That ROUND SOUND: cmc vol. 18

Friends, the year is 1977. Or 1973. Or 1979. Or sometime thereabouts. A group of backing musicians, including an electric guitarist, a drummer, and - most notably - a keyboardist ("electric piano" they call it) stand about waiting; their unkempt mountains of hair in seeming contrast to the velvetty-blue sheen on the stage and setting, and perhaps in their tight clothes which - while perhaps a bit garish, are expensive looking and new. Finally, the lead singer appears and the whole band launches into some sort of crazy sound not heard in the decade before. The audience can't put their collective fingers on it. The lead singer's voice is a full, clear tenor, unlike the gravelly, rockin' screams of post doo-wop rock 'n roll to date. The arrangement is lush, the smooth sound of electric piano drawing the bars and various other strains of music together. Drums and rhythm section, while not remotely funky are most definitely groovy. Yes! Groove! Like the grooves on an LP! This music grooves. It curls and twists and asks you to get high with it and meet you later at the Regal Beagle. Lower your resistance, forget what you think you remember about these songs - and this period of history in rock and roll. Think this is Freedom Rock? Think again!! This is the Round Sound. Can you dig it?

1. I'm Not in Love - 10cc: This track, by a bit of a throwaway 70s band (my apologies if anyone feels otherwise), perhaps captures as pure of a "Round Sound" feel as anything out there. Indeed, this had been on my appreciation list - but in that category of 70s song where my attitude is "Man - I love the song, but there's no way I'd ever buy an album" (along with Eric Carmen's All by Myself and Carly Simon's Nobody Does it Better amongst many, many others) for many years. Enter iTunes. In this song, the electric piano isn't just present, it drives the entire melody. I've always loved the jazz chords, and the way they sort of "step" around, under the vocals. I really love the "step up" right before each "I'm not in love," passage. And the vocal: great example of a Round Sound voice. Clear-as-a -ell 70s croonin'. Unfortunately, there's a number of weaknesses in the song, and I feel I should address them, individually. The words are pretty lame, and I'm sorry for that. Worse, that ridiculous British-accented woman's "big boys don't cry" should be making the two guys in 10cc wince and cringe every time they hear it - even now, 30 years later. Man, that's bad. That's producer-driven crap if I've ever heard it, kind of like that big "shhhhhienk!" sound in U2's Unforgettable Fire. And finally - that Naked Eyes "responsoral" sort of keyboard is just too much. So - for all that - sorry. Somehow, I still feel this is the right song to kick off the collection.

2. Run That Body Down - Paul Simon: OK, I realize that there will probably be precious few "new" songs for anyone in this collection, and for that I apologize again. It's not been my modus operandi thus far in the CMC Music Factory. I know that discovering songs you didn't know before is one of the nicest benefits in this collective, and so it is in that spirit (I'm thinking, unless all of your Paul Simon discographies run deeper than I guess) that I offer this song up. Run That Body Down is a relatively little-known track on Paul's debut album, which I think shares a lot with Paul McMartney's debut, beyond the fact that they were both epynonymous. Both albums were a chance for artists that had a legendary body of work as part of a group to offer up their own intimate, more casual sounding collection of songs that, stylistically, were major departures from what their fans had come to expect. Also interesting (and bear with me as this prelude to the actual discussion of the song gets longer and longer) that Paul Simon & Paul McCartney are among this elite level of songwriter (also see Elton John, on this collection; and Billy Joel, regrettably left off the collection) who relish the opportunity to immerse themselves in the "sound of the day." Perhaps other artists whose careers span decades are willing and/or able to do so similarly, but these four guys I note particularly as having the ability to do so with great success, both commercially and artistically. They all seem to have been quite comfortable adapting their respective "sounds" as the decades rolled by. And that ability - or at least one sample of that ability - is showcased on That Round Sound. Now...about this song: this is Paul Simon groovin' in a way that nobody really guessed at before this album. Spare acoustic guitar, Paul's mellow voice which progresses into a falsetto that complements wonderfully those electric keyboard notes, while "rounding" along a lyrical work that is - on the surface - an inconsequential, repetitive sort of allegory. I love the words! I take them for face value. Paul goes into the doctor, gets an earful, then turns around and takes it out on everyone else he knows.

3. Reminiscing - Little River Band: Aftershocks (17 years into the future) of my personal feelings of being on the outside looking in in terms of sophisticated musical tastes (think: Journey vs. The Police) make me a little nervous about introducing a song by LRB into the mix. Admittedly, this is the group that brought you Happy Anniversary, Baby. They were hit & miss, for sure. But I can't run away from myself. And I can't deny to myself that this is about as good as it gets for me. I love this song. I love everything about it, and so I'll talk about lots of it. I love Glen Shorrock's voice. He was born to sing That Round Sound. Just wailing around "I wanna build my world around you!" More electric piano jazz chords in this song. Let me know if you don't get what I'm talking about. I'm not sure I'm defining them correctly, but it's sort of a dissonant (definition: sounding right, but not quite right) little chord of 2 notes. These things are used constantly in this song, under the main verses. I love the little "dingity ding" electric guitar chords that move along with the rhythm. Precursors of Prince, almost - but much more mellow. When the strings come in: Wonderful! When the horns come in after "Glen Miller's band was better than before:" Wonderful! The jazzy harmonies - especially in the chorus - are reminiscent (so to speak) of Steely Dan harmonies - but they are used to more pleasing effect, I feel. Synchopated and trailing along. And I love that little drum fill going into the chorus. And I love the little ooo - woo - ooo harmony at the end of each chorus. And I love the guitars in harmony (makes me think of how 44 - during our "dripping with art" period of 1998 - had two guitars synched up in Orphose). Listen to how they move along and ascend for the few seconds between 2:15 and 2:20. Finally, the words: Just nice. Happy, a pleasant "I had a wonderful night with you, I'm feeling kind of sleepy, and kicking off my shoes" feel to them. And the muted trumpet solo for the last 45 or so seconds: love it. Gosh, I hope you guys like this song half as much as I do.

4. What You Won't Do For Love - Bobby Caldwell: Now, the year is specifically 1978. Dishwashers look up from their dishes. Dental patients wake out of their morphined stupor and sit up. Afro-ed pickup basketballers pull up short on their jump shots, and everyone just listens. This crazy little horn refrain that sounds partly muzak, partly children's song, and partly lounge act on a cruise ship has just hit their ears. And it won't soon leave their heads. Who is that black guy with the wonderful, soulful voice? Ha! He's not a black guy! He's a skinny, bearded white guy that looks more like Chris Elliot than any r&b singer you've ever known. He can definitely belt it out. A few "jazz chords" here and there, and a pretty cool noodling-around electric guitar popping in from time to time, but what definitely steals the show is that crazy horn refrain! What were they thinking? Is it like some Manchurian Candidate trigger that failed to deliver? We'll never know. But I always loved this song, just managed to track it down a few years ago, and now it's happy to be featured as track #4 on That Round Sound.

5. Little Jeannie - Elton John: Those who know me best in the world may have already been capable of answering a multiple choice question on a quiz about me correctly, if asked what my favorite Elton John song was. That it is, and has always been, Little Jeannie says much about the place in my heart That Round Sound has. I remember hearing this song (interestingly, a sans-Bernie Taupin effort) on a jukebox in a Happy Joes in 1980. One of my earlier concrete pop memories. I loved it then, though the saxomophone may have not grated on me ever so slightly at that time, as it does now. I LOVE the idea of asking someone to be your acrobat before asking them to be your lover. And then the gall to add "...and I've known quite a few." Wow. Elton John is one of those giants of rock I referenced before, and a guy who - along with fellow "piano man" Billy Joel - was amazingly willing to trade in his signature, traditional piano for an electric piano for a few years. Anyone else find that kind of crazy? For me, it works; as does much of the rest of the song. It's 100% E.J. from the late 70s to early 80s: uncanny pop sensibility, lush arrangement, and his trademark cadre of eunuchs joining in the fun about 3/4 of the way through.

6. Midnight at the Oasis - Maria Muldaur: Ok, anyone else miss this song throughout all the years of their life? I'm hoping so (so you can have, maybe, another "discovery"). It was apparently somewhat of a hit when it came out in the early 70s, but I first heard it - by chance - only a couple of years ago, on a female vocalist collection a friend made me. What a find! A little more pep, and perhaps pushing the boundaries of That Round Sound a bit, but I really wanted this gal on here (and more gals, overall, as they've been a bit underrepresented in CMC to date). Such a sexy, "come hither" tone to her voice & delivery - you can understand why she stood out a bit in the early 70s amidst, all those ugly bastards in Led Zepplin & CCR. She just barrels happily right on through this song about (forbidden) love with an A-Rab, utilizing about every non-PC stereotype in the book - but doing so in such an innocent and libertine manner that all is instantly forgiven. We'd all "go out to a sand dune, real soon," given the chance, would we not? I love the "club" feel of this song, the arrangement in general, and I really love the electric guitar. You only get hints at it throughout the majority of the song, until a truly inspired solo at 1:20. Gibbs: would you not agree that this solo is the kind of playing Mark A. (from old 44) could have done, were he to have been more disciplined? Anyway, here's an album featuring a picture of the guy that played the solo. It all makes sense. One last thing I love in the song: the ascending piano over the last 30 seconds of the song. I wish it would have kept going.

7. Arrow Through Me - Paul McCartney: Three of the four of you have received this song from me as part of the oft-mentioned (but for all I know, still-unheard) McCartpilation. Here it is again, this time demanding a response, if just a few words. Another Round Sound song in the hands of a master. Perhaps none of the other masters is quite the master that PM is, judging by some of his forays into new & experimental styles from electronica (The Fireman) to vaudville (Honey Pie) and a myriad of styles in between. Paul went for the 70s, big time. He loved the costumes. He loved the hair. And he loved the freedom to do a decade of music that could be blamed on pot. Anyway, check this video out:





It encapsulates every effing thing I'm trying to talk about here. Not many people would disagree with me that Paul McCartney is a musical genius. Many would disagree with me in my assertion that his genius is at work in this song. The arrangement is incredible! The keyboard-driven melody, the crazy little synthesized sounds that pop in occasionally, the echo he adds on "zero," the soulful singing & phrasing, and that surprising brass section that suddently jumps in, throws you over its knee, pulls your pants down, and spanks your bare bottom. I...just...love...this...song. And on top of it all - the video, above. So awesome, and so funny, at the same time. Here is a guy that want you to think everything he does is just going with the flow but who is so insanely interested in how he is perceived that it drives nearly everything he does. This is my hypothesis. I have much ethnographic, observational study to support it. Above, the video bonus. Here, the video penalty:




8. Blue Bayou - Linda Ronstadt: Another artist with whom I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. At her best, her sweeping, beautiful voice (and hot pants in the late 70s) stir me in an amazing way. At her worst, she leaves a battered and abused trail of country & western classics in her clumsy wake. This is at her best. I remember this, as I do many Round Sound songs, as one that wafted over me in my own little world: my between-the-suitcases nest in the back of the station wagon on cross-country trips back in the day. It was in my adult years that I started to really groove on some of Linda's songs: Long, Long, Time and Maybe He's Right, among others. I love the sparse arrangement of this song. It really makes Linda's voice stand out. It also really highlights the awesome harmony (possibly done by Don Henley - who can do nothing if not awesome harmonies - but I'm not positive).

9. Sara Smile - Hall & Oates: Some legendary artists chose to adapt themselves to the Round Round of the 70s. Others could only survive within it. Happily for them, H&O managed to put together a respectable and solid array of fine music before losing their way in the early 80s. I could have taken a bit of my pick for a track to select to represent them here, but this song - not one of their super hits (or was it? I don't know), really captures the flavour of That Round Sound, with it's lazy, noodling feel and lush arrangement. I've never been able to sing like Darryl Hall did when he was really on, but man, oh man, I wish I could. Lyrics not really anything to set the world on fire, but I do love "If you feel like leaving, you know you can go/But why don't you stay until tomorrow" Hmm. It doesn't look so great, written out. Maybe it's the phrasing. Oh, and - we've all thought it, but I'm going to just say it: What's the deal with Hall & Oates? Shouldn't it really just be: Hall?

10. Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue - Crystal Gayle: OK, this was really an 11th hour waffling. Between Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are, which had Round Sound credentials in spades; and this one, which was more of a risk in terms of CMC popularity, but which was a song with which I ultimately felt everyone was less intimately familiar. So, another beautiful, pop crossover country queen - but this one with incredibly long hair. Though the hair has nothing to do with the song, it should be noted that - as a male - I am not immune to that special something that the female voice can add to a song. It doesn't mean I'm being unfaithful to my wife, but something somewhat reptillian is definitely triggered in me by certain phrases, inflections, and intonations by certain female singers. This song includes a few of those moments for me. To point out the moments specifically would be so intimate as to be embarassing, so I will leave that to your imaginings. I do love the jazz lounge flavor of this song, if not the rhyme schemes (blue/you, gone/long/, cry/goodbye et. al). I do love the skippy hotsticks of drumming and the piano that is used in conjunction with the electric piano. And I like that the song is short and sweet. She pretty much just gets across that her brown eyes are blue a couple of times and the song is done.

Excutive Summary: Again, a bit of a departure, in that I'm including a number of certified "hits" this time around. Most of you will likely be famliiar with 7 or 8 (or more?) of these songs. For the ones you know, of course I am hoping there will be a bit of a "hearing it again for the first time" type of feel. It would be great if there were a song here and there that you felt you could appreciate on some level that maybe you had never given a thought before. But my real hope? Is that you understand the the difference between some plain old bullshit 70s collection you could pick up on a Target endcap, and what I'm giving you here. This isn't about the decade. It's about the sound, and definitely a sub-genre within the genre. Sharon's heard me talk about That Round Sound enough and play enough songs that when I ask her "Is this 'The Round Sound?", she's right on with my way of thinking almost every time. So there's got to be more to it than my own delusional madness. Anyway - I'm just hoping you get the distinction. Let me know in your comments, if you can.

Thanks, folks.