pop – Page 2

The Beau Brummels | Laugh Laugh

Hard to believe, but an American band at the heart of the Beatles sound-alike trend of the mid-60s received a substantial favor from Sly Stone (later the frontman of the Sly and the Family Stone band). “Sly Stone’s first taste of national notoriety began at the tender age of 19 when he produced the moody 1965 pop single, ‘Laugh, Laugh,’ for the San Mateo folk-rock band the Beau Brummels.” (Rolling Stone Australia). “As a teen guitarist, Stone’s various gigs around San Francisco lead him to cross paths with Autumn Records’ Tom Donahue, who gave the budding talent a shot at producing. ‘Laugh, Laugh’ was one of Sly’s first efforts; by early 1965, it had climbed into the Top 20.

As Ben Fong-Torres said of the single in 1970: ‘Sly had produced the very first rock & roll hits out of … a city then known for little more than Johnny Mathis and Vince Guaraldi.’ The ‘San Francisco Sound’ would soon be in full bloom, but here Sly was planting the seeds early on.”

“Laugh Laugh,” which Sly co-wrote with Ron Elliott, begins with a verse in G# minor. At 0:45, the pre-chorus works its way through a segment of the circle of fifths, landing in E major for the very short chorus (1:00). The pattern continues with another verse at 1:07. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this music time capsule!

Young Gun Silver Fox | Kids

“Musical chemistry is a rare, intangible thing. However, for Andy Platts and Shawn Lee, the creative force behind Young Gun Silver Fox, the unmalleable, unspoken connection that gives their work such a unique and distinctive sound was apparent from their first experiences together in a studio,” (Glide Magazine). “Alongside their now decade-plus-long tenure as Young Gun Silver Fox, both have already received plaudits for their creative excursions.

American-born, UK-based musician Shawn Lee (is known for) his extensive catalog of recordings with the likes of Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra and his well-received solo albums, as well as a go-to award-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist for the likes of Hannah Williams and Joel Culpepper.” The multi-talented UK-born Andy Platts is “chief songwriter and leader of much loved Brit-soul sensations Mamas Gun. He’s also clocked up many songwriting collaborations with legends such as Rod Temperton and Brian Jackson.”

YGSF’s compact release “Kids” (2020) beings in D major, shimmies through a short but dynamic bridge at 2:06, and lands in E major at 2:24.

George Benson | Lady Love Me

“Simply one of the greatest guitarists in jazz history, George Benson is an amazingly versatile musician whose adept skills find him crossing easily between straight-ahead jazz, smooth jazz, and contemporary R&B. Blessed with supreme taste, a beautiful, rounded guitar tone, terrific speed, a marvelous sense of logic in building solos, and, as always, an unquenchable urge to swing, Benson’s inspirations may have been Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, but his style is completely his own.

Not only can he play lead brilliantly, he is also one of the best rhythm guitarists around; and works often as a sideman. He’s a dangerous swinger, particularly in a soul-jazz format; skills he first got attention for as a member of Brother Jack McDuff’s band in the early ’60s. Benson can also sing in a lush, soulful tenor with mannerisms similar to those of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway. In a sense, he is the guitar-playing equivalent of Nat King Cole, a fantastic instrumentalist whose smooth way with a pop vocal helped solidify his prowess in the marketplace.” It’s not surprising to read that Benson started his career in his native Pittsburgh not as a guitarist, but as a vocalist!

Benson’s funk-infused up-tempo 1983 single “Lady Love Me” starts in F# minor, lifts to A minor at 2:36, and finally ascends just before the fadeout to F minor at 3:31.

Neil Sedaka | The Hungry Years

“From ‘Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen’ to ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do,’ Neil Sedaka drew on a seemingly endless well of onomatopoeic hooks to enliven his early rock-and-roll records, leaving no Tra-la-la or do-be-doo untouched.” (The Second Disc). “The Juilliard-trained musician and native of Brooklyn, New York was one of the relatively rare few rockers of his generation equally adept at both performing and songwriting. As active members of Don Kirshner’s Aldon Music stable (alongside Carole King and Gerry Goffin as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil!), Sedaka and his frequent lyricist Howard Greenfield turned out one tune after another for a great number of famous artists including Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, and Little Anthony and the Imperials.”

“During his lifetime, Sedaka, who died Feb. 27 in Los Angeles at age 86, translated his craft into beloved Billboard chart hits, including three #1s among nine top 10s as a recording artist on the Billboard Hot 100,” (Billboard). “He totaled 30 entries on the chart overall as a singer, from 1958 to 1980, 26 of which he co-wrote, the bulk with writing partner Howard Greenfield (who passed in 1986). Sedaka co-penned all of his top 10s.”

In addition to writing “Love Will Keep Us Together” (released by Sedaka but later made famous by Captain + Tenille), “Bad Blood” (featuring Elton John), “Laughter in the Rain,” and other hits from his earlier years, Sedaka continued to release albums of his own while writing for other artists.

The Sedaka/Greenfield ballad “The Hungry Years,” a track from the 1975 album of the same title, was released on Elton John’s Rocket Records. Beginning in A major, the track shifts to C major for its second verse and the following chorus (0:35). At 1:58, there’s a return of A major for the next verse. The pattern continues from there. Though something of an also-ran upon its release, the track subsequently became one of most requested tunes at Sedaka’s shows. Sedaka’s distinctive, expressive tenor leads us through a nostalgia-saturated love story. While the arrangement is sweetened by strings, Sedaka’s piano remains central — easily conjuring up his early career in the Brill Building. RIP to a master singer/songwriter — who gave meaning to that term long before its heyday in the 1970s!

Richard Marx | Take This Heart

From a 2023 concert review in Perth, Australia: “Richard Marx is the only male artist in history to land the first seven singles on top five of the Billboard charts,” (SheldonAngMedia). “After selling over 30 million albums, one would imagine the singer songwriter could’ve performed to sell-out arenas across the world … But the American artist has always been about fan engagement since the early days, preferring to carry out his trade at intimate venues.”

“I would describe Richard Marx’s sound as a combination of Toto, Bryan Adams, Chicago and David Foster (SuperCoolGuy)… Although he hasn’t had a top 10 hit as an artist since the 1998’s “At the Beginning” (with Donna Lewis, from the Anastasia animated movie soundtrack), Richard Marx continues to lead a very successful and prolific career, both as an artist, and even more so as a songwriter/producer … His songs have been recorded in a wide range of styles, from country to R&B and of course pop and rock, by a long list of to artists, including Kenny Rogers, Keith Urban, Luther Vandross, N Sync, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, Daughtry, Ringo Starr … “

Starting in D major, this live 2012 version of “Take This Heart” shows Marx’s preference for smaller, more engaging live venues. This performance is pitched a minor third below the original 1991 studio version, but still retains all of the tune’s original energy and spirit. At 1:08, the verse starts, climbing through straightforward chord progressions fancied up with Marx’s trademark inverted voicings. At 1:33, the chorus shifts to E major until the 2:00 return to the original key for the next verse. Marx makes it seems like he could crank out catchy pop tunes by the dozen in the time it would take a lesser songwriter to sweat out just a single track.

Midnight Oil | Beds Are Burning

“Australian rock ’n’ roll band Midnight Oil broke into the U.S. charts with an explosive single from their album Diesel and Dust. ‘Beds Are Burning’ was powerful on every level: musically, politically, sonically, even visually,” (MixOnline). “In fact, anyone who had an ear to the modern rock radio format in 1988 can almost certainly name this song in three notes: Those effected horn-and-drum blasts make an unforgettable intro. Midnight Oil were already a huge band in Australia before they made Diesel and Dust. They had put out three Top 10 albums and had gained popularity as well as notoriety for their political activism. The lyrics of ‘Beds Are Burning’ demand reparations to Australia’s Pintupi people, who—like Native Americans in the United States—had been relocated and marginalized by whites: ‘The time has come/To say fair’s fair/To pay the rent/To pay our share.’

Midnight Oil was a band with a message as well as ambition, and they enlisted the help of producer Warne Livesey—who had already achieved significant success with The The and Julian Cope, among others—to help take their sounds to a larger audience. ‘We spent a long time with them sending me demos and having conversations about the direction of the record … (It) was one of the last songs they wrote for the album; it was in the last batch of demos they sent me. That demo didn’t have any verse lyrics on it, but it did have the chorus, and it was very long—a jam. I responded immediately to that absolutely first-rate, killer, hook-y chorus with a great lyrical message.'”

After a gradual intro, the verse and pre=chorus are in E major. The iconic 3-note horn line announces the epic chorus in E minor at 1:13. At 1:58, E major returns for the next verse and the pattern continues from there.

Brenda Holloway | You’ve Made Me So Very Happy

The David Clayton-Thomas-flavored version of Blood, Sweat, and Tears had the big hit version of Brenda Holloway’s song, a Billboard #2 in 1969 (previously featured on MotD). (Rapporteur’s note: I can’t hear that version without thinking of my local ice rink, where it was played endlessly over the PA). Holloway’s own recording was less successful, reaching #39 on Billboard in 1967.

The song is credited to Brenda Holloway, her younger sister Patrice, producer Frank Wilson and Motown founder Berry Gordy. While this release was Brenda’s last for Motown, she continued to record; her latest album, My Love is Your Love, was released in 2003. Sister Patrice Holloway was a Motown artist in her own right, gaining later fame as a member of the cartoon band Josie & the Pussycats. Recorded in Los Angeles, the track features an unusually prominent electric bass part played by session ace Carole Kaye — and some perhaps disturbingly loud finger snaps.

There’s a somewhat surprising unprepared upward modulation at 2:16 for the final chorus before the fadeout.

Rina Sawayama | This Hell

” … Japanese-British pop superstar Rina Sawayama … was born in Japan and raised in North London. (She) ascended to pop stardom via an unusual trajectory at Cambridge University studying politics, psychology and sociology, and funding her early music with modeling before signing a record deal,” (IMDB). “At the beginning of her song “This Hell,” Rina Sawayama recalls seeing a religious poster condemning so-called sinners for their identities,” (Pitchfork). “She rebukes the hateful messaging with an eye roll—’Don’t know what I did but they seem pretty mad about it’—pulls her chosen family closer, and offers affirmation: ‘This hell is better with you.’

The first track off the SAWAYAMA-follow up Hold the Girl (2022) was inspired by country pop, and that influence is most evident at the track’s intro, which features a neighing horse and a winking tribute to country pop queen Shania Twain (‘let’s go, girls’). From there, she fans these flames into a turbocharged pop banger complete with a glam, unapologetically over-the-top hair metal riff. Not one to pass up a good pop culture reference, Sawayama quotes Paris Hilton’s famous catchphrase and chastises the paparazzi for their cruelty towards Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, and Princess Diana. ‘Got my invitation to eternal damnation,’ she chants. ‘Get in line, pass the wine, bitch.’ With Sawayama, hell is the hottest party in town.”

After an intro in A minor, the verse enters in E major (0:31), then shifts to a pre-chorus and chorus in C major at 0:48. More changes follow from there.

Exposé | Let Me Be the One

“Famous for Latin-flavored dance-pop as well as for adult contemporary ballads, the female vocal trio Exposé enjoyed a great deal of commercial success in the ’80s and early ’90s,” (Qobuz.com). “Exposé was the creation of Miami-based producer/songwriter Lewis A. Martineé, who assembled the original Exposé lineup in 1984.

… Neither Arista Records nor Martineé envisioned Exposé as strictly a club act, and (the group’s 1987 debut album) Exposure received considerable attention from radio thanks to major hits ranging from the adult contemporary ballad ‘Seasons Change’ (which reached number one on Billboard’s pop singles chart) to the R&B/urban-oriented ‘Let Me Be the One,’ which went to #7. Exposure sold more than three million copies in the United States alone.”

Starting with an intro and verse in Eb minor, the synth-driven track shifts to Gb minor for its pre-chorus (0:58 – 1:16) before reverting to the original key for the chorus. The pattern continues from there.

Jan + Dean | Surf City

“‘Surf City’ is part of a proud tradition of songs about imaginary party utopias. It belongs in the same lineage as ‘Funkytown’ and ‘Love Shack’ — starry-eyed dreams about places where everyone is having fun all the time” (Stereogum) … “Jan and Dean didn’t hit their peak until they met Brian Wilson. The duo played a lot of early-’60s shows with the Beach Boys, with the Beach Boys even backing them up a few times.

… Berry wanted to record one of Wilson’s songs. Wilson wouldn’t let them have ‘Surfin’ USA,’ since he knew the Beach Boys were going to record that one. But he hadn’t finished the very similar ‘Surf City’ (1963), though he had written and demoed the first verse and chorus. So Berry finished writing the song, and it became the song that really popularized surf music — and maybe surfing in general — in America … ‘Surf City’ would be Jan and Dean’s only #1, but they kept recording increasingly complex surf-pop jams, often with Wilson, for the next few years (1964’s ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ is a banger).”

Starting in Ab major, the track shifts up to C major at the 2:07 mark before cranking into a chaotic fading outro (normally not heard on the radio … even the short 2:43 run time was often shortened by a DJ’s early fade).