Tag: pop

The Sweet Inspirations | Unchained Melody

The Sweet Inspirations are a vocal group, formed in the late 1950s, best-known as backup singers for other artists, appearing on recordings for Van Morrison, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Jimi Hendrix, the James Gang, and Yusef Lateef. They toured with Elvis Presley towards the end of his career.

The original members included Doris Troy, who had a hit with “Just One Look” and recorded an album for the Beatles’ Apple label; future superstar Dionne Warwick; and Warwick’s sister Dee Dee. The later lineup on the cut here features lead vocalist Cissy Houston, mother of 1980s superstar Whitney Houston and the aunt of the Warwick sisters. The other members of this classic lineup were Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown, and Myrna Smith. A version of the group continues to tour to this day (Encyclopedia of Popular Music).

Besides their backup work, the group recorded their own singles and albums. [Ed. note: I first became aware of the group from their 1968 single named for the group, “Sweet Inspiration”.] The track here appeared on their third Atlantic album, What The World Needs Now Is Love, and was released as a single. The album, produced by Tom Dowd and arranged by Arif Mardin, bears the unmistakable sonic signature of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (you could ID Roger Hawkins’ snare in a police lineup.)

“Unchained Melody,” with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret, was written for the 1955 movie Unchained. The Righteous Brothers’ 1965 single on Phil Spector’s Phillie Records is probably the most famous recording of the song. That version features a languorous 12/8 rhythm, extracting maximum emotion from Bobby Hatfield’s tenor. The Sweets’ version (1968) is in straight 4/4 and is a bit more up-tempo, but Cissy Houston’s soaring lead is no less emotive.

There’s a half-step modulation at 1:48 as the verse repeats.

Loverboy | Working for the Weekend

“Working for the Weekend” is the lead track on the 1981 album Get Lucky by Canadian rockband Loverboy. Written by guitarist Paul Dean, vocalist Mike Reno, and drummer Matt Frenette, the track reached 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; MTV had just gone on the air that year also.

In an interview with Songfacts, Dean described the genesis of the song: “I was walking down close to where I was living. It was a Wednesday afternoon, beautiful afternoon, and I’m walking in this heavily populated area, and it was deserted. Everybody was at work. And me being the musician, I’m out working and my work is, okay, what am I going to do for inspiration and where can I find it? So I’m out on the beach and wondering, ‘Where is everybody? Well, I guess they’re all waiting for the weekend.'” The video below starts with the band discussing the tune.

The key alternates between C minor for the verses and the relative Eb major for the choruses.

World Party | Ship of Fools

“World Party was essentially a one-man band, with Karl Wallinger writing and performing all the songs, while also producing and playing most of the instruments,” (American Songwriter). “‘Ship Of Fools’ … from the 1986 album Private Revolution … battled its way into the US Top 40, which, considering the downbeat subject matter, says something about the innate catchiness of the pop-funk that is embellished by Anthony Thistlewaite’s honking sax … ‘Ship of Fools’ takes the tone of a Biblical parable, with a smattering of mythical archetypes and historical atrocities thrown in as well. Wallinger doesn’t kid anybody about where this journey is headed: ‘We’re setting sail to a place on the map from which no one has ever returned’ is the song’s very first line.”

The UK-based Wallinger re-made the song’s video, making use of unsettling news footage from the past several years, to accompany a re-issue of the entire World Party catalog a few years back. Wallinger died less than a month ago from a stroke at the age of only 66. The videos share an overarching theme of environmental degradation as a tragic state of business as usual for the planet, supercharged by political dysfunction. “World Party records were notable for their persistent commitment to green and environmentalist issues, initially at a time when this was unfashionable,” (Mojo4Music) … “Wallinger’s perspective on these matters has been labelled ‘prescient and heartfelt, a fervent post-script to ’80s consumerism,’ and ‘well ahead of the times.'” The final caption of the new video speaks starkly: “Now more than ever.”

The intro and verse are essentially a long D minor passage, which builds in intensity and melodic complexity. The chorus (heard first from 1:13 – 1:46) opens up into more varied territory via a flip into a strongly emphasized relative F major, an even rangier melody, and a much broader harmonic vocabulary.

Many thanks to first-time contributor Linda P. for reminding us about this iconic and all-too-prescient track.

Tori Amos | Happy Phantom

An extremely overdue MotD debut for Tori Amos: “‘Happy Phantom’ was written and recorded during the first phase of creating Little Earthquakes. … (It) was included on both a cassette tape Tori submitted for copyright in June 1990 and the original rejected version of Little Earthquakes in December that year,” (ToriPedia). “In the Little Earthquakes songbook, Tori noted that ‘when the songs began showing up I wrote their names on separate envelopes and made a faery ring in the middle of the house. I’d sit in the middle of the ring to focus on a song’s direction. All of the songs seemed to work toward the completeness of the other. They decided we needed to hang out with death for awhile.'”

Amos’ first major-label release, Y Kant Tori Read, saw her fronting a synth-pop band of the same name during the late 1980s. The album “sunk without a trace; she had to dig deep inside herself, in her search for her true identity,” (Songfacts). “She told Rolling Stone this meant killing her old self: ‘To talk about death was really important on Little Earthquakes because there was a part of me had to die. The image that I had created for whatever reason, had to die.'”

“Happy Phantom,” is largely built in Bb major, but erupts into a surprising instrumental interlude in G major (1:45 – 1:57), then pivots around a bit more until returning to familiar territory at 2:14. Wrapping up by returning to Bb major, the tune then falls off the edge of the earth during a few formless closing bars.

Jay and the Americans | She Cried

“Early-’60s rock & roll albums are a funny animal — no one, not critics or fans, ever really knew what to make of them, mostly because they were usually so superfluous to how we knew and understood the artists involved,” (Qobuz). “Except for Elvis Presley, who still commanded a lot of attention even as he began what ultimately proved to be the downward arc (in terms of quality) of his movie career, no one ever heard the album tracks except the most serious, dedicated fans, who were a tiny, almost microscopic portion of the audience. It wasn’t until the Beach Boys began surprising people with album cuts that were almost good enough to be singles that audiences started to given them a wider listen, though it took the Beatles — who stirred insatiable demand from fans and whose albums met the same standard as their singles — to drive the sale numbers up to significant levels.

Until then, you had fine LPs like She Cried (1962), Jay & the Americans’ debut LP, fine efforts that most fans never heard or even knew about. A Leiber & Stoller production, it reflected their other work of the period, including the group’s covers of then-current Drifters/Ben E. King hits, and also reflected the influence of Phil Spector …”

The title track was the group’s first major hit. Built around a I major / bVII major vamp, the track’s slightly off-kilter instrumental verse (1:45 – 2:02), with strings front and center, leads us to a late whole-step modulation. The single reached #5 on the US pop charts and was the first of four US Top 10 hits for the group.

Patti Page | [How Much Is That] Doggie in the Window

“[How Much Is That] Doggie In The Window?” written by composer/lyricist Bob Merrill, was made famous by Patti Page, the best-selling female vocalist of the 1950s. The track stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for eight weeks and was the third best-selling song of 1953. It begins in G, slides up to Ab at 1:37, and A at 2:00.

Sergio Mendes + Brasil ’66 | The Joker

“Musician Herb Alpert, co-founder of the highly successful A&M record label, was so keen on a newly signed act that he lent his name to the group’s debut LP; Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66,” (San Diego Troubador). “The album’s back cover featured straight forward liner notes by Alpert and the creative wordplay of Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor. Alpert’s hunch about the group would eventually exceed all expectations; for the remainder of the decade, the sound of Brasil ’66, a tempting mixture of bossa nova/samba and “Bacharachesque” arrangements, was seldom out of the spotlight. With consistent Top 40 hits, launched by the groundbreaking single,”Mas Que Nada,” Brasil ’66 was a fixture on AM radio, television variety shows, and concert stages around the globe.

… Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 joined the 2012 class of “Historically Significant Recordings.” His LP was in good company: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” Speech, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA were among the other recordings to enter the class. These selections found a permanent home in the Grammy Hall of Fame.”

After a start in a slightly de-tuned G minor, “The Joker” features a transitional section (1:10 – 1:25) which leads us up to A minor. The transition later repeats, but this time with no additional upward modulation. The live version has somewhat lower sound quality and doesn’t allow for embedding, but please check it out as well! Many thanks to our regular contributor Jamie A. for this submission.

Selena | Dreaming of You

“Selena Quintanilla-Pérez’s first album featuring songs in the English language was conceived to establish the young ‘Queen of Tejano’ music, who already at 23 was a Latina icon, as a star in the mainstream American market,” (UDiscoverMusic). “When it was released, Dreaming of You surpassed even the wildest of expectations. It became the first album by a Latin artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 100. Sales in its first week, according to Soundscan, made Selena second only to Michael Jackson as the artist with the fastest-selling album of 1995. The headline on one Associated Press article soon after the album’s release proclaimed that Dreaming of You ‘finally makes Selena a national star.’ All of this success came in the wake of tragedy.” Selena was murdered by a colleague in March 1995 just shy of her 24th birthday.

“Dreaming of You was packaged as a tribute, with the inclusion of the Tex-Mex-flavored pop hits in Spanish that brought Selena Latin music stardom while she was alive, like ‘Amor Prohibido,’ ‘Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,’ and ‘Como la Flor.’ With those songs, Selena had already refreshed the mariachi and Mexican polka styles of South Texas for a bicultural generation of young Latinas who recognized them as their own.”

Two verses and two choruses in Ab major pass before a bridge in Eb minor, heavy on syncopation, changes up the mood a bit (2:22 – 2:46). Another verse and chorus arrive via a prominent rising bassline, delivering us into Bb major.

Jamiroquai | Two Completely Different Things

“There was a time when you could rarely set foot in a public place without being reminded of the omnipresence of UK funk-pop sensation Jamiroquai,” (abc.net.au). “The band, led by constantly behatted frontman Jay Kay, were a dominant force in the music of the late-90s and early-2000s, their blend of acid jazz, funk, disco and house a constant on radio, in nightclubs, at cafes and parties the world over.”

“… You can’t shake the feeling that pop is a giant feedback loop, in which Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield begat Jamiroquai and Pharrell, and the influence of Jamiroquai must have fed, consciously or subconsciously, into the aural landscapes of both Daft Punk and Pharrell.” (HeyMusicOfficial).

The intro of 2010’s “Two Completely Different Things” alternates between D major and D minor. At 0:23, the verse shifts into F major, remaining there for the chorus. 1:06 – 1:17 brings an interlude which echoes the intro (D major and minor). The pattern continues throughout.

Westlife | You Raise Me Up

“You Raise Me Up,” written by Rolf Løvland and Brendan Graham, was initially recorded by the Irish-Norwegian band Secret Garden with vocalist Brian Kennedy. Josh Groban’s 2004 cover brought much wider recognition to the song, and the following year the Irish pop group Westlife released it as the lead single for their album Face to Face; it has since become the eighth most-streamed song of all time in Ireland.

Beginning in Eb, there is a modulation up to F at 1:19 and another to Gb at 2:30.