ECLECTIC PLAYLIST #6 THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

A few years ago, there was a TV ad for the AA rescue service. It featured a version of Carole King's You've Got a Friend but outrageously, they'd taken two beats out of every bar!

"Winter, Spring, Summer or FallAll You've got to do is callAnd I'll be there yes I will..."

A lot of musical friends couldn't cope with the loss of those two beats.

In a separate time-change incident, the comedian Bill Bailey famously complained when they changed the themetune of The Bill from 7/4 to 4/4 and it lost all its quirkiness.

Don't worry - I am getting around to The Russians are Coming.

The point I'm making is that messing around with the timing changes the feel of a piece altogether. In fact, even though the notes are exactly the same, the instruments playing the melody are the same instruments and the piece has the same structure, everything flows a bit differently. And you can either let it annoy or you, or go with a more interesting flow.

That's exactly what's happened with Val Bennett's The Russians Are Coming.

The Russians Are Coming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqrSo-uN2A4

You must have worked out by now that Tim loves a quirky time-change. This is a 4/4 reggae version of Dave Brubeck's Take Five - the tune I said was everywhere in the 1980s.

Take Five of course is in a 5/4 time signature. That means there are five beats in the bar. You can hear the original here, to see what I mean:

Take Five: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs

The five beat rhythm pushes you along and keeps you on your toes.

What Val Bennett did was to pull it all back and stretch it lazily out into a slower four beat pattern. Unlike the AA advert, this actually puts a lovely space between the phrases and slows the whole thing down.

And we haven't even talked about the genius idea of taking it into reggae; the slow-down is all part of that. You can hear a kind of mellow, languorous atmosphere I think. The poked classic reggae bassline and resonant guitar make that happen for you.

Another interesting thing about this track is that it's more 'Subway' than it is 'Jamaica'. I'll leave you to think about that, but I reckon the minor key has a lot to do with it, plus the excellent soaring saxophone and the reverb added to it in the mix.

It makes me think of a group of laid back musicians listening to Brubeck by subterranean candlelight during the cold war.

The Russians are coming. Let's chill out and play some reggae.