Queen Vocal Harmonies Live

Hi All,

I ducked out of collecting and only lately have I begun collecting again and listening to the better ROIO's and bootlegs. Lately I revisited Glasgow April 30 1977 and whilst in the past I always preferred the showy live versions of STL, from the eighties the vocal harmonies sung live of these DATR tour struck me. Queen reall ywere two different animals between 70's and 80's and of course it's subjective which was better. Certainly Freddie's voice was best between Crazy Tour '79 and Hot Space. Although in places in The Works and Magic tour were also excellent, however the vocal harmonies between Freddie, Roger, Brian seems to have long gone.
When did these harmonies peter out?

Excellent observation. I much prefer Queen from the early years when they were more 'musical' i.e. the showbiz aspect was always secondary to the music. In the 1980s when (to a large extent) they moved from arena rock to stadium rock, they lost some musicality. I love STL live: they can;t replicate the studio but they do a great variation of the song. They made an effort. Same with 39, Liar, Best Friend etc. Later, their live arrangements were much simpler. Synths took over. They got a bit lazy. They still did some harmonies e.g. Killer Queen, Radio Ga Ga etc., but it wasn't quite the same and I can;t put my finger on it. Maybe the harmonies on the studio tracks were simpler than in the 1970s. I also think Brian did much less singing than before, or maybe his mic was turned down a bit. Roger continued to be a major back-up to Fred, for example in Under Pressure which is fantastic live.

Anywa, I'm sure much of that is balls and no doubt will be torn apart but this is a good topic and I wanted to keep it alive :)

Holly, thanks for the reply another soul from Norn Irn!

I've always loved Roger's BV live. Not having to sing lead for +2 hrs like Fred, he managed to go for the high notes every time and always delivered. Under Pressure was awesome, specially on the Magic Tour.

The harmonies went when Queen became a stadium rock band, as did the intricacies of Brian's guitar playing, the ukelele and John's triangle.

The harmonies were always there, but from 1977 onward they were less consistent.

The ANATO tour was their musical peak on stage. Everything was focused on the music then, and after the that the costumes and lighting rigs started to slowly take over.

Bob

Thanks for your reply, insightful as ever. The Boston January 30 1976. Is a great example of Queen in the ANATO period in great sound to appreciate the intricacies of Brian's playing, some nice touches from Roger & the harmonies. I noticed while listening to Thank You All, Knebworth that while Roger did still add great BV's they just aren't always synchronised so well as on earlier tours. I suppose that was evolution, both periods strengths & weaknesses.

[QUOTE] [b]Sam99 wrote:[/b]

Holly, thanks for the reply another soul from Norn Irn![/QUOTE]

Yeah I get called a-soul quite a lot around here :)

Keep 'er lit!

^ LOL

I love this topic so I'm keeping it alive a little longer :)

I noticed ina recent clip of Queen+Lambert, Dragon Attack in Toronto that Rog & Brian are still doing background harmonies and they both sound okay (Rog especially) but in oncert with lambert it doesn't sound that smooth. They used to talk about the distinct characteristics of Fred Brian and Roger's voices melding together to create something a bit special. See the recent Fairy Fellows live release for evidence of that. Lambert's voice is different to Fred's obviously: it's not as "full" and seems to me to be a bit shrill in the higher register. All three voices together just don't sound that great (although I'm sure in the concert arena on the night they can get away with this -- power always triumphs over subtlety at a live rock concert). Just a personal opinion. I know classic Queen often messed it up live too. They weren't perfect but often there was magic there. I don't hear any vocal magic in the harmoinies any more.

[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]

I love this topic so I'm keeping it alive a little longer :)

I noticed ina recent clip of Queen+Lambert, Dragon Attack in Toronto that Rog & Brian are still doing background harmonies and they both sound okay (Rog especially) but in oncert with lambert it doesn't sound that smooth. They used to talk about the distinct characteristics of Fred Brian and Roger's voices melding together to create something a bit special. See the recent Fairy Fellows live release for evidence of that. Lambert's voice is different to Fred's obviously: it's not as "full" and seems to me to be a bit shrill in the higher register. All three voices together just don't sound that great (although I'm sure in the concert arena on the night they can get away with this -- power always triumphs over subtlety at a live rock concert). Just a personal opinion. I know classic Queen often messed it up live too. They weren't perfect but often there was magic there. I don't hear any vocal magic in the harmoinies any more. [/QUOTE]

i'd agree in part with this. however i don't think they sound bad now.

The other thing to remember is that BM and RT are older now, and while they can still sing, their voices have changed with age so maybe this becomes more evident when they sing together.

Also The Cosmos Rocks contained very little of the traditional sounding Queen hamonies, You could put this down to a lack of Freddie, but BM seemed to be able to cover this on his first two solo albums.

[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]

I love this topic so I'm keeping it alive a little longer :)

I noticed ina recent clip of Queen+Lambert, Dragon Attack in Toronto that Rog & Brian are still doing background harmonies and they both sound okay (Rog especially) but in oncert with lambert it doesn't sound that smooth. They used to talk about the distinct characteristics of Fred Brian and Roger's voices melding together to create something a bit special. See the recent Fairy Fellows live release for evidence of that. Lambert's voice is different to Fred's obviously: it's not as "full" and seems to me to be a bit shrill in the higher register. All three voices together just don't sound that great (although I'm sure in the concert arena on the night they can get away with this -- power always triumphs over subtlety at a live rock concert). Just a personal opinion. I know classic Queen often messed it up live too. They weren't perfect but often there was magic there. I don't hear any vocal magic in the harmoinies any more. [/QUOTE]

^^^^ oops sorry people.

Haha John gave a good 110% effort in the vocal harmonys between 74 when he got his mic for the triangle and 77 according to queen live when his mic was all but permanently turned down...