Why Roger and Freddie (solo) Got it right, but brian failed.

All 4 of them together made Queen what it was -- the tensions and collaborations are what made the songs and the band work. Take It's Late, for example -- one of the best rock songs I've ever heard. Fred puts in a great performance but this isn't the kind of song that he would have written on his own, neither would he choose to sing in such a difficult key. It's only because Brian likes that riff (the same used on WWRY, Tear It Up, I Go Crazy and Hammer To Fall) that we got to hear Fred pushing himself so hard. So Fred wasn't Queen, neither was Brian or Roger or John on their own. As they have all said themselves, a number of times, Queen was greater than the sum of its parts, and their solo careers demonstate this. Take the best songs from their solo careers and you would struggle to put together an album as good as any of the early Queen albums (when they were at their best -- imo they went downhill from Hot Space onwards).

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[b]The Fairy King wrote: [/b]

Queen was Tim Staffell!!!

YEAH i SAID IT!
[/QUOTE] Had Tim not decided to quit, Queen would have never happened.

[QUOTE]





[b]Pilot in Play aka (Artemis Moon Band) wrote: [/b]





[QUOTE]





[b]The Fairy King wrote: [/b]







Queen was Tim Staffell!!!

YEAH i SAID IT!





[/QUOTE] Had Tim not decided to quit, Queen would have never happened.








[/QUOTE]







Perhaps neither would Freddie Mercury, or Freddie Bulsara for that matter.







I have said it elsewhere and got 'flamed' for it, but Freddie was pretty shit before he joined 'Smile' and worked f*kin hard to improve to be good enough for the band he was a big fan of.







Brian on the other hand, I believe would have made it big with almost any band he was in because of his raw natural talent and his unique sound. Brian would not have made a solo career because he cannot sing well enough (for the public perception) but at that stage of their careers, HE was the one with the most talent.







Brian was always a genius, Freddie BECAME one.

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[b]bhm0129ad wrote: [/b]

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[b]Pilot in Play aka (Artemis Moon Band) wrote: [/b]



 



 



 

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[b]The Fairy King wrote: [/b]



 



 



 



Queen was Tim Staffell!!!

YEAH i SAID IT!



 



 



 

[/QUOTE] Had Tim not decided to quit, Queen would have never happened.








[/QUOTE]



 



 



 



Perhaps neither would Freddie Mercury, or Freddie Bulsara for that matter.



 



 



 



I have said it elsewhere and got 'flamed' for it, but Freddie was pretty shit before he joined 'Smile' and worked f*kin hard to improve to be good enough for the band he was a big fan of.



 



 



 



Brian on the other hand, I believe would have made it big with almost any band he was in because of his raw natural talent and his unique sound. Brian would not have made a solo career because he cannot sing well enough (for the public perception) but at that stage of their careers, HE was the one with the most talent.



 



 



 



Brian was always a genius, Freddie BECAME one.



 








 

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Brian wasn't always a genius.  I'm sure he practiced guitar when he was young and look how good he became because of it.  He must have worked hard also (not as hard as Freddie but still).

I don't think Freddie sounded terrible before Smile, but he sure did perfect his voice a lot.

He used his falsetto way too much before joining Queen. I've head some of the Wreckage and Ibex stuff on youtube and his voice wasn't all that great. Quite weak, actually.

For any musician, practice makes perfect. Freddie became a legend and Brian is one of the original Guitar Heroes.

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[b]lalaalalaa wrote: [/b]

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[b]bhm0129ad wrote: [/b]





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[b]Pilot in Play aka (Artemis Moon Band) wrote: [/b]







 







 







 





[QUOTE]

 







 







 







[b]The Fairy King wrote: [/b]







 







 







 







Queen was Tim Staffell!!!

YEAH i SAID IT!







 







 







 





[/QUOTE] Had Tim not decided to quit, Queen would have never happened.








[/QUOTE]



 







 







 







Perhaps neither would Freddie Mercury, or Freddie Bulsara for that matter.







 







 







 







I have said it elsewhere and got 'flamed' for it, but Freddie was pretty shit before he joined 'Smile' and worked f*kin hard to improve to be good enough for the band he was a big fan of.







 







 







 







Brian on the other hand, I believe would have made it big with almost any band he was in because of his raw natural talent and his unique sound. Brian would not have made a solo career because he cannot sing well enough (for the public perception) but at that stage of their careers, HE was the one with the most talent.







 







 







 







Brian was always a genius, Freddie BECAME one.







 















 





[/QUOTE]

Brian wasn't always a genius.  I'm sure he practiced guitar when he was young and look how good he became because of it.  He must have worked hard also (not as hard as Freddie but still).

I don't think Freddie sounded terrible before Smile, but he sure did perfect his voice a lot.




[/QUOTE]


Brian was a genius from as early as a genuis can be made. Not necessarily musically of course, but his brain is a marvel.



He (and his dad) made that amazing guitar years before Queen, even before Smile, and it was not even his first attempt - not many YOUNG men have that kind of capability even today.



In the only few exerpts of Freddie I have heard before Smile, he sounded pretty weak and shakey to me.



It definitely took for that combination of all four guys to get the best out of each, but I still think that Brian would have been a star whatever happened to the rest.

[QUOTE]

[b]Pilot in Play aka (Artemis Moon Band) wrote: [/b]

[QUOTE]

 



[b]The Fairy King wrote: [/b]



Queen was Tim Staffell!!!

YEAH i SAID IT!

[/QUOTE] Had Tim not decided to quit, Queen would have never happened.








[/QUOTE] Then we wouldn´t hang around here...and then we wouldn´t *head explodes here*

I disagree. Freddie's Mr Bad Guy is an awful album in my opinion, indicative of the lightweight pap and synthesisers that Fred was obsesssed with in the early and mid 80's. His later solo stuff like Love Kills, Great Pretender and Barcelona are mildly better but I always prefererred Roger and Brian's solo work. Stuff like The Governor, Driven By You, Man on Fire and No More Fun were all superior to stuff on a lot of the 80's albums and even MIH.

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[b]Russian Headlong wrote: [/b]

His later solo stuff like Love Kills, Great Pretender and Barcelona are mildly better
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Love Kills was released BEFORE Mr Bad Guy!!!!

i don't think Brian's solo carrer was bad... he don't sel and get sucess so much... but he did a great job!

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[b]Holly2003 wrote: [/b]

All 4 of them together made Queen what it was -- the tensions and collaborations are what made the songs and the band work. Take It's Late, for example -- one of the best rock songs I've ever heard. Fred puts in a great performance but this isn't the kind of song that he would have written on his own, neither would he choose to sing in such a difficult key. It's only because Brian likes that riff (the same used on WWRY, Tear It Up, I Go Crazy and Hammer To Fall) that we got to hear Fred pushing himself so hard. So Fred wasn't Queen, neither was Brian or Roger or John on their own. As they have all said themselves, a number of times, Queen was greater than the sum of its parts, and their solo careers demonstate this. Take the best songs from their solo careers and you would struggle to put together an album as good as any of the early Queen albums (when they were at their best -- imo they went downhill from Hot Space onwards).[/QUOTE]
I have also heard Brian talk, on the DVD about the making of the album[i] Night At The Opera[/i], about Freddie writing songs in keys that gave him fits for playing on the guitar.

I really don't think that any of them would have made it if they hadn't found each other. Maybe Brian would've been picked up by another big band, but it's not guaranteed. Can't remember which band asked him to join them, but it was after Queen had had some success, not before.

I haven't heard (or can't remember) early Wreckage/IBEX stuff, but I think even Brian/Roger said that Fred's voice improved a lot in the very early days of Queen

Personally, I like guitar based music (G'N'R, Extreme, Satriani etc) so I like Brian's solo stuff, although I think Roger wrote better solo tunes. Ironically (?) I like things like Loser In The End and Fight From the Inside, although I also like White Queen, As it Began and It's Late, hammer to fall etc, and probably like Brian's stuff more. But Roger's solo stuff is better crafted songs I think than Brians solo stuff.

Mr Bad Guy I think is ok, but not great. Is it better than the later B+R solo efforts? I don't think so, but it's a different time. Fun In Space / Strange Frontier? I think I might prefer that more then MBG just a little, but I rarely listen to any of the solo stuff to be honest. Barcelona is just a different class, and Fred deserves the kudoos for that album. Remember that this was before Elton John or Paul McCartney did their musicals etc (although I'm not sure when McCartney did Give My Regards To Broadstreet?). But if he had lived and had wanted to, I'm sure Fred could have done more Barcelona or soundtrack type stuff if he had wanted.

At the end of the day, I think Roger and Brian would make better solo pop/rock music than Freddie or Freddie and John, but of course it would all be lesser quality than all four of them.

Actually, I personally prefer Brian's solo stuff to Roger's and Freddie's.

When I first began listening more seriously to Queen it was Freddie, Freddie, Freddie, with these three guys in supporting roles. Then I began to be more aware of Brian, Roger and John, and pay more attention to who actually wrote what song. I have found that while I still love Freddie, I think that I appreciate Brian more and more, not just his guitar playing but for the songs he has written. I love the likes of [i]Hammer To Fall[/i], but I also like [i]'39[/i], and [i]Keep Good Company[/i]. I like his singing too, though his voice is much better for some things than others, and I think he should avoid singing with the likes of Pavarotti! I really love it when he has gotten into the blues, like [i]Sleeping On The Sidewalk[/i], and I just got the [i]Back To The Light[/i] singles with the [i]Star Fleet[/i] project jam sessions - [i]Let Me Out[/i] and [i]Blues Breaker[/i], as well as [i]Nothin' But Blue[/i] and [i]Back To The Light[/i]. Not all that crazy about [i]Star Fleet[/i] itself. Freddie was more the flamboyant entertainer, but I think that Brian is deeper. I enjoy much of Roger's stuff and I like hearing him sing it, unless he gets way out there, which for me is [i]Sheer Heart Attack[/i]. Not my cup of tea. John is the vaguest one to me though I do like a number of his songs too.
But as has been pointed out, it is all a matter of personal opinion.

I really enjoyed Brian's solo work - just wish there was more of it....He wrote some great songs....Think we would have had much more if not for Cozy passing.........loved his use of Satriani's guitar on nothin but blue - really loved I really enjoyed Love Token (So heavy!!).   You can easily tell that he has always been a huge part of the Queen sound....from his easily recognizable guitar playing, to the song writing, song structure (not just his own songs), vocal harmonies etc.

Really enjoyed Roger's solo work too - in particular his early work, then the Cross, then Electric Fire....like his rock belting out voice more than his whispering voice....think he is better with heavy rocking songs

I'll only listen to Freddie's solo work occasionally - obviously he had an absolutely tremendous voice...but the songwriting and musicianship on Mr. Bad Guy was not there....

Would always rather have all four of them together but with no Freddie and John now....would always be happy to have Brian and Roger making music together -they can make great music....really liked Machines - one of the songs they wrote together for the works...Roger's drums on Brian tracks is usually great