The Queen Fanthology - Chapter Two: Queen II

Ok, as promised here is the second chapter in my guide to the different song versions of Queen. This time it's the second album, Queen II.

If you haven't read the first thread I would suggest you check that out here: [url=http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1355033/the-queen-fanthology-chapter-one-queen.aspx]http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1355033/the-queen-fanthology-chapter-one-queen.aspx[/url]. It contains a lot of background information on the project that make the chapters a little easier to read.

As always, if you have any questions, additions or corrections please reply and I'll do my best to answer.

My thanks to Soxtalon for proof reading this chapter.

Thanks again Jam Monkey!

Tim confirmed there's no Smile version of 'White Queen'.

A 'Queen II' version of 'Prophet's Song' has been long rumoured but never officially confirmed; 'Brighton Rock', on the other hand, has been confirmed by Brian at least twice to have been tried out for 'Queen II'.

was looking forward to this. enjoyed the first one. are you gonna do all the albums?

No problem Jam...I still come up with stuff as well...and those are excellent points Seb. I would still put Brighton Rock on the Rumor category...not because I don't believe that they tried it, but I don't know if the Brian quote meant they actually recorded a version for Queen II or if they had just worked on it together....Unless the quote (which I do vaguely remember) was more specific?

Seb wrote: A 'Queen II' version of 'Prophet's Song' has been long rumoured but never officially confirmed;

I know that you're in to facts, a lot in to fact, and I really enjoy reading your input, here and on the Queen online message board. But in 1991 Simon Duckett, a man which I highly respect wrote an epic article on the Hollywood Records releases, he was "the first man" in the Queen Vaults. Simon did mention a "Queen II" version of The Prophet's Song, he gave a detailed view on how the song developed into what turned out the be on the Opera album. I can't believe that Simon Duckett just wrote a shitty article, based on nothing. All the articles Simon wrote for Record Collector and other magazines are written by Simon as a man with great knowledge and based on what he knows, and from a fan's point of view, as he is a huge Queen fan. Whatever happend to Simon? And Jam, thank you for your article for this album!

Tom

excellent text!!!

Hey, man! Thank you very much for this!

really good stuff - about my favourite queen album...however, two major omissions - and surprised with your knowledge that you overlooked these two "rare gems"

"deep ridge" and "surrender to the city" were not fakes


brenski (baiting the hook - to see how many bite) :-)

....based on...?

[QUOTE] [b]TomP63 wrote:[/b]But in 1991 Simon Duckett...[/QUOTE]

Yes, I know about the article in question but, for me, 'officially confirmed' is if it's straight from the horse's mouth, or if there's a recording, acetate, studio log, etc., to confirm that. For a lot of people, Mr Duckett's article's enough, and I respect that.

I'm more than happy to believe there's a 'Queen II' take of 'The Prophet's Song' if (when?) I see 'official confirmation'. Until then, in my book, it could easily exist, it could easily not exist.

[QUOTE]

[b]brENsKi wrote: [/b] really good stuff - about my favourite queen album...however, two major omissions - and surprised with your knowledge that you overlooked these two "rare gems"

"deep ridge" and "surrender to the city" were not fakes

brenski (baiting the hook - to see how many bite) :-)[/QUOTE]

That's very interesting, I await your evidence to support your claim

Thank you again. you rocks ! :)

[QUOTE] [b]Jam Monkey wrote:[/b][QUOTE]
[b]brENsKi wrote: [/b] really good stuff - about my favourite queen album...however, two major omissions - and surprised with your knowledge that you overlooked these two "rare gems"
"deep ridge" and "surrender to the city" were not fakes
brenski (baiting the hook - to see how many bite) :-)[/QUOTE] That's very interesting, I await your evidence to support your claim[/QUOTE]

as stated - this wasn't a question of your accuracy...
the last line (and smiley) were the key...and pestgrid took the bait

"Surrender To The City"

As far as I know (It would be nice if GB confirmed), "The March of the Black Queen" was built up (or recorded) in different sections.

The final section of "March of the Black Queen" is "Surrender To The City... of the fireflies..."

Therefore I am not sure if whether "Surrender To The City" was an early title for "The March of the Black Queen" as a work in progress (ie: the whole song) or;
if the title "Surrender To The City" only refers to the final segment/section of the song (ie: as in a single entity) before it became "a part of the whole".

For example: "A New Life is Born" is recognizable as the opening section of "Breakthru", but both these musical ideas still exist in the archives as separate "bits" - even though they are now married together on album.

So at one time "Surrender To The City" MAY have existed as a separate track; but as we now know that the Queen II master tape was almost over-dubbed to destruction, I think this would be very unlikely.

Hence the bottom line is...

"Surrender To The City" was either a working title for "March of the Black Queen", or (if indeed a short separate piece) has been incorporated into "March of the Black Queen" anyway - so is not the long lost masterpiece the hoaxers would have us believe!

Phew!