Nowhere is the ambition inherent in the S/M/B collective's songwriting more apparent than in the funk-sass of "If You Got It Flaunt It." The track takes a Mel Brooks maxim and reworks it as a bluesy strut, wherein the record's protagonist throws shade at "catty creatures" who try to diminish her as a human being. This flirtation with the chords and structure of the blues would lead to one of Summer's finest lesser-known songs, the funky "Love Will Always Find You" from the following year's Bad Girls. S/M/B's experiments with rock reached their fruition with that record, particularly on "Hot Stuff" and the equally imperious title track.
Like their latter-day counterparts Timbaland and Missy Elliott, S/M/B were constantly evolving creatively. Not content with letting any of their songs embody just one particular style, they began to blend tracks together, taking DJs mixes and combining them with artful segues to create a continuous record, one in which the beat didn't stop and the BPM defined an entire side of the record. Take "Queen for a Day" from Once Upon a Time...: In keeping with the rest of the record's second act, the track is completely synthesized; yet as it progresses, it devolves into piano, congas and strings. The effect is staggering. The stop-and-start dance beat of "Dance Into My Life," however, may be the most revolutionary aspect of the album, foreshadowing Summer's Oscar-winning "Last Dance," which actually comes to a complete stop before revving back up again.
The album's centerpiece, and what may be the finest example of intricate composition and arrangement for synthesizers, is "Working the Midnight Shift." The track, a mournful lament about the painful costs of working nights, is equally ethereal and visceral. Half the sequencers seem to be working in a minor key, and at least a couple of banks are putting out a major key, and over it all--those cool glissandos of sound waves--is Summer's voice, weaving a counterpoint with her backup singers. The overall feel is something akin to what Phil Spector might have done with Ralf and Florian of Kraftwerk. Summer was equally at home with R&B, funk, rock, the sexy purr of the clubs and the clarion call of the church. Above all, she meshed magnificently with machine, forever changing the sound of popular music.
On its 25th birthday, Once Upon a Time... sounds as fresh as ever, even as the soundtrack to mowing down tourists in cyberspace on Grand Theft Auto. That said, given the album's energy and conceptual adventurousness, it could just as easily become a Broadway musical. Those are pretty much the two extremes of modern popular culture, and it's rare to find something that can span that much social and emotional distance.
