DRY RIB's Suspense was recorded at the same Covent Garden session where we did Memento Mori & like that track it was produced by Paul Kendall. Here it is, as an audio-only file.
The recording raises fascinating issues concerning authorship. The song is by Rob Vasey. The arrangement was done by the 3 of us, with Mike Mulholland on the bass guitar pulling out some excellent new melodic lines. The drums & bass feel fully locked-in with each other throughout this track, and that component also feels fully integrated into Rob's song to a degree that we did not always achieve. The whole arrangement -- no matter how forceful & in-your-face the rhythm section is at times -- is in the service of Rob's marvellous song.
So, who is the composer?
Song-writing credits as you know are all about the money. Hence, these credits do not really address the aesthetic question of how songs get written & to whom they belong. In my view a track like Suspense should be credited thus: song by Rob Vasey, music by Dry Rib. To credit the band only would be wrong, because absent Rob's song there is no track. To credit Rob solely somehow misses something important that happened during this recording session.
This is not an issue between the band members; it is not a problem for us. But it does illustrate something about how the culture industry treats its property, its artists & its consumers, and since punk was supposed to challenge that industry perhaps we should be thinking more creatively about how to provide accurate & informative song-writing credits on records -- credits that would distinguish between the song & the music.
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The breaking news for DRY RIB's legions of west coast fans & for the Los Angeles slice of the fan base, is that we will not now be on the bill for next month's Part-Time Punks festival in L.A. We've been promised a slot next year, when our old muckers The TV Personalities are -- yes -- slated to appear. In the meantime we are looking into playing some west coast dates before then, maybe as soon as January, plus some shows in England next summer. Rob Vasey & Mike Mulholland are busy rehearsing in beautiful & bucolic Bristol while Goodwin lolls around in beastly Berkeley, musing about creativity & authorship while struggling still with the professorial sinuses.
9 comments:
Once you conquer Echo Park, are any of those other tour stops really even necessary?
Some interesting points, Andrew. As you say in our case there's no money involved so it's not a problem, but if there was money involved then I think you want to avoid a situation where the songwriter insists on also doing the arrangement for financial reasons.
If anyone's interested in hearing another version of Suspense then I stuck another demo version of the track from (I think) 1981 on the myspace page last week - www.myspace.com/ashemsyrup - it's currently song no. 6. rob
Maybe the drummer should interview the song-writer someday, and post it?
Dear Andy, This is an interesting one and not uncommon, but I will still submit my personal take on the subject: I have had years of fun writing songs and the joy of unveiling a semi formed song to the people you're working with and watching it grow into a `good tune` is amazing. Just as exciting is to contribute and hopefully enhance someone elses musical ideas. In the `Band ` environment - this is what music is, and should be about - creative collaboration. I would never want to work with a group of musicians who are told to `just play this like that and shut up`.
Money is not art and when its sharp edge cuts into creativity, there must be a little bleeding(and lawsuits!). The band I'm in at the moment released a CD a while back and I wrote the body of the songs, they insisted I be solely credited in the cover notes but I pushed for `All tracks written by Bernie Martin and Nation State`. The band were embarrassed that they were mentioned like this as they underestimated their input to the song writing process but they were vital to the finished product.
Do we really think that just about every Beatles song waswritten by Lennon/Mc Cartney? Bollocks. If you look closely enough to the record label, you'll see in the smallest of writing: Harrison and Starkey alongside.
I totally agree with you Bernie. But you know I have to say, sometimes we don't remember who wrote what. 2 examples: you never got credit for writing a riff that Eddie used in WHAM, because he thought I had written it. Another time, you claimed to have written the riffs to Satellites, all of which I composed! No one was being dodgy, these were genuine mistakes made between dear friends and band mates. So, the collaborative gig is hard to determine sometimes. The memory plays tricks, I am almost sure I must've used riffs written by band mates and claimed them as my own, without realizing it. I think there are 3 things: the song, the arrangement, and the performance. It would be good if musicians made that clearer to listeners.
Dear Andy, May I apologise for any distortion of memory involving Satellites - a damn fine song, but we've written a few good songs together haven't we?. May I dare to suggest when the Dry Rib reunion takes place(sometime soon?), that some or all members of Dry Rib 2 play: Religion in the East, Satellites and Winning Hearts and Minds? I would love, once again, see Paul Kendal`s red and anguished face as he pushes out the sax solo to Religion in the East!! Cheers. Bernie.
Yes Bernie Yes yes yes. We should play some of those songs again, next year. No apology needed btw. I think I nicked the 1-note riff in Satellites... from Yes!
My favorite co-writing job with you btw Bern is a more recent one, World In Small Doses -- I would love to try playing that in real time some day.
Dear Andy, you have whetted my appetite to revisit the cassettes and CDs we played on but without them here at the moment to review, one song comes straight to mind: `Love Patrol`. Brilliant. Bernie.
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