what songs don't repeat themselves? 'under pressure' for one

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am I reading this thread wrong or would "Up the Junction" count here

frogbs, Wednesday, 30 January 2013 16:28 (eleven years ago) link

I guess another way to describe these songs is, instead of A-B-A-B or whatever, they go A-B-C-D-etc..
Last night I listened to Brian Eno's "The True Wheel" (off Taking Tiger Mountain) which does this, and is great.

o. nate, Wednesday, 30 January 2013 16:30 (eleven years ago) link

We're basically asking for 'through-composed' 'non-strophic' rock/pop songs right?

hibernaculum (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 30 January 2013 16:50 (eleven years ago) link

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has an interesting structure.

wk, Wednesday, 30 January 2013 16:54 (eleven years ago) link

bohemian rhapsody?

brio, Wednesday, 30 January 2013 17:42 (eleven years ago) link

I always thought Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" did a good job of quickly switching off between structures.

InteractiveBread, Wednesday, 30 January 2013 17:54 (eleven years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJCsmO7-12g

afriendlypioneer, Wednesday, 30 January 2013 17:58 (eleven years ago) link

The 'alternate version' of Heroes & Villains by The Beach Boys does this - the first 3 minutes of the video, can't find it as a standalone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPbSbFLYvIo

insert witticism here (hypehat), Wednesday, 30 January 2013 18:02 (eleven years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKMCQI8IsCw

The music on this entire album seems like it's in constant flux.

afriendlypioneer, Wednesday, 30 January 2013 18:04 (eleven years ago) link

nine months pass...

This is a really interesting thread. I was familiar with many of the tracks mentioned, and a lot of the others I've now checked out. Suggestions vary in terms of what aspect of the music avoids repeating. Like, some are saying that a different vocal melody means a new section, even when sung over a previously repeated section of music. Taken to an extreme, this would mean a music section could just repeat without any variation as long as the singer, or something else constantly varied. This is what's happening in some other suggestions, especially the more electronica or dance-oriented pieces. The hook, be it a bassline, rythmic phrase, sample or simple chord rif is often very short and just repeats sometimes for the whole track. No matter what else is layered over, this is still extreme repetition. However if a song constantly changed harmonically (vocal melody, chord progression..) but had the same drumbeat throughout, would we still think of this as repetitive?

So what I'm left wondering is: What makes a 'section'? I thought for some time sections come down to harmonic progressions, a distinct set of chord changes. But there are loads of great songs where the chorus has the same chord changes as the verse. But so the melody changes? Yes, but not always! Sometimes the chorus's hook's in the lyric... I ended up feeling that a section is a set of chord changes, with a particular melody - vocal or otherwise. If that same melody is then set over different chords its a different section because the notes in it are relative to the root/key.

Here are my 2 of my favourite ABCDE songs:
'Fifty-Fifty Clown' - Cocteau Twins
'Smooth Operator' - Sade

Thanks for reading.

benntilby, Monday, 4 November 2013 21:19 (ten years ago) link

'mother of pearl'

j., Monday, 4 November 2013 21:23 (ten years ago) link

Pretty sure I brought up MOP in some other thread much like this one, as I love its devious construction. Each use of the title phrase is followed up by a different, but similar, line, except the first usage ("I wouldn't trade you for another girl") does come up again at the very end.

The sweet spot between bad and unpleasant (Dan Peterson), Monday, 4 November 2013 21:34 (ten years ago) link

it's pretty amazing to work out the structure of 'mother of pearl' and realize it's doing that

j., Monday, 4 November 2013 21:40 (ten years ago) link

five years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhd-pMT4mSk

MaresNest, Friday, 6 September 2019 18:18 (four years ago) link


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