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Post by QuocaQuola1 on Mar 8, 2020 13:14:57 GMT
Yes it may seem good on paper but bare in mind not everything wrote is a 4 way split. Say for instance Rossi wrote the lyrics, melody, solo, chord structure, etc, and Alan chipped in the idea to swap a few words about. That’s the far extreme situation, but it’s hardly fair to credit everyone on what is essentially Rossi’s idea. Aye, that's true on a song by song basis. Although we do know they all worked on the Quoing up arrangements back in the day. However, it's really about the bigger picture as in :"How do we avoid bickering over who wrote what & whether a particular instrumental feature merits a song-writing credit?" If the whole band is credited for all songs then the onus is on all band members to work collectively to make each song as strong as possible & the issue of who had the initial idea & who subsequently contributed which further idea becomes moot. I know it seemed to work well for the Stranglers, even though it was clear that some songs were obviously more influenced by one particular band member. As I said, it probably just saved a lot of arguments, which has to be beneficial to the longevity of the band. True that they were very much a magic circle, but Alan being a constant headache and Rossi wanting to fully embrace a bigger market led to little chance of an even writing credit being vaguely possible I suppose. Band politics and personal differences and so forth.
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Post by dennis on Mar 8, 2020 18:16:19 GMT
Aye, that's true on a song by song basis. Although we do know they all worked on the Quoing up arrangements back in the day. However, it's really about the bigger picture as in :"How do we avoid bickering over who wrote what & whether a particular instrumental feature merits a song-writing credit?" If the whole band is credited for all songs then the onus is on all band members to work collectively to make each song as strong as possible & the issue of who had the initial idea & who subsequently contributed which further idea becomes moot. I know it seemed to work well for the Stranglers, even though it was clear that some songs were obviously more influenced by one particular band member. As I said, it probably just saved a lot of arguments, which has to be beneficial to the longevity of the band. True that they were very much a magic circle, but Alan being a constant headache and Rossi wanting to fully embrace a bigger market led to little chance of an even writing credit being vaguely possible I suppose. Band politics and personal differences and so forth. I don't think it's something they could have switched to, it would have had to have been agreed near the beginning. Once they were established it was too late to change, people start to get precious about these things. At the start there's nothing to be precious about.
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Dark
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 336
Favourite Quo Album: Quo
Favourite other bands.: Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Huey Lewis,
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Post by Dark on Mar 9, 2020 13:04:56 GMT
True that they were very much a magic circle, but Alan being a constant headache and Rossi wanting to fully embrace a bigger market led to little chance of an even writing credit being vaguely possible I suppose. Band politics and personal differences and so forth. I don't think it's something they could have switched to, it would have had to have been agreed near the beginning. Once they were established it was too late to change, people start to get precious about these things. At the start there's nothing to be precious about. Queen switched to a four way song writing late in their career to stop all the bickering over songs.
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Post by dennis on Mar 9, 2020 15:11:35 GMT
I don't think it's something they could have switched to, it would have had to have been agreed near the beginning. Once they were established it was too late to change, people start to get precious about these things. At the start there's nothing to be precious about. Queen switched to a four way song writing late in their career to stop all the bickering over songs. I'm less familiar with Queen, although I do like Queen II & Sheer Heart Attack, so can't comment on their situation. I could see that for some groups it might be a way to resolve differences, even late in the day. However, I don't think it would have worked for Quo later in the day as there were, by then, too many other issues between members apart from songwriting royalties. The latest they probably have got away with such an agreement would perhaps have been around the time of the switch to Vertigo in '72, imo. Thereafter, it would have been one less point of disagreement but wouldn't ultimately have avoided all the other internal wrangling that lead to the classic line-up falling apart.
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allyp
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 575
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Post by allyp on Mar 10, 2020 12:42:09 GMT
Queen had their issues but some band members realised commercial potential and went along with it. I know Brian may and Roger Taylor weren’t keen on songs like your my best friend, another one bites the dust and don’t stop me now. I know Quo’s issues ran a bit deeper but maybe over something like marguerita time and ol rag blues Alan could have maybe thought “ok im not singing it and not keen on the song but it will make me some cash”. I think dis communication living thousands of miles apart and bad management didn’t help matters.
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Post by dennis on Mar 10, 2020 15:23:02 GMT
Queen had their issues but some band members realised commercial potential and went along with it. I know Brian may and Roger Taylor weren’t keen on songs like your my best friend, another one bites the dust and don’t stop me now. I know Quo’s issues ran a bit deeper but maybe over something like marguerita time and ol rag blues Alan could have maybe thought “ok im not singing it and not keen on the song but it will make me some cash”. I think dis communication living thousands of miles apart and bad management didn’t help matters. Bad management & downright mismanagement had a lot(!) to answer for, imo, long before the '80s.
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Post by markquo on Mar 10, 2020 15:41:54 GMT
There’s only one person I blame for the decline of the band and it’s not Alan Cheers
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Post by blagult on Mar 10, 2020 16:31:15 GMT
The only thing to blame for the demise is drugs and alcohol. You just have to listen to the last 2 pre 86 albums to realise the magic had gone. Even getting together in a semi circle wouldn’t have saved those songs !
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gav
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 2,152
Favourite Quo Album: On The Level
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Post by gav on Mar 10, 2020 17:17:32 GMT
Coghlan's departure ought to have been their wake up call, but they were a such big business by then of course.
John burned out, Rick recovering from tragic personal circumstances, Bob gone, Francis creatively frustrated and heavily drug addicted due to his misery, Alan getting more and more involved with life on the other side of the world... they were effectively over when JC left.
It all became so overtly commercial after that. Even the cheeky chappies act was just a sell. Shame.
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Post by frozenhero on Mar 11, 2020 16:58:55 GMT
I've heard Francis' latest interview, in which he says that Softer Ride is his song and not Rick and Alan's. I'd believe him in regards that. It sounds like a Rossi/Young song However, he then says only he wrote Roll Over Lay Down, with Bob Young and no one else had anything to do with it. That is complete and utter lies! That entire mid section and breakdowns have Rick and Alan trademarks all over it. Sounds nothing like Rossi/Young material My point is, we're never going to get the truth. Yes, I think Bob also confirmed this about Softer Ride before. ROLD is odd though - as you say, the basis of the track is quite close to the Alan/Rick tracks on Quo. It's just the melody and chorus that make it more commercial and that therefore have the Rossi/Young stamp. Of course, strictly speaking a song only consists of melody and lyrics - but we know how stupid that really is... Big fat mama for example was mainly rossi’s musical structure and the original idea for the song was deemed not good enough apparently? Mystery song was another track which was really a band effort and Bob young helped with the lyrics there but Rick got the credit as structured the song was his idea. Correct me if facts wrong just going by reading articles over the years from all quarters. Yes, Francis has confirmed that writing with Rick could be like pulling teeth. Rick would always want to improve it further, whereas Francis likes to leave a song alone when he thinks it's finished.
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