Tag: UK

Yes | Awaken

The RIAA reports that “Yes are one of the most successful, influential, and longest-lasting progressive rock bands. They have sold 13.5 million RIAA-certified albums in the US.” In 1985, the UK band won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and received five Grammy nominations between 1985 and 1992. The band produced 21 studio albums in total.

Ashley Kahn wrote about the band for its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2017:

“Not so long ago, a home stereo was a portal into a realm of hyper-sensory interstellar travel. One could drop the needle on the edge of the LP, turn up the volume, stare at the album cover’s colorful, hallucinatory landscapes, and let the music take you along galactic pathways to undiscovered planets.

Piloting such sonic voyages was a talented group of creative musicians who combined centuries-old musical traditions with the latest tools and an immense spectrum of sounds: symphonic strings, cathedral organs, driving rock drums, meticulous jazz improvisation, offbeat time signatures, dramatic rhythmic shifts. Over all soared vocal harmonies and mystical lyrics.”

Many Yes fans consider 1977’s “Awaken” to be one of the pinnacles of the band’s output. Starting at the intro (E minor), the tonality shifts with the addition of the lead vocal (E major) at 0:35, then returns to E minor at 1:30. Starting at 1:33 and returning intermittently, the real interest switches to the meter — 11/8! After falling to a brief D major at 4:54, we embark on a kaleidoscopic multi-key tour, initially based on the circle of fifths, which continues until it finally slows down like a wind-up toy losing juice.

At 6:34, we’ve returned to E minor in a restful 6/8. At 10:35, a shift back to E major lands and we’re back on another multi-key tour — but this time at a slightly slower pace and a buoyant major key fee overall, with the lead vocal added. The tumbling chord progression is more complex than a mere circle-of-fifths concept; with no idea where to plant our feet, we just go along for the ride. 12:14 continues the tour with a dizzying organ solo, joined by the full band at 12:31 — and throwing a soaring choir into the bargain. 13:20 brings a decisive cadence back to E major, then a return to the floating feel we bathed in at the start. Lastly — just because it was the 70s, and why not? — the tune closes with a guitar riff that wouldn’t be out of place in a country/western cover band!

Many thanks to our first-time contributor Mark Bain for submitting this epic tune!

for JB

XTC | Senses Working Overtime

AllMusic describes the cult status of UK band XTC: “(Its) lack of commercial success isn’t because their music isn’t accessible — their bright, occasionally melancholy melodies flow with more grace than most bands. It has more to do with the group constantly being out of step with the times. However, the band has left behind a remarkably rich and varied series of albums that make a convincing argument that XTC is the great lost pop band. ‘Senses Working Overtime’ (1981) showed … a bemusing, distinctive take on catchy guitar music. There’s enough hints of ringing sixties guitar and clever wordplay to keep Beatles obsessives happy, say, but this is definitely the sound of a band on its own path.”

The fact that XTC’s style has been categorized with terms as varied as pop, art rock, new wave, rock, post-punk, art-punk, and progressive pop suggests that promoting their music was anything but straightforward. Lead singer Andy Partridge also suffered from severe stage fright, leading the band to experience difficulties with touring. According to Record Collector, both the album (English Settlement) and the single were the band’s highest-charting UK successes, peaking at #5 and #10, respectively.

After a reserved intro and verse in G# minor, clanging guitars announce the pre-chorus at 0:36 — a resounding all-major progression centered around plenty of compound chords. At 0:48, an E major chorus arrives, later proclaiming that the churchbells softly chime … hardly! Next up is a multi-section, multi-key bridge, which starts boisterously in A major at 2:35, charged with yet more compound chords and a schoolyard taunt of a vocal hook at 3:23. By 3:38, we’ve somehow been hoisted into F major — but making use of its rapidly expanding songcraft, XTC skillfully hides the tune’s seams.

Def Leppard | Love Bites

Def Leppard released the 1987 album Hysteria after the 1983 album Pyromania boosted the band’s popularity throughout North America and Europe in the wake of several more modest album releases. Given the sustained heavy rotation of its other singles (“Photograph,” “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” etc.), it’s surprising that “Love Bites” was the UK band’s only US #1 pop hit.

Songfacts details that “Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen … said of this song, ‘It was just a standard rock ballad but it had something else going for it. Lyrically, it kind of painted a picture, and in a song you always want to do that, paint a picture. On a dark desert highway, the first line of Hotel California, great song, it just paints an image for you straight off the bat and that’s the sign of a really good song. It takes you right there.” The emphasis on multi-layered vocals and glossy textures is the work of producer Mutt Lange, who stole the show with his trademark arena-friendly sound — just as he did with his 1990s chart-topping production of his then-wife, country star Shania Twain.

Starting in F major, the pre-chorus shifts to Eb major at 1:07; verse 2 brings a return to F major at 1:59 — with both keys placing ample emphasis on their respective relative minors.

Fourth Moon feat. Ainsley Hamill | The Vale

According to its website, Fourth Moon “were born in 2014 from the meeting between two French musicians (Jean-Christophe Morel, violin; Jean Damei on guitar), an Austrian (Geza Frank, bagpipes and flutes) and a Scot (Mohsen Amini, concertina) … In 2016 the line up changed, introducing David Lombardi from Italy on violin and more recently Andrew Waite from Scotland on accordion.”

The Edinburgh TradFest noted: “The result feels fresh and often exhilarating … showing how traditional musicianship and instruments can be used to produce a truly original sound, Fourth Moon take a mixture of tunes, many of them self penned, and put together sets that play around with styles and tempos and deliver the unexpected.” 

The Herald of Scotland reviewed the Glasgow-based band as giving “thought to texture, tone and tempo that can call to mind a chamber music group in terms of sound quality and tonal range.” The ensemble’s seamless handling of tempo changes is clear on 2018’s “The Vale,” where the band is joined by vocalist Ainsley Hamill, a Scottish singer and songwriter who performs in English, Scots, and Gaelic. There are key changes at 0:54, 1:12, 1:30, 1:49, and 3:17.

Many thanks to our regular contributor JB for this tune!

The Overtones | Groovin’

“Groovin'” was written and first released in 1967 by the American rock band The Rascals (formerly known as The Young Rascals.) Its Afro-Cuban groove and relaxed vibe quickly led to the tune becoming one of the band’s signature songs, and it has since been covered by numerous other artists. This performance, by the British/Irish boy band The Overtones, was featured on the 2012 album Higher. Key change at 2:16.

Brett Domino Trio | The Pub

The Brett Domino Trio is a British comedy music duo consisting of Rob J. Madin and Steven Peavis. Madin (a comedian with many alter-egos, including the eponymous Brett Domino) and Peavis create their unique style by blending meme humor and awkward comedy with driving pop, disco, and funk beats. From the name of the band (which has no third member) to small Easter eggs interspersed in many of their music videos, Madin and Peavis keep their music light-hearted.

However, the theory and rhythm is often more complex than one would expect from songs which nit-pick marathon runners for being too healthy, or are written entirely with snippets from fly-fishing magazines … to pick just two of the many wonderfully quirky songs produced by the Trio. Madin is a talented musician and writer, proficient in several instruments. These skills ensure that the band’s tunes – whose accompanying videos regularly feature the Trio awkwardly dancing – somehow still achieve maximum groove. The Brett Domino Trio have a loving online community which has co-created two entirely virtual collaborative tunes with the band: the fans submitted recordings of themselves playing their instruments, which Madin and Peavis then edited into a cohesive song. 

The Trio’s most recent release, “The Pub,” feels like an introvert’s view of post-pandemic socialization. Over a solid funk/disco groove, Madin excitedly anticipates the prospect of sitting in a pub, with or without friends. The song begins in G major, then modulates to C major at the end of the bridge at the 2:06 mark. Hope you enjoy!

Lisa Stansfield | Set Your Loving Free

“The most convincing white R&B singer since Teena Marie,” declares AllMusic, “Lisa Stansfield reached the mainstream after nearly a full decade in the music industry … (1989’s) solo single ‘All Around the World‘ gave Stansfield a tremendous boost by reaching number one in several countries, including the U.K. From that point, throughout her distinguished if sporadic recording career, she was known for sophisticated, soul-inspired releases that appealed to a broad audience.”

Stansfield’s sleek yet evocative stage presence made her a natural for music video and for her live shows. The UK native’s distinctive, open expression (so celebrated in the iconic video for “All Around the World”) might have made her a silent film star had she been born 60 years earlier.

In addition to the custom-written dance tracks she’s best known for, she has reverently covered a wide range of classics by artists ranging from Billie Holiday to The Four Tops, from Barry White to Marvin Gaye. “Set Your Loving Free” is a single from Stansfield’s second album, Real Love (1991), written by Stansfield, Ian Devaney, and Andy Morris. This expansive 1994 live performance provides all of the lush instrumentation of the studio version, if not more. The verse starts in B minor at 0:28. At 1:04, the pre-chorus in C# minor quickly sets the stage for the chorus in E minor (1:22).

Sting | Fortress Around Your Heart

For his first solo album after his groundbreaking work with the Police, The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985), Sting formed a new band. Rolling Stone reports that the group included “young jazz hotshots from Weather Report (drummer Omar Hakim) and the Miles Davis group (bassist Darryl Jones), plus saxophonist Branford Marsalis and keyboardist Kenny Kirkland. These aren’t the usual sleepy gang of veteran sidemen; they never bothered to learn pop-jazz clichés, but they know their Jimi Hendrix, Chic, Herbie Hancock and Led Zeppelin, along with their Duke Ellington … Sting still writes short, modal melody lines … if you listen to the way verses and phrases end, there are new twists, surprising extended chords by way of Steely Dan, Weather Report and Ellington … (with) delicate-to-martial dynamics.”

In Musician magazine, Sting explained: “‘Fortress’ is about appeasement, about trying to bridge the gaps between individuals. The central image is a minefield that you’ve laid around this other person to try and protect them. Then you realize that you have to walk back through it.”

The verses leave a light footprint in terms of feel, belying difficult subject matter and complex harmonies. Three keys are touched on during the verse (0:45 – 1:22) before the tune opens up into the relatively straightforward chorus. Calling it “one of the most complex pop songs ever,” Rick Beato dissects the tune’s physiology in detail here (1:57 – 8:13).

Labrinth | Jealous

“There isn’t a lot in contemporary music that Labrinth can’t do,” declares AllMusic. “The London-based artist is a singer, rapper, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer who has enjoyed success as a solo artist while also working alongside such stars as the Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, and Sia. Although he has released only two solo albums, Electronic Earth (2012) and Imagination & the Misfit Kid (2019), he has regularly appeared near or at the top of the U.K. singles chart since the dawn of the 2010s.”

In 2014’s “Jealous,” C major is challenged by its relative minor over the first verses and choruses, but there’s a huge shift at the bridge (3:20) as the protagonist’s hopelessness becomes ever more clear. Focusing on that bridge, pianist / composer / music educator Mark Shilansky writes:

“The Gbo (3:20) sounds like a pivot chord. It’s like a #VIo chord in A minor, but then it vacillates back and forth with F7b9 and Gbo again, so it sounds like it’s V7/V in the key of Eb, the V of Bb.” Paraphrasing a comment from one of his Berklee faculty colleagues: “a dim7 chord can resolve four different ways; it’s usually best analyzed in relation to the chord it resolves to.”

Mark continues: “Then it kind of abandons function and jumps to Ab (3:30), the IV in the key of Eb. There is some voice leading to which you could attribute this progression: A moving to Ab; the C and Eb staying the same; the Gb moving to G (even though some of this movement is octave-displaced). And then he’s pretty firmly in Eb for the rest of the tune. It’s a pretty risky modulation and it barely works, but if it does I think it’s because of the voice-leading. I’ve never seen a modulation like it. I would have resolved the Gbo7 to something else before I tiptoed into Eb. But maybe because it’s so ambiguous, it forms prosody with the desperation of the lyrics — like the narrator himself is lost.”

Coldplay | Trouble

From Pitchfork’s review of Coldplay‘s debut album Parachutes (2000): “… Coldplay’s secret deadly weapon is vocalist Chris Martin. With the ability to mimic a Brit-accented Dave Matthews one minute, Jeff Buckley revived from the dead the next, and sometimes even a young Peter Gabriel, Martin’s heartfelt delivery seems to be what’s winning the hearts, wallets and alternative radio request lines of Americans young and old.”

Parachutes produced four singles, the most prominent being “Yellow,” and enjoyed popularity in the UK and US. Billboard reports that the third single was “Trouble,” which reached number 10 in the UK charts. It was released more than a year later in the US, reaching #28 on the US Alternative Songs chart. Martin has claimed that the single had saved them from being a “one-hit wonder” band, notes MTV. The band incorrectly guessed that the single wouldn’t perform well in the United States.

After starting in G major, the tune progresses through a hook-centric instrumental intro, a verse, an interlude which mirrors the intro, and another verse before shifting to A major for the chorus at 1:31; the key then reverts to G major at 1:57. The choruses grow in intensity, fueled by a compelling chord progression that seesaws between I major and a distinctive v minor.