I have a confession to make. I’ve been listening to performances by Vanessa
Carlton, Stacie Orrico, Vivian Green, India.Arie and — oh, this is so hard to
admit — B2K. No, that’s not the confession. But this is: I’ve been enjoying
them. There. I’ve said it. I hope you won’t think less of me for it. Please, let
me explain. This isn’t the product of sleep deprivation. Nor is it the reluctant
acceptance of today’s pop music that comes from the knowledge that, no matter
how hard I try, my newborn daughter undoubtedly will succumb one day to peer
pressure and groove to a boy band.
Of course the music world has been full of boy bands and girl bands forever.
The Beatles was a boy band. As were the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys.
Martha Reeves & the Vandellas was a girl group. So were the Chiffons and the
Supremes. And even if the pop music world has gone astray over the past 40
years, the similarities to today are striking.
That’s exactly the point of the recently released soundtrack to the
television show American Dreams. It features classic hits such as The
Zombies’ She’s Not There, Otis Redding’s That’s How Strong My Love Is,
and The Impressions’ People Get Ready. And, right next to them sit
Emerson Hart’s terrific theme song (Generation) as well as re-creations
by contemporary artists of other brilliant moments from pop music history.
Granted, none of the new versions can top the original renditions. That would be
impossible. Yet, they fare superlatively well in comparison, and that’s a tough
thing to do.
"That’s part of the challenge of the show," said Danny Pelfrey, who produced
the new songs and also composed the score of American Dreams. "How do you
capture the ’60s and not sound too incongruous? You don’t want to sound trite
either."
For those who haven’t seen the program, you’re missing television at its
finest. Set in Philadelphia, the show follows the family of Jack Pryor, a small
business owner whose daughter Meg dances on American Bandstand. Just as
important, however, is the story of Henry Walker, an African-American man who
works in Jack’s electronics store. The program debuted last fall and has quickly
become one of the finest shows on television, hitting home with both critics and
fans. "It’s a family show, and it’s emotional in a lot of good ways. It touches
on a lot of good values and things that I think people really identify with,"
said Pelfrey.
The tales of the two families allow the writers to explore a variety of
social and political issues from a deeply personal and frequently emotional
perspective, and the change in each of their worlds as well as their overall
loss of innocence provides a mirrored backdrop for life in America during the
1960s. Such topics, of course, can be heavy, but the stories from week to week
are told in such a family-friendly way that one is easily caught up within the
emotional turbulence of the times. Tempering as well as informing the serious
nature of the events is the use of pop culture as viewed through eyes of
15-year-old Meg Pryor and her association with American Bandstand. Old
footage from the legendary show is spliced into American Dreams,
providing a seamless and realistic counterpoint to the contemporary artists who
are brought in to portray the entertainers.
"It’s interesting to deal with these contemporary artists," said Pelfrey.
"They are very much from today, but they are also aware of their heritage. They
are very respectful of the older material, and they have to belong to that while
still sounding like themselves."
One example Pelfrey relayed was in regards to Kelly Rowland’s portrayal of
Martha Reeves. "Nowadays, [pop artists] tend to sing longer lines, adding,
perhaps, a few more notes. [Kelly] would end a line, and sometimes she would
just go on a little bit more. We would stop — we both had had that conversation
before — and she would say, ‘I know that’s not it.’ By the time we got to the
end of the song, she still sounded like herself, but she had adapted her style
to make it sound realistic, like it was really done back then."
Rowland’s performance is not included on the American Dreams
soundtrack. But those that are featured are quite good. In particular, Duncan
Sheik turns in a remarkable rendering of Bobby Darin on Beyond the Sea,
and on Come Ye, Indie.Arie is captivatingly transformed into Nina Simone.
"It’s like you are hearing these contemporary artists as they would have sounded
in the ’60s," Pelfrey stated.
Naturally, Pelfrey provided quite a bit of help. Because the new renditions of
the songs needed to fit within the era of the program as well as sit alongside
the original songs on the soundtrack — all without sounding out of place —
Pelfrey had to painstakingly recreate the ambience and character of the early
records. The echo of a drum beat, a particular string arrangement — it’s all
been remarkably redone, even though he often wasn’t sure where to begin.
"We’ve been finding our own way, to tell you the truth," said Pelfrey. "We
had nothing to go on but our own inventiveness and ears. We’ve been using every
piece of old equipment we can find — old microphones, especially — but we also
record everything into Pro Tools. "There’s a lot of vintage equipment emulator
plug-ins in Pro Tools, and while not the same as the old equipment, you can have
a lot more occurrences of them. You can use 20 vintage equalizers, if you want
to, even though you might not have that many sitting in a room."
"The danger you run into," Pelfrey cautioned, "is that if you don’t do it
just right, it ends up sounding like a lounge band. We had to make sure we did
it correctly."
"Fortunately, the artists that we brought in," he continued, "they were all
great contributors to that. They were all willing to go there. They were all
very into what we were doing."
One person who very much enjoyed what Pelfrey had done with his song was
Lamont Dozier, who penned countless hits for Motown including Nowhere to Run,
a song made famous by Martha Reeves. "He thought [our interpretation] was
great," said Pelfrey.
"Meeting Lamont was like meeting Beethoven. He was at the Kelly Rowland
shoot, and we were, of course, peppering him with questions. He’s a really nice
man and was really generous with his time and experience," he added.
Of course, this is just the beginning of the massive amount of work Pelfrey
must put into each episode of American Dreams. In addition to producing
the reconstructed pop songs, he also composes the musical score for each
episode. "The songs tell the story in one way, and the score tells the story in
another," he said. "They both don’t really interact with each other. I don’t use
any of the themes of the songs in my scores."
Indeed, given the attention-grabbing nature of the pop songs, it was
necessary for Pelfrey to craft a score that would complement rather than compete
with the rest of the music, while still adding flavor. "It’s very understated
and very emotional" he said. "[The show] is an American story about an American
family, and [the score] very much has a based-in-Americana kind of feeling."
"There are various themes that we’ve developed throughout the season," he
continued. "There’s a family theme, and there are various kinds of themes of
unrest. Those themes are brought back in to help underscore whatever storyline
we are in at the moment, and they evolve as the storylines evolve. As time goes
on, they take on a life of their own. The need for them emerges and they almost
dictate to you when they should be used and what kind of arrangement technique
should be applied."
"The ’60s was a very important time for people who lived through it,"
concluded Pelfrey. "It was a time of great change and a time that had great
meaning in everyone’s life who was a part of it. I think American Dreams
has been able to recall that for people, and through the use of contemporary
artists, it’s been able to resonate through a new generation."
So there you have it, the explanation for my apparent madness. Thanks to
Pelfrey’s insightful understanding, the American Dreams soundtrack really
is a terrific collection of songs that seamlessly blurs the line between
yesterday and today. True, B2K’s rendition of My Girl can’t really
compare with that of The Temptations. Nor can Vanessa Carlton truly replace
Dusty Springfield. But that doesn’t make the new versions any less enjoyable to
hear. Better still, they might provide some much needed hope for the future of
pop music — if only today’s performers take to heart the simplistic nature of
these classic songs and creatively begin to craft some magic of their own.
Click Here for More on
Danny Pelfrey
Various Artists
American Dreams Soundtrack — Original Soundtrack (1963–1964)
(Hip-O)
