Tag: USA

Sly + The Family Stone | Everybody Is a Star

“Sly + the Family Stone brought funk to the party during what many consider the most fertile period in music history: 1969-1971,” (Songfacts). “This was an eclectic time when hard rock, bubblegum pop, Motown soul, and singer-songwriter tunes were all on the charts, and it was also the heyday for Sly + the Family Stone. They landed three US #1 hits during this time: ‘Everyday People,’ ‘Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),’ and ‘Family Affair.’ All three also topped the R&B chart.

With two white members (drummer Gregg Errico and sax player Jerry Martini) and a female trumpet player (Cynthia Robinson), the group broke from convention defied expectations. Robinson was particularly influential, encouraging girls to play the trumpet at a time when it was a very male-dominated instrument.

‘Everybody is a Star’ (1970) was released as a double-A-side single with ‘Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).’ The single went to #1 in the US, so under Billboard methodology at the time, the chart position is attributed to both songs combined. Like many Sly & the Family Stone songs of this era – ‘Everyday People’ and ‘Stand!’ among them – ‘Everybody Is A Star’ has a message of togetherness and self-worth. These songs were set against joyful melodies that kept them from sounding preachy. They went over very well at live shows where a sense of community formed.”

The intro and verse is in Bb major; the chorus, featuring various wordless vocal solos and groups, (heard for the first time from 0:54 – 1:15), is in C major. Clocking in at just over three minutes, the tune features the second chorus as an extended fading outro as well.

Shelby Lynne | Bend

“Following her somewhat belated Best New Artist Grammy award (six albums and 13 years into her musical career), Shelby Lynne’s follow-up to the truly heartbreaking and spectacular I Am Shelby Lynne finds her reaching out to a more rock-oriented audience with mixed results,” (AllMusic). “After some last minute retooling from the record label, Love, Shelby proves Lynne can still write a hook, but much of what makes or breaks the finished results ultimately falls in the hands of her producer.

… In all honesty, this would actually be a more successful album if her previous work hadn’t been so strong. It seems as though the singer had such artistic success with her ‘rock-tinged’ record that she thought it would be a good idea to push the envelope further into an almost strictly rock environment … The few songs that embrace her rough, soulful edge are pretty terrific, and (hopefully) smarter choices in the future will bring about another strong album along the same lines as I Am…“

“Bend,” a non-single album track from Love, Shelby (2001), is built around a polished shuffle feel. This mid-tempo track provides an attractive showcase for Lynne, who covers both lead and backup vocal duties. Starting in C major, the chorus (first heard from 0:42 – 1:04) shift into Eb major.

Many thanks to Ari S. for yet another wonderful contribution!

Judy Collins | The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Judy Collins “has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism,” (JudyCollins.com). “In the 1960s, she evoked both the idealism and steely determination of a generation united against social and environmental injustices. Five decades later, her luminescent presence shines brightly as new generations bask in the glow of her iconic 55-album body of work, and heed inspiration from her spiritual discipline to thrive in the music industry for half a century.”

Collins is likely best known for her distinctive cover versions of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” and for inspiring artists including Rufus Wainwright, Shawn Colvin, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen (who highlighted her legacy with the 2008 album Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins). But her versatile musicality and flawless soprano have also supported memorable performances of scores of lesser-known songs.

One example of such a song is Jimmy Webb’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.” The legendary “Wichita Lineman” is likely the songwriter’s most prominent creation, but “Moon” features the same level of songcraft. Webb recalls ” … (it) became a standard without ever becoming a hit and was symbiotic of that decade of my life, my struggle, my failure, my angst, my pride and even scorn,” (Songfacts) ” … recorded by Judy Collins, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Shawn Colvin, Pat Metheny, Glen Campbell. A list of people who got it.” Starting in Bb major, the 1975 track transitions upward to Db major via a tiny yet assiduous instrumental bridge (1:41 – 1:45). Once in the new key, the gorgeous melody and haunting lyrics are at center stage.

Nat King Cole | Sweet Lorraine

“Written in 1928, ”Sweet Lorraine” found modest popularity with a recording by Rudy Vallee and his Heigh-Ho Yale Collegians,” (JazzStandards.com). “In that same year clarinetist Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra made an instrumental recording of the song for the Vocalion label. Further recordings were made Isham Jones and His Orchestra (1932), and jazz violinist Joe Venuti (1933). It was Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra’s 1935 Brunswick recording, however, that made the pop charts for one week in October, rising to #17. ‘Sweet Lorraine’ was Clifford Burwell’s only hit composition.

The endurance of ‘Sweet Lorraine’ as a favorite among jazz performers may be attributed, at least in part, to Nat ‘King’ Cole, who kept the song in the limelight with his popular recordings. Cole’s fondness for ‘Sweet Lorraine’ began as a Chicago teenager listening to clarinetist Jimmie Noone play. ‘Sweet Lorraine’ would play a memorable part in Cole’s transition from piano player to vocalist … Initially Cole’s main interest was piano, but in 1938, while performing in a Los Angeles nightclub … Bob Lewis, the club owner, told Nat to sing — or else. So Nat sang ‘Sweet Lorraine’ … Lewis put a tinsel crown on Nat’s head and said, ‘I crown you Nat “King” Cole.'” Cole released the tune in 1940, when it became his first hit, and again in 1956.

Written with an AABA form, this version is written in G major overall. The B section, first heard from 0:57- 1:20 in this version, shifts to C major. We include another version by Dexter Gordon as well, since Cole’s interpretation of the tune was so much his own that the melody differed greatly from what was on the page!

Cheap Trick | Tonight It’s You

“Combining a love for British guitar pop songcraft with crunching power chords and a flair for the absurd, Cheap Trick provided the necessary links between ’60s pop, heavy metal, and punk,” (Qobuz). “Their sound provided a blueprint for both power pop and arena rock; it also had a long-lived effect on both alternative and heavy metal bands of the ’80s and ’90s (and beyond), who often relied on the same combination of loud riffs and catchy melodies.

The band’s early albums were filled with highly melodic, well-written songs that drew equally from the crafted pop of the Beatles, the sonic assault of the Who, and the tongue-in-cheek musical eclecticism and humor of the Move.” From most accounts, the mid-80s was a bit of a lull for the band creatively, but one strong single resulted from its 1985 album Standing on the Edge: “the silvery-sounding ‘Tonight It’s You,’ which peaked just outside the Top 40 at number 44 in the fall of 1985.”

Starting in F# major, the tune’s long pre-chorus in B major appears at 0:59 leading us to a chorus in D major (1:19 -1:41). The pattern continues from there.

Boston | Amanda

” … For the first half of the ’80s, Boston were the ghosts in the corporate-rock machine … When Boston’s third album did come out … the lead single from that third album gave Boston their first and only #1 hit … By 1986, Boston were men out of time,” (Stereogum). “Scholz was still conjuring symphonies of antiseptic harmony out of his guitars, and (vocalist) Brad Delp was still wailing out Scholz’s melodies with a high-pitched fervor. “Amanda,” Boston’s only chart-topping single, came out late in 1986, but it was so perfectly ’70s that the song didn’t even have a music video.

… Scholz made guitars sound like keyboards and violins. Boston took crunching riffage from the Grand Funks of the world, the huge-selling and arena-ready boogie bands. They took crystalline harmonies from British prog and art-rock bands. They took at least a bit of melodic charge from the Beatles and the Beach Boys. These were disparate influences, but Scholz made them sound as sealed-off and airtight as the spaceships that he always put on his album covers.

… Before any of his peers, Scholz had figured out how to remove all the grit and grime from rock records, and that ultra-clean sound persisted, largely unchanged, into the mid-’80s. Scholz was playing with synths, and with guitars that sounded like synths, long before most other rockers, so he sounded relatively comfortable in the ’80s synth-rock zeitgeist. And “Amanda” came out at just the right time to capitalize on the growing backlash against the arty British synthpop of the early MTV era. Boston’s sound was a distant ancestor to the big pop sound of the mid-’80s, and that sound, combined with whatever nostalgic affection people had for those first two Boston albums, presumably helped drive “Amanda” up the charts.”

Built in G major overall, this power ballad shifts upward to a I/v progression in E major for its short bridge at 2:59. The key change is compelling enough that the chord progression majestically unwinds not once but twice, unaccompanied by a vocal or an instrumental solo — just a gentle, minimal guitar hook! The lead vocal eventually rejoins, followed somehow by a sneaky broad-daylight reversion to the original key while the bridge is still in effect (3:30).

Love Unlimited | I Belong to You

“The popular worldwide group, Love Unlimited, sold millions of records and performed to sold-out crowds all over the world,” (EurWeb). “The three original members (were) Glodean White (lead singer), Linda James (now Linda Hunziker), and (the late) Diane Taylor. Love Unlimited enjoyed great success with their first single ‘Walking In The Rain With The One I Love,’ their first gold single from the album From a Girl’s Point of View;” the album went Platinum and was produced by Barry White … Barry (worked) with the group and became their manager/writer/producer … ” Glodean later became Barry’s wife.

“Love Unlimited’s second album, Under the Influence of Love (1974), reached #3 on Billboard’s Pop Albums chart; (the trio) became the first female group to reach the top five since Diana Ross and The Supremes. Love Unlimited continued their hot streak with a #1 R&B hit, “I Belong to You” from their gold selling album In Heat.

“I Belong to You,” a classic mid-tempo R+B track in an insistent 6/8, features vocal textures reminiscent of a sidewalk a cappella group. But there’s plenty of instrumental accompaniment, including strings that remind us of the trio’s notable hits with Barry White as the Love Unlimited Orchestra. At 2:49, an unprepared key change shifts up a half-step.

Tatiana Eva-Marie + Avalon Jazz Band | La Mer (Beyond the Sea)

“Accruing around 80 million views on YouTube, Tatiana Eva-Marie was acclaimed as a millennial shaking up the jazz scene by Vanity Fair,” (Old Town School). “Though her interests have led her to explore a wide range of musical styles, Eva-Marie’s craft is always inspired by her own French and Romanian-Gypsy heritage; a love for the Parisian art scene era spanning the 1920s to the 60s; a passion for traditional Gypsy songs; a fascination for New Orleans music; and a deep connection to the Great American Songbook.

Nicknamed the ‘Gypsy-jazz Warbler’ by the New York Times, Tatiana Eva-Marie is a transatlantic bandleader, singer, author, and actress based in Brooklyn. She is known for singing French popular music derived from the Django tradition with Balkan Gypsy and folk influences.”

Written by Jack Lawrence, the tune’s original title was “La Mer” (‘The Sea’), (JonKutner.com) first released in 1945. “Its French lyric was written by Charles Trenet … “It would be three years until Trenet actually recorded the song … he was told that it was ‘not swing enough’ to be a hit; for this reason it sat in a drawer for three years … It was used in the 1948 movie Every Girl Should Be Married, which starred Cary Grant. The song wasn’t quite so imaginative when it was given an English lyric interpretation by Jack Lawrence, but nonetheless it earned Bobby Darin a gold disc.”

Following an AABA form, starting in C major, the tune shifts up for the B section (first to E major from 0:53 – 1:03, then to G major from 1:04 – 1:15) before returning to C major for the final A section.

Sugarloaf | I’ve Got a Song

“The end of the 1960s set the stage for Sugarloaf, with its beginning as the Denver band Chocolate Hair. Keyboardist/vocalist Jerry Corbetta and guitarist Bob Webber … plus Bob Raymond on bass and Myron Pollock on drums … (later) took the name of a mountain summit in the foothills above Boulder … transforming the rock quartet into Sugarloaf,” (Colorado Music Hall of Fame).

“… A mix of rock, R&B, and jazz licks became the basis for the debut LP … the band (produced) a major national hit: “Green-Eyed Lady,” which peaked at No. 3 in October 1970. The song resonated with psychedelic rock fans coming down from the high of the Summer of Love and quickly became the group’s biggest hit.” The band later released another hit, “‘Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You.’ An amusing song about the fickle music industry, the dance-friendly track spelled out, touch-tone style, the phone numbers for CBS Records … (it) became a hit, reaching #9 in March 1975.”

The band’s 1975 uptempo release, “I’ve Got a Song,” didn’t fare as well, only reaching #110 on the US pop charts. Starting in A major, the piano-driven tune shifts into D major after the intro (0:39) and ends in Eb major (3:10).

SWV | Weak

“… the ’90s slow jam against which all ‘90s slow jams would be judged … (peaked) at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1993 (Pitchfork) … ‘Weak’ clearly didn’t leap out to its singer as the era-defining ballad it would become, but then, nor did SWV immediately scan as the pop stars they would turn into months after the release of their 1992 debut, It’s About Time … a certain scrappiness was key to their appeal. They were three self-described around-the-way girls from New York … They blended classic girl-group harmonies and church singing … They embodied the ’90s ideal of not trying too hard …

As if guided by destiny, SWV found themselves in a sweet spot, conversant with R&B radio’s contemporary trends and a greater soul tradition, while offering flair distinct enough to make them really pop … Much of the group’s uniqueness can be chalked up to (lead vocalist) Coko’s candied voice: so guilelessly chirpy as to be surreal … A perpetual source of melisma, she renders short words multisyllabic as a matter of course … the union of hip-hop and soul, the allegiance to the remix, the street style, and conscious elegance all contribute to their status as a quintessential ‘90s R&B group, but more than anything, it was their ability to make it all look easy … “

The original version of this classic tune is worth another listen. But the group’s recent appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts shows the extra depth that live performance offers, as well as a more dynamic arrangement than the original. After a start in F major, 17:32 brings a bridge (enhanced with plenty of audience participation on this version!) which leads to a key change to G major at 17:49.