Beginnings
Composer: Lamm
Key: A major
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Robert Lamm
Form: intro, verse 1, verse 2, change, vamp containing a vocal part, brass solos, and long fadeout.
Instrumentation: trumpet, alto sax, trombone, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, percussion, three voices
Overall form and style: The magnificent "Beginnings" is a song in two musically independent parts. The first half is structured essentially as a traditional pop song, with two verses. Each ends with what you might call the chorus, the repeated line "Mostly I'm silent". Then there is a brief transition to the second half, which is a vamp over a four-bar progression. The two halves of the song are at the same tempo, in the same key, and transition together comfortably; but share no musical material. Over this vamp is laid a solo voice; solos by trombone, trumpet, then both together; a harmony vocal pattern which begins during the solos but continues after they finish; and a long fadeout during which everything but the percussion drops out.
Walt Parazaider, credited with simply "woodwinds" in all the album credits, played tenor saxophone on most Chicago tunes. From time to time, however, he and the arrangers favored the lighter, cleaner sound of the alto sax, and this tune is one of those times. Listen to the difference it makes in the ensemble horn section sound.
"Beginnings" is a fiercely personal, emotional, joyful piece of music. It sounds more like a person talking to themselves or daydreaming than a constructed song. The music on Chicago Transit Authority ranges from very bright and joyful to very dark and angry, and "Beginnings" occupies the brightest part of that scale. From here, the album arrives in triumph at "Questions 67&68", then gradually descends into darkness.
Melody: Beginnings’ melody in the first half actually shares quite a few similarities to “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”. Both melodies are mostly stepwise and diatonic, and both emphasize the upbeats. However, the melody here in “Beginnings” has shorter phrases, fewer pauses, and a feel that does not swing. This combined with the changing key center in the verses makes the melody more active, which makes for a more striking contrast when it calms down on the words “Mostly I’m silent”. The vocal melodies in the second half are more active, often moving in syncopated sixteenth note rhythms.
Harmony: This tune spends a lot of time simply alternating between I and IV in A major, making it striking when the harmony goes elsewhere. The verse starts in A, lands surprisingly on C, then modulates to G major (again alternating between I and IV) before returning to A major for the “Whoa-oa-oa” area. The chorus features a nice modal flavor as the chords alternate between A major and E minor - I and minor v. The less contemplative, more powerful second half of “Beginnings” is still in A major, but borrows heavily from A minor. The progression, which repeats throughout the second half, is: I - bVII - bVI - bVII.
Arrangement: "Beginnings" opens simply, with a bouncy acoustic guitar groove, soon augmented by bass and drums. This is the first we've heard Terry Kath's crisp, rhythmic, creatively voiced acoustic guitar. Besides his blistering electric guitar work, Kath has a wonderful feel on the acoustic instrument as well, and is also able to avoid the generic voicings that make every other guitarist sound the same. (Not playing the instrument myself, I can't get too specific about this.) There is no keyboard on this track, so Kath’s guitar alone fills out the chords.
Over this light accompaniment, Lamm's smooth lead vocal begins the first verse. Like many of this album's songs, the lyrics of "Beginnings" are written in blank verse. They scan, but don't rhyme. The message is stated simply and clearly and with such clarity and conviction that the listener doesn't really notice the lack of the expected rhyme. Written out, the lyrics look more like prose than poetry. There is a wordless interlude, sung simply on "oh-whoa-woah" connecting the verse to the chorus which introduces the listener to Chicago's intense three-part harmony vocals. The line begins with the singers in unison as the line rises, and they suddenly split into harmony as the line cascades downwards. The dynamics quickly drop for the chorus, painting the sung word "silent". The minimal drum kit, acoustic guitar, and bass continue playing, but effectively reduce the volume.
The subito piano right here, just before “mostly I’m silent”, is a nice effect that is quite common in orchestral music but really depressingly rare in the rock world. Except for Genesis in the same era (see, for example, “Watcher of the Skies”), can you think of another rock group who used this device effectively? Even one?
The second verse immediately begins a build in intensity that the first did not have. The horn section accompanies the voice with long, sustained chords that gradually crescendo, reaching a peak at a glorious cascade on the end of the line "…chills all over my body". From there, the winds become more active and respond to the voice. The trumpet and alto sax play so cleanly together that it can be difficult to tell which instruments are playing. This kind of ensemble playing - unisons so perfectly in tune and phrased so exactly together - is what really sets apart this horn section. Even if you don't consciously register it, the Chicago horn sound is not any sort of engineering trick, but simply players with great sounds playing with extraordinary accuracy. This is another track where the horn section has voicing turned around - sometimes the alto sax plays the highest note, with the trumpet in the middle! The alto sax overall has a range a little lower than that of a trumpet, but there is quite a bit of overlap.
A transition brings us from the relaxing first half to the more intense second. This section is entirely a vamp on a simple four bar progression which builds in intensity throughout. Vocals are soon joined by a horn section figure out of which erupts a trombone solo, played high on the horn. The trombone solo gives way to a trumpet solo, for which a percussion ensemble is added, and then the two improvise together in a fiercely joyful dialogue. As the solos continue, background vocals join for a huge arrival at a climax. The solo dialogue becomes the ensemble part from earlier in the second half, and the whole ensemble very gradually fades out. This is one of those places where Chicago cheated to get more horns on the record than they have in the band: all three are playing on the left speaker, with another alto sax and trumpet on the right! The percussion ensemble continues for several more minutes before at last fading out itself. The effect is a long, gradual release from the huge high point.
Other notes: Beginnings is another piece that is too often heard in abbreviated form, its seven minute runtime cut to less than three. It's another one that really only works in its entirety!
Conceptually, this piece gives us the meeting of the two characters (represented by the trumpet and trombone) that the first two pieces have teased. For the rest of the album, they will only be heard together.
PM
Key: A major
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Robert Lamm
Form: intro, verse 1, verse 2, change, vamp containing a vocal part, brass solos, and long fadeout.
Instrumentation: trumpet, alto sax, trombone, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, percussion, three voices
Overall form and style: The magnificent "Beginnings" is a song in two musically independent parts. The first half is structured essentially as a traditional pop song, with two verses. Each ends with what you might call the chorus, the repeated line "Mostly I'm silent". Then there is a brief transition to the second half, which is a vamp over a four-bar progression. The two halves of the song are at the same tempo, in the same key, and transition together comfortably; but share no musical material. Over this vamp is laid a solo voice; solos by trombone, trumpet, then both together; a harmony vocal pattern which begins during the solos but continues after they finish; and a long fadeout during which everything but the percussion drops out.
Walt Parazaider, credited with simply "woodwinds" in all the album credits, played tenor saxophone on most Chicago tunes. From time to time, however, he and the arrangers favored the lighter, cleaner sound of the alto sax, and this tune is one of those times. Listen to the difference it makes in the ensemble horn section sound.
"Beginnings" is a fiercely personal, emotional, joyful piece of music. It sounds more like a person talking to themselves or daydreaming than a constructed song. The music on Chicago Transit Authority ranges from very bright and joyful to very dark and angry, and "Beginnings" occupies the brightest part of that scale. From here, the album arrives in triumph at "Questions 67&68", then gradually descends into darkness.
Melody: Beginnings’ melody in the first half actually shares quite a few similarities to “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”. Both melodies are mostly stepwise and diatonic, and both emphasize the upbeats. However, the melody here in “Beginnings” has shorter phrases, fewer pauses, and a feel that does not swing. This combined with the changing key center in the verses makes the melody more active, which makes for a more striking contrast when it calms down on the words “Mostly I’m silent”. The vocal melodies in the second half are more active, often moving in syncopated sixteenth note rhythms.
Harmony: This tune spends a lot of time simply alternating between I and IV in A major, making it striking when the harmony goes elsewhere. The verse starts in A, lands surprisingly on C, then modulates to G major (again alternating between I and IV) before returning to A major for the “Whoa-oa-oa” area. The chorus features a nice modal flavor as the chords alternate between A major and E minor - I and minor v. The less contemplative, more powerful second half of “Beginnings” is still in A major, but borrows heavily from A minor. The progression, which repeats throughout the second half, is: I - bVII - bVI - bVII.
Arrangement: "Beginnings" opens simply, with a bouncy acoustic guitar groove, soon augmented by bass and drums. This is the first we've heard Terry Kath's crisp, rhythmic, creatively voiced acoustic guitar. Besides his blistering electric guitar work, Kath has a wonderful feel on the acoustic instrument as well, and is also able to avoid the generic voicings that make every other guitarist sound the same. (Not playing the instrument myself, I can't get too specific about this.) There is no keyboard on this track, so Kath’s guitar alone fills out the chords.
Over this light accompaniment, Lamm's smooth lead vocal begins the first verse. Like many of this album's songs, the lyrics of "Beginnings" are written in blank verse. They scan, but don't rhyme. The message is stated simply and clearly and with such clarity and conviction that the listener doesn't really notice the lack of the expected rhyme. Written out, the lyrics look more like prose than poetry. There is a wordless interlude, sung simply on "oh-whoa-woah" connecting the verse to the chorus which introduces the listener to Chicago's intense three-part harmony vocals. The line begins with the singers in unison as the line rises, and they suddenly split into harmony as the line cascades downwards. The dynamics quickly drop for the chorus, painting the sung word "silent". The minimal drum kit, acoustic guitar, and bass continue playing, but effectively reduce the volume.
The subito piano right here, just before “mostly I’m silent”, is a nice effect that is quite common in orchestral music but really depressingly rare in the rock world. Except for Genesis in the same era (see, for example, “Watcher of the Skies”), can you think of another rock group who used this device effectively? Even one?
The second verse immediately begins a build in intensity that the first did not have. The horn section accompanies the voice with long, sustained chords that gradually crescendo, reaching a peak at a glorious cascade on the end of the line "…chills all over my body". From there, the winds become more active and respond to the voice. The trumpet and alto sax play so cleanly together that it can be difficult to tell which instruments are playing. This kind of ensemble playing - unisons so perfectly in tune and phrased so exactly together - is what really sets apart this horn section. Even if you don't consciously register it, the Chicago horn sound is not any sort of engineering trick, but simply players with great sounds playing with extraordinary accuracy. This is another track where the horn section has voicing turned around - sometimes the alto sax plays the highest note, with the trumpet in the middle! The alto sax overall has a range a little lower than that of a trumpet, but there is quite a bit of overlap.
A transition brings us from the relaxing first half to the more intense second. This section is entirely a vamp on a simple four bar progression which builds in intensity throughout. Vocals are soon joined by a horn section figure out of which erupts a trombone solo, played high on the horn. The trombone solo gives way to a trumpet solo, for which a percussion ensemble is added, and then the two improvise together in a fiercely joyful dialogue. As the solos continue, background vocals join for a huge arrival at a climax. The solo dialogue becomes the ensemble part from earlier in the second half, and the whole ensemble very gradually fades out. This is one of those places where Chicago cheated to get more horns on the record than they have in the band: all three are playing on the left speaker, with another alto sax and trumpet on the right! The percussion ensemble continues for several more minutes before at last fading out itself. The effect is a long, gradual release from the huge high point.
Other notes: Beginnings is another piece that is too often heard in abbreviated form, its seven minute runtime cut to less than three. It's another one that really only works in its entirety!
Conceptually, this piece gives us the meeting of the two characters (represented by the trumpet and trombone) that the first two pieces have teased. For the rest of the album, they will only be heard together.
PM
Proudly powered by Weebly