Greg Brooks calling John Stuart. OPEN INVITATION/REQUEST

Lets get to the heart of the matter.

"Golder's Green Hippodrome"

Queen recorded for this live for the BBC.
This was done using BBC eqipment and BBC facilities. The BBC owned the one and only master tape - not Queen.
The only reason the gig was recorded in the first place, was because the BBC could repeat the radio concert at some time.
After a number of years the BBC (under licensing agreement) decided (in their wisdom) to destroy the master tape.

Even though earlier (edited) transcription discs were made from this tape, the full recording was never released.

Under the BBC's "search and destroy" policy of the 1980's, the tape was actually trashed and theoretically "destroyed".
In point of fact the recording was salvaged (with the full permission and approval of the Corporation) by an engineer - who later contacted me - and whom I bought this tape from. If I were to burn this - a better quality version would NOT exist, but, according to Greg, this is somehow not the case!

No better version CAN exist ANYWHERE (or in any Queen, Brian or Roger's vaults) because THIS IS THE MASTER TAPE.

I have NEVER denied that I own very rare pieces.
I have been very vocal towards Queen Productions and have PLEADED with them to meet me.
It is THEY whom are the stumbling block - not I.

I refuse to deal with Greg personally.
I do not trust him, there is too much history between us, and in all the communications I have ever been involved in, it has always been a one way street. In effect "I show him mine" but he "does not show his", and for this I am always cast (in Freddie's word) as a Pr*ck teaser, and as such, deserve to be to be treated with contempt. So let me turn the tables:

Queen Productions are WELCOME to ANYTHING in my collection.
They can have FULL access to what I own, without reservation.
My PM on this forum is public, my email is public.
However, I refuse to deal with middle-men.

So I advertise here -  If I am Personally contacted by Queen Productions, Brian May, Roger Taylor, or John Deacon, (and I am sure that CAN be arranged), and if they provide me with the guarantees that were promised - but  not provided for my Wreckage material, I guarantee here and now that I will deal under these circumstances. PROMISE.

In my worst Lloyde Grossman impersonation:
"Queen PLC - It's over to you".

Brian's Wig:
Thanks in advance for the BBC Sessions John.
I hope you are kind enough to donate a copy of the demos to this forum one day.

As far as I know - this is all in hand.

brians wig wrote:

3) The German collector who John sold his "sub-master" tape to in the 90's has always told the story of how he gave a copy of that tape to QPL (who apparantly didn't have it!!!!) and subsequently gained permisssion from Jim Beach to 'bootleg' said tape, which is where we all got those demos from in the first place.
Okay, you lot have to decide how much of this is true or not!

negatve creep wrote:
I find it hard to believe Jim Beach gave anyone permission to bootleg ANYTHING at any point. Even if it was an alternative to having to pay the collector for it  - I just can't see him ever agreeing to something like that.

To clear this out. This was a dutch collector. And he claimed he had the master tape.I'd visited him at the time, shortly after the cd was made. I got the 2 versions of the cd from him that day. He said it was much trouble getting a tape converted to a cd. I laughed at the man and asked im what could be so difficult to make a transfer from a music cassette to a cd. HE explained me that this was not a music cassette but a different kind of tape.And that needed a special kind of tapeplayer only availble in studio's. So silly me I believed it was a music tape.But it was some kind of a studio tape (still don;t know the namesof the volumes used in a studio....

If I remeber correctly :he told me specific that he paid a huge amount of money for it, but did not mention the real amount of money.I didn't asked for the correct amount of payment as well.

I'm not convinced , but I believe I;d remebered he bought it from some auction house, or something simular like that.

The guy had the bootleg cd made in Italy, in mid 90's and the bootlegs were brought to holland from italy. From holland he distrubuted the boot cd. Somehow Jim Beach noticed the bootleg cd and wrote a "thank you"letter to him. I held this letter in my own hands. So he was not given permission before making the boot cd. But he got a letter while the cd was out. The letter contained a thank you from JB and the band. The band and JB where very excited that he found this (master?)tape , as Queen  lost and almost forgotten about the tape. Which may indicate Queens vaults is lacking this tape. At least 1996 !

all i know in this thread os i can almost smell Archivits anorak, he must be a smelly man

All this just adds to Greg's embarassment on creating this thread.

Sounds to me like he's spent an age thinking of how to "get in" here on this topc and, once he's figured his angle out, he's just made a load of generic claims about provenance and what "he believes" is in the archive, only to then have his theories trashed with evidence to the contrary.

I'd be surprised if we see a post from him in the near future; the shame must be overwhealming.

Ghostwithasmile: The tape Mr. R had converted was a 7" reel - to - reel, which was a standard home recording format in the 1960/70's. It was NOT a studio format. And yes; it was me who sold it to him.

Also; Jim Beach allegedly wrote a "thank you" note to Mr. R for releasing a bootleg, yet (according to another thread) the same Mr. Beech (or his official representatives) can't be ars*ed to contact me re obtaining unreleased material?

Why is it that QPL sound more like a cowboy outfit the more I hear about them?

John S Stuart wrote:

No better version CAN exist ANYWHERE (or in any Queen, Brian or Roger's vaults) because THIS IS THE MASTER TAPE.

I have NEVER denied that I own very rare pieces.
I have been very vocal towards Queen Productions and have PLEADED with them to meet me.
It is THEY whom are the stumbling block - not I.

I refuse to deal with Greg personally.
I do not trust him, there is too much history between us, and in all the communications I have ever been involved in, it has always been a one way street. In effect "I show him mine" but he "does not show his", and for this I am always cast (in Freddie's word) as a Pr*ck teaser, and as such, deserve to be to be treated with contempt. So let me turn the tables:

Queen Productions are WELCOME to ANYTHING in my collection.
They can have FULL access to what I own, without reservation.
My PM on this forum is public, my email is public.
However, I refuse to deal with middle-men.

So I advertise here -  If I am Personally contacted by Queen Productions, Brian May, Roger Taylor, or John Deacon, (and I am sure that CAN be arranged), and if they provide me with the guarantees that were promised - but  not provided for my Wreckage material, I guarantee here and now that I will deal under these circumstances. PROMISE.

In my worst Lloyde Grossman impersonation:
"Queen PLC - It's over to you".
There you have it - case closed.  Thanks John.  Although I don't know you personally, from years of reading and interacting with your posts here, I have no reason to doubt you; your history leaves me in no doubt that you are genuine. 

i totally agree with your stance of not dealing with Greg.  Even without your personal history with him, why on earth should you be expected to deal with someone who openly, in fact actively, tries to accentuate the point that he is NOT employed by Queen Productions, but merely sub-contracted to do some work for them every now and then?

An equivalent scenario would be if I wanted to buy a football club, would I go directly to the club itself (the owner, the Chairman etc..), or would I go to the kit man?  He might know exactly what old football boots and bits of antique kit are held in the locked changing rooms, and he can get excited about it all by himself knowing that no-one will ever see this, but he has bugger all to do with any decision making and couldn't have anything to do with any deal (in fact he might pocket my money for himself!)

Greg himself has always makes a point to emphasis that he has no say in what happens in the Queen camp, but merely makes suggestions to Brian, Roger, Jim (and John).  Perhaps he should suggest to them that they contact you.???

If you deal with him and you get the same experience as before, what's to stop QPL turing around and saying 'sorry, we didn't ask this chap to deal with you, and we know nothing of your dealings with him, so we don't know what happened to your tape'. 

As usual, Greg has posted an open and public request, but yet again not responded to some genuine responses and questions.

I think this is now done......

ghostwithasmile wrote:

The guy had the bootleg cd made in Italy, in mid 90's and the bootlegs were brought to holland from italy. From holland he distrubuted the boot cd. Somehow Jim Beach noticed the bootleg cd and wrote a "thank you"letter to him. I held this letter in my own hands. So he was not given permission before making the boot cd. But he got a letter while the cd was out. The letter contained a thank you from JB and the band. The band and JB where very excited that he found this (master?)tape , as Queen  lost and almost forgotten about the tape. Which may indicate Queens vaults is lacking this tape. At least 1996 !
Ha - so QPL only have the bootleg CD as a source? Maybe they contacted them to buy the ape off them after the event. But then - how did QPL know who pressed the CD up to apparently fire off a letter to them thanking them for essentially ripping them off? Sounds a bit odd.

John S Stuart wrote: Ghostwithasmile: The tape Mr. R had converted was a 7" reel - to - reel, which was a standard home recording format in the 1960/70's. It was NOT a studio format.

If it was 1/4" tape (the width of the tape - not the size of the spool) - then it would have been a "studio format". Multitrack and master mixes are often stored on 1 and 2" tape - but copies would often be recorded on 1/4" tape - which is what a lot of archive releases are sourced from.

As stated in another thread: A tad disapointed with your reply in that I too have donated to this forum (with yet more to come) and I have openly stated I am willing to "do business" with any "official" Queen representative.

That is NOT bitter. In fact I can not see see how I can be MORE helpful - unless I pyhsically drive down to London and hand in my collection in person!

What more do you want me to do?

I have "been called out" by a middle-man, with whom (from previous experience) I do not want to deal with, and do not trust. That sir, is MY perogative. Just as it is my perogative not to trust Gary Glitter as my babysitter. He can apologise all he wants, but he would NEVER babysit for me again. Sometimes, one bad experience is all it takes. Why is that so difficult to understand?

On the other hand; this forum is public. My email is public.
I am NOT a MI5, Brian May or Salmond Rushdie type figure.
If Queen PL can not afford me the courtesy of dealing direct (which I think would be the professional solution), then they can sod-off.

So for the sake of all Queen fans around the world, let me say this once, let me say it clear, and allow me to shout from the rooftops:

I AM HERE.
QPL, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME ANY TIME.
I WILL NOT BE A STUMBLING BLOCK TO ANY ANTHOLOGIES OR ARCHIVAL MATERIALS.

Sorry for the rant, but I hope that I have made my position crystal clear.
Any attempt to discolour, misquote, or deliberately miss the point is outside my sphere of influence, and cannot be laid at my doorstep.

Greg:  I've been thinking about this open invitation of yours to John, and I keep coming to the same conclusion:
Why would he possibly want to meet with you?  What's in it for him?  The risk versus reward ratio doesn't present him with a much of a choice.  Things didn't turn out very well for him the last time.  It seems that he has everything to lose while you have something to gain.  It's admirable that you appear to want to mend fences with John, but your opening move only offers him more risks, and nothing in return--certainly not his property that was stolen while in your possession.  Perhaps a better opening move would have been the return of his property.

--Cindy

I dunno.  Face to face meetings happen with enemies all the time.  Cf. Middle East peace process, North and South Korea.  People do meet. 

I think I missing some of what people object about Greg's posts.  On the one hand, he's a punching bag/proxy for our not getting good box sets.  On the other, they/he stole a Wreckage demo from JSS?  Or JSS is saying Queen Productions are liars? 

The only way this plays out is if JSS puts together mp3s of his own stuff, remastered properly.  Leak it. 

Or: he meets with Greg's secretary.  Which would be hott.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]ghostwithasmile wrote:[/QUOTENAME] [QUOTE][QUOTENAME]brians wig wrote:[/QUOTENAME]

3) The German collector who John sold his "sub-master" tape to in the 90's has always told the story of how he gave a copy of that tape to QPL (who apparantly didn't have it!!!!) and subsequently gained permisssion from Jim Beach to 'bootleg' said tape, which is where we all got those demos from in the first place.
Okay, you lot have to decide how much of this is true or not![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]negatve creep wrote:[/QUOTENAME]
I find it hard to believe Jim Beach gave anyone permission to bootleg ANYTHING at any point. Even if it was an alternative to having to pay the collector for it  - I just can't see him ever agreeing to something like that.[/QUOTE]

To clear this out. This was a dutch collector. And he claimed he had the master tape.I'd visited him at the time, shortly after the cd was made. I got the 2 versions of the cd from him that day. He said it was much trouble getting a tape converted to a cd. I laughed at the man and asked im what could be so difficult to make a transfer from a music cassette to a cd. HE explained me that this was not a music cassette but a different kind of tape.And that needed a special kind of tapeplayer only availble in studio's. So silly me I believed it was a music tape.But it was some kind of a studio tape (still don;t know the namesof the volumes used in a studio....

If I remeber correctly :he told me specific that he paid a huge amount of money for it, but did not mention the real amount of money.I didn't asked for the correct amount of payment as well.

I'm not convinced , but I believe I;d remebered he bought it from some auction house, or something simular like that.

The guy had the bootleg cd made in Italy, in mid 90's and the bootlegs were brought to holland from italy. From holland he distrubuted the boot cd. Somehow Jim Beach noticed the bootleg cd and wrote a "thank you"letter to him. I held this letter in my own hands. So he was not given permission before making the boot cd. But he got a letter while the cd was out. The letter contained a thank you from JB and the band. The band and JB where very excited that he found this (master?)tape , as Queen  lost and almost forgotten about the tape. Which may indicate Queens vaults is lacking this tape. At least 1996 ! [/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info

If anyone here would like to contact QPL on my behalf, please feel free to do so. I have no problem with QPL, or sharing anything with the fans.

solutions to this are on so obvious!!!!!  just share everything then that QPL will have nothing legs to stand on.  share crappy the  quality so that you still are mister powerful with top quality in your pockets