Tag: Europe

Milli Vanilli | Blame It On the Rain

The misrepresentation which surrounded late-80s Munich-based pop artists Milli Vanilli has become legend. In a nutshell, the studio personnel didn’t match the stage personnel … In 1990, the band won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Later, it became the only musical group to ever have the award rescinded; the frontmen were dancers and lipsyncers who’d played no role whatsoever in the creation of the hit album, Girl You Know It’s True (1989).

The album’s title track was the best-known single from the outfit. But another standout single, “Blame It On the Rain,” written by American songwriter Diane Warren, is packed with unprepared, off-kilter modulations:

0:00 | B major intro
0:38 | Bb major verse
1:05 | B major pre-chorus, chorus
1:44 | Bb major verse
2:11 | B major pre-chorus, chorus
2:49 | Ab major bridge
2:57 | C major chorus

With just as much oddness as the key changes, the tune ends suddenly, mid-phrase, on a IV chord. From AllMusic: “It’s hard to imagine why there was such a fuss about an album so transparent, lightweight, and intentionally disposable…But when it comes down to it, this music is so manufactured, it doesn’t sound like anyone is really singing. And that’s what’s sort of cool about it.”

Many thanks to prolific mod scout JB for the submission!

In a Place of Miracles (from “Hunchback of Notre Dame”)

“In A Place of Miracles” is from, in your humble moderator’s opinion, Alan Menken‘s best score, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The show, which premiered in Berlin in 1999 and became one of the city’s longest-running productions, has still not made its way to Broadway. But someday, in a place of miracles, it will. Key change at 1:37.

Andrea Bocelli | Con Te Partirò

James Corden kicked off #HomeFest on The Late Late Show last night, with Andrea Bocelli as one of the featured performers singing “Con Te Partirò.” Originally released in 1995 on Bocelli’s second studio album, the track has gone on to become one of the best-selling singles of all time and is considered his signature song. Key change at 4:40.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Fantasia in C Minor (K. 475)

A good example of a common-tone modulation is presented by Mozart’s Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475 (1785). A shift from B major to D major jumps out at 2:32 via a repeated F# in the melody as the accompaniment briefly pauses. French pianist Ismaël Margain, a graduate of Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Paris, is at the keyboard.

Il Divo | All By Myself

Originally written, recorded, and released by Eric Carmen in 1975, “All By Myself” has been covered by many artists, perhaps most notably Céline Dion. The verse of the tune is based on the second movement of Sergi Rachmaninov‘s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. While Carmen’s original did not include a key change, most contemporary covers, including the 2007 version featured here by the pop male vocal group Il Divo, do (you can find it at 3:12.)

Brenda Lee | Danke Schön

“Danke Schön” is originally a pop song of German origin, written in 1959 by Bert Kaempfert and Kurt Schwabach. The track gained international fame when it was recorded by Wayne Newton in 1963. The version featured here, performed by Brenda Lee, was included on her 1964 album By Request. Key changes at 0:34, 1:01, 1:28, and 1:55.

Max Embers | For Once In My Life

Max Embers, an LA-based singer/songwriter originally from Germany, has produced many original tunes, including “Lookin’ Up,” featured on the TV series Songland in 2019. On the series, Embers competed with several other songwriters to have a song chosen for a performance setlist by John Legend.

Here, Embers covers a 1967 classic by one of his musical heroes, Stevie Wonder: “For Once In My Life” (2019). The modulation is at 2:05.

Gabriel Fauré | Élégie, Op. 24

Gabriel Fauré’s “Élégie”, Op. 24 for cello and piano has held a special place in my heart ever since I was first introduced to it and played it with a close friend in high school. Originally envisioned as the slow movement in an uncompleted cello sonata, Fauré published the piece as stand-alone work in 1883, and later orchestrated it as well.

Fauré scholar Jean-Michel Nectoux wrote that the Élégie was one of the last works in which the French composer allowed himself “such a direct expression of pathos,” noting further that he regards the piece as “one of the last manifestations of French musical Romanticism. From now on Fauré’s music was to be more introverted and discreet.”

A large scale ABA form begins and ends in C minor; Ab major is hinted at in the bass beginning at 2:24 before fully arriving when the piano takes the melody at 2:35. Performed here by Jacqueline du Pré and Gerald Moore, pianist.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Alla Turca, Sonata #11 in A Major (K. 331)

Wolfgang Mozart’s Alla Turca from Sonata #11 in A Major (K. 331) shifts back and forth between A minor and A major throughout. A piano sonata in three movements, the piece was likely written in Vienna or Salzburg around 1783. The first modulations are at 0:48 and 1:02.

Roxette | Crash! Boom! Bang!

Many thanks to MotD fan Chris Larkosh for this submission: Swedish duo Roxette released the single “Crash! Boom! Bang!” in 1994, part of an album of the same name. AllMusic liked the release’s vocals and songwriting, but felt that the album was “too pop for rock listeners and too rock for mid-’90s pop fans.” The LA Times, however, enjoyed the album’s “deliciously overwrought ballads” and the New York Times praised Marie Fredriksson, the lead vocalist, as the band’s “main asset … a singer with a sob in her voice.” Fredriksson passed away in late 2019 at the age of only 61.

Starting in C# minor with on-and-off shifts to B major, the tune transitions strongly to E minor for the bridge at 2:24, then back to C# minor again at 2:49.