A Kind of Magic: Identifying and Analysing Queen's Idiolect, 1973-1980

For all you music geeks & nerds I came across this yesterday on my local news website. This guy from Waikato University here in NZ has done his thesis on Queen's music in the 1970's. It's a very indepth analysis of the actual music & song structures & would make fascinating reading for those that are that way inclined. At 340 pages it might be a bit beyond me!!! Anyway, hope somebody out there will enjoy the read. Cheers.

Here's the news stroy link: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/130300-exploring-queens-idiolect.html

Here's the link to the thesis: http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/10105

A fantastic find, and a fantastic read to be had.

Good work.

Thanks for this info.

The 'nerd' in me is frustrated that he used 'A Kind of Magic' as the title though, rather than a song or other reference actually related to the period covered by his study!!

^I thought the same.

Wow, this is a great read! Highly recommend it.

Great news. I wasn't aware of his book, available in french since last month : "QUEEN, LA DISCOGRAPHIE Une approche musicale".
I've just ordered it. I'm looking forward to read that!

Thats a fantastic read. Read just about the whole thing.
Only issue I have, is I think he underplays John's bass. I'm a muso, but obviously didn't complete a thesis in it like this bloke, but John's bass is amazing and he leaves out discussing much of John's best work including YMBF, Millionaire waltz, FOTW etc.

Just skimming, it doesn't seem to be all too accurate - "in ‘Long Away’, on which May sings all the backing vocals, one can discern a rather mellow sound, despite the higher register of the backing parts". All three vocalists sang the bvs on Long Away. He goes on to demonstrate a much 'richer' and more diverse frequency range when all three singers are singing... by referencing the acapella intro to Fat Bottomed Girls, which to my ear doesn't feature Roger.

"Towards the end
of the decade, as the group experimented with funk and disco pastiches, Taylor’s kit
is noticeably drier with very little ambience: ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ typifies
this shift, as does ‘Fun It’, also from The Game."

So 'Fun It' is not from the Jazz album...