The Queen Fanthology - Chapter Two: Queen II

Another good piece. RE the Surrender To The City discussion - I think the same can be said for Deep Ridge - the segue between FTS and WQ - the sonics of that probably led to the joke title as it would require deep ridges on the LP? Fly By Night similarly could be the link from Procession to FTS? The only reason these segues have actual names is that Queen were learning their art and by SHA had sussed how to segue as parts of the song. Just my pennies worth.

Also the early tape featuring a stand along FHLI could be hearsay - such as the track marking edits on some CD issues. Someone simply mistook the end section of MOTBQ as the start of FHLI and the rumour spread. I'd be happy to be proved wrong on that, more to the point of it meaning MOTBQ is also a stand alone version.

You know, maybe its just like Breakthru and there is a longer version.

I've always thought that there was an edit between

To hell with all of you hand in hand

and

Now its time to be gone

Always figured it was different takes but maybe not...

I thought I would jump in on this, I havn't done so before but I emailed Brian 3 years ago about the vast amount of demos ect that are knocking around and that Queen were missing a trick and that they should put all of the tracks out in all forms as Youtube were doing a good job on its own and Queen were not making any money out of it. Brian did respond and the lines were that it was a good idea but at that time they did not have the time to go through all the tracks and that he was too busy with other projects like touring, putting DVDs together ect and Roger was doing the same. As it goes Island records since then did a half hearted job with the re releases ie A kind of Vision which was interesting so we do know the stuff is there, even things that have not been hijacked. The MJ stuff should be interesting although it is really a Freddie Demo not a Queen one.Maybe a full list of what is available should be compiled and sent directly to Brian so he can fully understand what they are losing.

Wrong thread? :o)

not really wrong thread, you want these songs to be released officially and it isn't gonna happen unless Brian and Roger get on to it, besides its all Queen related and only they can say what is correct and what isn't.

With regards the early cassette version of QII possibly having a stand-alone 'Funny How Love Is', I wonder how that would have left the ending of MOTBQ?

One thing I'd like to ask - has there ever been any discussion about the Robin Cable Larry Lurex session? I like to think FHLI was also done while they were doing the single and held back for the second album. Of course, as he was house engineer he could quite easily have been involved in separate sessions a year apart and perhaps was actively asked to record one specific song (FHLI) to get that same feel as the LL single, but there is something about FHLI that is just too similar to the LL tracks (even the slightly helium Freddie vox) that makes me wonder if it wasn't at least started at the same time - perhaps as a bargaining chip - 'yes, I'll sing on this as long as we can do one of our own' as we know they were hussling for studio time then and FHLI is thrown away enough to have been knocked off quickly and hence buried at the end of Queen II.

Another thing about Queen II - nearly all the lead vocal from beginning to end is double tracked. Plus Brian's trademark echo solo is present - particularly in Father to Son (amongst other places)

Thanks for this! I'm finally getting around to downloading it.

I'm trying to form a similar anthology of sorts, but with all clear studio bootlegs - i.e. not 'Property of Queen Productions' convention tapes. As Surrender to the City seems to be a clue I'm looking for, I have two questions for fellow QZ'ers - I have three instrumental takes of 'Black Queen' that are labelled as takes 3, 4 & 5. Could I have stumbled across Surrender to the City? And if so, which take is it?

well i for one am very intrigued, br5946, where did you find the studio bootlegs? been looking for a very long time?! would love to hear what u have

and to answer the question, you may have stumbled across Surrender to the city, I've heard a small number of people talking about it being a standalone track, but Freddie didnt feel the rest of the track was decent enough for the album, thats why its so short and shoved on the end of Black Queen

I have indeed been looking for good-quality studio bootlegs for a while, and I came across these takes in the bootleg '1991 - The Vaults: Demos + Rare Stuff (5 CD)' which also has the infamous 1984 Thames tape on it. As it was surprisingly easy to get hold of, I imagine it's circulating widely - the Black Queen takes are in the 'CD 1' folder.

[QUOTE] [b]br5946 wrote:[/b]

I'm trying to form a similar anthology of sorts, but with all clear studio bootlegs - i.e. not 'Property of Queen Productions' convention tapes. As Surrender to the City seems to be a clue I'm looking for, I have two questions for fellow QZ'ers - I have three instrumental takes of 'Black Queen' that are labelled as takes 3, 4 & 5. Could I have stumbled across Surrender to the City? And if so, which take is it?[/QUOTE]

What you have is likely to be the Takes 3-5 recording played at the 2005 UK and Dutch conventions (as detailed in the guide).

Here is a copy of that convention recording so you can compare.

"Fly By Night" does not exist.

As has now been confirmed by numerous sources, "Deep Ridge" and "Surrender To The City" do exist as full songs. Even John S Stuart, who called me a bullshit artist and a liar when I first mentioned this back in 2004, concedes that I was telling the truth.

"Deep Ridge" sounds like Led Zep's "When The Levee Breaks" and, from memory, was between FTS and WQ.

"Surrender To The City" - multiple people use the "Breakthru" example of it being part of a song that was incomplete tacked onto another one. This is true but the song was completed. It was very high tempo - just as high tempo as the fragment that still exists at the end of MOTBQ. Why FHLI (and I love that song) was chosen over STTC, you'd have to ask Brian, Roger and John.

You have not really heard the brilliance of Queen II without hearing it as the original 13-track statement. The 11-track is world-class but to me still sounds incomplete.