It's interesting how three groups can have so many similarities.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been listening to Heatwave, courtesy of Rick. Thanks for that, Rick. I can now make some hopefully more educated comparisons in the music of the three albums mentioned in this thread.
I think it best to stay relatively general in my response, rather than go song by song and try to get really specific.
First, I can't believe you picked-out these three albums that are so closely related to each other in so many ways. I mean....yes, Phil Ramone produced all three, but man...I would have never dreamed of all the things that sound so much alike.
Being more of an afficianado of Billy Joel's work, I can tell you that I happily attended a concert in the Glass Houses Tour. But for as many times as I've heard this album (and I've heard it a million and one times, I bet), I would have never made this connection. True, again, that Billy's band - Liberty DeVitto, Russell Javors, Doug Stegmeyer and David Brown backed Karen (which I thought was too good to be true, actually - Billy's Band and Karen Singing - who could ask for ANYTHING more???) At least, as far as I was concerned.
Here's what I hear - the rhythm patterns - many of them are the same "type" of rhythms. Billy was pure rock n roll then....( OH! except for the little
Latin Tune he put in "Don't Ask Me Why" - and, the
French Ballad he put in (which he admits now he should have never attempted to sing French lyrics)...point being - it's a beautiful ballad on a rock n roll album that begins with "You May Be Right" (which Garth Brooks later recorded....along with Shameless), which, of course, is on the Stormfront Album, not Glass Houses. (Whew! are you as worn out by that sentence as I am???
) Anyway...Billy's Glass Houses is supposed to be a Rock N Roll album, but it's highly jazz influenced, as well - and quite Beatle influenced, too. And it sounds like Heatwave and Karen's solo stuff may have influenced him, as well.
Let's just look at the song "Razzle Dazzle" by Heatwave. What nice harmonies they're doing - very reminescent of Karen Carpenter's solo effort "If I Had You" - you know, there at the end when she does the vocal calesthenics? The harmonies are close, tight, and jazz influenced....many 7th, 9th, 13th chords used....I believe Heatwave used many of those same chords too - difference being that Karen recorded ALL her vocal parts - Heatwave had more than 1 vocalist, I believe. Where are the similarities with Billy here? Let's look at the song "C'ieat Toi - You Were The One" - The beautiful harmonies in this one give me chills. Billy uses lots of suspensions here - and both Karen and Heatwave used a lot of them too. It's sort of another latin-type number, (along the lines of Leon Russell's "This Masquerade", but
only in rhythm) . The two couldn't be compared - as much as I love Billy's music, this does NOT compare to Carpenters treatment of "This Masquerade" (just to be certain the record is straight).....I'm only comparing them to give you an idea of what I mean regarding the beat of the song, in the event you have not heard "C'ieat Toi."
The harmonies in this song are chilling....beautiful - close, melodic, and there are lots of them. The same can be said for the last song of the CD - "Through The Long Night" - VERY Beatle influenced, yet, it has some of the same nuances at Karen Carpenter's "If We Try" or even her rendition of "Still Crazy After All These Years."
Heatwave's "Razzle Dazzle" has some GREAT harmonies - tight, together, and very jazz influenced - the beat (rhythm) is syncopated - like "I Don't Want To Be Alone" by Billy, and like "If I Had You" by Karen Carpenter. This one also reminds me a bit of Billy's "Close To The Borderline" - the vocal line reminds me of this tune.
LISTENING to them is a real trip, cause you can hear (at least to my ears) a lot of the same influences....and I'm sure that had a lot to do with Phil Ramone and Rod Temperton. I can hear Temperton's influence in a BIG way at the end of "Razzle Dazzle" just like at the end of "If I Had You" - not nearly as "complicated" as I feel Karen's effort was, but certainly similar in its very nature and sound.
The song by Heatwave, "Eyeballin'" reminds me a lot of Donald f*gen, who was the lead singer for
Steely Dan . I LOVE the harmony parts in the background....the way the chords are structured - with the suspensions used, and the absolute tight, and VERY jazz-influenced chords used - they DO sound a LOT like Manhattan Transfer in places. "Lovelines comes to mind on this one as a comparison - sort of funky/disco type, with those GREAT jazz vocal chords used."
I said I wasn't going to go song by song - but it's sort of hard not to. So, I lied. Sue me.
The Heatwave song "This Night We Fell" is so beautiful - reminds me in a BIG way of Billy's "You Were The One" and Karen singing "I Guess I Just Lost My Head." Same chord structures in the backing vocals used. This one "This Night We Fell" is a tad slower - and much more of a bossa nova beat, yet, musically the structure in the vocal chords are much the same.
Heatwave's "Raize a Blaze" reminds me of Karen's "My Body Keeps Changin' My Mind" - a DISCO tune, with a lot of great, tight vocal harmonies and a lot of the same sort of "punches" in it - like where Karen sings Body/Changin/Mind. There's an emphasis there with all the instruments following her voice....and the same is true with Heatwave's Raize A Blaze. Nice tune, for sure.
I hear several groups when I listen to this Heatwave CD - I hear definite comparisons with KC's solo CD, and with Billy's Glass Houses - I hear HUNDREDS of similarities to Manhattan Transfer songs - both in harmonies, vocal ease, backing band, orchestration, rhythms used, melody lines, many, many others. I also hear similarities with Michael Franks, who did a bunch of stuff in this time frame, as well as Steely Dan, as Donald f*gen didn't start his solo career, I don't believe, till a bit later. But Boy, f*gen must have been influenced by these guys, cause a lot of what he had to do sounded like Heatwave, and Karen's Solo work - remember his big hit "What a Beautiful World"
? GREAT harmonies, just like Heatwave and KAC.
It's been a fun listen to compare. Rick....what do you think - do you hear some of the same things? I bet you hear a lot of different things than I do....can you share? Thanks again for the CD - it's been a great listen, and now I have it to add to my CD collection!
Tim
) Anyway...Billy's Glass Houses is supposed to be a Rock N Roll album, but it's highly jazz influenced, as well - and quite Beatle influenced, too. And it sounds like Heatwave and Karen's solo stuff may have influenced him, as well.
