To be honest, I wasn't surprised that my thread would pull in so many replies. What did surprise me is that 90% of the responses were about Fanthology.
I knew that certain people would know who I was when I posted. The last seven or eight days have been characterised by a few people who forgot they were my friends a few years ago suddenly deciding I was worth contacting again. Very curious.
I hope to post info about AKOM, ADATR & NOTW over the following days. If I could ask you to post any questions after I have started those threads, that would be appreciated.
Is there any more info I can provide on QII or The Game?
Ozz · Member since
Your phrasing reminds me a lot some Queen related book I read like a year ago..:D
I agree with you that it seems BM never liked much FM, maybe there was some unconscious friction between two different methodologies to make songs.
This MACK quote comes to mind about CLTCL , I don't know if you can add something about it.
"Freddie said, “Can we do this real quick? I just have an idea. I want to get down as a reference so I don't forget it. Don’t worry, I can’t play guitar!” I put him in a little
booth right next to the control room and, since I had everything else set up, he asked if we could go for sounds. I said, “Just put it down. It’ll be alright.” He
said, “We’ve never done that.” I said, “It doesn’t matter. Trust me, it will work!” We put a track down and, being good musicians as they are, that is the
track you hear!
Freddie said, “Let’s do this real quick, before Brian [May] comes. Otherwise it will take weeks to get it done.” So, we had the basic structure
[to “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”]. The next thing was a couple of overdubs. Freddie said, “Wait, mark my words; when Brian comes in, before he even hears
it, he will say, ‘I don’t like it.’” Brian comes two days later. “Hey, you been doing anything?” I said, “Yeah. We’ve been putting down ideas. I think it’s come out
pretty good.” “Well, I don’t like it.” I think he’s holding that against me to this day! I said, “This is the sort of part. Can you play a Fender Telecaster?
Because it’s a take off of a rockabilly kind of thing.” He did it, in about eight takes. Being sort of to the point, I kept recording over it. I didn’t have eight
tracks. He said, “Let me do it again. Let’s see what we’ve got so we can comp something together.” I said, “You’re going to have to listen back real close!
The one you hear is the one you’ve got. The other ones are underneath, in the oxide!” He did an interview in Melody Maker and went on for a page and
a half about the “incident.” He didn’t like that too much. But overall the track came out pretty good."
dowens · Member since
Finally, you return!
dowens · Member since
Oh, I have a question about The Game. Are there a lot of tracks that were basically done to the point of release, or are most just demos, of basic ideas?
Does that make sense?
It's still amazing to me that a potential double LP ends up being their shortest album.
cmsdrums · Member since
[QUOTE]
[b]dowens wrote: [/b] Oh, I have a question about The Game. Are there a lot of tracks that were basically done to the point of release, or are most just demos, of basic ideas?
Does that make sense?
Hi - yes, that's my question too; are there unreleased songs that were expressively worked on, or are there just lots of initial ideas that were tried, but are very incomplete?
Cheers[/QUOTE]
dudeofqueen · Member since
Ozz, re:
>This MACK quote comes to mind about CLTCL , I don't know if you can add something about it.
You know, it makes perfect sense; it seems, to me, that Brian tried very hard to push the technical side of the studio process in the 1970s and then, once things DID get more technical with synths, he moved against it - wanting to strip things down a lot more. He was critical of the lack of opportunity for guitar on the material recorded for "Hot Space" and "The Works". Add this to the studio tweaking that went in to "Queen Live Killers" and his own "Live At The Brixton Academy" and you have someone who is in DESPERATE search of the perfect recording.
Freddie, who saw pop and singles especially, believed that less was perhaps more in the greater scheme of things but there was obviously room for exposition in the grander productions like The Prophet's Song etc.
Freddie's "Brian's going to have to write some 'cos I can't" comment at Earls Court always seemed very prophetic to me in this regrad; they all had their own ideas and thoughts but comprmise seemed to be a very tricky subject. A lot of jealousy about Roger having the b-side to Bo Rhap anyone?
Two strong personalities battling against each other. Fire and brimstone.
Rogers Untidy Bottom · Member since
Although he genuinely grieved for FM, BM's big problem with Freddie was they were both shy blokes with a talent for music but FM was a genuine star.
Think about BM's songs and specifically their lyrical content. "I'm lonely, I'm sad, I'm depressed, I'm shy" - essentially I have just written a new BM solo album in that sentence. He's also massively intolerant of others. Who wants to listen to 45 minutes of that self pitying shit? Besides which, Jimmy Nail is a more talented vocalist than him.
BM can be a very small man. FM, on the other hand, he oozed star appeal.
Regarding the Game, I believe most were completed, finished songs and the rest at 4th/5th demo stage so very well advanced.
dudeofqueen · Member since
Re:
>Think about BM's songs and specifically their lyrical content. "I'm lonely, I'm sad, I'm depressed, I'm shy" - essentially I have just written a new BM solo album in that sentence.
And the material YOU have created is more original and INTERESTING than the bulk of BTTL and AW........
I'd imagine that the attention heaped on FM would have been pretty grating for anyone else in the same group as him, but surely, someone else being able to handle all that attention when the band were as big as they were, would be a God-send. Unless Brian really, secretly CRAVED that attention and vented his spleen at the press with regard to privacy etc in order to get himself a few column inches. Remember his rants about autograph hunters depriving him of his privacy......?
Rogers Untidy Bottom · Member since
John and Roger never really minded FM getting all the attention. They're just normal blokes really who had success in their lives.
Neither John nor Roger are shouting to make their voices heard by becoming the UN's first badger ambassador. The guy is just, well...
BM knows that without Freddie, he's a weak vocalist many of whose songs are about as sophisticated as Status Quo.
dudeofqueen · Member since
Re:
>Neither John nor Roger are shouting to make their voices heard by becoming the UN's first badger ambassador. The guy is just, well...
Hmmm..... I'm not sure that's entirely fair. Brian is - clearly, unless the whole thing is a very elaborate smoke-screen - obviously very passionate about the subject and is, rightly, doing something about it where he feels he can make a difference. He's mis-managing it, though, by absolutely ramming it down the throats of the people that follow him because of his success as a musician. I'm sure there are plenty of fans that are concerned about badger survival, but I'm sure that there is a MUCH LARGER number of people who would rather he stopped banging on about it.
Having said that, its all done under the guise of brianmay.com and, essentially, is his to lend his name to whatever he wants.
>many of whose songs are about as sophisticated as Status Quo.
And I think that shocked Paul Rodgers - considering that their 'friendship' had been so open since 1993 - its amazing - to me - that they didn't team up before and that, once they DID, such rubbish was given to Paul to sing. I'd wager that Paul wanted Brian and Roger to delve a bit in to th ecatalogue but that Brian just wanted to play WWRY night after night for the rest of his life.
Rogers Untidy Bottom · Member since
The guy is a narcissist.
What happened when he went for addiction therapy pretty much sums him up for me.
lastfm · Member since
Totally. And let's face it: that bit with the lettuce manager at Tesco was pretty revealing too.
You HAVE to be winding people up with elliptical twaddle like that.
Rogers Untidy Bottom · Member since
Lastfm or should I say **** ******, I was wondering when you'd pipe up.
You know what I'm talking about. It was even in the Daily Mail.
dudeofqueen · Member since
Some people are in a constant state of denial.........
lastfm · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Rogers Untidy Bottom wrote:[/b]
Lastfm or should I say **** ******, I was wondering when you'd pipe up.
You know what I'm talking about. It was even in the Daily Mail.[/QUOTE]
Yes, please call me *** ******. (?)
Anyway, I'm not intending to be a jerk and I think much of that character assessment is bang on. But I don't know what you're talking about, nor I suspect do a significant number of other people. The general rhythm of your posts is several in a row that sound credible followed by something that seems subtly off by design. Please consider that feedback rather than any kind of accusation. I'm not trying to give you a hard time or discourage your stuff, it's just that any of us can understand resistance to being made a fool of, and avoiding whiffs of that is probably preferable.
