UK – Page 7

Calvin Harris | Stars Come Out

The Guardian seems to be no fan of producer and vocalist Calvin Harris, who hails from Dumfries, Scotland: “Some musical genres have an everlasting impact: all subsequent rock and pop bears something of their influence. Others just vanish: once their time has passed, it’s as if they never happened. So it was with handbag house, which bestrode the charts in the mid-90s, the glittery, shallow sound of Britain’s mainstream dancefloors … Handbag house seemed almost wilfully depthless, which, you could argue, made it the perfect music to soundtrack the brainless antics of DJs and club promoters … Handbag was music that sounded like it thought that was quite a good idea.”

Harris released the track “Stars Come Out” on his 2009 album Ready for the Weekend. The track features ” … the sound of a producer frantically chucking ideas at a melody so slight it’s impossible to hit. When Ready for the Weekend is over, it vanishes, leaving no discernible trace: like the music that inspired it, it’s as if it never happened.”

Nonetheless, the uptempo tune has garnered nearly 400K Youtube views, while Harris’ channel has nearly 20 million subscribers! The track starts in D minor and cycles through multiple repeating sections before shifting up to A minor at 2:57.

Petula Clark | Don’t Sleep In the Subway

“Although nominally part of the British Invasion, Petula Clark’s age and pre-rock career history gave her a different perspective from the beat groups and girl singers who emerged in the early-to-mid ’60s … ” (ReBeat). “Unlike the heightened emotions of most youth-oriented pop, Clark’s best ’60s singles are decidedly human in scale, dealing with ordinary adult challenges like stressful jobs, limited prospects, and domestic discord … Because she frankly acknowledges the difficulty of these problems, her entreaties to keep your chin up and make your own happiness carry real weight.

… Clark’s 1967 hit ‘Don’t Sleep in the Subway’ is the epitome of this sort of celebration of small successes. Clark inhabits the role of a woman who, inadvertently or not, bruised her partner’s ego and now has to persuade him not to leave. There’s no outsized dramatics — she’s not pleading with him, or immolating herself before him, or trying to win him over through sheer vocal willpower. There’s even a touch of humor in Clark’s voice as if she is recognizing the ridiculousness of her partner’s huffy threats to spend the night riding the rails …

Songwriter Tony Hatch … was clearly inspired by the Beach Boys’ experimental teenage symphonies, both in terms of the immaculate, yearning melody (the chorus hints at ‘God Only Knows’) and the affinity for crossing rock with orchestral music.” After a start in G major and a rhapsodic pre-chorus, the chorus arrives in Bb major (0:50 – 1:13), complete with a gentler groove. The pattern continues from there.

Thomas Dolby | Urban Tribal

“London-born Thomas Morgan Robertson had already made a bit of a name for himself as a synth wiz for hire – working with Bruce Woolley/The Camera Club, Joan Armatrading, Thompson Twins, Lene Lovich and Foreigner – before embarking on his debut solo album in late summer 1981,” (MovingTheRiver). “But, as he once said, he knew ‘too many chords’ to get any regular employment in the punk and new-wave bands of the era, so was pretty much forced to go it alone.

… Lyrically, The Golden Age Of Wireless (1982) … seemed to be a Janus-like vision of England – looking back to its WW2 past and forward to the kinds of urban dystopias explored by novelist JG Ballard.” Its international smash hit single, “She Blinded Me with Science,” became “a signature tune of the Second British Invasion” but was “somewhat of an anomaly. Much of Wireless is downbeat, enigmatic and haunting. Dolby proves himself a brilliant producer and arranger, a master of painting pictures with sound.” His retrofuturistic palette included passages of shortwave radio and marine shipping weather forecasts undergirding the music.

A bonus track from the album,”Urban Tribal,” is certainly a song in the haunting category. The modulations are solidly in the enigmatic mode, too: they don’t announce themselves clearly or proudly. Instead, they pivot smoothly and quietly underneath the gathering stormclouds of Dolby’s storytelling. The lead vocal is prominent enough that a synopsis of the song’s ultimately sad plot is likely unnecessary, but please take a moment to refer here if there’s any doubt. This live performance features a few sudden changes in volume, so please don’t adjust your set. The instrumental intro, featuring the chorus’ rangy melody, is in Eb minor. Just in advance of the verse (0:29), the tonality shifts to D minor. At 1:24, the chorus reverts to Eb minor; the pattern continues from there.

One Direction | Night Changes

**We are re-posting this tune today to recognize Liam Payne, who died in a tragic accident earlier this week. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. **

English/Irish boy band One Direction makes its MotD debut with the 2014 single “Night Changes.” Included on Four, the group’s fourth studio album, the track is notable for being the last to feature Zayn Malik before he left the group to pursue a solo career the following year. The tune begins in Ab major and modulates to Bb and 2:29.

John McCusker | Emma + Jamie’s Wedding

“Born in Bellshill, near Glasgow, John began playing whistle and fiddle as a child and joined the legendary folk outfit Battlefield Band aged 17,” (https://www.johnmccusker.co.uk/about/). During his 11 years with the band, he also released his first two solo recordings, 1995’s self-titled debut and 2000’s Yella Hoose. His most recent albums include Under One Sky and the reissues of Yella Hoose and Goodnight Ginger re-mastered deluxe.

John has long been renowned for his skill at transcending musical boundaries: striving to keep his music fresh and exciting, never leaving the past behind but always embracing new sonic adventures. As a live and studio guest he has shared stages with Paul Weller, Paolo Nutini, Teenage Fanclub, Graham Coxon and Eddi Reader. Since 2008, he has been a member of Mark Knopfler’s band, playing arenas around the world including a double bill with Bob Dylan at The Hollywood Bowl and 20 nights at the Royal Albert Hall.

…John was awarded the coveted BBC Radio 2 Musician of the Year in 2003 and also The Spirit of Scotland Award for music in 1999 and again in 2009. 2016 saw John receive the Good Tradition Award and perform with his band at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at The Royal Albert Hall.”

After “Emma and Jamie’s Wedding” (2016) begins in G major, a second section (0:57) seems to alternate in emphasis between Bb major and its relative G minor. Then follows a return to G major. The pattern continues from there.

Voctave + The Swingles | I Am What I Am

MotD favorite Voctave teamed up with the renowned a cappella group The Swingles to record “I Am What I Am,” Jerry Herman’s gay anthem from the 1983 musical La Cage Aux Folles. Now based in the UK, The Swingles have been active since the 1960s, when the group formed in Paris, and have released dozens of records and won five Grammy Awards.

The track begins in B major, modulates up a step to Db at 1:36, and then up another half step to D at 2:23. There is a final shift up to Eb at 3:06.

Elton John | Tower of Babel

“Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, released in 1975, was the culmination of six years’ feverish exertion (PopMatters) … (it) was the first album to ever premiere at number one on the Billboard album charts … (Elton’s) early ’70s run is almost unmatched in the history of pop music. In terms of quality and quantity, his only real peers are the likes of the Beatles, the Stones, and Bowie … The duo of John and (lyricist) Bernie Taupin produced some of the greatest songs and most memorable albums of the rock era, and yet today their prolific career is routinely dismissed, if not forgotten.

The duo’s creative marriage was defined by their marked dissimilarities. While both came from lower middle-class origins, John (born Reginald Dwight), was raised in urban London while Taupin hailed from the rural districts of Lincolnshire, in the far north of the country. Their musical interests were similarly contrasted: John had been raised on a catholic diet of mainstream pop and early rock ‘n’ roll, with a special affection for American soul music, while Taupin was a fan of American folk and country … one of the most influential synergies in the history of pop music … Elton John, the globetrotting Captain Fantastic, and Bernie Taupin, the down-home countrified Brown-Dirt Cowboy, rose out of absolute obscurity to become the most successful songwriting duo since Lennon and McCartney (if you young’uns don’t believe me, just take a gander at the historical record).”

The album is listed at #158 on Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” John mentioned in an interview: “I’ve always thought (it) was probably my finest album because it wasn’t commercial in any way,” (EltonJohnItaly.com). “We did have songs such as ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight,’ which is one of the best songs that Bernie and I have ever written together, but whether a song like that could be a single these days, since it’s [more than] six minutes long, is questionable. Captain Fantastic was written from start to finish in running order, as a kind of story about coming to terms with failure—or trying desperately not to be one. We lived that story.”

After starting in C major, “Tower of Babel” falls into a flight of Elton’s trademark inversion-driven fancy at 0:28 before landing once again on the terra firma of Eb major at 0:50. Don’t get too comfortable, though, because 1:40 brings a multi-key instrumental bridge; eventually we’re led back to C major. The shifting pattern continues from there.

Astral Drive | Dum Dum

“‘Astral Drive’ is the musical vehicle for producer, singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Phil Thornalley,” (GetReadyToRock). The “orange” album, Thornalley’s second under the name Astral Drive, “… explore(s) uplifting psychedelic tinged pop, soul, and rock with beguiling piano chord voicings, lilting melodies, subtle vocal harmonies, and songs that frequently evoke their title. It’s an album rooted in the 70’s – think Rundgren, Wings and 10cc – while on the opening brace of tracks he leapfrogs into the late 90’s alt-pop rock world of Weezer and The New Radicals.

… For those familiar with Thornalley’s musical history (The Thompson Twins, Duran Duran, Prefab Sprout, The Psychedelic Furs, XTC, The Cure, Bryan Adams and even Natalie Imbruglia, etc.), this album makes perfect sense, as it pushes his creativity into new areas … He knows the value of a succinct pop song with a catchy hook. As a result, ‘Orange’ is a creative tour de force with enough originality and diversity not to be be locked into a particular time, place or genre. It’s an album that gives full rein to Thornalley’s pop sensibilities. There’s plenty of feel, lyrical substance, deft harmonies and vibrant hooks, all subtly honed by his own production skills which lead him to a layered, but organic sound.”

“Dum Dum,” a track from the 2021 album, starts with a verse in F major. The chorus flips its emphasis over to its relative Ab major (0:30 – 0:57) before returning to the initial key for the second verse. 1:42 brings a guitar-driven instrumental chorus, pushed upwards into A major. At 2:00, we return back to Ab major for another chorus. The tune’s final measures leave us in an unexpected place: moved via a leading tone into a colorless F# chord.

S Club | Gonna Change the World

“Gonna Change the World” appears on the British pop group S Club’s eponymous debut album, released in 1999. The record went double platinum in the UK, New Zealand and Canada, and hit #1 on the charts in the UK as well. S Club has gone on to sell over 10 million albums worldwide.

The track begins in G and shifts up a half step to A at 3:03

Sharon Tandy | The Way She Looks At You

In 1964, Sharon Tandy moved from her native South Africa to the UK to pursue her musical career. Through the end of the 1960s, she released a string of UK singles, mostly on Atlantic, achieving moderate success. A few of the Atlantic sides were recorded at the Stax studio (à la Dusty in Memphis). Her material spans the gamut of the popular music of the period, with songs that fit into the “pop”. “soul”, and “rock” categories.

Her cover of “Our Day Will Come” is notable: Originally performed as a bossa nova by Ruby and The Romantics, the song is turned into a raw Janis/Big Brother-flavored uptempo rocker, with backup provided by Southampton band Fleur de Lys.

“The Way She Looks At You” (1968) falls neatly into the pop category. The song was written by Brian Potter and Graham Dee. Potter is best known for his collaborations with Dennis Lambert, with hits like “Don’t Pull Your Love” (by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds) and “Two Divided By Love” (by The Grass Roots). The swinging horn arrangement shouts “1960s London,” doesn’t it? The groove falls away for a harmonically dynamic instrumental transition begins at 1:39. The tune settles into a new key one half-step up at 1:50.