Does This Really Mean That Hyde Park Probably Won't Be Released?

Hello everyone,

I have been following this forum for several years now, but I have never posted here. I don't really know why - somehow I never felt the need.

Sorry that my very first post is of the lamenting kind, but if this article is really something to go by, I guess we'll probably never see a proper release of Hyde Park:
http://www.queenonline.com/features/a-picnic-by-the-serpentine-the-legacy-of-queens-1976-concert-at-hyde-park-fan-feature-by-nathan-hodges

The relevant paragraph:

"The whole show was filmed, and Roger stated in the Official Queen Fan Club Magazine in the Autumn edition of 1976 that “there should be a film of the Hyde Park show on TV soon”. However, just one song out of the entire eighty minutes show (“Sweet Lady”) was aired on the BBC’s The Old Grey Whistle Test. The song aired alongside an interview with Brian speaking to Bob Harris. Fortunately, over the years, the full pro-shot video has been leaked to fans and collectors albeit in a bad quality. The head of the Official Queen Fan Club Magazine, Jacky Smith said in 2001 that “the quality is very very bad, and they cannot 'rescue' it as it was filmed on 16mm and not stored properly.” It doesn’t help the fact that the footage was shot on video but stored on 16mm film. Despite this, several songs and excerpt of others have been shown on TV and in documentaries over the years in extremely good quality. But the chances of this concert getting fully released is deemed doubtful because it’s likely that a lot of this footage hasn’t survived."

So, sorry again that this post is not more positive. It's just that I have been hoping that this would get properly released at some point, but after reading that article this seems extremely unlikely. I know that it's not the best thing to do, but I wanted to share my disappointment...

Hi there!

I believe it was something to do with the multitrack audio (it has already been discussed, others will elaborate) not the video (which I think they have the master video tapes of). Same thing with Hammersmith 1979.

[QUOTE] [b]Chief Mouse wrote:[/b]

Hi there!

I believe it was something to do with the multitrack audio (it has already been discussed, others will elaborate) not the video (which I think they have the master video tapes of). Same thing with Hammersmith 1979.[/QUOTE]

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Weren't the mastertapes of Queen damaged? I thought they solved the problem because QP had acces to the BBC/Capitol Radio Transmission tapes a couple of years ago.

Hello and thank you, Chief Mouse. :-)
I have indeed noticed that similar discussions (mainly regarding video footage) seem to take place in multiple different threads.
It's sad that the article on Queen Online doesn't say something along the lines of "we have managed to find and restore the complete multitrack recordings and now for the very first time this staple concert in Queen history can be viewed and heard in its entire glory" instead, but oh well... Hopefully we haven't seen the end of new Queen live releases from the 70s with Hammersmith.

[QUOTE] [b]Chief Mouse wrote:[/b]

Hi there!

I believe it was something to do with the multitrack audio (it has already been discussed, others will elaborate) not the video (which I think they have the master video tapes of). Same thing with Hammersmith 1979.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE] [b]Queenman!! wrote:[/b]

Weren't the mastertapes of Queen damaged? I thought they solved the problem because QP had acces to the BBC/Capitol Radio Transmission tapes a couple of years ago.
[/QUOTE]

Regarding the audio part, do you think that having access to the radio transmission tapes (if they indeed do have them), would be good enough for a release? I mean, aren't those just a simple stereo mix of the show? If they aren't multitracks, I'd imagine that they are not too useful for anything other than bootleg quality.

Well, another spectator who likes to watch queenzone TV, like Toozeup who considers himself to be on this forum from 15 years but he has only 93 posts, because "there's occasionally some useful and interesting information posted, but I'm appalled by petty arguments and insults".

If you've been a dormant "follower of this forum for several years" and the first words to say when you wake up are "...radio transmission tapes...simple stereo mix...multitracks..." then your brain had been damaged by prolonged stasis. Go back to sleep until arrival at destination.

[QUOTE] [b]MinorKey wrote:[/b]

Regarding the audio part, do you think that having access to the radio transmission tapes (if they indeed do have them), would be good enough for a release? I mean, aren't those just a simple stereo mix of the show? If they aren't multitracks, I'd imagine that they are not too useful for anything other than bootleg quality.[/QUOTE]

Um, no - that's a bit like saying all the Queen albums re-issued on CD using the original mixes are bootleg quality. It wouldn't be a rough unbalanced monitor mix - they would have had a professional outdoor live mix engineer mixing for broadcast.

Thanks for the warm welcome and pleased to meet you too. :-)
Glad to know that there still are such kind and nice people out there such as yourself, who explain things in a friendly manner so that one can understand things better, instead of making assumptions about people they don't know and acting like they themselves were a part of some kind of elite group that one can't even come close to, for whatever odd reason.

[QUOTE] [b]aristide1 wrote:[/b]

Well, another spectator who likes to watch queenzone TV, like Toozeup who considers himself to be on this forum from 15 years but he has only 93 posts, because "there's occasionally some useful and interesting information posted, but I'm appalled by petty arguments and insults".

If you've been a dormant "follower of this forum for several years" and the first words to say when you wake up are "...radio transmission tapes...simple stereo mix...multitracks..." then your brain had been damaged by prolonged stasis. Go back to sleep until arrival at destination.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply.
I understand that it must have been mixed by a sound engineer back in the day. Otherwise it wouldn't even make sense as it wouldn't have been fit for broadcast. OK... Technically it could have been transmitted regardless of whether it was mixed properly or not, but it might not have been pleasing to the listener.
I was more curious to know whether there's a possibility that there are separate recordings of each instrument available somewhere, because that would make it possible to remix the entire audio as opposed to just polishing it up (like it would be if only the original mix was available)

[QUOTE] [b]Negative Creep wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]MinorKey wrote:[/b]

Regarding the audio part, do you think that having access to the radio transmission tapes (if they indeed do have them), would be good enough for a release? I mean, aren't those just a simple stereo mix of the show? If they aren't multitracks, I'd imagine that they are not too useful for anything other than bootleg quality.[/QUOTE]

Um, no - that's a bit like saying all the Queen albums re-issued on CD using the original mixes are bootleg quality. It wouldn't be a rough unbalanced monitor mix - they would have had a professional outdoor live mix engineer mixing for broadcast.

[/QUOTE]

For the record, I had to repost my answers as something went haywire the first time around.

You'll get used to that. Welcome!

Thank you dysan. :D
Well, not that it is related to the topic of Queen, but I generally prefer oral communication, because you get to know the person you're talking to much better and apart from that I just find it more interesting and fun. My point is, I don't know how much time I'll be spending here, but than again time will tell. :-)

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

You'll get used to that. Welcome![/QUOTE]

At least you've started a thread and come back to it to continue the discussion - others tend to post a weird question as their first post and then bugger off :)

I suppose you are right, except it isn't much of a discussion - at least not a very fruitful one. Of course that part is largely my fault as there's really not all that much else to be said about this, I guess. So, in that sense I do get the eventual criticism - at least to a certain point.
I promise to start something more meaningful next time, such as a thread dedicated to the analysis of a specific piece of lyrics or somethin'. :-)

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

At least you've started a thread and come back to it to continue the discussion - others tend to post a weird question as their first post and then bugger off :)[/QUOTE]

Not at all. This was a good start keep it up :)