Songs that took on a new life when played live

YourValentine 01 March 2010 15:11 · Member since July 2001

August R. wrote:

YourValentine wrote:

I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imo - I always skip that.

I think it's one of those "you had to be there" things. I also skip it always on the record, but when I was actually "there" (in 2005) and sang it with thousands of fellow fans around me, it felt very special. Very emotional experience.

BTT, The Works songs always sound somehow sterile on the record, but workwed very well live. I really like I Want To break Free and Radio GaGa live. Same for One Vision.

August R - I saw LOML once in 1998 (Another World tour), 4 times in 2005 and six times in 2008, so I was there and I know I have a minority opinion. I am sure it was cool in 1981 when the band did not expect the huge South American crowds to sing it but later it became such a routine with a predictible "let's become emotional" factor that I began to really dislike it. I think the studio version is one of the finest ballads in the 20th century which is truly underrated but the live singalong makes its original beauty forgotten to a certain extent.

S

Sheer Brass Neck 01 March 2010 21:45 · Member since May 2008

"I think the studio version is one of the finest ballads in the 20th century."
[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]Amen, beautiful, beautiful song. Having said that, they didn't ask for an obscure track to become a live sing a long, it developed.[/QUOTE]

J

john bodega 01 March 2010 21:52 · Member since December 2004

YourValentine wrote:

It's even worse when Brian sings it with his fake "this is for Freddie" intro when everybody knows it's for himself

(shrug)
[/QUOTE]I guess you know him best!

[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

M

mike hunt 02 March 2010 02:38 · Member since October 2004

Love of my life is two different songs live and studio. The studio version truly is one of the best ballads i ever heard, yes that includes the beatles. The live version is also a favorite of mine with freddie, but can't stand brian singing it. Makes me want to slit my wrists.

P

ParisNair 02 March 2010 13:29 · Member since July 2005

YourValentine wrote:
I saw LOML once in 1998 (Another World tour), 4 times in 2005 and six times in 2008, so I was there and I know I have a minority opinion.

What are you? a Queen fan or soemthing? lol! No seriously I envy you...one of the rare times that I feel i was born in the wrong part of the world. Did you ever get to see Queen + Freddie live?

I am sure it was cool in 1981 when the band did not expect the huge South American crowds to sing it but later it became such a routine with a predictible "let's become emotional" factor that I began to really dislike it.

In South America back in '81, I believe the "emotion factor" was very real. Many were possibly living their dream, never expecting they would get to see the band live on stage instead of on radio /TV. But other than that, I agree that later i t became a routine thing and lost much of the charm.

M

mike hunt 02 March 2010 22:45 · Member since October 2004

disagree, the wembley version is awsome. After that I agree, it's lost it's charm with brians singing it.

Y

YourValentine 03 March 2010 02:58 · Member since July 2001

Very selective quoting, Zebonka :-)

I wrote:
when everybody knows it's for himself and the audience celebrating the "special band-crowd bond"

You make it sound like I am accusing Brian to be on an ego trip.

Interesting that people disagree so much on LOML. Does anyone else like NIH from the Live Killer period?

@ParisNair: no - sadly I never saw Freddie live on stage :(

G

Gregsynth 03 March 2010 03:01 · Member since November 2008

YourValentine wrote:

Very selective quoting, Zebonka :-)

I wrote:
when everybody knows it's for himself and the audience celebrating the "special band-crowd bond"

You make it sound like I am accusing Brian to be on an ego trip.

Interesting that people disagree so much on LOML. Does anyone else like NIH from the Live Killer period?

@ParisNair: no - sadly I never saw Freddie live on stage :(

The Live Killer versions of NIH are good, but Freddie's voice was often worn out--the Crazy Tour versions are the best!

T

thunderbolt 31742 04 March 2010 16:49 · Member since May 2006

Gregsynth wrote:

Sir GH wrote:

YourValentine wrote:

I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imo

Exactly. That's why I prefer the earlier versions, before the audience started singing along. The Houston 77 version is pretty gorgeous.

The Montreal 1981 version is the best.

Right up until the part where Freddie realizes that, no matter what he does, this audience ain't gonna sing along, and he voices his displeasure with it.

LOML was only added to concerts, if I remember this right, because the guys liked having a couple of acoustic songs in their concerts (as mentioned by Freddie in Earl's Court), but weren't so keen on going acoustic on their albums at that point in time. The song kind of took off on its own in European shows from there.

I've always loved the ADATR and NOTW versions of Now I'm Here. No long singalongs in the middle, no Dragon Attack randomly spliced in there, just four minutes of hard, solid rock. The song worked so well as a closer on the European ADATR tour that they were probably scratching their heads when it failed in that role on the Hot Space tour. Here's a hint--singalong medleys make for crappy set closers.

The song was played with a slower tempo on the SHA and ANATO tours, closer to the album version, which still sounds great, but Roger's more intense drumming and Brian's quicker guitar fingers on the late-70's tours took NIH from a fairly standard mid-tempo rocker to a true standard.

M

Matias Merçeauroix 04 March 2010 22:27 · Member since February 2007

Love of my Life is a total masterpiece.

When played live, is a nice song. Not much more than that.

S

Sebastian 04 March 2010 23:58 · Member since July 2001

Funky Horsie wrote:

Love of my Life is a total masterpiece.

When played live, is a nice song. Not much more than that.

V

Voice of Reason 2018 05 March 2010 12:50 · Member since July 2001

Hammer to Fall for me.

I didn't like it particularly on The Works, was surprised when it was released as a single, even saw it on The Works tour and don't remember it!

I thought it was great at Live Aid and I've loved it since.

W

Wiley 05 March 2010 16:57 · Member since December 2001

Thunderbolt wrote:

The song was played with a slower tempo on the SHA and ANATO tours, closer to the album version, which still sounds great, but Roger's more intense drumming and Brian's quicker guitar fingers on the late-70's tours took NIH from a fairly standard mid-tempo rocker to a true standard.[/QUOTE]
I prefer Now I'm Here's studio version, eventhough the live version is faster and a better showcase for the band's musical skills.
I have the same feeling towards Hammer to Fall. In this case, Freddie's vocals in the studio were awesome.

On the other hand, A Kind of Magic's live version kicks major butt, specially sung by Roger in the last QPR tour. Brian played it much better live in 1986, though.

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