Best Part of Battle of the Dragon - Page 2

starshine · #16 05-31-2009, 12:34 PM

I just love the whole song BOTD....one of my Top 10 songs for sure --always!!! Its hard to pick just one line etc.....one of Stevie's best for sure & I love how her voice sounds on it!! awesome song!!

Jupiter · #17 06-06-2009, 02:38 PM

My favorite part is the way her voice slows and carries the following lyric:

"The beautiful and the sensitive and the oh so very young"

petep9000 · #18 06-10-2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

That's the ol' pentatonic (or five-tone) scale in use. Very Asian. If you have a piano, think of the sound you get by playing only the black notes -- that's five-tone! Fleetwood Mac also used this atmosphere in "Little Lies" & "Mystified" & even in "Make Me a Mask."

The great Maurice Ravel used the pentatonic in his Mother Goose Suite for piano, especially in the third section -- called "The Empress of the Pagodas" (where I get my label for Stevie Nicks).

I think I hear it in 'Gypsy', and maybe in the opening of 'Skies The Limit'? And 'Seven Wonders'! Come to think of it, it's prominent in 'Tango' album.
And Madonna uses it on 'Take A Bow'? Or, am I not catching what a pantatonic really is?

David · #19 06-10-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petep9000

I think I hear it in 'Gypsy'

Yes, it's definitely used on the ostinato guitar figure on "Gypsy," which was one of Lindsey's coolest additions to the track. It isn't there on any previous demo or session recording with Stevie or her friends or the Heartbreakers. And that figure really is the musical heart & soul of the track. It totally changes the atmosphere. It's probably one of the most memorable hooks in pop. Good call, John.

Quote:

and maybe in the opening of 'Skies The Limit'?

Yes, a bit in "Skies the Limit" intro. Good one.

Quote:

And 'Seven Wonders'! Come to think of it, it's prominent in 'Tango' album.

Yes, on "Seven Wonders" too. And Vito even added a five-tone figure at the very end of the performances in 1987, which you can hear on tour recordings.

Very prominent on "Tango" -- I consider the Asian atmosphere created deliberately by Buckingham to be the most fundamental musical motif of that album.