The point of this exercise is two-fold.
First: (Like most fans) I am constantly annoyed and frustrated by Queen Productions. The official view seems to be ‘if it is not in the archives – it does not exist’. Yet we all know that this is not the case. Here for example, presented for the first time ever, is something, which does NOT exist inside the Queen vaults.
Second: I am frequently ‘told’ that I either ‘...have nothing worthwhile in my collection’, or (the polite version) I am ‘...living in a fantasy land’, or that to be taken seriously, I need to ‘...share, just to prove’, all of which, I guess, any right-minded person will see is nothing but a load of nonsense.
Although I do own a small number of rarities – I am not some sort of anti-Queen because these tracks have not been released. I too would like to see some kind of Anthology released, in whatever format, but that is up to the powers that be, and not individual fans like myself.
So for those interested in a little bit of Queen history – please read on.
For the ungrateful greedy b*stards who leech and abuse the system – just skip to the download.
Who Wants To Live Forever
Album Version A Kind Of Magic: EMI CDP 7 46267 2
1985 CD Bonus Track (Forever) A Kind Of Magic: EMI CDP 7 46267 2
Greatest Hits II (4:57 Edited Outro) Greatest Hits II: Parlophone CDP 79 7971 2
US Promo CD Single
7" (4:00) Remix/Video EMI Queen 9
Karaoke Instrumental Japan Toshiba EMI TOLW - 3249.50
Hardcore Remix
1998 eYe 3:19 Edit Electronic Arts DDE05501 101S
Original Skip Demo 1 (0:38) Unreleased: Home Mini-Disc
Original Skip Demo 2 (5:05) Unreleased: Home Mini-Disc
Original Skip Demo 3 (0:22) Unreleased: Home Mini-Disc
Original Skip Demo 4 (4:23) Unreleased: Home Mini-Disc
Rachel's Surprise OST Highlander Original Scores: Edel 0028892EDL
Highlander OST Highlander: Warner Home Video PES 38050
Promotional Video Greatest Flix I & II: Pioneer PLMPD 01171
Promotional Video (Complete Version) Queen: Video Single PMI MVW990059 2
In late 1988, I was fortunate enough to purchase a cassette copy of ‘Miracle’ demo versions. This early promo version, though legit – but heavily bootlegged since - was an earlier and different version from the more common ‘Miracle Promo Teaser Tape’ which was ‘released’ sometime later in early 1989. From the same source, (amongst other items) I also purchased a home demo cassette from 1985/6 - ‘Who Wants To Live Forever – original Skip Demos’
Basically, although not directly involved with building his solo career, Brian May was busy collaborating with other artists such as Billy Squeir, and Chris Thompson, and writing tracks like ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ in his own home studio.
Later, this home recording (very much like the ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You – Bell Boy Tape’) was taken into the recording studio and used as the template for the Queen studio version. After the studio track was laid-down, the cassette of home demos was binned – and retrieved from a skip – hence the ‘Skip Demos’ title.
These demos existed before the ‘Forever’ instrumental, and long before the Louisa May remake demo – which was later released by Ian and Belinda.
Notice, these are NOT midi versions – but directly sourced from keyboard – which I think was a Roland – though I have no idea of the make and model. (I have also been assured that the annoying clicks throughout are the use of electronic foot pedals – but I cannot confirm if this is the case).
Here for the first time, are MP3 versions of ‘Original Skip Demo 1 (0:38)’ and ‘Original Skip Demo 2 (5:05)’.
I have not released ‘Original Skip Demo 3 (0:22)’, ‘Original Skip Demo 4 (4:23)’, or these versions in FLAC for obvious reasons.
Skip Demo 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5R64UFK8
Skip Demo 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TEQKXPEF
John S Stuart