadelphia International Records label. ” After a string of hits, “The Drells broke up in the early 80s, but Bell continued on as a solo artist and then with a reconstituted set of Drells, playing the oldies circuit.  By the mid-90s, Bell was solo again, singing his classic hits at venues in the U.S. and internationally.”

1975’s “I Could Dance All Night” is a good example of tunes that became popular during the Hustle dance craze, a prominent dance style within the Disco era. At 1:53, the groove falls away, returning as the key elevates by a whole step.

Many thanks to MotD regular Rob Penttinen for this submission!

For reference, here’s the band’s 1968 sadly modulation-free tune “Tighten Up” in a trippy-looking live performance. The backup singers didn’t have a chance to hit even one note, but still should have received overtime pay for the dance moves alone!

Junior Senior | Take My Time

“Junior Senior were a Danish pop duo. The duo consisted of Jesper ‘Junior’ Mortensen and Jeppe ‘Senior’ Laursen,” (Discogs). “They were well known for their 2002 single ‘Move Your Feet,’ which gained worldwide success in 2003, most notably in the United Kingdom.” The track barely made a scratch in the US, peaking at #45 on the US Dance chart — the band’s most prominent release in the States. But the tune reached #4 in Denmark, #20 in Australia, #11 in France, and #3 in the UK.

The duo’s 2005 release “Take My Time,” from the album Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, sounds like an update on the sound of the US-based band B-52s because … it is: B-52s vocalists Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson are both featured on the track.

Sounding for all the world like a late ’80s/early ’90s B-52s hit with a bit less frenetic energy, a lot less intra-band banter, and a broader harmonic vocabulary, “Take My Time” is a pop/funk fête delivered by a band that brings “joyful energy … mix(ing) all kinds of genres in a melting funky pot with a big smile on their faces,” (MTV). The track features half-step modulations at 2:48 (with an uninterrupted groove) and 3:14 (after what seems like a false ending — until the decrescendo shifts into reverse and the groove returns).

The Brothers Johnson | The Real Thing

“Guitarist/vocalist George Johnson and bassist/vocalist Louis Johnson formed the band Johnson Three Plus One with older brother Tommy and their cousin Alex Weir while attending school in Los Angeles,” (AllMusic). “When they became professionals, the band backed such touring R&B acts as Bobby Womack and the Supremes. George and Louis Johnson later joined Billy Preston’s band, and wrote “Music in My Life” and “The Kids and Me” for him before leaving his group in 1973.”

After scoring hits with “I’ll Be Good to You,” “Stomp,” and “Strawberry Letter 23,” The group released the single “The Real Thing” in 1981, reaching #11 on the R&B charts.

“The Real Thing” starts in A minor, but prominently shifts to C# minor at 0:50 and again to E minor at 1:20 before returning to A minor at 1:35. More changes follow from there.

T-Pain | Best Love Song

“Best Love Song” was released as the first single from American singer/rapper T-Pain’s 2011 album Revolver. It features singer Chris Brown and the R&B group Once Chance. It reached the 33 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and was used in the premiere of the TV show Hart of Dixie.

Beginning in G, the track shifts up to A at 2:50.