Innuendo BTT experience

But you are 1 fan who lets be honest has heard most of what's out there within this tiny community of hardcore Queen fans, This was never going to be aimed at you or the hardcore 'I want every snippet' fan

If this doesn't sell, they won't do any other similar release end of discussion, they wont study why? they will simply say 'well that didn't work' more of the same I guess...
The product is aimed at people you go to one concert per tour, buy the new ablum and loved Queen from there youth, it's really not aimed at Queenzone people, if it were then it would actually be everything YOU want wouldn't it? it's a test the water type of product, you're saying you let them know what kind of release you want, but they see this as a 'good release' just as much as they did Rainbow

If it works we will get another for The Game, and Innuendo, and maybe something else before they finally light the blue touch paper on a bigger ....i'll say the word.... Anthology
But.... before they spend all that time and money putting that together they will want to know it has a market.... simple

Businesses never spend money or time trying to figure out why something new didn't sell, they move on quickly with stuff they know brings in revenue, they only spend moeny looking at why something doesn't work if it 'used to' but now doesn't.

So you can think whatever you like about their malfunctioning brains.... but business goes where the money is, it's that simple, if it sells you'll see more, it is doesn't they will simply assume people aren't interested in 'outtakes and rare live recordings' certainly not enough to warrent working on more of them and that will be that, the will go on with another 3d stereo photograhic version of Wembley...

Off course, everything is driven by money these days, just like any other company. But I would think after all these years we would have had a lot
more rare material by now, failed on that one.....
So let them test what ever they want, when I was young I would buy it right away, now I'm older so even though I have the money to buy it doesn't mean I will, the package is not worth it.

Testing the water? Testing the water started with the Made in Heaven singles which had Beeb tracks a B sides, as a teaser for the forthcoming album, Queen at the BBC. This project was pulled back, in favour for Queen Rocks, the so called statement then was: they, yes they did not want the flood the market. Later that year Greatest Hits blabla got their re-issue. Queen at the BBC went into Queen on Air.....this only happend last year, so the water must be freezing cold by now!
They went under water.


Tom

I just want every album put out as a virtual box like the Yes/King Crimson stuff. The original master, a brand-new stereo and 5.1 mix (by Steven Wilson!), an alternate album, instrumentals. Throw it all on a BluRay, put it in the shops for 21,99 and I'd be one happy camper.

^^^ that would be to much of a fan friendly approach for the Queen machine to contemplate, and probably would involve too much production cost.

Whenever we discuss these things I think it helps to look at it from a business point of view not a fan, they don't really consider the 'hardcore' fan when deciding to put out a release, as with all businesses ALL the decisions get made by looking at Excel spread sheets, who get fired who gets hired, what product, tour, merchandise item sold the most and was the cheapest to produce.... after that they look at tailoring it to suit the widest possible taste, sadly the hardcore fan that inhabits here is simoly not factored into it.

I can be 100% that if a certain 'new' type of release doesnt sell they will quickly move past it and no to what they know works, the Greatest hits was such a huge success it out sold pretty well every other album in history, they took that and ran with it for decades. QP is seen by the industry as one of the most successful businesses in the industry, a huge back catalogue that keeps generating revenue, a hot musical that lead the way, and soon a hit film... in many ways Queen have lead the way in marketing, one of the few artists that compares to them is Gene Simmonds who frankly has no massive musical following, but has a band that is 100% marketing focused from dolls to T shirts, Kiss wouldn't excist without a massive marketing campaign and sells stuff to people that have never even seen the band play but just want the doll or lunchbox, they are amazing, imagine he he could actually play.....

Ignore the GIF ones...JPGs below!!

"Whenever we discuss these things I think it helps to look at it from a business point of view not a fan, they don't really consider the 'hardcore' fan when deciding to put out a release, as with all businesses ALL the decisions get made by looking at Excel spread sheets, who get fired who gets hired, what product, tour, merchandise item sold the most and was the cheapest to produce.... after that they look at tailoring it to suit the widest possible taste, sadly the hardcore fan that inhabits here is simoly not factored into it. "

Right, but who do you think is going to buy a £100+ box set? In the grand scheme of things - very very few people. So that theory doesn't hold up. This is merely a current practise of trying to sell fewer units for a higher price. It's the same concept of raising inner city parking prices - they don't want more people, they just want to gouge a more select group of people. A normal CD set with rarities would sell many more units - fact.

Well, given it's sold out on the first run i'm guessing more than just a few people...
I would hazard a guess given that soooo many bands produce these big glossy pack releases that they feel there is a big enough market there, actaully I doubt they would make more money from a normal CD set, for starters they have to sell at 10x1 to get the same cash, secondly can you imagine the hoo ha here if all we got was another single CD with 3 rare live tracks.... nobody would buy it

Enough people go to Queen gigs repeatedly and remember them from their youth to want to buy this set, its already sold out of the first run in a few days so clearly your view that only a few will buy it is not correct

Often the very act of putting the price up high attracts more purchases, just ask Apple....

Look you will always get people that feel something is too expensive or not great value, but the fact is Queen have a lot of collectors that follow them and these guys do buy, Queen audience is also much older and richer now, people (like me) in our 50s have a lot more desposible income and so £100 is not a lot of money, it is if your a Taylor Swift fan, but not for a 70's rock band fan, hell £100 is a night out with two kids at the cinema...

Thought I'd write down what I can remember for this, both for my own purposes (I'll forget) and also to share info for those who couldn't make it on the day.

Talk presented by Justin Shirley-Smith and Noel Harris, both assistant engineers on the original sessions. Sadly the producer, David Richards passed away in 2013 but he can be heard on the takes. Chaired by Matt Everitt of BBC 6 Music.
Location: Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London

[b][u]Innuendo[/u][/b]

Working title for the song - “Bolero” (as written on tape box)

The first song we listened to. We spent about 2 hours on this song alone. Listened to various takes at various parts of the recording process. It (and a lot of the album apparently) was very much a creation of the studio; they’d sit there playing riffs and chords and mumbling until something took fruition.

Early takes consisted of Freddie playing the keyboard opening chords and mumbling a basic version of the verse melody. No real lyric at this stage. Lots of discussion between Freddie and Brian on which chords to use… “and that brings it back nicely to the E”, says Brian. Freddie calls out for a C# chord at one point.

We move to later takes in the recording process. By now, the song is sounding a lot more together. The verse is pretty much there, about half of the Spanish guitar bit and some of the ‘You can be everything you want to be’ section, not all of it.

A later take. By this point Roger has written 95% of the verse and chorus lyrics (minus mid sections) and has made a guide vocal for the song. The Roger version of Innuendo would make a great ‘demo’ to go in a deluxe album set. It’s reasonably complete.

We then listen to Brian and Steve recording the Spanish section. Brian has a go at doing the flamenco leads and they’re panned for comparison; Brian in the left channel and Steve in the right. Brian’s sounds pretty good! There’s a section of Steve’s line where Brian had to drop in a correction after he’d gone.

Also heard is the lower of the guitar harmonies playing the ‘All through my sorrow, through my splendour’ guitar motif

Brian has a few attempts at getting the end guitar run right. A band member suggests ‘we could change this, we could change that’. Brian replies ‘… or I could just get it right”. A long feedback section is recorded for the end.

At some point there’s some discussion on what to do next while an impatient roger in the background shouts ‘COME ON’ from the drum recording room.

Handclaps seemed to extend longer in the song than they do on the record.

[u][b]I’m Going Slightly Mad[/b][/u]

Freddie works this one out in the studio too. There are a lot of other “I’m not…” analogies tried before he settles on the final lyric.

Brian plays a different slide solo, some of the notes make it into the final version. It’s altogether not as good as on the record.

An ‘absolutely mental’ mix is played towards the end of the whole song. It’s utterly cacophonous and full of samples of screaming and random sound effects. Perhaps to be destined for a 12” mix or maybe dialled down to go on the record.

[b][u]Headlong[/u][/b]

A band member’s “Brian’s?” Handwritten chords on paper passed around. Song simply broken up into bars with a chord symbol in each.

Recording setup for the song revealed to be 2 Zoom 9002 units in stereo, to the desk. No AC30 for the effect sounds.

[u][b]These are the Days of Our Lives[/b][/u]

Like Innuendo, a Roger version of this is heard where he sings the full song (in much the same manner as he does for the current Queen + Adam Lambert tour)

Brian plays different trills in the verses.

Guitar solo is only half as long - the louder/faster section isn’t in the earlier take.

Some takes of the song feature Deacon playing a descending motif in the chorus on his bass. ‘These-are-the-days-of-our-‘ - that matches the vocal melody.

In another take the same idea is tried on the chorus but using a Deacy amp guitar harmony. Again matching the ‘These-are-the-days-of-our-lives’ melody. It sounds quite out of place. Sonically similar in timbre and pitch to the ‘You’re my best friend’ outro guitars. It was removed for the record, possibly (recalls Justin) because it sounded too linear.

Backing vocals are supplied by Brian and Roger at least on the takes we listen to.

Guitar solo is revealed to have been played on the Zoom 9002, for the delay sounds.

[u][b]The Show Must Go On[/b][/u]

Mostly a Brian solo record in its demo form. Brian has the intro keyboards from the off and sings the whole song. There’s a particularly high part (I take it with a grin, I’m never giving in, on with the show) where Brian audibly struggles to sing with full voice (its sung instead in a very thin head/falsetto voice) - the same part he’s said in interviews that Freddie hated him for writing. Apparently this was checked over with Brian beforehand as to whether he wanted it listened to by us or not.

Different guitar solos are played and there is some experimentation with harmonies in parts that aren’t quite right and would be further improved for the record.


[u][b]The building / the experience[/b][/u]

Metropolis Studios IS the Headlong video. Everything is there and looks like it did in 1991. The Art Deco exterior (that head the spotlights on it in the video) is the entrance /wall to the studio. The bookshelf the band lay on is there.

We enter and go up the flight of stairs to the bar, the same stairs that Brian is playing his guitar on in the video. The studio looks the same as it did in 91, very much a creation of the early 90s with purples, blues and shiny steel. Only small things like speakers and computer monitors have changed.

We’re shown the drum recording room, which is a fairly small concrete room of about 2.5 metres on each side.

The larger recording room has a piano in the corner, regularly said to be Freddie’s but actually not the case. Still a lot of people recording there have claimed (or been told) that it’s his. The story goes that they didn’t like the sound of the house piano when recording and had Freddie’s Steinway brought in instead. This now lives in Brian’s house.

We had our phones taken off us for the session so as not to record, and these were placed in the drum room.

At one point a Queen fan asks ‘I’m sure you chaps are very interested in where the microphones were positioned, but I came here to listen to the tapes’. The Q&A ceases for a while, and we do some quick runs through other songs.

The group is treated to a champagne reception, Moet et Chandon is served from a pretty bucket, and finger foods are served by waiting staff.

After the session the group is treated to a free bar in the ‘Mercury bar’ upstairs. Justin, Noel, Greg Brookes and other members of the Queen team laugh, joke and drink with the fans. Atmosphere is very informal and jocular.


[u][b]The recording process[/b][/u]

Brian: Shure SM57s for the guitar amp, with one (possibly Neumann) facing into the sweet spot, one further back in the room (not 100% on details). Brian played Pete Cornish TB83 booster in the control room, with a longer cable that would go to a single AC30 in another room. Brian never in the room with the amp unless for specific feedback purposes e.g. noise at the end of Innuendo. Some Deacy amp recording, presumably using TB83 as well. Zoom 9002 into desk for solos on Headlong and Days of Our Lives, possibly others. Brian would find the sweet spot on the amp himself by listening to treble booster noise on headphones and repositioning mic.

Freddie didn’t like wearing headphones to record vocals. Instead, they set microphone up on a stand in the studio approximately in the area where we were sitting. By his feet he had two monitors out of phase with each other to reduce spill into the vocal track. When listening to Freddie’s vocals solo, occasional band mix comes over from the monitors. This is