Recording A Night At The Opera

Great research. The 'Man from Manhattan' sessions were in January 1976, though.

Regarding the book idea: I wasn't phishing for compliments - though I obviously appreciate the nice words some of you have said -, it was an honest question - the best I could come up with would be the printed version of a website, in which case you could simply browse through the website for free instead of paying. I love books (digital and physical) but there's nothing I could offer that you wouldn't find out on your own.

Unlike Mark Blake or even the oft-vilified Laura Jackson, I've no agents or publishers or any verifiable journalistic or serious writing experience (a few thousand posts on an internet forum wouldn't count) and, unlike Peter Hince or Dr Brian May, CBE, I wasn't there and I haven't got anything exclusive or rare.

Everything, and I do mean absolutely everything, of what I've learnt about Queen and music in general (which is not much to begin with), comes from searching stuff on the internet and listening to the songs. And, chiefly, it comes from making loads and loads of mistakes and then correcting them. But I haven't got a single primary source, a single demo or multi-track or manuscript or photograph that hasn't already made the rounds online.

In that sense, there's nothing that'd make a book written by me in any way special or worthy of your dough.

Sebastian, plenty of historians were not present at the events they research and sometimes write about, so I don't think you need to worry about not being part of the events.

The secret of good historical writing is for the subject to be well researched and where possible written in an open informative and unbiased way that gets the facts over in a logical, educational, informative and maybe entertaining way.

Through your posts on here I've learned huge amounts about a subject I thought I already knew a fare-amount about. Is there a book about Queen that's written from a different prospective and subject than those that have gone before? Yes why not.

Sure, historians, people who are bona fide professionals at what they do. People who've been published. People who've had peer-reviewed articles in journals with some sort of credibility, people who've been part of seminars or who've been to lectures and conferences (sometimes as key-note speakers).

All I have is a defunct website which was an utter failure and six thousand messages on an online forum, many of which have been pointless bickering with people who've called me all sorts of names and who've been, how shall I put it, not too welcoming of my feeble attempts at learning a little bit more about these great musicians. That also includes a number of people who used to praise my so-called research but then turned against me completely. Imagine how many of those would sabotage the book and give it poor reviews without even reading it.

So, I think I’ve got the picture now. Queen went to Ridge Farm and Penhros Court to write songs and record demos before heading to Rockfield Studios. In Mark Blake’s fantastic biography of the group it states how Freddie wrote music for Bohemian Rhapsody while staying at Penhros.

If it’s true about the picture of Freddie taken on the 1st August at Ridge Farm, it would mean that the group would’ve left there not long after the picture was taken because they had three weeks in Herefordshire before heading to Rockfield on the 24th August. I went to a display about the history of Rockfield and it had a sheet with the date and the singings which the group did too. There’s nothing going against the fact that might’ve recorded certain things at Ridge Farm and Penhros.

At Rockfield they concentrated on Bohemian Rhapsody as that song alone took three weeks to record. They might’ve done other things but most of the time they did Bohemian Rhapsody. The London studios used would’ve been to finish of the album and do the final mixes of other songs. Presumably they spend about a month at Rockfield before moving back to London?

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

In that sense, there's nothing that'd make a book written by me in any way special or worthy of your dough.[/QUOTE]
You're very rigorous, which is the ideal quality for the kind of book we'd love to read. You're ahead of many who have already published inaccurate depictions of the band and their history.

[QUOTE] That also includes a number of people who used to praise my so-called research but then turned against me completely. Imagine how many of those would sabotage the book and give it poor reviews without even reading it.[/QUOTE]
Just use a pseudonym :-P Don't let your encyclopedic knowledge go to waste!

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]

Was GSTQ done at Trident? I seem to recall BM did that and Procession in his own in a little demo studio?[/QUOTE]

It sure was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqzk3zKENSk

@ 0:45 it says "TAP" - Trident Audio Productions.

It was recorded on October 27, 1974, just days before the Sheer Heart Attack tour began.

[QUOTE] [b]Chopin1995 wrote:[/b]

If I can add anything, rehearsals began not later than the 1st August, look at the date here (from the photo sessions at Ridge Farm) - http://photofeatures.photoshelter.com/image/I00000Fb.Tnq4ejE

Also, I was doing some research lately and more than 200 photos can be found from rehearsing/recording the album (this can be more than 250 photos overall, including Brian's stereos shared in his book, or maybe over 300, who knows?):

- at least 6 photos of the band going from London to rehearsal e.g. http://www.photofeatures.com/queen/ppages/ppage28.html , http://cs419924.vk.me/v419924507/744c/aYa7Yzrqpl4.jpg
- at least 16 photos of Queen receiving Music Life gifts at Ridge Farm e.g. http://cs419924.vk.me/v419924507/7474/L9O48JKtVoE.jpg
- at least 173 photos of the band rehearing/relaxing at Ridge Farm (including playing snooker, posing at the entrance gate?, drinking tea probably, sitting on the grass, sitting at the swimming pool, playing tennis, rehearsal itself and more). No need of examples I think.
- at least 14 photos of the session at Sarm studio with Eddie Howell, probably in August as well e.g. http://i.pinimg.com/originals/6c/9b/a7/6c9ba74ac5a6e22a60c7ad3f34195cb3.jpg
- at least 8 photos of the proper recording session at Scorpio (late august/early septemer) e.g. http://i.pinimg.com/736x/29/2c/8d/292c8d2c3c056edb6fa1e7932f9a18fd.jpg
- and more e.g. Brian playing harp at Sarm studio[/QUOTE]

Nicely done !

Has a proper archive of photos from Queen's studio sessions ever been assembled? If not, then maybe we should do it.

I'd definitely buy your book (or a book like that) Sebastian.

I've got this Day to Day book from The Beach Boys, and it's amazing.

Ugh, imagine having to work with a tracksheet like the one you see Brian holding in the God save the Queen video Bob posted.

I'd go crazy

From my perspective a near as damn it totally accurate history of recording dates and studios used plus instruments etc would be a great book
I do suspect it wouldn't break any publishing records, but it would be nice, so go for it Seb if you feel so inclinded... I recently bought an amazing book detailing in incredible accuracy all the drums Roger has used or owned, frankly it was a stunning body of work, and as a drummer it finally nailed many questions I had and such things as tom sizes and why the move to Yamaha etc
It would seem to me if you have all this knowledge sitting there it should be released or used in some way rather than simply on moanzone...

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]



In that sense, there's nothing that'd make a book written by me in any way special or worthy of your dough.[/QUOTE]

I would buy it. Not only because i am sure you will do an excellent job. You have proven to us many times you do your research and you have a knack for writing. :)

Togg, re:

>It would seem to me if you have all this knowledge sitting there it should be released or used in some way rather than simply on moanzone...

A website is much more fluid and can be edited and updated as more, updated or corrected information becomes available. To be perfectly honest, it's exactly what the official site should be hosting, but those fucking idiots can't see past flogging a few t-shirts.

It's also what Greg should have done with the Queen Live book, but, hey.........

I'd possibly be in the market for a physical beast though if it was the only way of getting everything in one place.

To Chopin1995 ...


I have found the following description for these images:

"The band at the airport arriving back to London, England from Japan in May 1975. Photo by Erica Echenberg."

... and by Chris Walter.

[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]Chopin1995 wrote:[/b]

If I can add anything, rehearsals began not later than the 1st August, look at the date here (from the photo sessions at Ridge Farm) - http://photofeatures.photoshelter.com/image/I00000Fb.Tnq4ejE

Also, I was doing some research lately and more than 200 photos can be found from rehearsing/recording the album (this can be more than 250 photos overall, including Brian's stereos shared in his book, or maybe over 300, who knows?):

- at least 6 photos of the band going from London to rehearsal e.g. http://www.photofeatures.com/queen/ppages/ppage28.html , http://cs419924.vk.me/v419924507/744c/aYa7Yzrqpl4.jpg
- at least 16 photos of Queen receiving Music Life gifts at Ridge Farm e.g. http://cs419924.vk.me/v419924507/7474/L9O48JKtVoE.jpg
- at least 173 photos of the band rehearing/relaxing at Ridge Farm (including playing snooker, posing at the entrance gate?, drinking tea probably, sitting on the grass, sitting at the swimming pool, playing tennis, rehearsal itself and more). No need of examples I think.
- at least 14 photos of the session at Sarm studio with Eddie Howell, probably in August as well e.g. http://i.pinimg.com/originals/6c/9b/a7/6c9ba74ac5a6e22a60c7ad3f34195cb3.jpg
- at least 8 photos of the proper recording session at Scorpio (late august/early septemer) e.g. http://i.pinimg.com/736x/29/2c/8d/292c8d2c3c056edb6fa1e7932f9a18fd.jpg
- and more e.g. Brian playing harp at Sarm studio[/QUOTE]

Nicely done !

Has a proper archive of photos from Queen's studio sessions ever been assembled? If not, then maybe we should do it.
[/QUOTE]

!!! This is exactly the idea I have and why I started collecting those photos! I also did The Miracle and I was able to find 27 photos. From what I know this can be done for at least 13 albums. I've never seen any Queen II studio session photo and Innuendo as well, sadly...