pop – Page 26

The Association | Along Comes Mary

“With the two smashes ‘Along Comes Mary’ and ‘Cherish,’ The Association became one of the hottest new bands of 1966, the singles charting at #7 and #1 respectively,” (RichieUnterberger.com). “It was no surprise that their debut album, featuring both of those songs, was also a big success, rising to #5 and remaining their highest-charting LP ever, with the exception of their Greatest Hits compilation.

… With its dynamic interplay between (the) lead and the rest of the band’s vocal harmonies, as well as an intriguing lyric that jammed about as many syllables as were possible to fit into individual lines of a pop song in 1966, the song took a few months to catch on nationally.” The single reached the top 10 in both the USA and Canada.

The intro and (very short!) verse are in A minor. The first section of the chorus, heard for the first time at 0:31, shifts to A mixolydian. By 0:52, the end of the chorus has reverted to A minor. Another verse starts at 1:05 and the pattern continues.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | If You Leave

“When you hear the swirling synths and clattering beat that open ‘If You Leave’ by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD, for short), you just might be transported to some long-ago theater, or maybe back to nights at home with the VCR running,” (American Songwriter). “Or maybe, just maybe, you’ll recall the nervous excitement of a high school dance. This ‘80s anthem has a way of evoking nostalgia for that era like few other songs. In fact, the song is such a perfect example of desperate romanticism that you might imagine it to be one that was toiled over for weeks in an effort to make it the perfect fit for what would turn out to be an iconic movie scene. But what if we told you it actually was written and recorded in the span of an evening or so?

… Luckily, one of (OMD’s) U.S. fans was John Hughes, the noted writer and director … He contacted OMD to submit a track for his 1986 film Pretty in Pink … In around 14 hours, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys wrote ‘If You Leave’ and created a rough mix. Once Hughes heard it the next morning, he was blown away, which meant that OMD had to get back to the studio on just a few hours sleep to polish up the track for an official recording … Even though it was rushed and put together without any kind of forethought, ‘If You Leave’ delivered just what OMD wanted. The song went to the Top 5 in the U.S., and it hasn’t ever quite departed from the public consciousness since … they ended up with a stone-cold classic …”

The tune is built around such a simple melodic idea (re-mi-do) carried from the verses into the chorus, paired largely with a cliché chord progression (I-vi-IV-V or I-IV-V-IV), that it’s difficult to imagine how this tune could work without a key change. No need to worry — there are ten! Starting with a shift from F major to D major before the vocal even makes an appearance (0:17), various sections of the tune shift among the keys of F, D, G, and E major.

Billy Grammer | Gotta Travel On

“Billy Grammer, whose 1958 hit ‘Gotta Travel On’ hit the top of the charts and led to a long career on the Grand Ole Opry. A singer and guitarist who also was a Nashville recording session musician, Grammer performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry beginning in 1959.

‘Gotta Travel On,’ adapted from a British folk tune, was a million-seller and the first hit for Nashville’s Monument Records and its famed founder, Fred Foster.” (Billboard).

“Billy Grammer formed his own guitar company after years of playing country music in and around Nashville,” (NAMM.org). ” … Along the way, Billy was seeking to create a guitar that would combine the sounds of his two favorite instruments, Martin and Gibson. By 1964 he teamed with his fishing buddy, Clyde Reid, who operated a music store, and with J. W. Gower to create the Grammer Guitar Company. This country music favorite was produced for several years with the original founders of the company before it was sold to Ampeg in the late 1960s. Ampeg stopped production of the Grammer Guitar in 1971.”

The uptempo track, which was a hit on the pop, country and rhythm & blues charts, moves up a half step at 0:58 and again at 1:38.

Sara Bareilles | If I Can’t Have You

“If I Can’t Have You,” written by Sara Bareilles, Aaron Sterling and Emily King, is the fourth track on Bareilles’s 2019 album Amidst The Chaos. The record, which Bareilles was inspired to record after the 2016 US presidential election, debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200. The tune begins in Bb and modulates to C at 2:53.

The Box Tops | The Letter

(The Box Tops had) “never been in a studio before ‘The Letter,’ but they knocked it out,” (Stereogum). “Producer Dan Penn added in a plane-taking-off noise that he’d pulled from a sound-effects record that he’d checked out of the library. Given all that, ‘The Letter’ should be a sloppy and amateurish record, which wouldn’t necessarily prevent it from being great. But ‘The Letter’ is not that. It’s a two-minute epic.”

Despite being not even 20 years old at the time, frontman Alex Chilton “sounds weary and ravaged. He’s stuck somewhere far away from his baby, and he’s got to go see her right away. We don’t know where he is, why he’s separated from her, or what she wrote in her letter … But Chilton’s voice absolutely pops off of the record, and it’s all the band needs to tell the story. ‘The Letter’ is a tight, hard, compact piece of white-kid soul. (It’s the last #1 song ever to come in under the two-minute mark.) But it sounds big and cinematic anyway, with Chilton’s voice fighting its way through nervous organs and melodramatic strings and horn stabs … There’s nothing lo-fi about the record; even if it was recorded on a low budget, it’s got the sweep of a James Bond theme.”

The track sticks to A minor for most of its length, but jumps up to C# major at 1:33 for its tiny instrumental outro. The horns have made their exit, leaving the strings to lead the fast fade-out.

Vulfpeck | Business Casual (feat. Coco O.)

Vulfpeck is a Michigan-based funk band that has released 10 albums and embarked on three tours. The group, comprised of Joe Dart, Woody Goss, Theo Katzman and Jack Stratton, headlined a sold out concert at Madison Square Garden in 2019, becoming one of the first bands to do so without the backing of a major label or manager.

“Business Casual” is the seventh track on their 2017 album Mr. Finish Line, and features the Danish singer Coco O. It begins in Db and smoothly slides up to D at 2:02.

10cc | I’m Not in Love

In the mid-70s, 10cc was a UK band with a fair amount of know-how about the recording studio and the nascent field of synthesis. But they weren’t prepared for the journey they’d embark on with their single “I’m Not in Love” (1975). Lol Creme, the band’s keyboardist and one of its vocalists, told The Guardian: “I’d become obsessed with tape loops after listening to the Beatles’ ‘Revolution 9.’ Our studio used to do recordings for the Mellotron, a keyboard that played prerecorded notes. Session musicians would come in and do these painstaking recordings for every instrument of an orchestra, one note at a time, so that when they were all played together on a Mellotron it sounded like an orchestra. I was fascinated by this, and wanted to try it with banks and banks of voices.”

Creme continued: “‘The whole process took about a week. It was incredibly tedious. Three or four of us had to sing every note about 14 times, then put echo on it, which gave it that luxurious, velvety harmonic sound. It was beautiful, but Eric (Stewart’s) vocal was what really made the song. That lead voice was actually the guide vocal, from the first take you do just to test everything out. Eric tried to do a better one, but we all agreed that one had the magic … When it was done, we thought: ‘What the hell have we done?’ It was six minutes and 12 seconds long, so we knew we’d never get it on the radio. But, after it appeared on our The Original Soundtrack album, people like Bryan Ferry and Roy Wood were ringing up and going: ‘You’ve got to release this as a single. It’s brilliant.’ When it went to #29, the BBC had to play it … Three weeks later, it was #1 around the world.'”

The intro and verses are written in E major, although the tune doesn’t spend much time on the tonic chord. 3:03 – 3:18 features a late bridge in G major (twice as long on other versions of the song) before the track reverts to E. This “live” version of the track is mimed, right down to “backing vocals” which were actually comprised of Mellotron lines.

Wendy + Lisa | Honeymoon Express

“Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman are an Emmy Award winning musical composing duo based in Los Angeles,” (WendyAndLisa.com). “They both started their careers in one of the most successful rock bands of the 80s, Prince & the Revolution. They continued to work as a duo and released five original albums as well as pursuing a career path in scoring feature films and television. Since 1995’s box office hit Dangerous Minds, Wendy & Lisa have set a successful track record scoring films such as Soul Food, Something New, television series’ Crossing Jordan, Nurse Jackie, Mercy, and the Emmy-nominated NBC series Heroes, Touch, No Tomorrow, and Shades of Blue.

Apart from their composing career, Wendy & Lisa are often sought out for their song writing and collaboration skills. They have collaborated on albums with Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Neil Finn, Seal, and Grace Jones, to name a few.” The now-defunct publication Music + Media described the duo: “(they) remain heavily influenced by Prince … (proving) that not only can they stand on their own two feet, but also how important they are to Prince’s Revolution.”

“Honeymoon Express” was a single from the duo’s 1987 debut album Wendy + Lisa, which cracked the top 100 album charts in the US, the UK, and Holland. The track, a funk-infused romp that clearly shows the influence of The Purple One, depends almost entirely on its compelling groove, syncopated Prince-esque keyboard hooks (most noticeable at 0:18 and 2:14) and roving melodic sensibility, as its harmonic vocabulary is quite limited! The intro and verse are built in E dorian; the pre-chorus lifts up to G dorian (0:45), returning us to E dorian for the chorus at 1:03. The pattern continues from there.

The Spinners | Working My Way Back to You

“The holiday season of 1979 was in full swing when Detroit legends The Spinners released their version of the Four Seasons’ 1966 classic, ‘Working My Way Back to You'” (Rhino Records). “… The Spinners retooled the tune with a symphonic disco-funk groove, and the interpolation of Michael Zager’s ‘Forgive Me Girl.’ Showcasing the booming bass vocals of singer Pervis Jackson, the energetic track was a hit on the holiday airwaves across pop and R&B stations.

As the track rang up those radio spins, ‘Working My Way Back to You’ danced up the charts to peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the weeks of March 29, 1980, and April 5, 1980. The song that kept the Spinners from #1? Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).’ Over on the Hot R&B Songs chart, the tune hit #6 over the week of March 22, 1980. The #1 song on the chart that week: The Whispers with ‘And the Beat Goes On.'”

After the multi-section tune begins to draw to a close, an unexpected and extremely late modulation (up two whole steps, from C major to E major) hits at 3:48. On the final fade-out, the tracks’s energy refuses to recede, but the lead tenor’s vocal line launches into the stratosphere!

Couch | Poems

“Couch injects each project with their signature flavor: expressive horns, warm vocals, and bubbling synths—crafting an oasis of joy for musicians and non-musicians alike, ” reads the description of the 7 piece Boston-based band Couch on their website. The group’s music synthesizes funk, r&b, and soul; they released their debut EP in 2021 and follow-up, Sunshower, in 2023. While the band members were all studying at different universities, they wrote and recorded virtually, and in 2023 embarked on a multi-city tour with a sold-out run in the UK.

“Poems” was released as a single in 2022. It begins in G and shifts up to A at 2:28.