[QUOTE] [b]Togg wrote:[/b]
in reality he had more to do with those albums than he had in the early days. more writing, more guitar more singing and more production work.[/QUOTE]
I'd dispute some of that, though...
Guitar: He did play a bit of it in the 80's, but it was chiefly the odd overdub here and there (e.g. 'Calling All Girls') or a four-second long harmony ('A Kind of Magic'), rather than playing rhythm for an entire song ('Drowse', 'Sheer Heart Attack').
Vocals: He all but stopped singing lead on the albums after 'Hot Space' (and even 'Action', though a bona fide duet on stage, was more of a Fred lead with Rog on all BV's in the studio), and his harmony work also diminished compared to the 70's. On early albums, his voice was really prominent even on songs that didn't feature him on lead (e.g. 'Somebody to Love', ''39'), but in the 80's not so much ... he's certainly there on things like 'The Show Must Go On' and 'Who Wants to Live Forever' but he was nowhere near as prominent.
I haven't quantified his BV input (but really want to so watch this space) but I'd venture to anticipate he actually sang *more* in the 70's than he did in the 80's. Songs with just one backing vocalist were somewhat scarcer in the 70's ('Love of My Life', 'Fight from the Inside', 'Leaving Home Ain't Easy') than in the 80's and beyond ('Staying Power', 'Scandal', 'Delilah', 'Break Free', 'One Year of Love', 'Man on the Prowl', even 'The Hitman'), and the same could be said about non-instrumental songs with no backing vocals ('Spread Your Wings' and 'My Melancholy Blues' vs 'Is This the World We Created', 'Gimme the Prize', 'My Life Has Been Saved', 'It's a Beautiful Day').
In fact, Roger's role as vocalist diminished even on his own compositions: in the 70's he usually sang lead or co-lead and he'd either feature prominently on harmonies or just sing them all; from 'Hot Space' onwards...
- 'Calling All Girls' features Fred on all vocals (Rog did sing BV's live, and the sound changes dramatically).
- 'Action This Day' does feature Rog on all harmonies, but Fred sings lead.
- 'Radio Ga Ga' has Rog on harmonies but not on lead.
- 'Machines' rarely features Rog on vocals bar that robot thing.
- 'A Kind of Magic' is mainly just Fred plus Fred plus Fred. Rog clearly sings the top line on 'done' but that's it.
- 'Don't Lose Your Head' seems not to have Rog there, or very little of him.
- 'The Invisible Man' has him doing the odd line here and there.
- On 'Breakthru' he sings some really gorgeous BV's, but if we put them all together they add up to about ten seconds tops.
- 'Ride the Wild Wind' has some commentary and that's it.
- 'Days of Our Lives' is just Fred plus Fred (plus Fred?)
Compare with the 70's:
- 'Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll': Lead.
- 'Loser in the End': Lead and all harmonies.
- 'Tenement Funster': Lead and all harmonies.
- 'I'm in Love with My Car': Lead and (IMO) all harmonies. Even those who claim Brian and Fred are there will most likely admit Roger's still very prominent on BV's.
- 'Drowse': Lead and octave harmonies.
- 'Sheer Heart Attack': All harmonies and the odd co-lead (e.g. 'ticulate').
- 'Fight from the Inside': Lead and all harmonies.
- 'Fun It': Co-lead and either all or most harmonies.
- 'More of That Jazz': Lead and all harmonies.
Sebastian