Queen crest Queenzone

Some Studio Stats

31 posts Page 2 of 3
Thread

Posts in chronological order

· Member since
Yes and yes :D
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
· Member since
The listings are great, but I think it's incorrect to interpret track 12 on Made In Heaven CD as a separate song. We all know that so-called 'Yeah' is the part of It's A Beautiful Day (reprise). It was divided from the song only to make "13" to be track 13 on CD. There's no any official mention of it as a song with a proper title. The recent double vinyl finally officially revealed the title of ambient piece as "13" but there's no any 'Yeah' track on Side 3. Simple As That.
QUEEN EXPANDED COLLECTION: http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1456202/queen-expanded-studio-collection-cmi-music.aspx
· Member since
[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]

Question: why is Roger listed as "chief composer" for "Yeah"?[/QUOTE]

Presumably because it comes from 'Action This Day', which Roger wrote. It's a bit meaningless to assign it a composer at all, since it's an acapella ad lib and Sebastian's using the word 'composer' to mean the person who wrote the music. [/QUOTE]

I always thought that 'Yeah' comes from 'Don't Try Suicide', but now I admit that it is quite difficult for me to distinguish if it comes from 'Don't Try Suicide' or 'Action This Day'...

Do you have any source?
· Member since
I'm sure Wikipedia mention "track 13".
Master Marathon Runner
· Member since
Thanks a lot for that!
--- http://rogertaylor.info The Free Online Roger Taylor Fanzine "Manipulator"
· Member since
Staying Power horns arr. Arif Mardin
--- http://rogertaylor.info The Free Online Roger Taylor Fanzine "Manipulator"
· Member since
Yes, but still the main arranger and producer was Freddie (he took Arif's bits and re-organised them with Mack) and Arif didn't play any instrument.
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
· Member since
On Bring Back That Leory Brown the vocals is arranged - orchstrated, were done by Freddie. That's why they put it as bonus on 2011 double cds. It was a demostration of what Freddie could do. Also I wonder if the keys on NIH were played by Freddie.
· Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

Yes, but still the main arranger and producer was Freddie (he took Arif's bits and re-organised them with Mack) and Arif didn't play any instrument.[/QUOTE]

Where did the info regarding Freddie rearranging the horns come to you from Seb? I know some tracks don't fully reflect the credits correctly, but with Mardin being credited officially as the arranger of those parts, and him having a history of similar horn work for other artists, it would be interesting to find out how much his original arrangement was changed.

Cheers
cmsdrums http://totalrecallband.wix.com/site www.facebook.com/totalrecalluk
· Member since
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/002/NR54332.PDF

Page 111.
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
· Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Dim wrote:[/b]

On Bring Back That Leory Brown the vocals is arranged - orchstrated, were done by Freddie. That's why they put it as bonus on 2011 double cds. It was a demostration of what Freddie could do. Also I wonder if the keys on NIH were played by Freddie.[/QUOTE]

Those were by Brian. He wrote about it on his soapbox a few years back.


Brilliant work as always, Seb !
Queenzone is overrun with trolls and circling the drain - join us here instead: http://queenforum.net
· Member since
[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]


Those were by Brian. He wrote about it on his soapbox a few years back.


[/QUOTE]

Seriously? I don't recall reading that, and a quick Google yields nothing. Do you have a link?
Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life -- except religion.
· Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/002/NR54332.PDF

Page 111.[/QUOTE]

Thanks - interesting read, and not something I was aware of before.

Interestingly, when referring to 'Staying Power as an opening track, I notice this thesis says on p104...." Featured prominently as Hot Space's opening track, "Staying Power" situates the album upon unstable generic terrain, as Queen normally began their albums with an upbeat rock-oriented piece".

As this document is clearly so detailed, it's worth being just as detailed in commenting.....

From a language point of view 'Staying Power' shouldn't really be referred to as 'featuring PROMINENTLY' as the opening track... it IS the opening track! (The use of the word 'prominently' intimates there are other opening tracks of which this is simply a prominent one). Staying Power features no more prminently that any other track on the album).

In addition, to say that "Queen NORMALLY began their albums with an upbeat rock-oriented piece" isn't necessarily true. I know that Seb likes to categorise their material quite rigidly, so taking this 'NORMALLY' statement and reviewing album openers to that point might be interesting:

Queen - Keep Yourself Alive (yes, upbeat rock/pop)
Queen II - Procession (no - not upeat or rock)
SHA - Brighton Rock (yes, upbeat rock)
ANATO - Death on Two Legs (yes, upbeat rock)
ADATR - intrumental guitar progression (no, not upbeat or rock)
NOTW - We Will Rock You (no - not upbeat, and at that time, certainly not rock)
Jazz - Mustapha (upbeat, but far from rock at the time, with eastern influence, structure and melody and language)
Flash Gordon - Flash's Theme (a band doing a soundtrack, with elements of dialogue? - not rock)
The Game - Play The Game (rock yes, but not upbeat)

Takign the claim made in the thesis, only a third of the studio albums to date at that point had 'upbeat rock' opening pieces, so this wasn't the 'norm' as claimed.
cmsdrums http://totalrecallband.wix.com/site www.facebook.com/totalrecalluk
· Member since
That thesis does have some mistakes (several, actually, the worst one being listing Edinburgh as being in England ... you'd expect much more from someone who was educated to a high level and possibly tired of foreigners thinking his country's just America's hat).

In his defence, though, he might have been regarding 'Father to Son' and 'Tie Your Mother Down' as opening tracks as well (especially in the vinyl era, it'd be understandable to regard 'Procession' and 'Father to Son' as a single piece, despite what the liner notes mention, same for 'Tie Your Mother Down' and the overture) and, also, in the context of a soundtrack so heavily layered with synths and with some clean guitars, 'Flash's Theme' was possibly 'upbeat rock' compared to most of them (except for 'Battle Theme' and 'The Hero', of course).

'We Will Rock You' wasn't the heaviest track on the album by any means but, compared to what Freddie and John wrote, it certainly was. And it was certainly 'upbeat' compared to 'All Dead'. I'm not too fond of that song, to be honest, but I do think it works quite well as an opener. It's powerful, it's different, it's unexpected, and it perfectly summarises the 'back to basics' feel of the album.

Perhaps Barry could've rephrased that the opening track (or opening two-tracks) used to be a vehicle to describe the general orientation of the album:

* Keep Yourself Alive: Layered, powerful, with long instrumental sections, good vocals (but certainly not as strong as later on), a combination of tight backing tracks and beautiful harmonies.

* Procession / Father to Son: A bit of an homage to 'Dark Side of the Moon' perhaps ... at least in the basic concept of having the heartbeats and a bit of a taste of things to come. On QOL we were discussing what the 'definitive Queen song' could be (other than 'Bo Rhap'), and I think 'Father to Son' is a strong contender: it's got heavy bits, slow bits, simple bits, complex bits, it's got guitar (both electric and acoustic), bass, piano, drums, loads of harmonies, soft vocals, powerful vocals, minimalist sections, overlayered sections ... that describes really well what the album (and the early days of the band as a whole) would be all about.

* Brighton Rock: Harmonies (on both guitars and vocals) show up more scarcely (but, in my opinion, even cleverer than on the second album), drums are really powerful, the song is clever and elaborate but also quite accessible and melodic (depending on the section).

* Death on Two Legs: Epic, loud, intricate, daring, with abrupt changes of arrangement, emphasis on broad vocal ranges. It's meant to surprise and shock and that's what the album does.

* Overture / Tie Your Mother Down: Loads of harmonies (and very carefully built indeed) but generally more orientated towards rock than classical. That's where the contrast between 'Tie Your Mother Down' and 'Death on Two Legs' is so telling. At the end of the day, I think their parent albums weren't as similar as people tend to think. Neither are those tracks, despite having the loosely common thread of having a vicious protagonist.

* We Will Rock You: Strong, minimalist, powerful, relatively simple (compared to previous albums), easier to translate to a concert environment.

* Mustapha: Weird, daring, clever, different, shocking, but also relatively short. I love both the song and the album but I agree it wasn't too well produced, and the fact half of this track is in mono also foreshadows that.

* Play the Game: Those awful synths (which fortunately only show up on the minority of sections, both for the song and the album), a relatively toned-down but quite powerful ensemble (both vocally and instrumentally). In a way, the song is probably more similar to their 70's output, but it's also a nice introduction to the album and it does tell us that there are some changes (some radical ones, as the video also shows) but that the trademarks (the vocals, the powerful drums, the melodic bass, the marvellous guitars, the delicate piano) are still there.

* Flash's Theme: Considering a big chunk of the album is just reprising that track, it makes sense to open with it. It's also by far one of their best songs on the OST, and one of the relatively few ones to feature all four band members.

* Staying Power: From the first beat you can tell this album (especially the first side) is gonna sound quite different to the previous ones (although there were some precedents with 'Dust' and others).
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
· Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]



* Procession / Father to Son: A bit of an homage to 'Dark Side of the Moon' perhaps ... at least in the basic concept of having the heartbeats and a bit of a taste of things to come.
.[/QUOTE]

The beginning of Procession quite clearly, unlike Dark Side Of The Moon, does not start with a heart beat.

It is a drum pattern which reflects the rhythm of the music.

The opening of Dark Side is a heart beat, or at least a recorded simulation of one which forms the background of the intro to Breath and has no direct physical musical link to the song