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Huey Lewis + The News | Simple As That

Huey Lewis and the News’ 1983 collection Sports “had been an absolute smash, one of just five records to top the Billboard album chart in 1984 (for just one week in its case, but in that Thriller– and Purple Rain-dominated year, still quite something),” (Best Classic Bands). “It yielded four top 10 singles and catapulted the band into the rarefied space of touring attractions capable of filling arenas around the world. The album stayed on the chart for 160 weeks, and the accompanying Sports tour was about as long.

… Fore! was one of the most front-loaded records ever created. On side one of the vinyl release, four of the five songs charted in the top 10, as did the first song on the flip side.” A tune from the side two of the album, “Simple as That,” is “nestled among band vocals and horn trimming, its throwback soul underpinnings were a reminder that for all the band’s straightforward appeals, its versatility—and willingness to take it in different directions—was easy to underestimate … Recruitment of the Tower of Power horns paid dividends on multiple tracks … Never possessed of dazzling range, Lewis’ singing nonetheless sported enormous craft, and the sheer emotive power he generated was irresistibly insistent.”

After a regal fanfare of an intro, this musical tribute to everyday middle class struggles settles into Ab major. At 2:30, a resounding unprepared key change hits so hard, squarely on beat one, that it takes a few moments for the smoke to clear. Soon, we realize that there’s been a downward key change to G major — vanishingly rare in pop music, and doubly so for straight-down-the fairway Top 40 fare. Quite a lovely touch for the closing moments of the album’s final track.

Mickey Woods | (They Call Me) Cupid

“Mickey Woods, here making his final appearance on a Motown record, was a minor figure at best in the Motown story,” (Motown Junkies). “He may have been the first white male solo act on the label” (Woods is such an obscure figure in Motown’s history that this factor is not 100% confirmed) … “This B-side marks the first ever Motown writing credit for Norman Whitfield, later one of the all-time great songwriters and producers.

Odd that ‘(They Call Me) Cupid’ (1961) should have been relegated to a B-side – it’s clearly intended as a take on Sam Cooke’s ‘Cupid,’ released earlier the same year … perhaps Berry Gordy felt that to invite comparison between Sam Cooke (who was one of the all-time great voices) and Mickey Woods (who wasn’t) would be unfairly prejudicial … There’s also an ambitious string break in the middle eight which is pleasing to hear; the sound of musical horizons being continually broadened … That unexpected string interlude is a little rough, coming over at times as awkward and scraping; hardly the lush orchestral aural carpeting that would come to be associated with Motown in later years.”

Starting in C major, there’s a shift to Eb major at 1:16 after a brief suspension of the groove. Yes, the string section sounds like it’s sight-reading — but otherwise, an intriguing very early Motown track!

Ronnie Milsap | It Was Almost Like a Song

“Listen closely to Ronnie Milsap’s golden voice and you’ll hear a singer as close to the heart of American music as anyone who’s ever made the charts,” (Soul Country). ” He wound through the R&B nightclubs of Memphis and Atlanta, where he sang straight-up Southern soul and rock ‘n’ roll, before moving to Nashville at the urging of Charley Pride.

‘Today, the coolest building in the world is cooler for the presence of Ronnie Milsap,’ (interviewer) Peter Cooper said, introducing the singer for the joyful, wide-ranging conversation in 2015. ‘He is the piano-playing, country-soul singing, Braille-reading, radio listening, native North Carolinian and 42-year Nashvillian who is — along with Hank Cochran and Mac Wiseman — among the three newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.’ The singer’s accomplishments in popular music are staggering. He had 12 No. 1 singles in his first five years in country music, Cooper said. Then came the 1980s. ‘He sang 35 No. 1 Billboard country singles between June 1973 to March of ’92,’ Cooper continued. ‘Every song he released was a Top 20 country hit. All but two were Top 10. All but six were Top Five.'”

Co-written by Burt Bacharach’s favorite lyricist collaborator Hal David and Archie Jordan and released in 1977 on an album of the same name, Milsap’s “It Was Almost Like a Song” begins in C major. At 2:31, a key change up to Db major takes effect through to the end of the tune, accompanying Milsap’s soaring vocal and leading up to a quieter piano feature for the short outro. Many thanks to our regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this tune!

I’m Not a Loser (from “Spongebob Squarepants”)

“SpongeBob SquarePants, the Broadway musical, has captured all the silly, goofy, broadly camp, good-natured fun of the Nickelodeon TV series,” (New York Theatre Guide). “And it is a rare feat to effectively translate style and comedy from one genre to another … More of a revue than a book musical, SpongeBob SquarePants aims to amuse, dazzle, and delight along the journey — topping each visual topper and playing with props in every imaginable way: glow in the dark neon rectangles that reconfigure to form shapes, dancing letters, and characters flattened to 2-dimensions when hit by a boulder that emerges from a Rube Goldberg-like device. The plot — and this really doesn’t merit a spoiler alert — is that the characters’ world may come to an end due to a volcanic eruption. Now strap yourselves in for the joy ride to armageddon.

Songs come courtesy of a lengthy list of prestigious pop and rock artists …SpongeBob SquarePants is not for those who might want a deeper (emotionally, not in fathoms) experience. It is for those who love non-stop creativity in costume, design, color, lighting, choreography, zany comedy, and madcap mayhem. If that is your cup of saltwater, prepare to be swept up in a tidal wave of bubbling entertainment.”

The “eleven o’clock number” of the 2016 musical, “I’m Not a Loser,” was written by John Flansburgh and John Linnell, collectively known as They Might Be Giants. After a start in C major, the tonality bubbles up to Db major at 2:32 — and largely stays there, other than plenty of quick shifts during the instrumental sections.

Journey | Girl Can’t Help It

Journey was so ubiquitous in the 1980s that its “best of” album was ranked the #10 best selling album of that decade. Their sound was right down the fairway, defining mainstream 80s rock/pop for all time. But by 1986, the band’s fortunes began to level off. “Following the most commercially successful era for (Journey), lead singer Steve Perry firmly took control over Journey‘s musical direction,” (Classic Rock Review). “The ultimate result of this new direction was this 1986 album Raised On Radio, an album which would (at least initially) become just about as popular as their biggest earlier albums, but ultimately would symbolize the decline and fall of Journey’s successful run in through the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“‘Girl Can’t Help It’ is the best song on the album, with a direct and crisp sound … a simple but memorable piano riff, and some counter-harmonic guitars to accent it all … Following the release of Raised On Radio, Journey embarked on a tour which was initially very successful, but in early 1987 Perry suddenly and unexpectedly pulled the plug and the band was forced to cancel the rest of the tour … They would not again reconvene as a band for nearly a decade, when (they) had a short-lived comeback. But the classic band was never again the same.”

“Girl Can’t Help It” doesn’t even begin to approach the band’s top five singles list (by contrast, “Don’t Stop Believin'” has reached 2.9 billion streams on Spotify and has 13.1 million downloads and ringtone purchases). But although the former top sellers were starting to see their longtime popularity slip, their stage presence and musicality were undimmed for this 1986 performance. The band’s exquisitely blended stacked vocals (perhaps best heard at 2:40 and again at 4:04 for the a cappella outro) somehow all sounded like frontman Steve Perry. Built in A minor overall, the track shifts to C minor at 1:07 for the pre-chorus, transitioning to C major for the chorus (1:19 – 1:34) before flipping over to the relative A minor and onward from there.

Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this track!

Wilson Pickett | Don’t Fight It

“’Don’t Fight It’ is a soul song originally recorded by Wilson Pickett in 1965,” (Stax Museum). “It was written by Steve Cropper and Wilson Pickett, with Cropper also producing the track. The song features a lively rhythm, powerful vocals by Pickett, and a catchy horn section. (The track) became a hit for Pickett, reaching #4 on the R&B chart and #63 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song’s lyrics urge the listener to give in to the rhythm and let go of their inhibitions, with Pickett’s impassioned delivery adding to the song’s energy and appeal.

Over the years, ‘Don’t Fight It’ has been covered by various artists and remains a classic of the soul genre. Its infectious groove and energetic performance continue to make it a favorite among fans of Wilson Pickett and soul music in general.”

Starting in a slightly uptuned A major, the track’s key shifts up a half step during a horn break (1:37) only to jump up another half step to B major at 1:45. The lead vocal joins in again at 1:49 for the final verse.

Joni Mitchell | Down to You

“Joni Mitchell’s sixth album was a change of gear, coming deep from within the ME decade, its romantic entanglements dissolving to reveal a deeper search within, but far from being solipsistic Mitchell’s rumination strikes a universal chord … Post-Woodstock, the hippy dream was in crisis,” (The Quietus). “Progressive political hopes were dashed with 1972’s George McGovern electoral loss to incumbent Nixon. Mitchell (said) that this was ‘an especially lonely time’ with nothing feeling likely to last … New songs explored the struggle between love and freedom, set against a decadent backdrop, another illusion for her sharp-eyed and warm-hearted compositions to see through.

They required more expansive musical settings. Tom Scott, who would also play on Carole King’s wonderful single ‘Jazzman’, told Mojo that the self-taught Mitchell was ‘intuitively sophisticated.’ Since childhood, she’d favoured unorthodoxy, singing descant in the choir, playing her hurdy-gurdy backwards. Favouring open tunings, she produced what David Crosby called ‘weird chords’ or as she says ‘chords of inquiry’ ripped from her inner core. Rock players couldn’t follow them.

‘Down To You’ is Court and Spark’s cornerstone and one of the great songs of the 1970s. There’s a Buddhist view of transience comparing new lovers with new fashions, both being an ever-changing succession of veils that cover a core of loneliness … There’s no judgement here and life lessons come in a state of grace, from its easeful rhymes to its dazzling orchestral interlude with Mitchell’s headstrong piano working through Scott’s panorama of woodwind, horns and strings … Scott and Mitchell scooped a Grammy for this eye-watering showstopper … Court and Spark received rave reviews in both Rolling Stone and NYT, who hailed Mitchell as the ‘premier explorer’ of ‘not love songs but songs about love.’ By March it was at #2 in the US, going double platinum. November’s Miles Of Aisles live album hit the same peak and a Time cover that month sealed her cultural impact … The NYT review noted how Mitchell ‘can turn her experiences into truths that touch everyone.'”

After an unsettled intro, the verse enters at 0:33 in D major with a definitive statement about constant change. At 1:19, a rubato section in D minor delves into lightweight moonlit romance. A short interlude, built around Mitchell’s “chords of inquiry,” leads to the dawn of the next verse, which returns to a relatively uncomplicated D major. More shifts in tonality follow, second only in prominence to the shifting textural wonders of Scott’s arrangement for piano and small chamber orchestra.

J.D. Souther | Banging My Head Against the Moon

“It’s been said that JD Souther could have been a major artist if he had kept more of those beautiful, introspective songs he wrote for himself,” (Country Music Hall of Fame). “He had the aching tenor voice, the good looks that got him TV acting jobs … He wasn’t a star of country-rock, but he was crucial to its enduring power.

—Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum”

Souther wrote ‘Faithless Love’ for his then-girlfriend Linda Ronstadt and later co-wrote ‘The Best of My Love’ with Glenn Frey and Don Henley of the Eagles. He went on to write other signature Eagles hits: ‘Heartache Tonight,’ ‘New Kid in Town,’ and ‘Victim of Love.’ “Souther even had an opportunity to join the band early in their run—an experience he called being ‘an Eagle for a day.'” He summed it up by saying “‘I think they were so relieved when I said no. I’m not a very good team player.’” He had his own chart success with 1979’s “You’re Only Lonely” and then a duet with James Taylor, ‘Her Town Too.’ Looking back, he summed up his career: “’Good music really lasts a long time.’”

“Banging My Head Against the Moon,” from Souther’s 1976 release Black Rose, is built in F major overall. At 1:39, a bridge slips quickly into Db major for what starts as an instrumental bridge, later joined by vocals. At 2:00, we slip right back into F major before a return to the next verse at 2:09.

Stevie Wonder | My Cherie Amour

” … when it was released, on August 29, 1969, My Cherie Amour was the contemporary Stevie,” (UDiscoverMusic). “Nobody knew what was to come. Instead, people gloried in this young man who could deliver songs that attracted dozens of cover versions and became instant standards. Not only that, but his originals were infused with a warmth and joy the remakes could not touch.

‘My Cherie Amour,’ the song, sounds like a breeze on a hot summer day: fresh, easy and light … someone who was not yet 20 should not have been able to tackle such material so convincingly … Now we know what was coming, it’s easy to fit this album into a context it did not have at the time. We can’t hear it with 1969’s ears, but we can imagine the smiles it provoked and the romances it helped soundtrack.”

If MotD had started out by covering only the most classic of Top 40 tunes, then by rights we should’ve featured this one way back in 2011! The hook, stated first by flute and then joined by Stevie’s wordless vocal in the intro, is surely one of the most iconic in all of R&B or pop music. The tune’s unusual form begins with its chorus, the wordless vocal hook section. The song’s title is then mentioned at the start of a verse, again departing from convention. But despite the tune’s unconventional, stripped down structure, we never once feel deprived: the melodic richness, compound chords, lovestruck lyrics, and lush instrumentation are a rich sonic tapestry indeed. After a start in Db major, there’s an unprepared shift up to D major at 1:55. And just like that, Stevie brings it all to a close just under the wire for the era’s three-minute radio guideline.

Bill Champlin | What Good is Love

“In 1978, Bill Champlin had left his namesake band to pursue both his solo career and his career as a session vocalist— the latter would provide him with one of the most extensive and impressive CVs in the music industry,” (The Review Revue). “His credits as both a session vocalist and songwriter read like a who’s who of the music industry of the late seventies and through the eighties as well. He even netted a couple of grammies (Best R&B single for ‘After The Love Is Gone’ for Earth Wind & Fire in 1979 and Best R&B single for ‘Turn Your Love Around’ for George Benson in 1982).

(Champlin’s 1978 album) Single is a product of that era. The influences are evident as the album bears a musical resemblance to Boz Scaggs Grammy-winning Silk Degrees album from a couple years prior. It’s little surprise that many of the musicians who performed on Silk Degrees also performed on Single. Incidentally those musicians who appeared on both Single and on Scagg’s Silk Degrees (Steve Lukather, David Hungate, Steve Porcaro, David Paich, & Jeff Porcaro) created a band of their own, Toto, and released a self-titled debut between working with Scaggs on Silk Degrees and Champlin on Single … Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers and Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates contributed their voices for some catchy background vocals. And having future svengali producer David Foster at the helm in one of his first turns as producer certainly didn’t hurt.”

Built initially in F major, “What Good is Love” is saturated to the point of bursting. The former Chicago vocalist obviously convened a gargantuan band for this track, with nobody working on a per-note basis. A dense flotilla of kitchen sinks sails by as a fast funk/disco groove drives the track. The musicianship is excellent, but the thick sonic texture might violate some sound systems’ warranties. A shift to G major is led by the backing vocalists during one of the only (comparatively) calm moments of the track (2:28).