Tag: UK

Seal | Dreaming in Metaphors

“The 1990s were a great decade for music,” (Sputnik). “While the output wasn’t always consistent, it was undeniable that there was quality abound. Such is the case for Seal, an oddity himself in that his nationality is officially British, while his mother was Nigerian and his father Brazilian (and he himself was born in Nigeria). As such, Seal, having had this interesting background, would go on to sell several million records during the 1990s; this (eponymous 1994) record being his most remembered one.

… Unlike such pop artists as Michael Jackson and Prince, Seal is hardly the upbeat or danceable type … Instead, he goes for a softer, melodic style, emphasizing a smooth groove, which serves his lyrics well. While his vocal rage is limited, it fits the music perfectly as well, which makes each listen a rather hypnotic experience. His music is not meant for parties at the disco, but for reflective listening. Nevertheless, his songs stick once you get a taste for them. Indeed, it’s fair to say that Seal is the best at what he does, and this album proves it very well. This isn’t music for pop haters, or for lovers of exclusively upbeat music. This is an album for personal reflection. If you dig some refreshing pop, with deep lyrics, and ballads that don’t feel sappy, this album is for you.”

A perfect example of one of Seal’s “sticky” songs might be “Dreaming in Metaphors.” Driven by a fast-flowing yet peaceful 7/8 meter, the track’s harmonic rhythm is generally pretty slow, centering the unusual meter, layered percussion, and vocal throughout. The intro and verse alternate intriguingly between F# minor and F lydian. At 0:56, the pre-chorus focuses only on F lydian. At 1:14, A major is prominently added into the mix, but the pull of F lydian remains.

Average White Band | Why

“Cut the Cake (1975) was a difficult album to make for the Average White Band. They were still mourning the loss of drummer Robbie McIntosh, who had died of a heroin overdose the previous year,” (Popdose). “It got to the point that producer Arif Mardin considered pulling the plug on the whole thing. Fortunately everyone soldiered on, and the result was an album that topped the R&B chart, and made it to #4 on the pop chart. AWB has made many more albums over the years, but they never again attained that lofty height.”

“Steve Ferrone, a black drummer from London, England, was hired as a replacement — ironically, he became the first black member of a Scottish soul/funk band that had a very African-American sound and a largely African-American following,” (AllMusic). “Despite the fact that AWB’s members still had McIntosh’s death on their minds when they were writing and recording Cut the Cake, this isn’t a depressing or consistently melancholy album; far from it … If anything, they honor McIntosh’s memory by showing their resilience and delivering one of their finest, most engaging albums.”

After both starting in E minor, the track’s first and second verses glide through quite a patch of key-of-the-moment color before arriving at the chorus, where the tonality shifts to E major (1:45). At 2:07, the verse continues after a jump to G major. 2:28 brings an interlude in E minor which then pivots into another chorus at 2:51, starting this time in F major but ending in Ab major at 3:12 as the tune fades.

Keely Smith | I Want to Hold Your Hand

Singer Keely Smith was an active recording artist during the 1950s and 60s, though she recorded occasionally in later years. Her stage partner in the 1950s was her perhaps more famous then-husband, bandleader Louis Prima. Together, they recorded a hit version of “That Old Black Magic,”  which earned them an award at the very first Grammy Awards in 1959

After her divorce from Prima, Keely Smith established a solo career, garnering a contract with Sinatra’s Reprise Records. In 1965, she released Keely Smith Sings the John Lennon-Paul McCartney Songbook on Reprise. Most of the songs had been recorded by The Beatles, though McCartney’s “A World Without Love” had been made famous by Peter and Gordon. The big band and string arrangements on the album were decidedly not rock, offering new interpretations of the songs.

The verses in Smith’s cover of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” are in waltz time, while the bridge reverts to the more familiar 4/4. There are some cringeworthy moments when she bends notes to the point of breaking on the tune’s highest melodic point and then rhymes “girl” with “hand.” But she manages to turn in one of the most distinctive Beatles covers ever! There’s a half-step upward modulation at 2:09.

Laura Mvula | Ready or Not

“Birmingham (UK)-born Laura Mvula is a soul singer-songwriter who graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire with a degree in composition,” (National Portrait Gallery). “In 2013, she signed a multi-album record deal with Sony, and her debut album Sing To The Moon was released in 2013, reaching number nine in the UK albums chart. Guardian critic Paul Lester coined her music as ‘gospeldelia’. She won awards for Best Female Act and Best R&B or Soul Artist at the 2013 MOBO Awards. She received the 2017 Ivor Novello Award for her second album, The Dreaming Room (2016). She lists her influences as Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott. In 2017, the Royal Shakespeare Company invited her to compose the music for their new production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.”

“It’s a bold move to cover The Delfonics’ ‘Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide from Love)’ — especially when considering The Fugees did so years ago with huge success — but British singer Laura Mvula has created a version that does it justice,” (Cool Hunting). “Mvula’s iteration modernizes the song, while remaining faithful to the original: it’s vibrant and danceable, while keeping a bit of the creepy, stalker darkness. With layer upon layer of background vocals, Mvula’s honeyed voice and delightful accent, this version takes on several different lives before its over.

Mvula’s 2016 version lacks the earthy hiphop factor of The Fugees’ 1996 smash hit cover, but keeps us on the edge of our seat from the opening seconds via some odd meters. A larger difference yet is the shifting tonality of Mvula’s version (absent from the Fugees’ version, but present in the Delfonics’ gentle, diminutive 1968 original, which features a run time of only two minutes). Mvula’s cover starts in B minor, shifts improbably to F minor at 0:30, then visits D minor at 0:52. At 1:12, we’ve returned to the opening key of B minor; the pattern continues from there, running at top intensity until the groove drops out for the unresolved ending.

Ringo Starr | Bye Bye Blackbird

“For Starr, who was working again with producer George Martin shortly after the arrival of the Beatles’ Abbey Road,” old standard tunes were “as comfortable a place as any to begin his own journey away from (the Beatles’) fame,” (UltimateClassicRock). “Sentimental Journey was released in late March 1970 – just weeks before the Beatles’ finale, Let It Be – and featured photographs of Starr’s family superimposed into the windows of an old building near his place of birth in Liverpool.

‘I wondered, What shall I do with my life now that it’s over?’ Starr mused in the album’s original liner notes. ‘I was brought up with all those songs, you know, my family used to sing those songs, my mother and my dad, my aunties and uncles. They were my first musical influences on me.’ … Starr remained firmly entrenched in a prewar vibe that had little to do with his mainstream success as the vocalist on Fab Four favorites like ‘Boys,’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ or ‘With a Little Help From My Friends.’ Nevertheless, such was the the level of interest in anything Beatles-related at the time that Sentimental Journey is said to have sold some half a million copies during its first week of release in the U.S., becoming a surprise Top 25 hit. Starr fared even better in the U.K., where Sentimental Journey shot to No. 7. ‘The great thing was that it got my solo career moving – not very fast, but just moving,’ Starr later told Mojo. ‘It was like the first shovel of coal in the furnace that makes the train inch forward.'” … Soon after, 1971’s “It Don’t Come Easy” became “a kind of theme song for Starr, shooting to the Top 5 all over the world.”

Originally released in 1926 with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Mort Dixon, “Bye Bye Blackbird” is a true chestnut of a standard! Starr’s version starts small and folksy with just a banjo to accompany the vocal, joined by a bass and honky-tonk piano before the first verse ends. Verse two grows quickly, with big band touches and subtle strings. Before the final turnaround starts, a half-step key change hits at 1:45 as the track continues to expand, embellished with a big band sound in full bloom. Quite unexpectedly, the arrangement was by Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees.

As always, many thanks to regular our keen-eared contributor Rob P. for submitting this tune!

The Mindbenders | A Groovy Kind of Love

By the time “A Groovy Kind of Love” became a Billboard #2 hit for Manchester UK’s Mindbenders in 1966, original lead singer Wayne Fontana had moved on to a solo career. The vocal for the song was provided by Eric Stewart, later a member of 10cc.

Carol Bayer Sager and Toni Wine wrote the song, which was originally recorded by the duo Diane and Annita. Their record used the title “A Groovey Kind of Love”, suggesting that popular culture had not yet settled on an orthography for the word. It was a very short historical period during which one could use the word “groovy” without a hint of irony, sarcasm, or condescension. Nonetheless, Phil Collins managed to rack up a #1 with his languorous recording of the song in 1988. Let’s suppose that everyone had forgotten about the word by that time, or its overtones had simply faded.

In the Mindbenders’ version, there’s a half-step modulation at 1:14, just before an instrumental verse.

Dougie MacLean | Ca’ the Yowes

“Technically, Dougie MacLean is a ‘Scottish singer-songwriter.’ But that minimal moniker doesn’t tell half the tale … the Perthshire native can look back on a hugely successful recording career with more than 15 albums,” (Seven Days). “MacLean toured as a member of the rocking Scottish folk supergroup the Tannahill Weavers in the 1970s and was briefly a member of Silly Wizard, another legendary traditional band from Scotland. But his popularity was assured in the early 1980s with his solo album, Craigie Dhu. This recording contains MacLean’s ballad ‘Caledonia,’ a love song to his homeland that has become a veritable Scottish national anthem.

… MacLean sings and plays his own pretty compositions as if each song were a lullaby for a loved one, or for his own pleasure, as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. His vocals are silky and crystal-clear, his guitar work unhurried and graceful. His is not music for the cynical. If you dislike the texture and sentiment of, say, James Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’ or Cindy Kallet’s ‘Working on Wings to Fly,’ MacLean’s sound may not be for you. He has a deep sentimental streak, which seems indigenous in Scotsmen who write folk songs — or folk ballads, or something more acoustic-music specific than just ‘songs.’ But to his fans, that sweetness is one of the reasons so much of his work is memorable. His recordings could also function as master classes in how to accompany a voice with acoustic guitar.”

“Ca’ the Yowes,” from 1995’s Tribute, indeed features a gentle lullaby feel, starting in C minor. At 1:59, the tonality shifts to D minor underneath an instrumental interlude. At 2:58, the tune passes back into C minor in advance of more vocal verses; the beginning of the D minor section seems more difficult to discern than its end. According to the Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary, ca’ the yowes tae the knowes means ‘drive the ewes to the knolls.’ The tune was based on a poem written by Robert Burns in 1789.

Pretenders | Message of Love

“Over their 44-year career, the Pretenders have never chased trends or followed fashions to stay relevant,” (The Guardian). “But they didn’t need to. Their influential jangling sound – helpfully described on their T-shirts as ‘two guitar, bass and drums’ – has become timeless. It’s also still the perfect vehicle for (Chrissie) Hynde’s voice, an instantly recognisable mix of sand and honey, attitude and yearning … “

Seeing this singular band in its prime reveals what a huge blast they were having. Little wonder that Pretenders benefited — more than most bands — from a nascent MTV, accelerating their career via video.

“Message of Love,” from Pretenders’ sophomore release Pretenders II (1981), is built in an up-tuned A major overall, its gears rotating around clanging syncopated guitar chords. A profoundly different extended bridge starts at 1:22; the bassline has shifted to a smooth walking line and the key shifts to C mixolydian and then D mixolydian at 1:55. At 2:09, we’ve fallen back into line for the next verse in the original key. 2:45 brings a mostly instrumental outro in F major.

The Jam | Beat Surrender

“In May 1977, a three-piece rock group from Woking appeared on Top Of The Pops,” (TheJamOfficial). ” … the energy and sense of purpose that was firing what had been called punk and was now mutating into New Wave, but it had a lot more: a melodic charge … that betrayed its makers’ love of classic British pop, and the clear sense that the band’s main creative force was already thinking like an accomplished songwriter. Between 1977 and 1982, the band released an incredible array of music. In the UK, there were five albums and 17 singles, a stack of number 1s, and a journey which encompassed no end of influences, styles, and textures.

“The final single by The Jam, one of those rare cases where a band really did quit at the top, made its UK chart debut on December 4, 1982.” (UDiscoverMusic). “‘Beat Surrender’ debuted at #1 to give the band their fourth and final bestseller, and within a few days The Jam were effectively no more. The Paul Weller composition had a distinct soul flavor which, with hindsight, can be seen as a preview of the direction he would take with his new band, the Style Council. The horn-filled sound spoke of Weller’s love of classic R&B, on a high-energy swansong to The Jam’s five years of unbroken success.”

After an opening chorus in (approximately!) A major, the first verse starts in D major at 0:17. At 1:27, the groove shifts into a bridge in C# minor, followed by an instrumental verse and then a vocal verse, both in D major, at 1:52. At 2:14, the chorus returns and repeats to the end — this time in a more conventional version of A major.

Someone Else’s Story (from “Chess”)

Chess The Musical is a musical stage production with a very interesting story line that captures the essence of the Cold War … Tim Rice, the legendary British musical theater lyricist, and writer, became hooked on the epic chess match between world chess champions Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. It was during the Cold War that tension between the US and the USSR led to his thinking, “Hey, this would be a great backdrop for a story.”

Tim was a regular collaborator with Andrew Lloyd Webber for a while and he wanted to work with him again. Unfortunately, Andrew was busy with Cats, so Tim (worked with) ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. We can say Chess The Musical is about the rivalry between the American and Russian players with a romantic subplot … Even before it hit the stage, it was clear that the soundtrack for Chess was a total game-changer. Released as a double LP concept album in 1984 by RCA Records, it quickly became a worldwide hit. The show later had its West End debut in 1986 and its Broadway opening in 1988.

The New York Times called the album “a sumptuously recorded…grandiose pastiche that touches half a dozen bases, from Gilbert and Sullivan to late Rodgers and Hammerstein, from Italian opera to trendy synthesizer-based pop, all of it lavishly arranged for the London Symphony Orchestra with splashy electronic embellishments.” The standout single, “One Night in Bangkok,” performed by Murray Head, ranked #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 list.” Other standouts from the soundtrack include “I Know Him So Well,” “Pity the Child,” “The Arbiter,” and “Nobody’s Side.” The ballad “Someone Else’s Story” begins in F major; after a a bridge starting at 2:16, the key shifts up a full step to G for the balance of the tune.