new wave – Page 4

Lene Lovich | Blue Hotel

Lene Lovich, born Lili-Marlene Premilovich, “is an American singer, songwriter, and musician of Serbian and English descent based in England,” (Sputnik Music). “Back in the autumn of 1978, when Stiff Records mounted its second major assault on the British music biz, Lovich stood out … with her outlandish dress, colourful coiffure and mannered, theatrical delivery, using her voice no differently than the sax she occasionally tooted,” (StevePafford.com) … (She was a) one time sculpture student at London’s Central School of Art … Lene’s leftfield output was at the perfect foundational example of the burgeoning New Wave. An amalgam of baroque and Euro-cabaret, her slightly pixilated pop arrangements laced with splashes of synthesizer and organ …

… What at the time seemed a bit outre, even gauche was, by the early Eighties, adopted whole or in part by rafts of aspiring bands. Where once Lovich was likened to Patti Smith for lack of even vaguely comparable new wave female singers, she now had her own ‘school’ of followers – although many people have no idea she was there first.”

Following on a cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now” (1978), “Lucky Number”
(1978), and the Thomas Dolby-penned “New Toy” (1981), “Blue Hotel” was released in 1983 on Lovich’s album No Man’s Land. The video for the track was certainly not among those with the highest production values, but joins “New Toy” as a high point of the New Wave while capturing much of early-80s music video’s visual aesthetic. After a brief intro (and a hearty greeting to all) in A major, the tune shifts into A minor for the first verse; an A major interlude echoing the intro follows from 2:03 – 2:16); and a triumphant whole-step modulation up to B major hits at 2:40. At 3:30, the outro finds Lovich yodeling adroitly and proudly, as one does. No need to file a flight plan; Lene was there first, and knows the way.

for Maureen

Berlin | Take My Breath Away

Written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the 1986 film Top Gun, “Take My Breath Away” was recorded by the American new wave band Berlin.

There was tension within the group about whether to go forward with the song; lead singer Terri Nunn was all in, but John Crawford (the band’s founder, keyboardist and primary songwriter) was very resistant, not wanting outsiders to encroach on his turf. Ultimately the tune became one of their most popular hits, and won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

In 2017, ShortList named the song as having one of the best key changes in history. The unusual modulation, up a minor third from Ab to B, comes at 2:51.

Culture Club | Time (Clock of the Heart)

“Time (Clock of the Heart)” wasn’t released on the debut Culture Club album Kissing to be Clever; “it was a stand-alone single that proved another smash hit and was later added to the album in America.” (Diffuser.FM) “In the process, Culture Club pulled off a pretty amazing feat, becoming the first UK band since the Beatles to have three singles from a debut album make the Top 10 in America. Despite the grand success of the music, for many the look often overtook the sound as the media began a love affair with the band, and George in particular. ‘People felt there was something really happening,’ said Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. ‘I think that was the main thing. People would look and say, Blimey, what is this?‘”

In a GQ interview, George recalls he “was obsessed with music as a little kid, that was where I escaped to. I shared a room with my four brothers and most of the time I didn’t have the room to myself, so whenever I could I would have the record player on. I’d listen to everything from Irish show tunes to early Bowie, T. Rex and disco. Discovering Bowie was the ‘Whoa, that’s what I want to be’ moment. I was 11 and somehow my dad got me a ticket to see Ziggy Stardust.”

“It was kind of almost overnight for us,” he said in a 2015 interview. “You know, one minute we were an unknown band that literally couldn’t get signed, but once we got on TV, it was the public, more than anything, that decided they liked us and I think that’s always been the case.”

Starting in G minor, the 1982 single features a short instrumental bridge at 2:26 in Bb minor before settling into the next chorus at 2:43.

The Jags | Back of My Hand

“Record labels and radio in the U.K. were grudgingly forced to allow new-wave and punk sounds to edge onto the airwaves in the late-’70s, long before their U.S. big brothers would even consider such an experiment. The Jags were perfectly suited to seize that moment.” (Magnet Magazine)

“The Jags’ sound in 1979 was jangly and based around clean, ringing guitar, with slashing rhythms, quick musical changes and expertly precise three-minute arrangements. Their original songs were upbeat, full of hooks, elegant melodies and guttural rock energy: a perfect model of power-pop/new-wave fun. (The UK press) quickly tagged the band as ‘Elvis Costello imitators,'” a comparison which the band wasn’t able to transcend.

After a start in E major, “Back of My Hand” (1979) features a downward shift to G major during an instrumental break (2:03), then a return to E major at 2:14 for a bridge that pivots about as if it might modulate to F# major at 2:29 — but doesn’t. According to AllMusic, the tune had “a chart life of 10 weeks and peaked at #17 in the UK. In the US, the song peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100.”

Adam Ant | Goody Two Shoes

The Guardian proclaims that in 1980, Adam and the Ants “were a riot of makeup, feathers, tribal drums and surf guitars – and, for a spectacular moment, they became the biggest band in the UK.” But by 1982, the flashy glam-fueled New Wave band probably best known for 1981’s “Stand and Deliver,” had largely disbanded. Frontman Adam Ant “cast around for a new angle,” reports FreakyTrigger. “It was a moment in pop history when sudden changes of image and sound were respectable – even expected for some stars. Compared to today’s performers who tend to cover bandwagon-jumping with a figleaf of artistic intent, there was a refreshing honesty about this pursuit of a new look for a new season: pop and fashion were merging in a blare of colour.”

The tune went to #1 in the UK and Australia; top 5 in Canada, Germany and Ireland; and top 20 in Belgium the Netherlands, and the US.

Regular contributor Kent adds to his submission: “Not only it its entire ‘verse’ a simple cycle of tonic, supertonic, subtonic (which is already disquieting if your ear is trying to settle on the key), but it migrates through through other keys before returning to the original (A, 0:00; D, 1:56; B, 2:15; C, 2:25; A, 2:35)!”

The Jam | English Rose

“In May 1977, a three-piece rock group from Woking appeared on Top of the Pops. You can see what happened on YouTube: the presenter announcing an ‘effervescent new 45 called In The City, and the 140 seconds of wonderment that followed,” recalls The Jam’s website. “The song fizzed with the energy and sense of purpose that was firing what had been called punk and was now mutating into New Wave, but it had a lot more: a melodic charge – as in the glorious opening riff – that betrayed its makers’ love of classic British pop, and the clear sense that the band’s main creative force was already thinking like an accomplished songwriter. Between 1977 and 1982, the band released an incredible array of music. In the UK, there were five albums and 17 singles, a stack of number 1s, and a journey which encompassed no end of influences, styles, and textures.”

The punk/New Wave/mod revivalist band was best known for hard-edged, uptempo rave-ups like the debut album title track, but also for more reserved, carefully constructed New Wave songsmithing like 1981’s “That’s Entertainment” (listed by BBC 2 radio as the 43rd best song ever released by any artist) and the UK #1 hit “A Town Called Malice.” But its spare acoustic ballad, “English Rose” (1978) shows a different side of the band, with the extra weight of invoking England’s national flower and one of the nation’s most venerated symbols. The tune was written by band member Paul Weller, who later continued his success with the soul-inflected band The Style Council, founded just as The Jam lost steam in 1982.

The track modulates up a half-step at 1:39, propelled by many unexpected inversions along the way. Many thanks to MotD regular Rob Penttinen for identifying this mod in the wild!

The Specials | Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)

“The Specials were the fulcrum of the ska revival of the late ’70s, kick-starting the 2-Tone movement that spurred a ska-punk revolution lasting for decades,” AllMusic reports. “As influential as they were within the realm of ska, the group and its impact can’t be reduced to that genre alone. The Specials were one of the defining British bands of new wave, expanding the musical and political parameters of rock & roll … (the) 2-Tone label (was) named for its multiracial agenda and after the two-tone tonic suits favored by the like-minded mods of the ’60s.” Originally performed by Guy Lombardo, the big band leader made famous by his multi-year televised New Year’s Eve gig, the tune was later covered by Jamaican singer Prince Buster before it reached The Specials’ repertoire in 1980.

This party tune isn’t entirely representative of the band’s full repertoire, which also includes a marked focus on social justice. The Guardian describes the 21st century version of The Specials at a reunion tour show in 2019: “Their ranks diminished by death and fallings out, the trio are part nostalgia act, part wrathful fighters for fairness, who walk on to a stage decorated with signs reading ‘Vote’, ‘Resist’, ‘Think’ and, incongruously, ‘Listen to Sly and the Family Stone’ … this highly influential group have found their feet again in an era that encourages activism and increasingly reviles apathy … The Specials’ 40-year campaign against injustice resounds down the generations.”

A whole-step modulation appears at 2:22. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob Penttinen for this tune!

XTC | Senses Working Overtime

AllMusic describes the cult status of UK band XTC: “(Its) lack of commercial success isn’t because their music isn’t accessible — their bright, occasionally melancholy melodies flow with more grace than most bands. It has more to do with the group constantly being out of step with the times. However, the band has left behind a remarkably rich and varied series of albums that make a convincing argument that XTC is the great lost pop band. ‘Senses Working Overtime’ (1981) showed … a bemusing, distinctive take on catchy guitar music. There’s enough hints of ringing sixties guitar and clever wordplay to keep Beatles obsessives happy, say, but this is definitely the sound of a band on its own path.”

The fact that XTC’s style has been categorized with terms as varied as pop, art rock, new wave, rock, post-punk, art-punk, and progressive pop suggests that promoting their music was anything but straightforward. Lead singer Andy Partridge also suffered from severe stage fright, leading the band to experience difficulties with touring. According to Record Collector, both the album (English Settlement) and the single were the band’s highest-charting UK successes, peaking at #5 and #10, respectively.

After a reserved intro and verse in G# minor, clanging guitars announce the pre-chorus at 0:36 — a resounding all-major progression centered around plenty of compound chords. At 0:48, an E major chorus arrives, later proclaiming that the churchbells softly chime … hardly! Next up is a multi-section, multi-key bridge, which starts boisterously in A major at 2:35, charged with yet more compound chords and a schoolyard taunt of a vocal hook at 3:23. By 3:38, we’ve somehow been hoisted into F major — but making use of its rapidly expanding songcraft, XTC skillfully hides the tune’s seams.

The Fixx | Walkabout

“A London-based new wave group that managed to sustain a successful career in America for several years in the mid-’80s,” reports AllMusic, “the Fixx always flirted with the mainstream with their catchy, keyboard-driven pop.” After several albums and growing success in the US, “The terse, pulsating ‘One Thing Leads to Another’ became a #4 hit.” The band, which had less success in its native UK, “kept their basic, synth-driven sound intact for 1986’s Walkabout, which featured the hit ‘Secret Separation.'”

Starting in E major, the groove-driven title track shifts to G major at 1:12, Bb at 1:44, and finally Db at 3:04. Throughout, the melody features a very un-poppy factor: a very prominent tension 11 in the melody (heard for the first time at 0:16 on the final syllable of “investi-gate“), seemingly leading the way in providing the tense atmosphere so common to the band’s output.

Dan K. Brown deserves a special mention for his imaginative fretless bass lines, which hop and skitter through the track, providing as at least as much drive to the tune as its prominent percussion or Cy Curnin’s distinctive vocals.

The Cars | Got a Lot On My Head

Pitchfork describes the eponymous debut album by The Cars: “It’s a tale as old as time. A band arrives on the scene with an album so fully formed, it seems impossible that they could improve upon it, let alone escape its gravitational pull. The Cars would seem to define this trope. The 1978 debut contains so many classic rock staples, a modern listener could mistake it for a greatest hits collection. But the band is the exception that proves the rule: They managed to move forward from The Cars with a pair of albums that both refined and expanded their tightly wound new wave.”

1979’s Candy-O was an album of equal ambition. AllMusic reports that “the group were a little unhappy with how slick their debut sounded, so they asked (producer) Roy Thomas Baker to dial back the stacked vocals and make sure there was a little dirt in the machine … Candy-O is the rare follow-up to a classic debut that almost reaches the same rarified air … it may be one of the best second albums ever made, full of great songs, inspired performances, and sporting a still-perfect sound …”

Serving as something of a fulcrum for the American branch of New Wave, The Cars were known for “classic-rock riffs and melodies, synthy new-wave cool, wry, often deadpan vocals … a sound unlike any other in 1978,” according to Guitar World. But perhaps the most consistently memorable ingredient which the Boston-based quintet brought to the table was its massive hooks, which were frequently performed by keyboardist Greg Hawkes. In the case of Candy-O’s “Got a Lot on My Head,” lead guitarist Elliot Easton serves up the hook, bursting brashly out of the gates at the very top of the tune over a four-measure A major –> C major loop. The chorus (0:13) oddly appears before the verse, featuring a ii-bVII-I progression in C; 0:31 brings a verse in A major.