Tag: rock

Traffic | Many a Mile to Freedom

“Somewhere in Steve Winwood’s career, between the blue-eyed teen soul of ‘I’m a Man’ and ‘Gimme Some Lovin’’ to the made-for-the-80s albums of Arc of a Diver and Back in the High Life came a little bit of exploration,” (Music Street Journal). “He recorded with percussionist Stomu Yomash’ta and Mike Shrieve as Go, and Traffic’s version of “John Barleycorn” was a landmark in the then-popular folk-rock era. But as Traffic had its on-again off-again moments, the band was able to put out some great music, perhaps none better than this album. Besides the usual trio of Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood, bassist Ric Grech (another ex-Blind Faith member), uber-musician Jim Gordon, and percussionist “Rebop” Kwaku Baah … filled out the sound considerably. Fortunately the songs and arrangements knew when to open up and when to pull back. The result is a classic of the early ‘70s that still sounds fresh.”

On “Many a Mile to Freedom” (1971), “Winwood’s electric piano holds down the fort while Wood again offers some delicate lines on his flute. The guitar counters with some nice, simple arpeggiated lines on the between-chorus-and-verse space. There’s an extended ending here where the band locks into a good, relaxed groove.”

Various flavors of the C scale (shifting between major and minor) predominate the track, starting with the first verse (beginning at 0:21). Starting at 4:20, Bb major holds sway with a I and bVII chords alternating. At 5:12, we’ve returned to the tonality of the first section of the tune.

Tommy TuTone | 867-5309

“Who here remembers Tommy Tutone’s ‘867-5309’? The 1982 radio staple once gripped the nation, and gave away the digits of the fetching Jenny, last name unknown … Spencer Potter, the New Jersey owner of (201) 867-5309, auctioned off the telephone number, along with his DJ company, netting $186,853.09 on eBay. ‘This is really, in my opinion, one of the last cultural remnants of 80s pop,’ Potter told CNN, ‘other than the mullet.’ Potter said he received over 100,000 phone calls a year from overzealous fans.

… Why is the song so valuable? ‘The sound of the number has a certain hypnotic quality, and I’m not sure what it is. It must be something in the number itself,” Tutone told the Wall Street Journal.” (American Songwriter).

Built in a noticeably de-tuned G minor overall, the tune’s short bridge (1:59 – 2:13) shifts to the closely related key of D minor.

Heart | What About Love

“This was Heart’s first single under their new contract with Capitol Records,” (Songfacts). “It marked a turnaround for the band, which after a triumphant run of hits in the ’70s got off to a rough start in the ’80s with a decline in sales and little airplay for their new material on radio or MTV … It was written by Brian Allen and Sheron Alton of the Canadian band Toronto, along with Jim Vallance, who co-wrote many of Bryan Adams’ hits. The song was written for Toronto but they didn’t record it. The demo found its way to Heart, which turned it into their first Top 10 US hit since their cover of ‘Tell It Like It Is’ in 1980. Their next two singles did even better: ‘Never’ hit #4 and ‘These Dreams’ went to #1.

The video was directed by David Mallet, who was known for avante-garde videos like David Bowie’s ‘Ashes To Ashes’ and Queen’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’ … It was the first Heart video to get significant airplay on MTV (and) was the first Heart song to chart in the UK, where it reached #14.”

Built in D minor overall, the 1985 track features a very late shift to the parallel D major at 3:12.

Grateful Dead | Let Me Sing Your Blues Away

“The self-produced Wake of the Flood … originally came out in October 1973,” (Americana Highways). “… when you compare Wake of the Flood with the group’s most recent previous studio efforts, 1970’s Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, those earlier LPs found the group forsaking extended psychedelic jams and improvisation in favor of succinct, country-flavored rock statements that relied heavily on vocals and acoustic instruments.

You’d never describe Wake of the Flood that way, which is not to say that it takes off in a wholly new direction. Yes, there are horns and there’s also more jazz influence as well as funk and ragtime, but the album is less of a reinvention than a vinyl presentation of the sort of music the Dead had been performing in concert for years. It also retains some elements of earlier studio albums.”

“Let Me Sing Your Blues Away,” the second track on Wake of the Flood, features an consistent level of intensity throughout, which seems to be one of the band’s trademarks. There are no buildups, no quiet bridges, no intense shout choruses … rather, an eternal “now” for which the band was well known. But a more unusual quality of the track is its frequency of unconventional, generally unprepared key changes. After a start in Bb major, there’s a cavalcade of unceremonious keys of the moment starting at 0:50 leading into a section in A major at 1:15, B major at 1:30, C# major at 1:45, and some frequently shifting key of the moment connective tissue leading to a return to Bb major at 1:56. Finally, here’s a shift to G major at 2:21 and a chromatic lead-in back to Bb major at 2:47.

Derek + the Dominos | Bell Bottom Blues

“Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) is Eric Clapton’s tortured love letter to the wife of his friend, George Harrison … Clapton poured his heart into the songs on Layla,” (American Songwriter). “The five co-writes with (Derek + the Dominos bandmate) Bobby Whitlock – songs like ‘Anyday’ and the bluesy ‘Tell The Truth’ – fuse high-energy rock with some of the most emotional electric blues of all time … Clapton would never again present the blues with such urgency as on the album versions of ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out’ and the Big Bill Broonzy staple ‘Key to the Highway.’

‘Bell Bottom Blues,’ the only song on the album Clapton wrote entirely by himself, is a portrait of a man on the brink of collapse. After the record’s release, Clapton sank into depression and addiction. As Whitlock recalls, one of the great all-time rock and roll bands ‘didn’t break up, it just kind of dissipated … Eric locked himself away for a couple of years, and that was that.'”

Starting in a slightly de-tuned C major, the tune shifts up to A major for its plaintive chorus (heard for the time between 0:41 – 1:16). Verse 2 reverts to the original key. The pattern continues from there.

Thank you, Sly Stone (1943-2025)

“Sly Stone, the remarkable, eccentric frontman, singer, songwriter and producer of his family group, Sly & the Family Stone, died in Los Angeles on Monday, June 9,” (NPR). “The musical icon had been battling lung disease, according to a statement provided by his family. He was 82. ‘While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come,’ the statement reads.

… Sly & the Family Stone’s sound was a dazzling fusion of psychedelic rock, soul, jazz, gospel and Latin … The Grammys gave him a lifetime achievement award in 2017 … Sly Stone was a musical visionary whose charismatic stage presence and distinctive vocals are now woven into the fabric of American joy.”

~~~~~

We reprise a post from 2020 in honor of the life of Sly Stone, covering a track which is among the Family Stone’s most affirming and joyful:

Sly & the Family Stone “harnessed all of the disparate musical and social trends of the late ’60s,” AllMusic explains, “creating a wild, brilliant fusion of soul, rock, R&B, psychedelia, and funk that broke boundaries down without a second thought. Led by Sly Stone, the Family Stone was comprised of men and women, and blacks and whites, making the band the first fully integrated group in rock’s history. That integration shone through the music, as well as the group’s message. Before Stone, very few soul and R&B groups delved into political and social commentary; after him, it became a tradition in soul, funk, and hip-hop.”

Released in 1968, “Stand” is just one of a full line of unusual singles from S&TFS, not easily described by the vocabulary that preceded them. AllMusic continues: “Like Brian Wilson, Sly Stone incorporated beautiful, magical moments on his records that were some of the most musically progressive. In this song, a simple but brilliant four-on-the-floor drum pattern and gospel vocals create what would be the virtual blueprint for what was to become known as disco. Moreover, the song is yet another message song that helped bridge the gap between the black and white rock audiences…one of the most timely records of its age.”

The verse is built around a de-tuned Ab major (I / IV / I / bVII); the bVII major serves as a sub-V for the new key of F major (0:14), repeating the same pattern for Verse 2 (0:28) before reverting to Ab for the one-word chorus (0:51). Each switch from Ab to F is accentuated by a 2/4 bar among the overall 4/4 meter (heard for the first time at 0:13 – 0:14). An entirely new groove, built around a 4-bar pattern, kicks in for an extended outro in C minor at 2:18. The outro is a joyful, uproarious shout chorus featuring multiple vocalists on a repeated wordless vocal hook, instrumentalists playing at full tilt, and gospel-style eighth-note claps building on the already high energy — just as the slow final fade kicks in.

Jethro Tull | Teacher

“English progressive rock giants Jethro Tull are a unique phenomenon in popular music history,” (AllMusic). “Led by enigmatic frontman Ian Anderson — a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and rock’s premier flutist … their mix of heavy rock, flute-led folk melodies, blues licks, surreal, impossibly dense lyrics, and overall profundity defies easy analysis, yet in their 1970s heyday, they garnered a massive level of commercial success, notching a string of gold and platinum records and securing their place within the classic rock canon with releases like Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972), and A Passion Play (1973). Even as critics cooled on them, Tull remained popular through later phases with their folk-rock records of the late ’70s, the electronic experimentation of the early ’80s, and eventually a Grammy Award-winning return to hard rock with 1987’s Crest of a Knave.

Benefit (1970) was the album on which the Jethro Tull sound solidified around folk music, abandoning blues entirely. Beginning with the opening number, “With You There to Help Me,” (Ian) Anderson adopts his now-familiar, slightly mournful folksinger/sage persona, with a rather sardonic outlook on life and the world…”

The mid-tempo track “Teacher” is built in A major overall, but the chorus features a D major/minor mix and then an instrumental section in B minor (first heard at 0:48 and 1:02). The pattern continues with verse 2.

Allman Brothers Band | Kind of Bird

“1990’s Seven Turns was a tentative comeback for (the Allman Brothers Band), which had gone nine long years without making a record,” (Ultimate Classic Rock). “Sparked by some new members, including guitarist Warren Haynes, the Allmans were blazing forward when they returned with Shades of Two Worlds. Haynes has a bigger role on the record, cowriting more than half of its songs. Veteran member Dickey Betts also turned in some of his strongest numbers.

… ‘There was just so much freedom, so much space,’ cofounder Butch Trucks told the Los Angeles Times in 1991. ‘For the first time since Duane (Allman) and Berry (Oakley) both died, there was a group of guys all going in the same direction, all feeling the same type of music and energy. It really (had been) a problem since that long ago.’ … Rooting themselves in tradition also set this lineup apart from the band’s doomed second edition, which saw what became a more pop-leaning 1978 comeback bid fizzle a couple of years later. Shades of Two Worlds would instead hearken back to the lengthy improvisational excursions found on 1971’s At Fillmore East, the last complete recording featuring Duane Allman.”

After starting in C minor, the instrumental track “Kind of Bird” shifts to Eb minor at 1:05, then cycles through both keys again before introducing an E minor section at 2:16. Angular melodies and the occasional odd meter keep listeners on their feet throughout the tune!

Steely Dan | Any World (That I’m Welcome To)

“(Katie Lied) captures Steely Dan in the thick of it all, still hungry and energized by their early burst of creativity but not taking anything for granted,” (Pitchfork). “Before Katy Lied, Steely Dan were a rock band, but this is the record where they became something else … Katy Lied lives at the midpoint of Steely Dan’s first act. Behind them were three records that were incrementally more sophisticated and less rock-centered. After this one were three increasingly finicky and obsessive albums that would find them reaching for a kind of perfection, albums that found them chronicling the decadence around them from the inside. Where they once wrote about the delightfully sleazy underbelly of life in America from a remove, they started to write more about what they saw around them. Katy Lied is the fulcrum in this progression—it’s messier, less sure of itself, besotted neither with youthful confidence nor veteran polish.

… The characters flailing clumsily throughout Katy Lied (1975) are paralyzed by desires they aren’t introspective enough to understand, so all they can do is keep stumbling forward. ‘I got this thing inside me,’ Fagen sings in a bridge on the late album highlight ‘Any World (That I’m Welcome To)’, ‘I only know I must obey/This feeling I can’t explain away.’ … This band was always about asking questions instead of giving answers … They wanted desperately to render their tragically amusing scenes just so, and the sonic purity they’d been chasing would soon be theirs. But here they give failure a kind of twisted majesty.”

The track alternates between Bb mixolydian on the verses and C mixolydian on the choruses (first heard from 0:39 – 0:54). The tune takes us through a short bridge (1:52 – 2:10), but holds off on modulating until an additional verse and chorus are added in. At 3:07, a chorus/tag jumps up to D mixolydian, with the utterly distinctive focus of frequent collaborating vocalist Michael McDonald (pre-Doobie Brothers and his own solo career) ringing out alongside of Donald Fagen’s lead vocal.

Joan Jett + the Blackhearts | Little Liar

“Joan Jett calls out a duplicitous lover in ‘Little Liar,’ the follow-up to her hit ‘I Hate Myself For Loving You,” (Songfacts). “She wrote both songs with Desmond Child, who was also working with Aerosmith (‘Dude (Looks Like A Lady)’) and Bon Jovi (‘Born to Be My Baby’) around this time.

… ‘Little Liar’ (1988) was a modest hit for Jett, reaching #19 in the US. Her biggest hits came early in the ’80s and were mostly covers, including ‘I Love Rock and Roll,’ originally by The Arrows. Jett had the chops to write her own songs, but there was such a big well of songs by male artists that she could transform, and those went over very well – ‘Crimson And Clover’ (Tommy James and the Shondells) and ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)’ (Gary Glitter) are examples. “Little Liar” is one of the biggest hits she had a hand in writing; others include ‘Bad Reputation’ and ‘Fake Friends.'”

After a start in D minor, the second half of verse 1 shifts up to F minor at 0:34. At 0:44, verse 2 reverts to D minor and then features another jump into F minor at 0:54. The chorus (1:03 – 1:28) remains in F minor. Verse 3 (1:28) and chorus 2 (1:49) follow the same pattern. From 2:09 – 2:28, an instrumental chorus shifts to Ab minor. At 2:28, there’s another verse in D minor, but the last choruses of this raw power ballad jump all the way up to Ab minor again at 2:51 — this time with no intermediate step — to end the track.