Music Day

I'll just get this out of the way right now... this falls in the 'awesomely eighties' category. You have been warned.

It's not the stereotypical '80s (or at least not what I think of as stereotypical, which is a big brassy sound laden with sax solos *cough* Kim Boyce *cough*). But the bass groove is definitely '80s awesomeness. One and two and one and two and... (yes, I measure awesomeness in dance counts now. Call it an occupational hazard). Also, the drums have that mid-eighties 'big,' arena-filling sound.

And holy crap, I love how they did the chorus -- that steady, dragging, almost monotone against the the bass groove. It's the best in the second chorus because it leads right into the bridge -- a fiery, passionate, no-holds-barred cry against those who will not stand up and stop the madness, though they say they disagree with it.

Most of the time, the fadeout is my least favourite part of a song (exceptions being Sing Your Freedom and almost anything by David Meece). If not done well, it gets repetitive, plus it's a bugger to choreograph. Every one of my good choreographic pieces that 'runs off the rails,' so to speak, does so during the fadeout. It rarely adds anything to the song that the dance can build on, so my dancers on the staves just wind up randomly jumping around and essentially wasting music until the music gets soft enough that I can run them off the stage (which in itself is a pain in the neck to choreograph).

However, the fadeout on this one is fantastic (from a music fan's perspective -- this is subject to change should I ever choreograph this). The chorus, in its eerie monotone, keeps repeating over the bass and the drums (have I mentioned I love the bass line and the drums in this song?), meanwhile the lead singer keeps crying out for mercy over it. The sharp passion in his voice is such a beautiful opposite to the steady chorus.

Title: The Promise
Artist: The Front
Album: The Front
Year: 1985
Label: Mep/royal Music
iTunes here; YouTube here.