Vulfpeck is a Michigan-based funk band that has released 10 albums and embarked on three tours. The group, comprised of Joe Dart, Woody Goss, Theo Katzman and Jack Stratton, headlined a sold out concert at Madison Square Garden in 2019, becoming one of the first bands to do so without the backing of a major label or manager.
“Business Casual” is the seventh track on their 2017 album Mr. Finish Line, and features the Danish singer Coco O. It begins in Db and smoothly slides up to D at 2:02.
“Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman are an Emmy Award winning musical composing duo based in Los Angeles,” (WendyAndLisa.com). “They both started their careers in one of the most successful rock bands of the 80s, Prince & the Revolution. They continued to work as a duo and released five original albums as well as pursuing a career path in scoring feature films and television. Since 1995’s box office hit Dangerous Minds, Wendy & Lisa have set a successful track record scoring films such as Soul Food, Something New, television series’ Crossing Jordan, Nurse Jackie, Mercy, and the Emmy-nominated NBC series Heroes, Touch, No Tomorrow, and Shades of Blue.
Apart from their composing career, Wendy & Lisa are often sought out for their song writing and collaboration skills. They have collaborated on albums with Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Neil Finn, Seal, and Grace Jones, to name a few.” The now-defunct publication Music + Media described the duo: “(they) remain heavily influenced by Prince … (proving) that not only can they stand on their own two feet, but also how important they are to Prince’s Revolution.”
“Honeymoon Express” was a single from the duo’s 1987 debut album Wendy + Lisa, which cracked the top 100 album charts in the US, the UK, and Holland. The track, a funk-infused romp that clearly shows the influence of The Purple One, depends almost entirely on its compelling groove, syncopated Prince-esque keyboard hooks (most noticeable at 0:18 and 2:14) and roving melodic sensibility, as its harmonic vocabulary is quite limited! The intro and verse are built in E dorian; the pre-chorus lifts up to G dorian (0:45), returning us to E dorian for the chorus at 1:03. The pattern continues from there.
Last month the Broadway production of Aladdin celebrated its tenth anniversary on the Great White Way, with no signs of slowing down. It has played over 3,500 performances for 6 million audience members, and been one of the top 10 highest-grossing shows for nearly every week of its run. A successful national tour ran in the US, and 11 additional productions of Aladdin have opened on four continents.
“Somebody’s Got Your Back” comes near the end of Act 2 and was one of a few songs written specifically for the musical and not included in the original Disney movie. It begins in C and modulates to Db at 1:12. There are a number of brief key changes in the dance break starting at 1:35, and a return to C for the end at 2:30.
“The holiday season of 1979 was in full swing when Detroit legends The Spinners released their version of the Four Seasons’ 1966 classic, ‘Working My Way Back to You'” (Rhino Records). “… The Spinners retooled the tune with a symphonic disco-funk groove, and the interpolation of Michael Zager’s ‘Forgive Me Girl.’ Showcasing the booming bass vocals of singer Pervis Jackson, the energetic track was a hit on the holiday airwaves across pop and R&B stations.
As the track rang up those radio spins, ‘Working My Way Back to You’ danced up the charts to peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the weeks of March 29, 1980, and April 5, 1980. The song that kept the Spinners from #1? Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).’ Over on the Hot R&B Songs chart, the tune hit #6 over the week of March 22, 1980. The #1 song on the chart that week: The Whispers with ‘And the Beat Goes On.'”
After the multi-section tune begins to draw to a close, an unexpected and extremely late modulation (up two whole steps, from C major to E major) hits at 3:48. On the final fade-out, the tracks’s energy refuses to recede, but the lead tenor’s vocal line launches into the stratosphere!
“Couch injects each project with their signature flavor: expressive horns, warm vocals, and bubbling synths—crafting an oasis of joy for musicians and non-musicians alike, ” reads the description of the 7 piece Boston-based band Couch on their website. The group’s music synthesizes funk, r&b, and soul; they released their debut EP in 2021 and follow-up, Sunshower, in 2023. While the band members were all studying at different universities, they wrote and recorded virtually, and in 2023 embarked on a multi-city tour with a sold-out run in the UK.
“Poems” was released as a single in 2022. It begins in G and shifts up to A at 2:28.
For the 1973 film The Way We Were, Barbra Streisand served in the role of leading lady and also a mainstay of the soundtrack. “Marvin Hamlisch came up with the melody; he was asked to write in the minor mode, but instead wrote in the major.” (SuperSeventies.com). “‘If I’d written in a minor mode, it might have told you too much in advance,’ he said, ‘that Streisand and Redford were never going to get together. So, I wrote a melody that was sad, but also had a great deal of hope in it.’ The tune was completed by a husband-and-wife songwriting team, Marilyn and Alan Bergman.
Streisand’s single broke in late November 1973, and reached number one in mid-February 1974. It was her first number one hit, and first single to stay on the charts for more than five months. It earned an Academy Award as the Best Film Song of 1973, Billboard ‘s award as the Top Pop Single of 1974, and a Grammy as Song of the Year.” The powerful ballad served as fodder for covers by a range of performers including Andy Williams, Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Beyoncé, and more.
But the tune’s most memorable cover might have been Gladys Knight’s 1974 version from her album I Feel a Song. Mixing in extensive quotes of “Try to Remember” from Broadway’s The Fantastiks before adding a half-step modulation (3:00) not found in Streisand’s original, Knight leaves her distinctive signature on the tune.
“Power pop. It’s the redheaded stepchild of rock,” (PopMatters). “It started as a quick fix description of those mid-’90s bands who turned their noses up at grunge and preferred the sunny melodies and crunchy guitars of such luminaries as the Beatles, Big Star, the Raspberries, Cheap Trick, and, last but certainly not least, Jellyfish, who may be the first band to be christened with the dreaded power pop moniker … In 1999, power pop very nearly broke into the mainstream, thanks to a number of strong outings from artists such as John Faye Power Trip (whose debut also turned out to be their swan song), Ben Folds Five’s dark but dazzling The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner … Even Nik Kershaw turned in the best record of his career with 15 Minutes, a near flawless guitar pop album, and XTC resurfaced after a self-imposed seven-year exile with the orchestral pop masterpiece Apple Venus Vol. I.
However, those albums all paled in comparison to the 1999 debut of one Will Owsley. After Owsley’s first attempt at rock stardom crashed and burned in the form of the infamously unreleased Semantics album Powerbill (now available as Japanese import), he went on tour supporting Amy Grant and Shania Twain, making enough money in the process to build his own recording studio. He then made an album with his own money and offered it to the labels as is. Eventually, Giant Records bit (and later, bit the dust) and released Owsley, a fantastic collection of new wave- and classic pop-fueled gems that heralded the arrival of a Major New Talent.”
“Zavelow House,” a track from that eponymous debut album, tells a story that’s likely familiar to North Americans who grew up in the suburbs: That One House(TM) — abandoned, growing weeds through cracks in the driveway, windows boarded up. Not surprisingly, the local kids are scared but intrigued, with imaginations working overtime. Built in E major overall, the groove-driven track shifts to A major for an instrumental bridge (2:02 – 2:24) before returning to E. At 3:16, A major returns and holds sway until the final chord drops back into E.
Lenny Cocco, the founder and lead vocalist of the New York City-based doo-wop vocal group The Chimes, “was deeply influenced by his parents and motivated by his father, Leonard,” (TheChimesMusic). “A professionally accomplished accordionist, (Leonard) advised Lenny to focus on Tommy Dorsey’s 1937 number one hit, ‘Once In Awhile.’ Lenny arranged the standard to work itself well with his vocal quintet. Standards were their passion!
In 1960, they visited the Brill Building in Manhattan, New York, to record a demo. The engineer during the session introduced them to Andy Leonetti, of TAG Records. Within minutes their lives were changed.” In 1961, the tune reached #11 on the US pop charts and #15 in Canada. “As a result, their major bookings, in the beginning, were in intimate theaters, such as The Howard in Washington, D.C., the Regal in Chicago and the Apollo in Harlem, New York. The intimate theater setting bonded people together like never before … The group made two appearances on ‘American Bandstand’ with Dick Clark” and had several other minor hits during the early 1960s.
The 12/8 tune could easily serve as an example of the doo wop genre as a whole. After beginning in Eb major, there’s a shift to G major for the bridge (1:08 – 1:35) before the track returns to the original key.
“Fall Again” was written and originally recorded by Michael Jackson in 1999, and subsequently covered by Canadian R&B singer Glenn Lewis for the 2002 film Maid in Manhattan. Lewis makes a brief appearance performing the song in the film, which starred Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes.
The track begins in E minor and modulates up a half step to F minor at 3:06.
The Sweet Inspirations are a vocal group, formed in the late 1950s, best-known as backup singers for other artists, appearing on recordings for Van Morrison, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Jimi Hendrix, the James Gang, and Yusef Lateef. They toured with Elvis Presley towards the end of his career.
The original members included Doris Troy, who had a hit with “Just One Look” and recorded an album for the Beatles’ Apple label; future superstar Dionne Warwick; and Warwick’s sister Dee Dee. The later lineup on the cut here features lead vocalist Cissy Houston, mother of 1980s superstar Whitney Houston and the aunt of the Warwick sisters. The other members of this classic lineup were Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown, and Myrna Smith. A version of the group continues to tour to this day (Encyclopedia of Popular Music).
Besides their backup work, the group recorded their own singles and albums. [Ed. note: I first became aware of the group from their 1968 single named for the group, “Sweet Inspiration”.] The track here appeared on their third Atlantic album, What The World Needs Now Is Love, and was released as a single. The album, produced by Tom Dowd and arranged by Arif Mardin, bears the unmistakable sonic signature of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (you could ID Roger Hawkins’ snare in a police lineup.)
“Unchained Melody,” with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret, was written for the 1955 movie Unchained. The Righteous Brothers’ 1965 single on Phil Spector’s Phillie Records is probably the most famous recording of the song. That version features a languorous 12/8 rhythm, extracting maximum emotion from Bobby Hatfield’s tenor. The Sweets’ version (1968) is in straight 4/4 and is a bit more up-tempo, but Cissy Houston’s soaring lead is no less emotive.
There’s a half-step modulation at 1:48 as the verse repeats.
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