UK – Page 6

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.

Marillion | Kayleigh

“Marillion are a rock band formed in Aylesbury, England often categorized as neo-progressive,” (Sputnik Music). “They originally started as ‘Silmarillion’ (from Tolkien’s book) with heavy influences from classic Genesis, but went on to develop their own distinctive sound.” The band released 1983’s Script for a Jester’s Tear, Fugazi (1984), Misplaced Childhood (1985), and Clutching at Straws (1987), as well as the 1984 live album Real to Reel. “All sold respectably, and the band scored a hit single in Britain with ‘Kayleigh’ in 1985.

When Fish left the band in 1988 after four albums, he was replaced by Steve Hogarth. A former member of The Europeans and some-time collaborator with The The and Julian Cope, Hogarth brought a new energy to the band.Across a further ten albums, Hogarth – along with existing members Rothery, Kelly, Trewavas, and Mosley – have reinvigorated and constantly redefined Marillion’s sound. They forged into new musical territories with a succession of inventive, emotional albums, displaying little regard to the vagaries of hit charts or radio playlists.” As Loudersound reports, lead vocalist Fish recalls: “‘Releasing a song like Kayleigh sent our career into hyperdrive – like that moment in Star Trek when the screen goes white. One minute we were playing in France, I think it was in Toulouse, to 100 fans, and the next we had our own private Learjet.'”

Starting in B minor, “Kayleigh” makes the shift to its relative major for its chorus at 1:09. At 1:46, there’s a return to B minor for a guitar solo/interlude, but then a pivot back to D major before a drop into C# minor at 2:13. At 2:58, another chorus in lands in D major. The tune ends directly after the chorus, leaving an oddly unfinished feeling in its wake.

Young Gun Silver Fox | Midnight in Richmond

“Soulful pop-rock combo Young Gun Silver Fox … the brainchild of British singer/musician Andy Platt and prolific London-based American expatriate producer and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee, the project first came together in 2012,” (CBS). “Both men already had well established careers, with Platt fronting the acclaimed soul-pop group Mamas Gun that he had co-founded, while Lee has put out dozens of albums and break records since he began his professional career in the ’90s … Drawn to each other by their mutual love for the warmth and melodicism of ’70s pop, soul and rock — Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, and latter-era Bill Withers were touchstones — the two talented musicians began working on original material … YGSF showcased their knack for crafting immaculately produced, breezy soul-pop confections driven by taut drum grooves and Fender Rhodes electric piano licks that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on AM radio during the late ’70s.”

The duo’s music is “timeless in one sense, while also referencing a very particular era,” (Grammy.com). “Over four albums, YGSF reflect ‘an apex of analog record-making’ that occurred between 1977-1982. ‘One of the things that was unusual about that whole West Coast scene was that you had these really talented people, but they all worked together in different capacities. One day they were working on a Michael Jackson record and another day they were doing their own record — or maybe sometimes the same day,’ says YGSF co-founder Shawn Lee, an American multi-instrumentalist with credits the length of some of his idols. ‘That’s why the music sounds so money, because everybody was at the height of their powers. Everybody had craft.'”

Released in 2018 on the album AM Waves, “Midnight in Richmond” starts in A major with a keyboard hook. 1:23 – 1:40 brings a short bridge in the closely-related key of B minor before the next chorus returns us to A major. Between 2:12 and 2:28, we head into another short bridge — this one in D major but leaning into its relative B minor at times. The sections alternate to the end as the hook continues to haunt the choruses.

The Communards | Don’t Leave Me This Way (feat. Sarah Jane Morris)

“Bronski Beat was originally Jimmy Somerville, Steve Bronski, and Larry Steinbachek, three flatmates who wanted to inject more political slants into the gay music scene at the time,” (The Bottom Five). “They achieved that right out of the gate; their heartbreaking debut 1984 single ‘Smalltown Boy’ went platinum in the UK, peaking at #3 there, and #1 on the US Dance chart. Somerville left Bronski Beat in 1985 and formed The Communards with multi-instrumentalist Richard Coles … The Communards’ 1986 debut LP is a mix of hi-NRG dance tunes and piano-based ballads, and it’s interesting to look at Spotify and see that the dancey songs are more popular by about an order of magnitude.

‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ was originally a Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes song, but Thelma Houston’s #1 cover from 1978 is the inspiration here. While not getting great critical reviews, the Communards’ version hit #1 on the US Dance charts and was the top-selling UK single for 1986. Somerville shares vocals with Sarah Jane Morris, a jazz/standards singer … The Communards disbanded in 1988. Richard Coles became an Anglican minister. Jimmy Somerville went solo; he stayed a presence in Euro/club scenes, and had a solo #1 US Dance single in 1995 with ‘Heartbeat.’”

Like Melvin’s and Houston’s versions, the Communards’ cover shifts from a minor verse to a parallel major chorus (Bb in this case for both), then back to the original key (first heard between 1:01 – 1:30). But this cover version takes the vocal glissando between the verse and chorus, prominently featured in Houston’s version, and supercharges it with both more range and longer duration (3:29 – 3:33), landing us in an energized C major for the balance of the tune.

Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

Spiers + Boden | Bluey Brink

“Spiers + Boden have been at the forefront of the English traditional folk scene for 25 years both as a ground breaking duo and as founder members of folk phenomenon Bellowhead,” (Bristol Beacon). “After a seven-year hiatus to concentrate on their Universal Records-signed big band Bellowhead, Spiers + Boden returned in 2021 with the critically acclaimed album Fallow Ground and have been taking their brand of high octane, no nonsense acoustic folk song and music to packed UK venues ever since.

Spiers + Boden first rocketed onto the music scene in 2001, quickly winning a clutch of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and went on to become one of the best loved duos on the English folk scene and beyond.”

Starting in D major, “Bluey Brink” (2024) transitions to E minor at 0:25 before the first verse starts. 2:26 – 2:36 brings an interlude in G minor, where a return to E minor drops. 4:10 brings a return to D major, with the outro mostly mirroring the intro.

The Beatles | While My Guitar Gently Weeps

“In spring 1968, George Harrison found himself eager to play the guitar,” (Financial Times). “This may not sound like a particularly illuminating observation about the lead guitarist of the world’s biggest rock group, but the recording sessions for what became known as The Beatles’ White Album marked the first time in a while that he had approached his instrument with anything more than grudging professional obligation. For the past three years he had been fixated on mastering the sitar, but now he was finding joy in his six-string again … (it) was one of The Beatles’ best compositions — a perfectly balanced mixture of elegiac vocals and electrified solos; of West Coast dream-rock and eastern philosophy.

Prior to writing the track, Harrison had immersed himself in the teachings of the I-Ching, which posits that there is meaning inherent in ostensibly random events. Putting this idea into practice, he contrived to write a song based around two words plucked arbitrarily from a nearby book: ‘gently weeps.’ But perhaps there was nothing incidental about the choice of this emotive phrase; Harrison was, after all, in a fragile state, alienated from his own band … Things had become so fraught that Harrison asked his close friend Eric Clapton to help out. Not only would his presence cajole the other three into pulling their weight, but he was, handily, one of the best guitarists in the business; his uncredited playing on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ became one of the greatest moments of individual virtuosity on any Beatles track.”

The tune was later covered by a broad array of artists: Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Prince (at Harrison’s posthumous 1988 induction into the Rock + Roll Hall of Fame); Peter Frampton; Jeff Healey; Carlos Santana, India Arie, and Yo-Yo Ma; and Regina Spektor. “For most, the song is unmistakably Harrison’s personal triumph; ‘Only a guitar player could write that,’ Mick Jagger noted.” There is probably not much need to time slate this tune; the verses (in A minor) and choruses (in A major) are about as clearly delineated as any tune we’ve featured!

Manfred Mann | Fox On the Run

The bluegrass standard ‘Fox On the Run’ “… (was) written by Tony Hazzard in 1968,” (Bluegrass Today) ” … Having been raised in the country on the outskirts of Liverpool as a young boy, Tony had a lot of inspiration to draw from for the imagery in the song. ‘The main source was an imagined scene, described in the chorus, of a hot summer’s day, a field of wheat sloping down to a river in the sunshine, and a blonde woman walking through the wheat field towards the river … The second source was really just the feel of the music. I was a fan of The Band in the late 60s, and their style was running through me at the time.’

… Tony played the song for British rockers Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and in 1968, ‘Fox on the Run’ became a hit song for them in the UK … In 1976, Tom T. Hall took ‘Fox On the Run’ to #9 on the US Billboard Charts and to #12 in Canada. The song went on to be recorded many more times by bluegrass and country bands all over the US. You can hardly walk past a festival jam without hearing a version of this beloved chestnut … (Tony adds) ‘I eventually realized it had become a standard, and I’m very proud of that fact; the song will remain long after I’m gone, and if people think it’s an old folk song, that’s fine by me!’”

After a start in C major, a surprising shift to Bb major hits at 0:33, ushered in by an odd time signature. At 0:57, the tune reverts to the original key. These sections alternate until 2:08, when a half-step key change to Db major unfolds and remains in effect for the balance of the tune.