Title: Power's Out
Artist: Nicole Scherzinger ft. Sting
Album: Her Name is Nicole
Released: 2008
Genre: Ballad
Length: 4:09 (full version - will verify)
Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nicolescherzinger/powersout.html
Note: I am having limited resources now, with only limited time. So I am guessing will turn out to be quite limited compared to my previous reviews.
I have only heard of this song around mid or late last year on Magic 89.9 Boys Night Out. This would always be played every night on BNO. The first time I heard this song, I immediately found it very touching. Without even looking for the lyrics of this song, I didn't have the hard time to understand the story of the song.
The lyrics can basically hold two meanings - the direct one and the metaphorical one. So let's deal with the direct one first.
A guy and a girl, in the process of offering their places to each other in the event of a power outage, whatever the cause is. To add a bit of a spice to the story, try to imagine, it's night time and it's raining hard outside. It's not really clear who among the two is offering the place to who at the instance of the song when it was written, or maybe it was intended to be written that way to show that the story is ultimately interchangeable.
Trying to go deeper to its meaning abit, I am guessing the two people involved in the song are somewhat "more than friends, but less than lovers." You know, the kind of best friends thing that they know they're special to each other but somehow they just couldn't say that they want to get hitched. This potentially momentous event for them could be actually one of the few chances they got to try to open their hearts up to each other, in a way that suggests that they can be submissive to the other.
Now let's go to the music. I am not sure how many people in the world who can recognize Nicole and Sting as world class modern singers would have thought they would do a duet, and they would sound really great together. But I sure didn't think it would happen. And here, they made a song together and they sound really great with Nicole's powerful but very sincere voice and Sting's "specially stinging" voice.
The rhythm and the melody, if you try to listen to them individually, are something that I would consider a bit opposites in the musical way. The rhythm is quite minimalistic, messing only with a few chords in the key of C (Am, Em, F, C, /Bb), with Bb the only note off the scale, and making the variation of Dm, C, G, while the melody is very dynamic, using eight notes and half notes in one series, and even more dynamic making use of series of staccato notes (not sure if this can also be used in vocals) then connecting to quarter notes in legato (in the line "The world is just a super sized merry go round..."). But listening to the rhythm and the melody as a whole is just a creative way of composing music.
Vocal ranges demonstrated for both singers in this song are quite high, with Sting peaking at A4 and Nicole at D5 using only their normal voices. The peak notes may not be as highlighting as other songs (e.g. Arnel Pineda's long portamento from B4 up to E5 using his normal voice in the ending of Separate Ways - not sure if Steve Perry was able to do this before, but I'm sure he was very well able to do it in his prime), but the highlight to this song is the mesh of Sting and Nicole's voice. And moreover, the message along with the rhythm of the song would not need such power delivered from high notes. Also, what Nicole did in the song, was pretty much what Sting did too. If my ears (and now with limited resources to verify) serves me right, they are both messing with more or less the same octave (fourth octave), with Nicole just needing to go a few semitones up for the duet parts.
Replicating the song wouldn't be much of a problem for the instrumentalists. I wouldn't go much further on that. The vocalists may have a bit of an obstacle here, but I am guessing this will still be not much of a problem. Mental note of the peak notes I have mentioned above: A4 for the male, D5 for the female. That is honestly relatively easy to do, even for singers with only two octave range. But remember that A4 is just a few semitones down from the highest note a tenor singer can normally sing without utilizing falsetto, while D5 is just a few semitones higher from the middle part of the vocal range of a soprano or even a mezzo-soprano. Meaning, at the peak notes, a tenor with only a two-octave range (say C3 to C5) may already be exerting much effort than the soprano with a two-octave range (say C4 to C6).
Of all the years in my life listening to a lot of music, I have decided that this song is definitely one of the best duets for all time. And to think this is a collaboration of two singers a few musical generations away (Sting is 58 years old; Nicole is 31 years old), they sure made a hell of a song. This would have been very fit in the Manila scene way back in 1993-1994 when typhoons were really coming here in a regular basis temporarily losing electricity, and just experiencing power outage, eventhough there were no typhoons. Nonetheless, I consider this song one of my top favorites.
Showing posts with label song analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label song analysis. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Dancing Into The Moonlight by D'Sound
Song Title: Dancing Into The Moonlight
Artist: D'Sound
Album: Doublehearted
Released: 2003
Genre: Pop/Jazz
Length: 4:18
Lyrics: http://artists.letssingit.com/d-sound-lyrics-dancing-in-to-the-moonlight-42q1cj9
A few years back, my brother bought a D'Sound album entitled Smooth Escapes: The Very Best Of D' Sound. I cannot remember very well but if I'm not mistaken, it is a 20-song album (will verify this), obviously taking their best songs from the band's albums. And guess what, this is the song that I liked the most in that compilation - better than their hits Tattoed On My Mind, People Are People, Talkin' Talk and Do I Need A Reason.
The story this song is sharing to the listeners is pretty simple and straightforward - basically the vocalist shares her experiences, feelings and thoughts of being in love and being with her lover. And it is also evident that whatever she feels about and for her lover, she is generally receiving the quality of love complimenting what she is sharing. In other words, the feeling is mutual, "Knowing that you are just mine."
It's easy to understand how she expresses her feelings for her lover, as the lyrics, for the most part, only uses either the simple form or just a shallow usage of a few figures of speech. Nothing really fancy on the wordings, except for two lines in the bridge:
"The fireflies starting a flame
The waves are all saying your name"
When I first heard these lines after listening to two and a half minutes of purely good music, my eyebrows just crossed for curiosity. Honestly, I really don't like how this part was written. I am not entirely saying that this was poorly written, but try to relate it to the rest of the song. Somehow, the entire song was simply written, then the songwriter suddenly thought of putting two personification lines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification). The song was pushed down momentarily for maybe an unnecessary depth. And trying to realize what those two lines would mean, it's like suggesting that the girl is getting overly obsessed for her lover. And to add to that, after the bridge, the song goes back to chorus, going back to its original depth, without any continuity from the bridge.
The music itself is very captivating. Even if you make this as an instrumental without changing anything, this would still do very well. Just hearing the intro part, which already has meaningful notes and great delay/reverb effects, you'd almost instantly think "Oh I feel this is going to be a very happy love song." I'm not sure if a lot of people can appreciate this, but the percussions in the intro part was just very simple BUT very nice. The clapper and the bass were the only ones being used on that part. I do not know if they have a musical term for it. At 0:11, in the transition between two intro riffs, the clapper was hit on an off beat manner, that it quite emphasized the transition part.
The entire song showcased the guitars (with the guitarist with a very good limb to brain coordination, switching the effects so frequently in the whole length) with a very significant amount of delay, echo and reverb, except for the ending part using overdrive (3:37 to end). You'd only be noticing there are not much notes used in the whole stretch, and maybe only four eighth notes used in a series in one measure. The sounds of the notes were just carried by the effects, and that helps the notes to be kept in legato. The bass basically served as a backbone, especially on the stanzas and the instrumental part - maybe more needed as a backbone compared to most of the other songs).
Hearing this song for the first time and not relating to other D'Sound songs, I wouldn't be surprised if some people would say Simone Larsen's (lead vocalist) voice is not out of the ordinary. A reasonable percentage of female singers can definitely emulate Simone in this song. But mind you, it's not all about sounding unique, but it's more of how the vocalist can relate and mesh his/her voice to the music and the lyrics combined. Simone's voice in this song reveals a female's personality of being a fierce lover. Sweet sounding, but fierce lover.
It's going to be tricky if you decide that this song deserves more attention and come up to cover this, not actually heavy on the fingering skill part. Take note, the only chords used in the whole song are Em7, DM7, Am, Em7/F#, GM7. Nothing really special in those chords, not even a single accidental (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_(music)) used in the whole song (if I haven't missed out a thing). But the tricks will fall on having to utilize two lead guitarists (I think this is necessary to play this song closest to the original) exchanging notes alternatively (that would seem to look like a dialogue of two instrumentalists). It is imperative that the two guitarists don't play with exactly the same effect at the same time, because that will almost just momentarily defeat the purpose of having two separate guitarists. And yea, a backup female singer for the second voice would be a plus.
Vocal range for the whole song is not really wide, but in the higher part of the normal soprano range. Floor is A4 and peaks at A5 (the bridge only peaks at G5). No fancy combination of notes. That's not so hard for the vocalist.
I've always imagined this song to be played on acoustics, but never knew how this would sound. But for me, the best acoustic setup for this song would be two acoustic guitars, the bass guitar and the percussions. I think it would work better if the acoustic guitars would still stick with the delay effects, so that would be two guitars on clean + delay (two same effects throughout the song - as opposed to what I have mentioned above playing with the exact same effect at the same time). Maybe to at least to deviate and compromise abit from having two guitars with the same effect, one of the guitarist can play one octave lower, so as to put emphasis on it. But having them play as it is would still be workable.
This is a must-have for people who loves pop love songs. If it weren't for the two personification lines that I have mentioned above, I would have rated this song a perfect 10 out of 10. But anyway, the simplistic nature of the lyrics and how it was sung meshed with a very enchantic music make me listen to this song everytime I can. I have always believed that this song deserves more recognition that it has been currently receiving.
Artist: D'Sound
Album: Doublehearted
Released: 2003
Genre: Pop/Jazz
Length: 4:18
Lyrics: http://artists.letssingit.com/d-sound-lyrics-dancing-in-to-the-moonlight-42q1cj9
A few years back, my brother bought a D'Sound album entitled Smooth Escapes: The Very Best Of D' Sound. I cannot remember very well but if I'm not mistaken, it is a 20-song album (will verify this), obviously taking their best songs from the band's albums. And guess what, this is the song that I liked the most in that compilation - better than their hits Tattoed On My Mind, People Are People, Talkin' Talk and Do I Need A Reason.
The story this song is sharing to the listeners is pretty simple and straightforward - basically the vocalist shares her experiences, feelings and thoughts of being in love and being with her lover. And it is also evident that whatever she feels about and for her lover, she is generally receiving the quality of love complimenting what she is sharing. In other words, the feeling is mutual, "Knowing that you are just mine."
It's easy to understand how she expresses her feelings for her lover, as the lyrics, for the most part, only uses either the simple form or just a shallow usage of a few figures of speech. Nothing really fancy on the wordings, except for two lines in the bridge:
"The fireflies starting a flame
The waves are all saying your name"
When I first heard these lines after listening to two and a half minutes of purely good music, my eyebrows just crossed for curiosity. Honestly, I really don't like how this part was written. I am not entirely saying that this was poorly written, but try to relate it to the rest of the song. Somehow, the entire song was simply written, then the songwriter suddenly thought of putting two personification lines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification). The song was pushed down momentarily for maybe an unnecessary depth. And trying to realize what those two lines would mean, it's like suggesting that the girl is getting overly obsessed for her lover. And to add to that, after the bridge, the song goes back to chorus, going back to its original depth, without any continuity from the bridge.
The music itself is very captivating. Even if you make this as an instrumental without changing anything, this would still do very well. Just hearing the intro part, which already has meaningful notes and great delay/reverb effects, you'd almost instantly think "Oh I feel this is going to be a very happy love song." I'm not sure if a lot of people can appreciate this, but the percussions in the intro part was just very simple BUT very nice. The clapper and the bass were the only ones being used on that part. I do not know if they have a musical term for it. At 0:11, in the transition between two intro riffs, the clapper was hit on an off beat manner, that it quite emphasized the transition part.
The entire song showcased the guitars (with the guitarist with a very good limb to brain coordination, switching the effects so frequently in the whole length) with a very significant amount of delay, echo and reverb, except for the ending part using overdrive (3:37 to end). You'd only be noticing there are not much notes used in the whole stretch, and maybe only four eighth notes used in a series in one measure. The sounds of the notes were just carried by the effects, and that helps the notes to be kept in legato. The bass basically served as a backbone, especially on the stanzas and the instrumental part - maybe more needed as a backbone compared to most of the other songs).
Hearing this song for the first time and not relating to other D'Sound songs, I wouldn't be surprised if some people would say Simone Larsen's (lead vocalist) voice is not out of the ordinary. A reasonable percentage of female singers can definitely emulate Simone in this song. But mind you, it's not all about sounding unique, but it's more of how the vocalist can relate and mesh his/her voice to the music and the lyrics combined. Simone's voice in this song reveals a female's personality of being a fierce lover. Sweet sounding, but fierce lover.
It's going to be tricky if you decide that this song deserves more attention and come up to cover this, not actually heavy on the fingering skill part. Take note, the only chords used in the whole song are Em7, DM7, Am, Em7/F#, GM7. Nothing really special in those chords, not even a single accidental (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_(music)) used in the whole song (if I haven't missed out a thing). But the tricks will fall on having to utilize two lead guitarists (I think this is necessary to play this song closest to the original) exchanging notes alternatively (that would seem to look like a dialogue of two instrumentalists). It is imperative that the two guitarists don't play with exactly the same effect at the same time, because that will almost just momentarily defeat the purpose of having two separate guitarists. And yea, a backup female singer for the second voice would be a plus.
Vocal range for the whole song is not really wide, but in the higher part of the normal soprano range. Floor is A4 and peaks at A5 (the bridge only peaks at G5). No fancy combination of notes. That's not so hard for the vocalist.
I've always imagined this song to be played on acoustics, but never knew how this would sound. But for me, the best acoustic setup for this song would be two acoustic guitars, the bass guitar and the percussions. I think it would work better if the acoustic guitars would still stick with the delay effects, so that would be two guitars on clean + delay (two same effects throughout the song - as opposed to what I have mentioned above playing with the exact same effect at the same time). Maybe to at least to deviate and compromise abit from having two guitars with the same effect, one of the guitarist can play one octave lower, so as to put emphasis on it. But having them play as it is would still be workable.
This is a must-have for people who loves pop love songs. If it weren't for the two personification lines that I have mentioned above, I would have rated this song a perfect 10 out of 10. But anyway, the simplistic nature of the lyrics and how it was sung meshed with a very enchantic music make me listen to this song everytime I can. I have always believed that this song deserves more recognition that it has been currently receiving.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Soon by Moonpools and Caterpillars
Song Title: Soon
Artist: Moonpools and Caterpillars
Album: Lucky Dumpling
Released: 1995
Genre: Alternative
Length: 4:29
Lyrics: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/moonpools-and-caterpillars-soon-lyrics.html
So, this is going to be the first song that I will share my analysis on. :) Be noted that these are going to be all my own opinions.
"Soon" is the first and only song that I know that was composed by Moonpools and Caterpillars. It is quite a conservative but catchy song for its own right. It sounds really simple and friendly to my ears, but of course, there's more than just the music.
What does this song trying to tell us? Well, when I listened to the lyrics, it took me maybe three or four times of playing this song before I tried check the lyrics out in the internet basically because Kimi Ward-Encarnacion (lead singer) has this distinct accent that prevented me (and probably the other listeners) to entirely get the lyrics by just listening to the song.
Reading on the lyrics, there seemed to be no direct person the song was intended for - whether if this is for a lover or another friend or whatnot. But definitely, there was a struggle between two person with the vocalist one of the two. It is quite confusing when you try to picture the situation of the vocalist at that point of singing, as the two stanzas aren't really that relative to each other.
In the manner of sending a message across, it could have been done by adding a bridge aside from the existing instrumental. But musicwise, adding a bridge can make it sound overly dragging already. A four and a half minute song for a conservative alternative song with a monotonous melody is just enough - adding some thirty seconds may overdo it.
So taking its music as it is, as I have already mentioned twice, the melody is quite monotonous - key is C major, and used only one note off the scale (F#). But despite that, it is very effective. That would be a kind of song that you would listen to anytime of the day, whichever mood you'd be, whatever lyrics would be written with that music.
The melody may be monotonous, but this is very much compromised by the simple level of variety how the song was sung - quite a variety of notes how the choruses were sung differently. I am actually a fan of it - showing progression. Obviously, the first chorus uses an initial set of notes with a smaller span (rough guess: C4 up to A4), then the succeeding choruses stretch up to D5 then if up to F#5. That easily shows progression and more power as the song progresses. I can actually dissect this even further, but it's going to be unnecessarily long.
The first part of the intro (0:00-0:10) may prove to be the signature of the song. It is just a four-measure simple BUT distinct drum riff. Something like that if you hear that riff somewhere from the background, you would almost bet you're hearing this song (I honestly cannot dissect the drumbeat to an intermediate level, because I did not learn to play the instrument).
I honestly felt that the first part of the instrumental (2:57-3:07) was a bit bland. It was almost given that there is nothing much special from the bass in the entire song, so for that four measures of the same drum riff and plain bass riff, it really sounded bland and plain. I understand that that part is a build up for its latter part with the harmonica, but I believe that they could have done a bit of a better build up - maybe put a simple and short lead guitar part or something (harmonics would do like in 3:15-3:17).
Covering this song as it is would not be really hard to do. The bass and the rhythm guitar parts are pretty simple and playable by virtually anyone who plays the guitars. Rhythm guitars will only need to switch from clean to distorted, and so on. I know harmonica players are not that easy to find, but it can be easily replaced by a keyboardist (for 3:07-3:37).
If you really want to sound like how Kimi sang this song, you will really need a very special voice. Her voice is not really ordinary, as she brings sincerity and power at the same time along with her very distinct accent. Vocal range is C4 up to D5, but drops at G3 and peaks at F#5 (not 100% sure - will verify again on a better time). That range is not going to be that hard for a natural soprano, if she wouldn't mind not sounding like Kimi. But a female with a rocker attitude voice would definitely be a plus.
Overall, the song is very effective. Simplistic sounds and notes, but very well carried by the vocalist. This may be very well loved by music lovers ranging from slow ballad lovers up to the rock lovers, as this song shows a pretty good balance of the both as an alternative song, and I won't be too surprised on people having this on their playlist. :)
Additional notes: Several years back I was asked by a friend to temporarily replace one of their band members for this certain gig. To cut the story really short, at practice time, we ended up playing an acoustic version of this song - piano and singer only. We played it at the same tempo as the original, and it sounded very great. It was very effective. The notes for the piano need not to be that complicated, as long as I was able to follow the rhtyhm of the song, and translated it to notes. It was pretty good, worthy of some recording time.
Artist: Moonpools and Caterpillars
Album: Lucky Dumpling
Released: 1995
Genre: Alternative
Length: 4:29
Lyrics: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/moonpools-and-caterpillars-soon-lyrics.html
So, this is going to be the first song that I will share my analysis on. :) Be noted that these are going to be all my own opinions.
"Soon" is the first and only song that I know that was composed by Moonpools and Caterpillars. It is quite a conservative but catchy song for its own right. It sounds really simple and friendly to my ears, but of course, there's more than just the music.
What does this song trying to tell us? Well, when I listened to the lyrics, it took me maybe three or four times of playing this song before I tried check the lyrics out in the internet basically because Kimi Ward-Encarnacion (lead singer) has this distinct accent that prevented me (and probably the other listeners) to entirely get the lyrics by just listening to the song.
Reading on the lyrics, there seemed to be no direct person the song was intended for - whether if this is for a lover or another friend or whatnot. But definitely, there was a struggle between two person with the vocalist one of the two. It is quite confusing when you try to picture the situation of the vocalist at that point of singing, as the two stanzas aren't really that relative to each other.
In the manner of sending a message across, it could have been done by adding a bridge aside from the existing instrumental. But musicwise, adding a bridge can make it sound overly dragging already. A four and a half minute song for a conservative alternative song with a monotonous melody is just enough - adding some thirty seconds may overdo it.
So taking its music as it is, as I have already mentioned twice, the melody is quite monotonous - key is C major, and used only one note off the scale (F#). But despite that, it is very effective. That would be a kind of song that you would listen to anytime of the day, whichever mood you'd be, whatever lyrics would be written with that music.
The melody may be monotonous, but this is very much compromised by the simple level of variety how the song was sung - quite a variety of notes how the choruses were sung differently. I am actually a fan of it - showing progression. Obviously, the first chorus uses an initial set of notes with a smaller span (rough guess: C4 up to A4), then the succeeding choruses stretch up to D5 then if up to F#5. That easily shows progression and more power as the song progresses. I can actually dissect this even further, but it's going to be unnecessarily long.
The first part of the intro (0:00-0:10) may prove to be the signature of the song. It is just a four-measure simple BUT distinct drum riff. Something like that if you hear that riff somewhere from the background, you would almost bet you're hearing this song (I honestly cannot dissect the drumbeat to an intermediate level, because I did not learn to play the instrument).
I honestly felt that the first part of the instrumental (2:57-3:07) was a bit bland. It was almost given that there is nothing much special from the bass in the entire song, so for that four measures of the same drum riff and plain bass riff, it really sounded bland and plain. I understand that that part is a build up for its latter part with the harmonica, but I believe that they could have done a bit of a better build up - maybe put a simple and short lead guitar part or something (harmonics would do like in 3:15-3:17).
Covering this song as it is would not be really hard to do. The bass and the rhythm guitar parts are pretty simple and playable by virtually anyone who plays the guitars. Rhythm guitars will only need to switch from clean to distorted, and so on. I know harmonica players are not that easy to find, but it can be easily replaced by a keyboardist (for 3:07-3:37).
If you really want to sound like how Kimi sang this song, you will really need a very special voice. Her voice is not really ordinary, as she brings sincerity and power at the same time along with her very distinct accent. Vocal range is C4 up to D5, but drops at G3 and peaks at F#5 (not 100% sure - will verify again on a better time). That range is not going to be that hard for a natural soprano, if she wouldn't mind not sounding like Kimi. But a female with a rocker attitude voice would definitely be a plus.
Overall, the song is very effective. Simplistic sounds and notes, but very well carried by the vocalist. This may be very well loved by music lovers ranging from slow ballad lovers up to the rock lovers, as this song shows a pretty good balance of the both as an alternative song, and I won't be too surprised on people having this on their playlist. :)
Additional notes: Several years back I was asked by a friend to temporarily replace one of their band members for this certain gig. To cut the story really short, at practice time, we ended up playing an acoustic version of this song - piano and singer only. We played it at the same tempo as the original, and it sounded very great. It was very effective. The notes for the piano need not to be that complicated, as long as I was able to follow the rhtyhm of the song, and translated it to notes. It was pretty good, worthy of some recording time.
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