UK singer/songwriter/pianist Jamie Cullum, “… mostly self-taught, began playing in a rock band at age 15,” (Brittanica). “He soon became attracted to jazz and began playing and singing it in bars and on cruise ships. He spent a year in Paris and then attended the University of Reading, England, where he studied film and English, composed music, and acted … His second album, Pointless Nostalgic … became such a favorite on British radio that … major labels fought a bidding war to sign him. His singing and playing, which evoked swing and ballad moods rather than rock, were an anomaly in the pop music of the day, but the CD sold 2,000,000 units, 400,000 of them in the United States.” Twentysomething reached top three in the UK, and the Netherlands; it scored top 100 status in most of Europe and the USA.
“… This is not a jazz album in the unapproachable sense – there are Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Buckley covers here (CLUAS.com, 2004) … This is a bona fide listenable and enjoyable opus. Jamie Cullum is not your typical jazz pianist or singer … he straddles genres for fun. This is certainly not a jazz-only album … the end result is surprisingly great.”
The single “All At Sea,” wasn’t a big hit by any stretch of the imagination, but received slow but steady airplay in the US (Cullum’s success seems better measured through the relative success of his full albums as opposed to his singles). Built in Eb major overall, the tune’s bridge (2:44 – 3:26) is in Ab minor; then Eb makes its return. The 2015 live version below includes an extended Billy Joel quote in its closing bars, demonstrating the breadth of Cullum’s improvisatory sensibilities. The studio version benefits from a full instrumentation and vocal harmonies — but Cullum’s dense voicings, sharpened vocal and piano technique, and absolutely unsinkable time make the solo version more than a full portion.
Tag: UK
Monster Ceilidh Band | Red Monster
“Monster Ceilidh Band … bring something quite unique to the folk world,’ (BrightYoungFolk). “(They) act as a strong bridge between traditional ideas of folk music and the more modern sounds of dance and techno.
This can sound like a bizarre style to try and adopt, but the simple fact is that it works so well in its context. As the band name alone suggests, the focus is on music you can dance along with. To do this, they simply one-up the use of folk instruments by merging them with sound effects, electric guitar tricks, and other methods of really getting a beat pumping.”
From the band’s own website: “Disc 2 of the Monster Ceilidh Band’s 2011 double-album Mechanical Monster (is) a mix of traditional Folk music and dirty electronic beats … the UK’s first Drum ‘n’ Bass Ceilidh crossover!” Starting in A minor, “Red Monster” shifts into B minor at 0:33 before returning to A minor at 0:49. The alternating pattern continues from there.
Go West | Don’t Look Down
” … unlike their (UK) peers, the duo didn’t come up through punk or have any connection to the New Romantic scene,” (ClassicPopMag). “As their name alludes, most of their influences were American – Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan and what today would be dubbed ‘yacht rock.’ ‘When punk was happening, we were listening to The Doobie Brothers. We couldn’t have been more out of step with what was going on.'”
The band shopped its demos for years, but caught fire quickly after its first release, also titled Go West (1985). “‘The very first gig with the band was recorded for Radio One In Concert. Then we all got on a bus and went up to play The Tube. Then came the first Top Of The Pops. After that we did this massive show at Yokohama Baseball Stadium with Culture Club, The Style Council and The Associates … Then there was the States – we played Soul Train. I mean, how on earth did they get us on Soul Train?’ The year culminated in the duo picking up Breakthrough Act at the 1986 BRIT Awards.”
“Don’t Look Down,” one of the album’s singles, starts big and stays there. The whimsical (and no doubt expensive!) crane shots played right into the song’s dizzy mood. The track was the last of five singles from the album, which made top 100 on the year-end charts for 1985 in the US, Canada, the UK, much of the rest of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Built in A# major overall, the synth-saturated track shifts to F# mixolydian during the bridge (2:18 – 2:35) before returning to the original key.
Noisettes | Never Forget You
“The Brit pop trio’s bubbly soul ditty is, thanks to Shingai Shoniwa’s sweet crooning, reminiscent of an early Motown party groove,” said USA Today upon the release of “Never Forget You” in 2009. Written by all the members of this English band, the track reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart. It begins in D and, after a more subdued bridge in B minor, modulates up to E at 2:09.
Bellowhead | Gosport Nancy
“Bellowhead formed in 2004 and after 12 amazing years, they called it a day in 2016,” (bellowhead.co.uk). “In their active years they played to thousands of people at festivals and on tour, recorded five studio albums (selling over a quarter of a million copies), were the proud recipients of two silver discs and won a staggering eight BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
During lockdown in 2020, the 11 members of Bellowhead first re-connected online to remotely record ‘New York Girls – At Home’. That led to re-uniting in person for a one-off performance … one of the biggest online streams of 2020, confirming that Bellowhead are still one of the biggest and most in demand UK folk acts, despite not performing for nearly five years. The stream led to pleas from fans for more and the stars aligned for a mammoth reunion tour in November 2022 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their fourth album, Broadside.“
Released in 2016, “Gosport Nancy” is unusual for its horn section. Contributor JB adds: “It’s rare for an English trad band to include horns at all, and yet rarer to feature such a funky horns arrangement.” Adding to the intrigue, the tune also includes plenty of syncopation and a few compound chords. Starting in D major, the tune modulates up a whole step to E major at 2:49, layering more shifts in the subsequent measures before landing back in D major.
Jigsaw | Sky High
“Sky High” (1975) by UK band Jigsaw was recorded for the film The Man from Hong Kong. A global hit, it reached UK Top 10, #2 on the Japanese charts (where it remained for three years!), #3 in Australia, #3 on the on the Billboard Hot 100, and #8 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. As the video makes clear, the band didn’t shy away from kitsch; its short-lived life on the charts was likely further boosted by the novelty of a drummer (Des Dyer) on lead vocals.
“… this band had been around since the late 60s and had released four albums before this single came out,” (7 Inches of 70s Pop). “… they throw everything at you: a full orchestra complete with swirling strings, quick horn stabs to provide some tension, even some rolling tympani to start it off.” To say nothing of the soaring french horn line (2:29) as the track fades! However, the orchestra is nowhere in evidence for this performance, which is actually the studio version on playback.
Beginning in B minor, the track transitions to B major for its chorus (initially at 0:46). at 1:22, the B minor intro repeats in advance of the next verse; the pattern continues from there.
Joe Jackson | Real Men
“Joe Jackson is known for vibrant, emotional hits like ‘Is She Really Going Out with Him?,’ ‘Breaking Us in Two,’ and the new wave-ish ‘Steppin’ Out,’ the latter two songs from his 1982 hit album Night and Day,” (American Songwriter). “That seminal release also includes a piano-driven, violin-laced ballad that didn’t manage to get quite as much attention but was way ahead of its time.
… It has been said that the Night and Day album (1982) was a tribute to Cole Porter and his view of New York, and that ‘Real Men’ was referencing the city’s gay culture (which became more prominent in the wake of the six-day Stonewall Uprising in 1969) … Jackson’s debut single and video for Night and Day, ‘Real Men’ did not chart in America and barely charted in the UK, but it managed to go Top 10 in Australia and Top 20 in the Netherlands. The album fared well, becoming one of two Jackson releases to sell half a million copies.”
Built in E minor overall, the somber verses transition to soaring wordless choruses in B major (first heard from 1:04 – 1:26). The tune’s lyrics were edgy at the time — and remain so. But Jackson’s use of “the other F-word” is likely without malice, given his longtime status as an openly bisexual man. There’s plenty of broader commentary on gender overall: Now it’s all changed / It’s got to change more is a line which wouldn’t have been out of place in a Women’s Studies textbook of the era.
Mike Batt | Better Than a Dream
“Yes … his has been something of an unconventional career. ‘The mystery man who jumps around from lily pad to lily pad without really explaining himself … My career has been like hitting a wall with a rubber hammer a thousand times, rather than just getting a bulldozer and knocking a way through in one go.’ (The Guardian). In the popular imagination, his name is linked with discovering Katie Melua, writing Art Garfunkel’s 1979 smash hit ‘Bright Eyes,'” and the Wombles, a British novelty pop group whose members dressed as fuzzy animal characters from the children’s TV show of the same name. “That barely does justice to his oeuvre, however: four decades of albums, film scores and projects … (that) have never been less than fascinating.”
Indeed, Batt’s career seems to have been nearly uncategorizable: “… One minute he’s knocking out a global soft-rock smash for Garfunkel, the next he’s taken off on a round-the-world yachting trip and is proffering a concept album about it … he protests that he’s not taken seriously as an orchestral conductor. ‘Most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between my version of the Planets suite and Simon Rattle’s.'” Had the Wombles’ tunes “not been performed by himself and sundry cohorts in vast, furry costumes made by (Batt’s) mother, it’s hard not to feel they would be widely hailed as classic bubblegum pop – as indeed they were by the late Dee Dee Ramone, who unexpectedly outed himself as a fan of their keep-fit-themed 1974 album track ‘Exercise Is Good for You (Laziness Is Not)‘ in Legs McNeil’s oral history of US punk, Please Kill Me.”
1992’s “Better Than a Dream,” which starts as a piano ballad but evolves into a full orchestral accompaniment, begins in C major. But at 2:20, the dense texture of a brass fanfare shifts the tune to Eb major. Many thanks to our contributor Julianna A. for this submission!
Sandie Shaw | Wight is Wight
Sandie Shaw, the “Barefoot Pop Princess,” had three UK number one hits, “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” (1964), “Long Live Love” (1965), and “Puppet On a String” (1967), as well as several other charting singles from the 1960s through the 1990s. Her version of “Your Time Is Gonna Come” from the album Reviewing the Situation (1969) was the first-ever Led Zeppelin cover. She was the first-ever British winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, when “Puppet On a String” topped the UK charts made her the first British female singer ever to have three number one records (Express.co.uk).
“Wight is Wight” was a French-language hit (1969), written and performed by Michel Delpech. The song title alludes to the Isle of Wight music festival, and makes a sly reference to “Black Is Black,” the 1966 hit by the Spanish beat group Los Bravos.
Sandie Shaw sang the song with its original lyrics and, using the same backing track, the English-language version here was released as a single in 1970, and included as a bonus track on a CD reissue of Reviewing the Situation. We’re unable to find the source of the English lyrics; they may well have been written by Sandie Shaw. Shaw’s tightly-controlled vibrato is on full display here. A whole-step bump awaits at 2:08.
Humble Pie | Sweet Peace and Time
“There was a lot riding on this album (Smokin‘, 1972). After the general economical failure of (UK band Humble Pie’s) first two albums released in the States, Humble Pie and Rock On, their live album, Rockin’ the Filmore shot them up to top-billing across the country and into a major name,” (TheUncool). “So, when Smokin’ hit the racks it would provide exposure of the studio side to a band that became famous on their live side. The reception would be significant …
Actually there is nothing extremely original about the band. They play a brand of rock ‘n roll that is definitely not unique to them. So…just what is it about Humble Pie, or for that matter Smokin’, that in actuality puts them in a class above so many others? … Humble Pie is a confident band. They don’t bashfully kick around a number of styles and techniques … Humble Pie is a band that works with the bare essentials of rock ‘n roll. Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore proved them as a great live band. Smokin’ proves them as a great band. Anywhere.” (Courtesy of the Door [aka San Diego Door] – Cameron Crowe)
After beginning in A minor, “Sweet Peace and Time” shifts up to B minor at 0:45, then hangs out in E minor for an instrumental section from 1:09 – 1:39. At 1:39, the same A minor pattern from the intro and first verse is once again in effect. The pattern continues from there.
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