Tag: power ballad

James Ingram | I Don’t Have the Heart

“If there’s one explanation for why the late James Ingram didn’t get the respect he deserved in life for being one of the great soul singers of the ’80s, it’s probably that most of his signature hits… well, they weren’t totally his,” (Billboard). “Ingram broke through in 1981 with two top 20 Hot 100 hits rightly seen as classics of their period, ‘Just Once’ and ‘One Hundred Ways’ — but both were as a guest vocalist, on tracks that ended up on legendary producer Quincy Jones’ set The Dude. He was nominated for best new artist at the 1982 Grammys, before he’d ever even released a single of his own. Then, his first hit apart from Quincy was 1982’s ‘Baby, Come to Me,’ a duet with Qwest labelmate Patti Austin that rode a General Hospital placement all the way to No. 1 on the Hot 100 in early 1983 — but which ended up being housed on Austin’s Every Home Should Have One album, never appearing on an Ingram LP.”

He later went on to more chart success, but as a duet partner to a very rangy list of artists: Michael McDonald, Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, Linda Ronstadt, Barry White, Al B. Sure, El DeBarge, Dolly Parton, and Anita Baker. “All of this combined to make Ingram’s solo showcase ‘I Don’t Have the Heart’ one of the most unexpected Hot 100-topping singles of the early ’90s. ‘Heart’ was something of an anomaly, both within turn-of-the-’90s R&B and within Ingram’s own catalog. Melodically, the single was firmly in his wheelhouse — a massive showstopper co-written by pop-soul vets Allan Rich and Jud Friedman … It’s a torch song by proxy, a stunning expression of empathy … (for the track), Ingram (reached) all the way back to ’70s superproducer Thom Bell, one of the primary sonic architects of Philly Soul, via iconic hits for The Spinners, The Stylistics and The Delfonics.

… We may remember James Ingram better as a co-star than as a solo sensation, and that’s fine: Even just a compilation of his biggest collabs would be more impressive than a single disc of 90 percent of his peers’ solo greatest hits. But ‘I Don’t Have the Heart’ and the #1 chart success it briefly experienced remains a crucial part of Ingram’s legacy, showing how his voice and musical instincts were strong and bold enough to essentially materialize a memorable chart-topper out of nowhere — and giving him a signature hit that no one could claim as anyone’s but his …”

The inversion-heavy track, scored primarily for keyboard and strings, is built in D major overall. After the bridge (2:27 – 2:47), another iteration of the chorus at first leads us to believe that the tune will simply fade out without ever having transcended the borders set within the first few measures. But another run through the chorus at 3:10 finally brings percussion, electric guitar, Ingram’s trademark high wordless falsetto, and a crashing whole-step key change up to E major as the track kicks the power ballad afterburners into gear.

Climax | Precious and Few

Vocalist Sonny Geraci, a Cleveland native, didn’t become a household name in his own right, but he was at the helm of two very different but prominent pop hits with two different bands. “’Time Won’t Let Me,’ (The Outsiders), a frenetic dancefloor rocker … incorporated popular soul music elements and was consistent with the garage-band trend of the mid-’60s, (BestClassicBands). ‘Mersey meets Motown,’ was how Geraci once described it.”

Geraci “resurfaced in 1972 fronting the Los Angeles-based Climax … their ballad ‘Precious and Few’ became one of the biggest hits of that year, but they were only able to follow it with one more chart single, “Life and Breath,” which topped out at #52. Their first and only album, simply titled Climax, fizzled at #177 and the group disbanded in 1975.”

The power ballad pulls out all of the stops, featuring layers of orchestral instrumentation and extra backing vocals in addition to the sound of the band itself. Starting in A major, the track makes a stop in Bb major at 1:30, then drops a hearty rubato into the mix during the transition to B major at 1:59.

Genesis | Evidence of Autumn

“Guitarist Steve Hackett left Genesis in 1977, following their Wind & Wuthering tour, and the remaining trio (Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks) struggled to find their creative footing on the next year’s lukewarm …And Then There Were Three,” (Rolling Stone). “But they rebounded in a major way with 1980’s Duke, a more cohesive set of songs that balanced virtuosity with accessibility. ‘Evidence of Autumn,’ a starry-eyed ballad driven by Banks’ lush keyboards, was recorded during the sessions but pushed aside – winding up as the B-side to pop staple ‘Misunderstanding’ and rounding out the original studio section of 1982’s Three Sides Live. It’s a classic Banks composition, built on a deceptively complex chord structure and a winding, winsome vocal melody.”

You have a pretty good idea that you’re in for a complex ride when a tune starts with nothing more than a gently pulsing yet forboding tritone. But from the time Banks’ angular right hand part enters at 0:08, the listener descends — at first gradually, and then with all the force of a cinematic thriller’s score — into the first chorus at 0:45; the chorus-first form is quite surprising! The intro passes through several brief keys of the moment, but simplifies into Db major at the first verse. At 0:52, the bass note hammers on E with a strong syncopated kick and doesn’t move away until 1:01 — but the chords layered above it couldn’t shift any more profoundly over that pedal point.

At 1:01, the verse shifts to Ab major/F minor, ending with a small snippet of the intro’s piano theme (1:16). The verse (1:21), which also cycles through several keys of the moment, features a comparatively light texture and the song’s only mention of the title (you’d be forgiven for thinking that the tune is called “The Girl from All Those Songs”). The transition from the verse (which ends in A major) to the chorus’ return at 2:03 in C# major is a high point. At 2:34, the intro snippet is back, but is soon obliterated by a bridge in C# minor (2:44). Next is a gratuitous double-time instrumental break in C# major (3:20 – 3:32) that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Keystone Cops movie, but which serves as nothing more than pointless buzzkill here. At 3:31, we’re back to the tune’s overarching nostalgic feel; as the lead vocal exits at 4:21, Banks once more revisits the intro, coming full circle. Starry-eyed, indeed.

Richard Marx | Heaven Only Knows

Cleveland.com describes songwriter and performer Richard Marx as a “supremely talented, instinctual songwriter who rode the wave of MTV fame for a decade or so and then, when the heat dissipated, reinvented himself as a producer and songwriter for others. ‘It was just about 10 years straight where everything I put out had success. And then I put out a record that I joked went double plywood instead of double platinum.’ … He says it took a year for him to grasp the change. ‘I started to think, well, you know what? I had a really great turn for about 10 years. And it’s not my turn now. It’s somebody else’s turn.’”

Marx has had 14 #1 songs as a writer. Cleveland.com continues: “He and Luther Vandross’ ‘Dance With My Father’ won the 2004 Grammy for Song of the Year. He’s written or performed hits on Billboard’s country, adult contemporary, mainstream rock, holiday and pop charts.” Marx’s earlier run as a performer centered around his own material, best known for hits like “Right Here Waiting,” “Hold On to the Nights,” “Hazard” and “Angelia.” Some up-tempo tracks, such as “Should Have Known Better” and “Don’t Mean Nothing,” also hold a place in his repertoire, but Marx has a particular gift for harmony-saturated power ballads.

“Heaven Only Knows,” a fastidiously constructed track from Marx’s eponymous debut album (1987), wasn’t even a single — giving some idea of the overall quality and detail of his songwriting, right out of the gate. The verses and choruses, built with plenty of inverted and compound chords, pivot all over the place. The tune’s short phrases traverse one blind alley after another, with questioning and longing the only common factors. The bridge (3:08), built around major chords, finally transitions the forecast to partly sunny, but it leads to a key change to C# minor (4:00) for the last chorus and extended outro.

Earth, Wind + Fire | You

“Earth, Wind & Fire were one of the most musically accomplished, critically acclaimed, and commercially popular funk bands of the ’70s,” proclaims AllMusic. “…EWF’s all-encompassing musical vision used funk as its foundation, but also incorporated jazz, smooth soul, gospel, pop, rock & roll, psychedelia, blues, folk, African music, and, later on, disco … More than just versatility for its own sake, EWF’s eclecticism was part of a broader concept informed by a cosmic, mystical spirituality and an uplifting positivity the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the early days of Sly & the Family Stone … at their best, Earth, Wind & Fire seemingly took all that came before them and wrapped it up into one dizzying, spectacular package.”

After several chart-topping albums in the late 70s, in particular the late-70s smashes All ‘n All (triple platinum) and I Am (double platinum), the band released Faces in 1980. “You,” Faces’ fourth single, reached #10 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart and #30 on the Adult Contemporary Songs chart. Like “After the Love Has Gone,” EWF’s quintessential power ballad, “You” was co-written by David Foster.

After starting in G major, 1:13 brings the chorus in E minor; halfway through the chorus (1:27), the tonality folds in on itself and we’ve landed in G# minor. At 1:45, verse two starts, but we’re now elevated up a whole step (A major) relative to the first verse — likely unnoticed due to the overall harmonic sleight of hand! A 2:40, the chorus arrives again, this time to stay: it morphs into an extended outro. The outro centers around three two-chord pairs (F# minor/B minor; A# minor/D# minor; and D minor/G minor), all compellingly connected by half-steps. The three sets, repeating and fading to the end, essentially form a gigantic hemiola effect over the 4/4 time. Many thanks to our faithful mod sender-inner JB for this tune!

Hall + Oates | I Ain’t Gonna Take It This Time

Hall and Oates came into being during the height of the Philly Soul sound. “Daryl Hall had become friends with The Temptations as they rose to stardom from the streets of Philadelphia,” reports SoulCountry. “‘They were an outrageous influence on me,’ Hall said. He joined them on the road some, ‘trying to be their assistant,’ picking up their suits at the cleaners and grabbing their coffee.

‘After the show, they would just go and sing gospel songs and stuff,’ Hall said. ‘I felt that was something I belonged doing. It was really a lot of interracial interaction, and it’s why I sing the kind of music that I sing,’ he continued. ‘There’s been a lot of misunderstanding over the years by people who can’t even imagine that.'”

The 1990 power ballad “I Ain’t Gonna Take It This Time,” like so much of the band’s output, straddles the lines among rock, pop, and soul. The tune starts in D minor; at 1:37, a multi-section bridge builds tension until 2:37, which brings a mammoth shift to F# major.

Natalie Cole | I Miss You Like Crazy

Usually, modulations tend to happen closer to a tune’s end than the beginning, but seven-time Grammy winner Natalie Cole’s “Miss You Like Crazy” (1989) breaks that trend. The track became a huge hit in the US, Canada, and Europe.

“‘So many things have happened in my life,'” Cole reflected on her father Nat King Cole’s death when she was only 15. “‘But the death of my father remains the most painful.'” (Billboard). “‘I adored him in a way that only a teenager girl can adore her dad. When he died, I fell apart. For years, I ran from his memory. I even ran from his music. When I inadvertently stumbled into a career, I was thrilled to learn that I could sing rhythm and blues. I loved singing soul. But it wasn’t until I found the courage to sing the music associated with my father that I found my deepest peace and greatest satisfaction. The fact that even in Dad’s death we have grown closer brings me a beautiful comfort. It makes me think we ascribe too much severity to death. Spirit doesn’t die. Music doesn’t die. And the love that links spirit to music knows nothing about death. That spirit, that music, that love is eternal.’”

This power ballad modulates multiple times starting nearly right out of the gate (0:42) and continues with other shifts. At 2:18, the key locks in at the bridge and remains the same for the duration.

Chicago | Hard Habit to Break

“Hard Habit to Break,” a 1984 power ballad, was one of Chicago’s biggest hits and part of the band’s era of increasingly pop-friendly tunes. David Foster, well-known for producing lush songwriting, was one of the song’s co-writers and arrangers at this time, layering the band’s trademark horns with towering strings and synth saturation like there was no tomorrow.

The modulations are everywhere: 0:35, 1:00, 1:32, 1:56, 2:19, several quick pivots during the bridge around 3:12, and 3:18.

Earth, Wind + Fire | After the Love Has Gone

“Earth, Wind & Fire held a lofty status as the perhaps the preeminent R&B band in America as they began making their 1979 album I Am,” (American Songwriter). “It was by no means an overnight journey to get to that exalted status. Early in the ‘70s, the Chicago-based outfit labored to find a widespread audience. That all changed in 1975 with the release of the album That’s the Way of the World. Spurred by a No. 1 hit single in ‘Shining Star,’ the album ended up hitting the top of the charts as well. EWF sustained that momentum through a series of smash LPs and singles in the second half of the decade.

Although they wrote much of their own material, the band occasionally looked to outside sources as well. That’s how they nabbed ‘After the Love Has Gone,’ which was penned by a trio of writers who didn’t have any idea they were going to be submitting the song to an R&B band.”

This classic power ballad, co-written by Bill Champlin, David Foster, and Jay Graydon, reached #2 in the USA during the summer of 1979. The first modulation is at 0:53; thereafter, the mods are too numerous to track!

UPDATE, April 2021: We were mistaken … The internet’s friendliest guide to music theory, Charles Cornell, tracked all the key changes!

Hanson | I Will Come to You

“Sounding like a revamped Jackson 5 for the ’90s, Hanson had a sunny pop sense that stood in direct contrast to the gloomy grunge that dominated the decade,” (AllMusic). “1997’s Middle of Nowhere had the sound of a hip recording and the craft of professional pop record, making the album and its infectious lead single, ‘MMMBop,’ the best of both worlds.

Hanson came storming out of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1997, blessed with photogenic looks and a surprisingly infectious sense of melody. They were certainly reminiscent of an earlier era, namely the early ’70s, when teens could rule the top of the charts. Like the Jackson 5, the Cowsills, and the mythological Partridge Family, all of the members of Hanson were brothers.” While MMMBop didn’t feature a key change, the subsequent single “I Will Come to You” is a different story. The tune peaked at #9 on the pop charts.

After the bridge (starting at 2:17), this anthemic power ballad modulates from Db major to Eb major at 2:44, then keeps up the intensity all the way to the end.