The Province

Jack Keating, Staff Reporter The Province

The musician suing pop star Sarah McLachlan was raked over the coals by legendary Canadian musician Bill Henderson in B.C. Supreme Court yesterday.

Darryl Neudorf, a former drummer with the band 54-40 and now a Vancouver record producer, is suing McLachlan and Nettwerk Productions, both of Vancouver, for copyright infringement and a share of royalties for allegedly co-producing and co-writing four songs on her 1988 debut CD Touch.

In his 29-page report on the Touch CD demo tape -- a document accepted in its entirety by Justice Bruce Cohen yesterday -- Henderson referred to "rather severe limitations of some of Neudorf's production skills."

"I find the production of the Touch demo is very lacking," Henderson told Cohen, who is hearing the civil suit without a jury.

"It's very clear that the overall sound and sonics on the Touch CD was far superior to the Touch demo. And the emotion portrayed is far stronger," said Henderson, 53, who won a 1982 Juno award as producer of the year.

Portions of Vox and Ben's Song from the demo produced by Neudorf and from the Touch compact disc, produced by Greg Reely, were played in the courtroom.

"Ben's Song is very brittle and undeveloped," Henderson said of the demo. "It's not emotionally there. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't sound good.

"There's an emotional quality on the Touch CD that the Touch demo doesn't approach. It's played softly and gently and has a warmth and a security."

Henderson, who produced numerous albums as the frontman for Chilliwack and was a producer for bands as diverse as the Nylons, Long John Baldry, the Irish Rovers and the West End Girls, said it is the role of a producer to help songwriters.

He was accepted as an expert witness in songwriting and composition, music theory, teaching of songwriting and composition, producing and the producer's role in making a record, standard practice of the music industry, including incomes and flows and royalties, collaboration and co-writing and arrangement and arranging.

"There is no question that the majority of producers expect to provide some songwriting guidance and suggestions when working with young songwriter/artists and they do so without any expectation of songwriting credit," said Henderson, who has written more than 300 songs.

He noted that producers receive royalties on the sale of records, "so that a certain amount of songwriting work on the part of the producer is generally considered to be justly compensated in this way."

Henderson said the standard practice in the music industry for compensation on a song is 50 per cent for lyrics and 50 per cent for the music -- giving 25 per cent each for melody and chorus.