USA – Page 3

Neil Sedaka | The Hungry Years

“From ‘Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen’ to ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do,’ Neil Sedaka drew on a seemingly endless well of onomatopoeic hooks to enliven his early rock-and-roll records, leaving no Tra-la-la or do-be-doo untouched.” (The Second Disc). “The Juilliard-trained musician and native of Brooklyn, New York was one of the relatively rare few rockers of his generation equally adept at both performing and songwriting. As active members of Don Kirshner’s Aldon Music stable (alongside Carole King and Gerry Goffin as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil!), Sedaka and his frequent lyricist Howard Greenfield turned out one tune after another for a great number of famous artists including Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, and Little Anthony and the Imperials.”

“During his lifetime, Sedaka, who died Feb. 27 in Los Angeles at age 86, translated his craft into beloved Billboard chart hits, including three #1s among nine top 10s as a recording artist on the Billboard Hot 100,” (Billboard). “He totaled 30 entries on the chart overall as a singer, from 1958 to 1980, 26 of which he co-wrote, the bulk with writing partner Howard Greenfield (who passed in 1986). Sedaka co-penned all of his top 10s.”

In addition to writing “Love Will Keep Us Together” (released by Sedaka but later made famous by Captain + Tenille), “Bad Blood” (featuring Elton John), “Laughter in the Rain,” and other hits from his earlier years, Sedaka continued to release albums of his own while writing for other artists.

The Sedaka/Greenfield ballad “The Hungry Years,” a track from the 1975 album of the same title, was released on Elton John’s Rocket Records. Beginning in A major, the track shifts to C major for its second verse and the following chorus (0:35). At 1:58, there’s a return of A major for the next verse. The pattern continues from there. Though something of an also-ran upon its release, the track subsequently became one of most requested tunes at Sedaka’s shows. Sedaka’s distinctive, expressive tenor leads us through a nostalgia-saturated love story. While the arrangement is sweetened by strings, Sedaka’s piano remains central — easily conjuring up his early career in the Brill Building. RIP to a master singer/songwriter — who gave meaning to that term long before its heyday in the 1970s!

The Miracles | Love Machine

The United States turned 200 years old in 1976, and as the bicentennial celebrations ramped up that spring and summer, the music scene was in the middle of a seismic shift,” (Parade). “February 1976 captured American pop music at a crossroads—disco was exploding onto the mainstream charts, soft rock still had a firm grip on radio and the remnants of early ’70s soul were making their last stand before the decade’s second half changed everything. Fifty years later, the songs that climbed the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1976 tell the story of that cultural moment. Some became enduring classics that still get airplay today. Others were brilliant flashes that defined the era before fading into oldies rotation.

Smokey Robinson had left The Miracles five years earlier, but the group proved they didn’t need their legendary founder to craft hits. ‘Love Machine’ became one of their biggest successes, reaching #5 and introducing a more funk-influenced sound than their Motown classics from the ’60s. The song’s mechanized, almost robotic concept of romance felt perfectly timed for the disco era. Lead singer Billy Griffin stepped confidently into Robinson’s formidable shoes, delivering a performance that helped the track become one of 1976’s most memorable dance hits.”

The tune’s form starts with a chorus in a slightly uptuned D minor, followed by a verse in the same key. 0:34 brings a pre-chorus which touches on D major, but leads back to the chorus in the original key (0:47). But it’s the wordless sing-along break (first heard from 1:00 – 1:14) that really leans into D major; the pattern continues from there. Yes, the sections really are that short — this tune moves fast!

Richard Marx | Take This Heart

From a 2023 concert review in Perth, Australia: “Richard Marx is the only male artist in history to land the first seven singles on top five of the Billboard charts,” (SheldonAngMedia). “After selling over 30 million albums, one would imagine the singer songwriter could’ve performed to sell-out arenas across the world … But the American artist has always been about fan engagement since the early days, preferring to carry out his trade at intimate venues.”

“I would describe Richard Marx’s sound as a combination of Toto, Bryan Adams, Chicago and David Foster (SuperCoolGuy)… Although he hasn’t had a top 10 hit as an artist since the 1998’s “At the Beginning” (with Donna Lewis, from the Anastasia animated movie soundtrack), Richard Marx continues to lead a very successful and prolific career, both as an artist, and even more so as a songwriter/producer … His songs have been recorded in a wide range of styles, from country to R&B and of course pop and rock, by a long list of to artists, including Kenny Rogers, Keith Urban, Luther Vandross, N Sync, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, Daughtry, Ringo Starr … “

Starting in D major, this live 2012 version of “Take This Heart” shows Marx’s preference for smaller, more engaging live venues. This performance is pitched a minor third below the original 1991 studio version, but still retains all of the tune’s original energy and spirit. At 1:08, the verse starts, climbing through straightforward chord progressions fancied up with Marx’s trademark inverted voicings. At 1:33, the chorus shifts to E major until the 2:00 return to the original key for the next verse. Marx makes it seems like he could crank out catchy pop tunes by the dozen in the time it would take a lesser songwriter to sweat out just a single track.

Donny Hathaway | Love, Love, Love

“Donny Hathaway was blessed with an effortless musical genius. When the neo-soul movement got underway in the 90s, it became every singer’s default position to pay the utmost respects to him,” (BBC). “If you’ve never heard him, you are in for something of a revelation. Imagine Stevie Wonder and his sweetest and most spiritual – only more so. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see the tributes. A schizophrenic who suffered severe bouts of depression, Hathaway was to commit suicide at just 33 in 1979. A multi-instrumentalist, he lived and breathed music. He was a gospel singer at the age of three, and was composing music in his head at six. As a student he would lead classes and play Bach and Beethoven.

By the time of his fourth and final studio record, Extension of a Man, in 1973 he’d already recorded a blaxploitation soundtrack, 1972’s Come Back Charleston Blue, and a best-selling collaboration with Roberta Flack. Produced by Arif Mardin and Jerry Wexler, Extension is a rich exploration of the human psyche, borrowing from film scores and classical as much as soul music, exploring form and convention … ‘Love, Love, Love’ is his answer to Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On.’ … Mere words cannot contain the grandeur and ambition of Extension of a Man.“

After a harmonically angular intro, the verse of “Love, Love, Love” falls into an uncomplicated Bb major. At 1:06-1:26, the chorus shifts to Db major. After a brief interlude featuring wordless vocals, 1:46 brings the next verse. Although the focus here is personal instead of societal, it would indeed be impossible to miss the influence of Gaye’s 1971 masterpiece “What’s Going On” in terms of the track’s tempo and feel.

Brenda Holloway | You’ve Made Me So Very Happy

The David Clayton-Thomas-flavored version of Blood, Sweat, and Tears had the big hit version of Brenda Holloway’s song, a Billboard #2 in 1969 (previously featured on MotD). (Rapporteur’s note: I can’t hear that version without thinking of my local ice rink, where it was played endlessly over the PA). Holloway’s own recording was less successful, reaching #39 on Billboard in 1967.

The song is credited to Brenda Holloway, her younger sister Patrice, producer Frank Wilson and Motown founder Berry Gordy. While this release was Brenda’s last for Motown, she continued to record; her latest album, My Love is Your Love, was released in 2003. Sister Patrice Holloway was a Motown artist in her own right, gaining later fame as a member of the cartoon band Josie & the Pussycats. Recorded in Los Angeles, the track features an unusually prominent electric bass part played by session ace Carole Kaye — and some perhaps disturbingly loud finger snaps.

There’s a somewhat surprising unprepared upward modulation at 2:16 for the final chorus before the fadeout.

Exposé | Let Me Be the One

“Famous for Latin-flavored dance-pop as well as for adult contemporary ballads, the female vocal trio Exposé enjoyed a great deal of commercial success in the ’80s and early ’90s,” (Qobuz.com). “Exposé was the creation of Miami-based producer/songwriter Lewis A. Martineé, who assembled the original Exposé lineup in 1984.

… Neither Arista Records nor Martineé envisioned Exposé as strictly a club act, and (the group’s 1987 debut album) Exposure received considerable attention from radio thanks to major hits ranging from the adult contemporary ballad ‘Seasons Change’ (which reached number one on Billboard’s pop singles chart) to the R&B/urban-oriented ‘Let Me Be the One,’ which went to #7. Exposure sold more than three million copies in the United States alone.”

Starting with an intro and verse in Eb minor, the synth-driven track shifts to Gb minor for its pre-chorus (0:58 – 1:16) before reverting to the original key for the chorus. The pattern continues from there.

Jan + Dean | Surf City

“‘Surf City’ is part of a proud tradition of songs about imaginary party utopias. It belongs in the same lineage as ‘Funkytown’ and ‘Love Shack’ — starry-eyed dreams about places where everyone is having fun all the time” (Stereogum) … “Jan and Dean didn’t hit their peak until they met Brian Wilson. The duo played a lot of early-’60s shows with the Beach Boys, with the Beach Boys even backing them up a few times.

… Berry wanted to record one of Wilson’s songs. Wilson wouldn’t let them have ‘Surfin’ USA,’ since he knew the Beach Boys were going to record that one. But he hadn’t finished the very similar ‘Surf City’ (1963), though he had written and demoed the first verse and chorus. So Berry finished writing the song, and it became the song that really popularized surf music — and maybe surfing in general — in America … ‘Surf City’ would be Jan and Dean’s only #1, but they kept recording increasingly complex surf-pop jams, often with Wilson, for the next few years (1964’s ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ is a banger).”

Starting in Ab major, the track shifts up to C major at the 2:07 mark before cranking into a chaotic fading outro (normally not heard on the radio … even the short 2:43 run time was often shortened by a DJ’s early fade).

Don McLean | If We Try

“Somehow, enough people have kept Don McLean going through the years in a niche all his own,” (MrMedia) “He has never had a press agent and rarely does interview anymore because, rather dangerously it seems, ‘you get what I think.’ Pete Seeger … hailed him as one of the most talented singer/songwriters he had ever met: ‘He has a clear, intense gaze, a clear voice, and a clear head.’ And angst, lots and lots of pent-up angst for some reason.

‘To be remembered at all, to me, is a wonderful honor,’ McLean says. “But to have ‘And I Love You So,’ ‘Vincent,’ ‘Castles,’ ‘American Pie,’ and a version of ‘Crying’ that stands up to Roy Orbison’s – to have a handful of songs like that, to be remembered by any one of them, I would be very proud of that. I think that those songs are damned near perfect in a lot of ways,’ he says of his own output, ‘even in terms of the records that were made … You shouldn’t get the songs confused with the records. It’s like getting a screenplay confused with the film. You might start out with a great screenplay, but you choose the wrong actors, the wrong director and you come up with a bad film (from) a good story.”

Known primarily for his iconic tunes “American Pie” and “Vincent,” McLean has released two dozen albums. His 1972 folk-pop track “If We Try” begins in A major, shifts gradually to G major for the chorus (0:31 – 0:58).

Shalamar | A Night to Remember

“‘A Night to Remember’ was the second single from American disco group Shalamar (members are Howard Hewett, Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel), and their sixth studio album Friends (1982).” (StoryOfSong). “It was written by Nidra Beard from American band Dynasty, as well as Dana Meyers and Charmaine Sylvers from The Sylvers. The song is also associated with the introduction of the moonwalk dance by Shalamar member Jeffrey Daniel, when the group performed the track live on UK music show Top of the Pops in 1982.

… The music video for the track was released in 1982 … ‘A Night to Remember’ hit charts in only the UK and the USA, charting at #5 in the UK Singles chart, and #44 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #8 on the US Billboard Hot Soul Singles, and #15 on the US Billboard Dance chart.”

After a start in D minor, the tune shifts to Eb minor from the 2:02 mark to the track’s end. As for the moonwalk moment on Top of the Pops: most of the band couldn’t make it the UK, leaving Jeffrey Daniel to wow the crowd with his solo dance moves (see second video below).

Michael McDonald | Love Lies

“Born in Missouri, McDonald moved to Los Angeles in 1970 with his band Blue, worked with Steely Dan from 1975-76, and then joined the Doobie Brothers in 1975, quickly giving the band two big hits — ‘Takin’ It to the Streets’ and ‘It Keeps You Runnin’.’ He’d become the band’s dominant creative force by the time they issued the multiple Grammy Award-winner Minute by Minute in 1978,” (UltimateClassicRock). “McDonald would also collaborate on recordings by good pal Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross (notably ‘Ride Like the Wind’), Bonnie Raitt and Toto, among others.

Yet he remained steadfastly modest. ‘I came up singing in Top 40 bands, so this was just a dream come true,’ McDonald told this writer some years ago. ‘I felt like I was a kid they pushed into a game where he didn’t really belong.’ The ‘endearing thing about Mike was his almost complete inability to recognize his own talents,’ long-time Doobie Brothers producer Ted Templeman wrote in his memoir, A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music. ‘It was charming to see such humility in a musician, and he’d preface each song by telling me, ‘Oh, this one’s nothing special’ … when in fact they were great.’ … McDonald finally found his own spotlight in August 1982 … If That’s What It Takes soared to #6 and was certified gold. ‘I Keep Forgettin” reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 … If That’s What It Takes remained McDonald’s only Top 20 album, however, until a pair of LPs dedicated to Motown covers arrived decades later.”

The animated, funk-infused pop track “Love Lies” is built in F minor overall. But the pre-chorus features a quick shift down to E minor (first heard from 0:37 – 0:46), obscured by a rising melody line. The chorus returns to the original key and the pattern continues from there.