Has the world gone topsy-turvy?

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by Peestie

Exactly.

I don't know that Lindsey isn't some way to blame on the production side but it really does sound like Stevie has just used the chords from a couple of Ashcroft's songs. Illume/New York is mind boggling how close they are. How Ashcroft doesn't get a writing credit on Illume is beyond me. It almost sounds like instead of bringing along a demo for it Stevie could have played New York and said "Okay, we're going to do this but I'm going to put some new words over the top".

I disagree. I think this brings up the issue of what is considered a "riff" vs. a "chord progression." While I do agree that Stevie wrote the basic chords of "Illume," I believe it was LB who came up with that sliding acoustic guitar riff that is the trademark for this song- and whether or not he copped it from Richard Ashcroft is debatable. This is not unlike "Edge of Seventeen" where Stevie wrote the basic chords (which were not unlike "Call Me" or "Rhiannon" or "Gold"), but Waddy and/or Jimmy Iovine came up with the iconic guitar riff and the syncopating drum beat that seems to mimic "Bring on the Night." I highly doubt that Stevie came in with a Richard Ashcroft CD and told Lindsey to duplicate that riff; I think Lindsey would find that highly offensive. Personally I suspect that Lindsey may have unwittingly taken the riff, verbatim, from Stevie's rough demo, and the guitarist on Stevie's demo may have lifted the riff from RA (probably assuming it would never have made it to the final recording). I suspect this because, if you listen to the snippets of the "Say You Will" demo from the "Destiny Rules" documentary, the guitar riff is already there, and Lindsey copied it for the studio recording. In the olden days, when LB had something to prove, he probably would have tried to put his own personal stamp on it. But I think he is now of the mindset that if it ain't broke, he ain't gonna fix it.