pop

Madness | Coldest Day

“While a keen feature of London’s musical tapestry, Madness seem to have bottled whatever the British spirit is, unmistakably moulded by the nation’s working class households, terraced streets, and enthusiastic embrace of Caribbean cultural import in keeping with the rest of the Two-tone generation,” (Far Out Magazine). “There’s an infectious invite to Madness at their best, which has assured pop ubiquity ever since, any spin of their hits letting you in on the Nutty gang’s weird world.

Fundamentally, Madness are fantastic popsmiths … the lads wielded a strange ability to report on the lay of the land, even with the grey bits left in … Madness can often pull the rug up while still larking about in fezzes, a bouncy ska number can easily jump into a peek at urban malaise, poverty-induced crime, or racial tensions via their tattered, Beano lyrical lens.

As the 1980s rolled by, so did the studio toys. While never completely losing themselves in the decade’s production trends and digital gadgets, a little of that sophistipop gloss trickled into Madness’ sounds … there’s plenty to enjoy from (1985’s) Mad Not Mad’s vivacious offering … Madness dwell in a deeper introspective realm than fans were used to.”

After beginning in G minor, “Coldest Day” a pre-chorus in F major(ish) kicks in at 0:26. The 0:45 arrives as the chorus shifts to E minor via some thoroughly Madness-style flourishes, despite the tune’s prominent synthetic drums and decidedly non-Ska groove. 1:10 brings a return to G minor; more shifts continue from there.

Many thanks to Julianna A., a longtime contributor from Brazil, for submitting this distinctive tune!

Alannah Myles | Love Is

“When Alannah Myles burst onto the scene in 1989 with ‘Black Velvet,’ the bluesy single, her fantastic, slightly gravelly vocals caught the attention of the entire world,” (Adam’s World). “The song didn’t just hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., it reached the Top 10 in over a dozen countries (although, oddly, just #10 in her native Canada); it continues to receive radio airplay to this day. In fact, in 2005 ‘Black Velvet’ was the recipient of a “Millionaire Award” from ASCAP for having racked up more than four million radio plays. The single went gold in the U.S., took home the Grammy in 1991 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (yes, nearly two years after its release), and launched her self-titled debut album to platinum status.

The follow up single, however, titled ‘Love Is,’ peaked at #36 (although it was her debut single in Canada) … After that, those of us in America didn’t hear much from Alannah, even though she released three albums in the ‘90s, and two more in the current century, including one as recently as 2014. ‘Black Velvet’ was a lightning in a bottle moment, and its staying power over the past 30+ years is a testament to the greatness of the song … ” But “Love Is” has a key change — one of the very few features that “Black Velvet” lacks.

Built primarily in G major, “Love Is” spends most of its verses and choruses in a groove-driven trance limited to various voicings of the tonic chord. From 1:44 – 2:05, a bridge in E major is in effect before a return to the original key. At 2:24, the same E major section returns through 2:44. Then it’s back to G major again for the balance of the tune. In 1990, “Love Is” was nominated for Canada’s Juno Award for Single of the Year; the track lost to “Black Velvet,” clearly illustrating the song’s also-ran status when compared to Myles’ international smash hit.

Huey Lewis + The News | Simple As That

Huey Lewis and the News’ 1983 collection Sports “had been an absolute smash, one of just five records to top the Billboard album chart in 1984 (for just one week in its case, but in that Thriller– and Purple Rain-dominated year, still quite something),” (Best Classic Bands). “It yielded four top 10 singles and catapulted the band into the rarefied space of touring attractions capable of filling arenas around the world. The album stayed on the chart for 160 weeks, and the accompanying Sports tour was about as long.

… Fore! was one of the most front-loaded records ever created. On side one of the vinyl release, four of the five songs charted in the top 10, as did the first song on the flip side.” A tune from the side two of the album, “Simple as That,” is “nestled among band vocals and horn trimming, its throwback soul underpinnings were a reminder that for all the band’s straightforward appeals, its versatility—and willingness to take it in different directions—was easy to underestimate … Recruitment of the Tower of Power horns paid dividends on multiple tracks … Never possessed of dazzling range, Lewis’ singing nonetheless sported enormous craft, and the sheer emotive power he generated was irresistibly insistent.”

After a regal fanfare of an intro, this musical tribute to everyday middle class struggles settles into Ab major. At 2:30, a resounding unprepared key change hits so hard, squarely on beat one, that it takes a few moments for the smoke to clear. Soon, we realize that there’s been a downward key change to G major — vanishingly rare in pop music, and doubly so for straight-down-the fairway Top 40 fare. Quite a lovely touch for the closing moments of the album’s final track.

Mickey Woods | (They Call Me) Cupid

“Mickey Woods, here making his final appearance on a Motown record, was a minor figure at best in the Motown story,” (Motown Junkies). “He may have been the first white male solo act on the label” (Woods is such an obscure figure in Motown’s history that this factor is not 100% confirmed) … “This B-side marks the first ever Motown writing credit for Norman Whitfield, later one of the all-time great songwriters and producers.

Odd that ‘(They Call Me) Cupid’ (1961) should have been relegated to a B-side – it’s clearly intended as a take on Sam Cooke’s ‘Cupid,’ released earlier the same year … perhaps Berry Gordy felt that to invite comparison between Sam Cooke (who was one of the all-time great voices) and Mickey Woods (who wasn’t) would be unfairly prejudicial … There’s also an ambitious string break in the middle eight which is pleasing to hear; the sound of musical horizons being continually broadened … That unexpected string interlude is a little rough, coming over at times as awkward and scraping; hardly the lush orchestral aural carpeting that would come to be associated with Motown in later years.”

Starting in C major, there’s a shift to Eb major at 1:16 after a brief suspension of the groove. Yes, the string section sounds like it’s sight-reading — but otherwise, an intriguing very early Motown track!

Journey | Girl Can’t Help It

Journey was so ubiquitous in the 1980s that its “best of” album was ranked the #10 best selling album of that decade. Their sound was right down the fairway, defining mainstream 80s rock/pop for all time. But by 1986, the band’s fortunes began to level off. “Following the most commercially successful era for (Journey), lead singer Steve Perry firmly took control over Journey‘s musical direction,” (Classic Rock Review). “The ultimate result of this new direction was this 1986 album Raised On Radio, an album which would (at least initially) become just about as popular as their biggest earlier albums, but ultimately would symbolize the decline and fall of Journey’s successful run in through the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“‘Girl Can’t Help It’ is the best song on the album, with a direct and crisp sound … a simple but memorable piano riff, and some counter-harmonic guitars to accent it all … Following the release of Raised On Radio, Journey embarked on a tour which was initially very successful, but in early 1987 Perry suddenly and unexpectedly pulled the plug and the band was forced to cancel the rest of the tour … They would not again reconvene as a band for nearly a decade, when (they) had a short-lived comeback. But the classic band was never again the same.”

“Girl Can’t Help It” doesn’t even begin to approach the band’s top five singles list (by contrast, “Don’t Stop Believin'” has reached 2.9 billion streams on Spotify and has 13.1 million downloads and ringtone purchases). But although the former top sellers were starting to see their longtime popularity slip, their stage presence and musicality were undimmed for this 1986 performance. The band’s exquisitely blended stacked vocals (perhaps best heard at 2:40 and again at 4:04 for the a cappella outro) somehow all sounded like frontman Steve Perry. Built in A minor overall, the track shifts to C minor at 1:07 for the pre-chorus, transitioning to C major for the chorus (1:19 – 1:34) before flipping over to the relative A minor and onward from there.

Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this track!

J.D. Souther | Banging My Head Against the Moon

“It’s been said that JD Souther could have been a major artist if he had kept more of those beautiful, introspective songs he wrote for himself,” (Country Music Hall of Fame). “He had the aching tenor voice, the good looks that got him TV acting jobs … He wasn’t a star of country-rock, but he was crucial to its enduring power.

—Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum”

Souther wrote ‘Faithless Love’ for his then-girlfriend Linda Ronstadt and later co-wrote ‘The Best of My Love’ with Glenn Frey and Don Henley of the Eagles. He went on to write other signature Eagles hits: ‘Heartache Tonight,’ ‘New Kid in Town,’ and ‘Victim of Love.’ “Souther even had an opportunity to join the band early in their run—an experience he called being ‘an Eagle for a day.'” He summed it up by saying “‘I think they were so relieved when I said no. I’m not a very good team player.’” He had his own chart success with 1979’s “You’re Only Lonely” and then a duet with James Taylor, ‘Her Town Too.’ Looking back, he summed up his career: “’Good music really lasts a long time.’”

“Banging My Head Against the Moon,” from Souther’s 1976 release Black Rose, is built in F major overall. At 1:39, a bridge slips quickly into Db major for what starts as an instrumental bridge, later joined by vocals. At 2:00, we slip right back into F major before a return to the next verse at 2:09.

Stevie Wonder | My Cherie Amour

” … when it was released, on August 29, 1969, My Cherie Amour was the contemporary Stevie,” (UDiscoverMusic). “Nobody knew what was to come. Instead, people gloried in this young man who could deliver songs that attracted dozens of cover versions and became instant standards. Not only that, but his originals were infused with a warmth and joy the remakes could not touch.

‘My Cherie Amour,’ the song, sounds like a breeze on a hot summer day: fresh, easy and light … someone who was not yet 20 should not have been able to tackle such material so convincingly … Now we know what was coming, it’s easy to fit this album into a context it did not have at the time. We can’t hear it with 1969’s ears, but we can imagine the smiles it provoked and the romances it helped soundtrack.”

If MotD had started out by covering only the most classic of Top 40 tunes, then by rights we should’ve featured this one way back in 2011! The hook, stated first by flute and then joined by Stevie’s wordless vocal in the intro, is surely one of the most iconic in all of R&B or pop music. The tune’s unusual form begins with its chorus, the wordless vocal hook section. The song’s title is then mentioned at the start of a verse, again departing from convention. But despite the tune’s unconventional, stripped down structure, we never once feel deprived: the melodic richness, compound chords, lovestruck lyrics, and lush instrumentation are a rich sonic tapestry indeed. After a start in Db major, there’s an unprepared shift up to D major at 1:55. And just like that, Stevie brings it all to a close just under the wire for the era’s three-minute radio guideline.

Jo Stafford + Frankie Laine | Pretty Eyed Baby

Jo Stafford and Frankie Laine were two of the most popular singers of the 1940s and 50s. She scored big in 1952 with her hit “You Belong to Me” (the cover by The Duprees was previously featured on MotD). To audiences of the day, he may have been best known as the singer of “That’s My Desire” in 1946. To later audiences, his most famous song could have been the Rawhide theme (move ’em out!).

Together, the pair recorded 20 tunes between 1950 and 1953, including 1951’s “Pretty Eyed Baby.” Stylistically, the tune could be classified as a jump blues: an up-tempo shuffle, punctuated by horns, and swinging like mad. Stafford and Laine alternately trade phrases and sing in unison, finally harmonizing for the verse tag at 2:02. Upward half-step modulations at 1:15 and 1:50 propel the track forward.

Herb Alpert + the Tijuana Brass | A Taste of Honey

Well, the Tijuana Brass weren’t really from Tijuana, just some L.A. studio musicians to play along with Herb Alpert. And those bass drum kicks that launch the in-tempo sections of “A Taste of Honey” weren’t really part of the arrangement, meant instead to be a tape-splice marker. Nonetheless, the single achieved very real success, reaching #7 on Billboard in 1965. The single was taken from the album Whipped Cream and Other Delights, released on Alpert’s own label A&M, featuring the most famous album cover of the 20th century (ed. note: perhaps I’m biased in that opinion).

“A Taste of Honey” was written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow.for the Broadway version of a British play of the same name, later made into a movie. There are many cover versions, including a vocal version by the Beatles recorded in 1963. There’s a half-step upwards modulation up at 2:12.

As of this writing, Herb Alpert is still playing. Below, we’re including the same tune, performed this month at the Hollywood Bowl.

Amy Grant | That’s What Love Is For

“If you were listening to any kind of normal radio in the early 90s, you remember ‘Baby, Baby,’ which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as ‘Every Heartbeat,’ which hit No. 2. ‘That’s What Love Is For,’ ‘Good For Me’ and ‘I Will Remember You’ all were Top 20 hits as well,” (Daily Vault).

The best part about (1991’s Heart in Motion) … is not the success it brought Grant as much as the way it openly addressed important issues in life. ‘Ask Me’ talks about how faith can help heal a person’s past, specifically child abuse; ‘That’s What Love Is For’ addresses that relationships are tough and take work. Strength and hope are the themes of Heart in Motion … The simplicity of Grant’s voice with her honest lyrics contrast what so many other big names (Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera) attempt to achieve.”

“That’s What Love is For” begins in E major, building gradually through its first two verses. The chorus, in C# major, then appears with great fanfare at 1:08; the video further obliges the mood change with a shift from black and white to full color. At 1:42, we dive back into another verse — in the original key and the original black and white! The pattern continues until 3:04, when we stumble into D major as we hop over yet another B+W/color border.