r&b – Page 13

Silk Sonic | Leave The Door Open

“Leave The Door Open” is the debut single from the new band Silk Sonic, comprised of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. Describing the band’s genesis in an interview with Billboard, Mars said, “It was like, ‘Well, want to come back tomorrow? And we kept coming up with music. It felt like why you fall in love with music in the first place. And jamming with your buddy… There’s no plan, just working out the parts and trying to excite each other… that’s why this wouldn’t happen if it didn’t make sense and it didn’t feel natural and organic. This was a series of events that led us to ‘Man, why don’t we just do it?'”

“When you get in and you can jam with someone and other artists that could hold it down and you’re bouncing, that’s different,” .Paak said. “That’s the difference and you’re really creating a groove from scratch. You guys are trying to figure out what’s going to work. What’s the math behind this that’s going to get everybody feeling good? What is it? Is it too heavy? Is it not heavy enough? And especially with this song [Leave The Door Open], it’s a song that requires so much patience and delicate…” Mars jumps in: “Delicatessen,” with .Paak adding, “Delicatessens. A lot of meat went into this song.”

Released last week on March 5, the music video has already racked up over 22 million views on YouTube; the release date for the full album has not yet been announced.

The tune begins in A minor and pushes at its boundaries throughout. A definitive modulation to Gb occurs at 2:42. Thanks to contributor Clara Jung for this find!

Stevie Wonder | I Just Called To Say I Love You

“I Just Called To Say I Love You,” written, produced, and all instruments performed by Stevie Wonder, is his best-selling song ever. It was his tenth #1 song on the R&B chart, and his fourth on the adult contemporary chart. The song received Grammy nominations for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Beginning in Db, the song modulates up and down by half step multiple times: up 3:01 to D Major, up again to Eb Major 3:35, back down to Db at 4:21, up to D at 4:56, and finally up to Eb at 5:29.

Carmen Ruby Floyd | Unexpected Blessing

Actress and singer Carmen Ruby Floyd has appeared in the Broadway productions of Avenue Q, the jazz revue After Midnight, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Chicago, and Hello, Dolly!, where she served as a cover for the title role under Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and Donna Murphy. “Ellington’s lyric-free but gorgeous “Creole Love Call” is delivered by Carmen Ruby Floyd with hypnotic simplicity,” critic Charles Isherwood wrote in his review of After Midnight in the New York Times. “Her voice taking flight in tandem with swooning melody, which seems to glimmer visibly in the air before you.”

In addition to her theatre work, Floyd has performed with Gladys Knight, Toni Braxton, Babyface, Fantasia, Hugh Jackman, among others, and most recently toured with her mentor Vanessa Williams.

Earlier this year, Floyd released her first EP featuring “Unexpected Blessing.” Key change at 3:25.

Brian McKnight | Back at One

“Back at One,” featured on Brian McKnight‘s eponymously named 1999 studio album, is one of the 16-time Grammy-nominated singer’s most successful singles. A Top 10 hit in New Zealand and Canada, the track reached the #2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, and also placed on the Adult Contemporary and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. Key change at 3:00.

New York Rock + Soul Revue | Lonely Teardrops

“At a time when rock concerts are putting an increasing emphasis on spectacle and choreography, it is refreshing to attend a show at which genuine interplay among musicians is the main attraction,” notes a New York Times review of a 1990 concert by the New York Rock & Soul Revue. “… Seasoned pop veterans working together in an unusually flexible and informal setting … a loosely-structured round-robin format.” According to AllMusic, the concert lineup included the organizer of the short series of shows, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, as well as Phoebe Snow, Charles Brown, Michael McDonald, Eddie and David Brigati (the Rascals), and Boz Scaggs. In the liner notes, Fagen called the selected tunes “durable music.”

Songfacts reports that “Lonely Teardrops,” made famous in 1959 by Jackie Wilson, was “written by Tyran Carlo (the pen name of Wilson’s cousin Roquel Davis) and a pre-Motown Berry Gordy Jr., who co-wrote eight other songs for Wilson. This song gave Gordy him the confidence to rent a building in Detroit and start the Tamla label, which would become Motown.” The tune was a #1 R&B hit, also reaching top 10 on the Pop charts.

Unlike the single-key original, the NYR+SR version has a quick key-of-the-moment lift from 2:19 to 2:26, but it’s a fake out that returns us to the original key almost immediately; 2:59 brings a real key change.

Jackie Wilson’s original:

John Powhida International Airport | Michael 3 o’Clock

The Arts Fuse describes The Bad Pilot, the 2019 album by John Powhida International Airport (winners of the 2011 Rock & Roll Rumble and multiple Boston Music Award nominees), as “clearly rooted in the 1970s — but that decade was nothing if not kaleidoscopic … the sound and feel of everything from Philly soul to new wave, hard rock, funk, and progressive rock.” JPIA’s recent release “Michael 3 O’Clock” continues that trend, incorporating kaleidoscopic effects on the video in addition to the melange of styles on the track.

Powhida relates some of the tune’s backstory: “I saw Michael Quercio and the 3 O’Clock Band open for REM. A direct quote from him to a heckler: ‘REM will be out in a second. Suck on this, honey.’ Trailblazers of the Paisley Underground scene with The Bangles and others … Prince was a fan and held his hand in a meeting, then signed them to Paisley Park.” AllMusic details that The 3 O’Clock “incorporated the chiming guitars of the Byrds and the Beatles into their pop songs with a psychedelic bent, and the clothes to match.” While this track centers the sheen of Philly Soul, it’s appropriately completed by a gilded paisley frame, including the filigree of Peter Moore’s artful backup vocal and string arrangement.

The ballads of the Philly Soul canon certainly never shied away from melancholy. Instead, they stared the emotion down bravely while featuring ecstatically gorgeous arrangements and harmonies — providing incentive for the listener to stick around instead of running back to bubble-gum pop. Meanwhile, Powhida has the guts to stare down his influences and a potentially pivotal missed connection while taking us along for the ride. A capsule review on Powhida’s Bandcamp page lauds the tune’s mix of “admiration, resentment, and a little heartbreak” — not bad for a four-minute narrative.

After the tune opens with a guitar hook over a mysterious suspended chord, the groove starts the track in earnest at 0:09 in an uncomplicated A major. The verse then shifts to a second section in C major at 0:37. The chorus, in E minor, admittedly owes a huge melodic debt to the chorus of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything,” but mixes in plenty of Powhida’s trademark wit — so clever that Quercio reportedly couldn’t stay mad for long, even after being artfully skewered:

SuperCaliforniaFragileDiva what goes on inside your head? / PsychoRelicDandyLiar Michael 3 o’Clock it’s time for bed

Verse 2 and Chorus 2 continue the pattern, followed by a beautifully contrasting bridge, starting with a surprising palate-cleansing sidebar (C major) at 1:56, then a jump to C# minor at 1:59. At 2:44, JPo delivers one final double-sided homage before his pitch glissandos downward like an anchor falling to the bottom of a pond — making the modulation upward to E minor for the final wall-of-sound choruses all the more massive. After a minor-key echo of The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” at the start of the outro, we somehow end this unlikely travelogue where we began, shifting back to A major and a reprise of the opening hook at 3:51.

Mary J Blige | The First Noel

Legendary R&B artist Mary J Blige released her first Christmas album, A Mary Christmas, in 2013. Produced by David Foster, the record features guest appearances by Barbra Streisand, Chris Botti and others. It peaked at #10 on the US Billboard Top 200, and was certified Gold after selling over 500,000 copies. “The First Noel” features the American gospel vocal group The Clark Sisters, and has a series of modulations, all by half step. Starting in Gb, the tune modulates to G at 0:51, Ab at 2:00, A at 3:18, and Bb at 3:38, where it remains until the end.

Teena Marie | I Need Your Lovin’

“No white artist sang R&B more convincingly than Teena Marie,” notes AllMusic. “Marie grew up in west Los Angeles in a neighborhood that was nicknamed ‘Venice Harlem’ because of its heavy black population. The singer/songwriter/producer was in her early twenties when, around 1977, she landed a job at Motown Records.”

Pitchfork notes that “despite earning (Motown boss) Berry Gordy’s approval, she worked with an assortment of songwriters over nearly three years with no luck. While rehearsing at the label’s L.A. studio one day, Marie finally got the right person’s attention: Rick James, fresh off 1978’s Come Get It!, his debut Top-10 R&B album that would launch his outrageous, sequin-studded ‘Super Freak’ era. The funk-rock svengali took an instant shine to Marie. ‘I expected to see a writer-producer … and instead I found this short, tiny white body sitting at the piano, singing like the gods had come into her spirit.’ Her production and songwriting prowess has been instructive for generations of musicians Marie has influenced over the years … Mary J. Blige, another powerhouse of R&B, cites her as a formative influence constantly. ‘It bugs me out that only 1 out of 20 people knows about Teena Marie.'”

Released in 1980 in a post-Disco era when roller rinks thrived (and, unlike dance clubs, were open to all ages on some nights of the week), “I Need Your Lovin'” clearly bears Rick James’ signature percolating bassline style. The tune’s saturated instrumentation is in high gear from its first measures, but reaches a pinnacle as it transitions from B minor to C minor at 4:11. The strings, horns, and backing vocals duel it out thereafter — both before and after a false ending at 6:11. The track reached #37 (US Pop), #9 (US R&B), and #2 (US Dance). Many thanks to MotD regular Rob Penttinen for this submission!

Stevie Wonder + Dionne Warwick | Weakness

After releasing a string of albums which rank among not only his best but the best of the 1970s as well (Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Songs in the Key of Life, etc.), Stevie Wonder took on some film scoring work for the 1984 movie Woman in Red. The style Stevie chose for this project wasn’t focused on evocative instrumental music. Rather, he most provided some pop/R&B hits which could stand entirely on their own, propelling the film to larger success in the bargain.

AllMusic reports: ” … still not having completed the official follow-up to Hotter Than July, he recorded the soundtrack to the Gene Wilder comedy The Woman in Red, which wasn’t quite a full-fledged Stevie Wonder album but did feature a number of new songs, including ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You.’ Adored by the public (it was his biggest-selling single ever) and loathed by critics (who derided it as sappy and simple-minded), ‘Just Called to Say I Love You’ was an across-the-board number one smash, and won an Oscar for Best Song.”

“Weakness” is another contribution from our frequent guest mod scout JB. It was only an album track for Stevie and Dionne, but might have made the cut as a single for lesser artists. The track kept a much lower profile than “I Just Called … ” or even the follow-up hit “Love Light in Flight.” But it’s certainly a showcase for Stevie’s unmistakable songwriting, embossed with the high sheen of 1980s arranging and production. Starting in Db major, the tune floats forward on a relaxed, gospel-inflected 6/8 feel and Wonder and Warwick’s world-class vocal blend. At 2:36, a short but mighty multi-key bridge lands us in F major at 2:51.

Average White Band | A Love of Your Own

“Their self-effacing name to the contrary, Average White Band are anything but — one of the few white groups to cross the color line and achieve success and credibility playing funk,” AllMusic reports. “With their tight, fiery sound also belying their Scottish heritage, evoking American R&B hotbeds like Detroit, Memphis, and Philadelphia instead.”

Wikipedia details that the band had several soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980: “They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track ‘Pick Up the Pieces’, and for their albums AWB and Cut the Cake … They have influenced others, such as the Brand New Heavies, and been sampled by various musicians, including the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, TLC, Too Short, Ice Cube, Eric B. & Rakim, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, and Arrested Development, making them the 15th most sampled act in history.” Despite many changes in lineup, as of 2020, the band continues on — 48 years after it was formed.

“A Love of Your Own” (1976) starts in F# minor, shifts to A minor at 0:44, then returns to F# minor at 1:12. The pattern holds through a second verse (through 2:24), where a wholesale shift upwards to G minor kicks in for the balance of the tune — which amounts to an extended 3-minute chorus/outro. Many thanks to stalwart mod wrangler JB for submitting this tune!