shotgun

[Uncleboko]

I never listen to CD's...

Really, I don't listen to crappy vinyl

[Pat Seaman]

Old vinyl is not crappy if is carefully handled. The newer pressings used inferior and thinner pressings, which was probably done deliberately, in order to promote the idea of the supposedly superior CD system. Given the choice, I prefer the sound of vinyl, but I also like the convenience of digital CDs.

Pat.

[GoldenStreet]

Got mine in both the original 1961 vinyl mono EP format, and the subsequent European 12" vinyl stereo EP reissue version!

Bill

[Tone]

"It had something to do with contractual obligations. Three tracks that were written by Hank, Bruce and Jet were credited to fictional persons, with the exception of "F.B.I.":
- "Shotgun" was credited to Jon Allen.
- "F.B.I." was credited to Peter Gormley.
- "Gonzales" was credited to Robyn McGlynn."

Hi Ivo

Thanks for that but I'm still puzzled. Do you (or does anyone else on here) know what sort of contractual obligations would lead to tracks being credited to another person, real or invented?

Whatever the situation was, I don't think it was unique to the Shads. For example I know that some of The Hollies' self-penned tracks were credited to "Ransford."

Cheers.

Tony

[GoldenStreet]

The use of pseudonyms probably goes back to the beginnings of copyright law itself, a highly complex and rigorous business for those who find themselves involved! The Rolling Stones collective pseudonym...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanker_Phelge

I recall that Paul McCartney used the pseudonym 'Bernard Webb' for the song Woman, the 1966 single by Peter and Gordon (as far as I know for the only time), presumably as John Lennon was not involved in the song's composition.

Bill

[Tone]

Thanks, Bill.

I was sufficiently curious to Google my query and, while I couldn't get a specific answer to my original question, as you say, the subject of copyright is mind blowingly complex.

Never mind. When I next meet Hank or Bruce I'll simply ask them what the situation was (I wish)

Cheers.

Tony

[GoldenStreet]

When I next meet Hank or Bruce I'll simply ask them what the situation was (I wish)

Tony

A bit of a long shot, but you could try emailing a query to Carlin Music (originally Belinda), publishers/copyright holders of all the Shads original compositions via their Shadows Music affiliate.

http://www.carlinmusic.com/

Although Shotgun is seemingly too obscure for the site database, a search on Gonzales does produce a relevant result, but with no details as to composers... pseudonym(s) or otherwise!

Bill

[humdrum]

I find I it hard to believe that a songwriter/ musician like Hank Bruce Jet could write an original piece of music & then just sit back & let others take the credit for it ...Imagine they had tried to do that to Lennon McCartney.....there would have been hell to pay. Thank god the Beatles came along & changed the rules when they did.

[JimN]

The answer, I would suggest, is fairly clear and completely within the precedents already set in the music industry. Since 1959, Hank, Bruce, and Jet (and possibly Tony) had had a composer publishing contracts with a different company. In late 1960, in the wake of their new-found success, they founded Shadows Music in association with Carlin. But the previous arrangement had not yet expired and as songwriters, they were still tied to the previous publisher even though they were now publishers in their own right.

They could, however, publish songs by other writers in the meantime. And that's what they did, regardless of whether those other writers had either written the music, or even existed.

There is nothing novel in this. It's been happening in Tin Pan Alley since it started. A good example is Al Jolson, a wonderful, ground-breaking artiste and the greatest pop singer of all time (in my opinion), who is not definitively known to have ever written a song (other than for re-wording an existing melody). Yet he got his name onto many hit songs as co-composer in return for singing them and making the (real) writers rich.

It's just business.

[Didier]

The answer, I would suggest, is fairly clear and completely within the precedents already set in the music industry. Since 1959, Hank, Bruce, and Jet (and possibly Tony) had had a composer publishing contracts with a different company. In late 1960, in the wake of their new-found success, they founded Shadows Music in association with Carlin. But the previous arrangement had not yet expired and as songwriters, they were still tied to the previous publisher even though they were now publishers in their own right.

This is excatly what Bruce Welch states in his book, and this is why they had to use someone else's names for some of their own compositions.

Didier