[mb-style] Guest performances again

Philip Jägenstedt philip at foolip.org
Sun Mar 2 22:34:59 UTC 2008


If I understand the both of you correctly, we have a situation where
different editors are interpreting this differently.

I'm not sure if it's true or not, but let's assume that Madonna
doesn't have a standard group of musicians which record all her albums
and that different drummer are used on different albums. Chris would
use "performed guest drums" AR:s while Lauri would use "performed
drums" on Madonna's albums. Correct?

To me, "guest drums" in such a situation is about as sensible as
"guest composed". I think "guest" should imply at least some level of
special status, even if not necessarily noted as "guest" in the
liners. If the artist is somehow noted on the cover (duet with Artist
Foo) then that would probably be "guest" (and a feat. in most cases).
I don't know if I'm making any sense, does anybody else see a problem
here?

Which type of AR to use (performed/vocal/lead vocal), whether or not
to use feat. style etc. is not the issue I'm concerned about, I hope
we don't have any such problems brewing here.

On 3/2/08, Lauri Watts <krazykiwi at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 10:24 PM, Chris B <chris at whenironsattack.com> wrote:
>  > On 02/03/2008, Philip Jägenstedt <philip at foolip.org> wrote:
>  >  > I'm a bit confused about guest performance AR:s again. The helper text
>  >  >  on the AR editing page reads "This attribute indicates a 'guest'
>  >  >  performance where the performer is not usually part of the band."
>  >  >
>  >  >  Should this be understood to mean that whenever a performer isn't part
>  >  >  of a band (or isn't the artist him/herself in case of an individual
>  >  >  artist) but has credits for some performance, then it is a guest
>  >  >  performance?
>  >
>  >  as i understand it, yes
>  >
>  >
>  >  If that were the case then we'd have "guest drums
>  >  >  performed by Drummer Guy" on as good as every pop artist release which
>  >  >  doesn't have a regular band. This doesn't seem very reasonable.
>
>
> I don't use (guest) for session musicians on recordings, or live
>  support, or the like, unless it actually says 'special guest' etc. in
>  the liners.
>
>  I do use guest for featured artists.
>
>
>  >  to me that seems reasonable :) however there is also the situation
>  >  where pop artists have their own band they use in the studio/for
>  >  touring, in which case i would say such artists aren't guests, but
>  >  they would need a 'supporting musician' AR to the pop artist to
>  >  clarify what's going on.
>
>
> Exactly.
>
>
>  >  >  So, is "guest" only for when the artist is credited as a guest?
>  >
>  >  no... i hope not, anyway, as that's not really workable
>
> >  >  2. In a duet between artist A and artist B released by artist A
>  >  >  without any special credit given on the cover (but probably "vocals"
>  >  >  in liners), is artist B performing "guest lead vocal" or just "lead
>  >  >  vocal"?
>  >
>  >  in that situation i would say guest lead vocal, unless it's credited
>  >  as, for example, "Queen & David Bowie" in the tracklist, in which case
>  >  it's a new collab artist
>  >
>
>
> I agree with Chris B.
>
>  If you can listen to the track, it's usually pretty clear if they are
>  lead or background, if it doesn't say, and the liners often do say,
>  even if the cover doesn't.
>
>  I tend to be as specific as I'm sure of.  It's easy enough to
>  'upgrade' the AR later, if better information comes along, and if I
>  can't tell, or don't know, 'performed' is better than nothing, and
>  'performed vocal' is better yet again.
>
>  --
>
> Lauri Watts
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  Musicbrainz-style mailing list
>  Musicbrainz-style at lists.musicbrainz.org
>  http://lists.musicbrainz.org/mailman/listinfo/musicbrainz-style
>



More information about the Musicbrainz-style mailing list