"Jazz" interior gatefold and recording equipment talk

Hello All,

im wondering if anyone has a high resolution, or even just a good sized image of the interior gatefold from "Jazz," with the band taking a break in the live room of Mountain Studio...Im trying to figure out which microphones the band relied on in the studio...Ive only seen a handful of shots with a mic in them ("One Vision" behind the scenes film, Freddie's in front of a AKG 414 EB, Neumann U87's are on Rog's kit, Freddie live with his ever-present Shure Unisphere, "Somebody To Love" video harmonies in front of a Neumann U67 Or U87), and, as a musician/recording engineer, it's an extremely interesting topic!!

Thanks for your time and any help
TC

I'm also saddened by the fact that there is so little known about Queen working in the studio. For a couple of years I've been playing with the idea of writing a book. Or at least a couple of intersting articles about it.

They also rarely seemed to talk about their music in interviews.

@kmidd: Would you care to take a look at my website? It hasn't got the answer you're looking for but maybe you can spot mistakes and make some valuable additions.

@Niek: Why don't you go ahead with the book project? It'd surely be interesting.

Thanks Togg, that was great. Which sessions are those?

@Sebastian- Excellent site! If you have any shots from the band's recording sessions, i have a pretty good eye for picking out expensive recording equipment!

@Togg- Is that a Peter Hince shot from the Jazz era?

Hey Fried Chicken, I think it would be a great undertaking to write a book about Queen in the studio!!! Back in the late 80's Mark Lewishon (sp) got into the entire Beatles catalog and did an extremely detailed book on their years at Abbey Road. Day's, times, the recordings, mixdowns, alternate takes etc. VERY detailed! I'd love to be part of a book like this regarding Queen's history in the studio! If you're up for it let me know!

You'd need Greg for that.

Or at least Greg-like levels of access.

A lot can be done without Greg. If there are one-legged people who can dance way better than most two-legged people, and armless people who can paint (with either mouth or feet) way better than most four-limbed people, then it's also possible for a non-archivist to write an excellent book on the subject matter.

Would it have everything? No
Would it have as much as if Niek (in this case) had access to master tapes? No
Would it have way more than nothing? Yes

i have this great Day-to-day book by the Beach Boys which was great. It had a lot of information about what they recorded, when they recorded, who was on the recording. And even had scanned sheets with personel and what they got paid and so on.

This is not really something I'd like to do with Queen, because it is not possible when you don't have access to their database., as PG pointed out.

I'd like to write about the music. How they recorded it, stories about the studio per song or per album. How stuff progressed, how and why they took musical or productional decisions and so on.

I do wonder if a book like that would be interesting. I'm a real fanatic when it comes to writing about composition and production, but I wonder if it's something that a casual fan would like to read?

Anyone?

And Jazz 78, if you're really interested and you think you could help me out. Send me an e-mail: info@nieklucassen.com

Hi

Don't know what happened there...text went in, then.... gone
Anyway, yes it's from the Peter Hince photos taken during the Jazz gatefold photo sessions
That's all I know, but I do love the shots

Indeed, it's a very difficult (but very admirable!) task to write such a book when so little is known about the band's adventures in the studio.  We know a few stories here and there, and we have some clues from demos and multi-tracks that leaked, some of which led to much discussion.

For instance, about News Of The World.. we know about Sleeping On The Sidewalk largely being from take 1 (with just a few vocal overdubs from Brian added on later), Silver Salmon and Feelings are unreleased songs from those same sessions in 1977, there were extra vocal and guitar parts on Get Down Make Love that didn't make the final mix, etc.  It'd be amazing to get all of the existing knowledge into one place.

Here are a few pictures that I hope can help out.  This first one is from 1973.  Is that John Anthony with the band?  Or who?

Here's another, either from the Opera or Races sessions..

Probably from the ANATO sessions.