Your thoughts on three of my favs.. Ogre battle, Father to son and Liar

These three songs would have to be in the top 5 of my favorite Queen songs, especially Liar and Ogre as a live pieces.
What are your thoughts on these songs? Where do they rate with your favs?
Where Ogre gets a bit of mention from the likes of Brian being a song that Freddie played on acoustic guitar at breakneck speed etc...
What happened to this song as part of the live set list? Where old songs kinda made a comeback during the 'Works" tour, this song obviously didn't make a comeback. Did it age not so well, too hard to play/sing, did it, just not seem to fit in with new songs?
Liar seemed to be a fan fav as a 8 min piece, it seemed to be a song over the years albeit in various forms that died but was revived as part of a 'one off' setlist, came back in the 'works' tour and even made it in the magic tour as a bridge where as Keep yourself alive didn't.
I cant find much of a mention from any band members regarding this song, I feel that it was an important part of the Queen history, was "Liar' loved by the band as much as it was by the fans?

For those who lived the Queen "live" experience. During those years where these songs were a mainstay in the setlist and when these songs were eventually dropped... Were they songs much looked forward to and enjoyed, were they missed in any way by you guys?

Hi there I like them all too and see them as highlights of their live set. Liar is a drumming tour de force. Coupled with the magical interplay with bass and guitar, and killer vocals the song often erupted. Father to Son for me has the same magic in the central section where John Roger and Brian just feed off each other as it ebbs and flows.

Hi there I like them all too and see them as highlights of their live set. Liar is a drumming tour de force. Coupled with the magical interplay with bass and guitar, and killer vocals the song often erupted. Father to Son for me has the same magic in the central section where John Roger and Brian just feed off each other as it ebbs and flows.

All throwbacks from their heavier ZEP /SABBATH days. Good riffs but awkward songs save for FATHER TO SON (*just my opinion), it's a more complete song in concept, execution and resolve.

OGRE BATTLE had a distant 80's cousin in PRINCES OF THE UNIVERSE.

Great riff of a song that ultimately shocks and punches, but is awkward and trodgy (if that's a word)

'Missed in anyway by you guys ?' - Whaaaat?

Those three tracks are classic Queen and they were what Queen was really about hard rock & roll.
Ogre Battle is a brilliant opener for the Album Queen2 and remains most fans favourite album by miles.
Quite sad though when you think were so powerful back in 1974 and ended up in 1991 limp and out of ideas because Fred was so ill.

[QUOTE] [b]fras444 wrote:[/b]

These three songs would have to be in the top 5 of my favorite Queen songs, especially Liar and Ogre as a live pieces.

. . . . Liar seemed to be a fan fav as a 8 min piece, it seemed to be a song over the years albeit in various forms that died but was revived as part of a 'one off' setlist, came back in the 'works' tour and even made it in the magic tour as a bridge where as Keep yourself alive didn't. . . .
[/QUOTE]

Liar as a live song actually had a longer shelf life than the other two.

It was still performed in its entirety on some of The Crazy Tour dates and again on the early dates of The Hot Space Tour.

[QUOTE] [b]100% wrote:[/b]Those three tracks are classic Queen and they were what Queen was really about hard rock & roll.
Ogre Battle is a brilliant opener for the Album Queen2 and remains most fans favourite album by miles.
Quite sad though when you think were so powerful back in 1974 and ended up in 1991 limp and out of ideas because Fred was so ill.[/QUOTE]

they were "out of ideas" as you call it - for most of the 80s - long before Freddie was ill. Although, it's fair to say this applied to Freddie and Brian.
Roger and John were doing the "heavy lifting" - ideas wise, during the 80s.

i disagree Queen were named band of the eighties hardly a band that were out of ideas.
Most of there stuff in the eighties was very popular, from "Radio Ga Ga" to "I Want It All" Queen were still flying high in the charts.

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b][QUOTE] [b]100% wrote:[/b]Those three tracks are classic Queen and they were what Queen was really about hard rock & roll.
Ogre Battle is a brilliant opener for the Album Queen2 and remains most fans favourite album by miles.
Quite sad though when you think were so powerful back in 1974 and ended up in 1991 limp and out of ideas because Fred was so ill.[/QUOTE]

they were "out of ideas" as you call it - for most of the 80s - long before Freddie was ill. Although, it's fair to say this applied to Freddie and Brian.
Roger and John were doing the "heavy lifting" - ideas wise,

[QUOTE] [b]100% wrote:[/b]i disagree Queen were named band of the eighties hardly a band that were out of ideas.
Most of there stuff in the eighties was very popular, from "Radio Ga Ga" to "I Want It All" Queen were still flying high in the charts.[/QUOTE].[/QUOTE]

I think you've skim-read my post. - but I've re-quoted for reference.

Freddie spent huge chunks of the 80s either on his solo projects or disinterested in Queen. Brian had other distractions - after they stopped touring, his marriage falling apart. In fairness - the 80s was a generally, plastic, shallow decade, music-wise. Not all music, but most rock bands ended up sounding sanitised by their own earlier material.
Just compare 80s output for Queen, Genesis, Yes, Who, ELO and Purple to their 70s LPs. no contest.

My own opinion is that most of those 70s bands had lost the hunger that drove them to success. By the 80s they'd become lazy - living off the stored fat of their 70s work.

As I said Roger and John did the heavy lifting - being responsible for the major slice of the hits from the 80s (until Freddie's death) - there's absolutely no way that Roger/John would've been writing so many hits if Freddie and Brian had been bothered. Roger became the George Harrison of Queen. The sheer volume of his Cross/solo stuff during this time, mirrors Harrison's early post-Beatles output.

John:
Backchat
I Want To break free
Friends Will Be Friends (co-write with Freddie)
The Miracle (co-write with Freddie)

Roger:
Radio GaGa
One Vision
A kind of Magic
Thank God It's Christmas (co-write with Brian)
Invisible Man
Breakthru (co-write with Freddie)
Innuendo (co-write with Freddie)
These Are the Days of Our Lives

I would agree that Roger carried the ban in the 80's, but I would say Brian's best 80's songs were on par or slightly better than John's 80's songs.

Brian had:

Las Palabras de Amor
Hammer to Fall
Who Wants to Live Forever
I Want It All
Headlong

For myself, I would rate Liar as a top 20 Queen song, Ogre Battle as very good (much better than average), and Father to Son as a below average Queen song.

'Procession/Father To Son'.....have been my favorite(s), in a tie with BoRhap, since mid 70s.

Going on the studio versions:
Liar - a top song
Ogre battle - never really got attached to this song, lyrics are cringeworthy and musically it doesn’t do much for me
FTS - the vocals are too quiet and the whole song sounds muffled to me.

Ogre Battle - where most people seem to love it, I always felt it was the Side Black low point. Paint-by-numbers lyrics and kitchen-sink/battering ram sound. Just a jumble. Strange how most seem to think FHLI is the out of place track on Side Black - I love the whole Beach Boys vibe - would sound great in a medley with Lurex tracks.

Liar - just an absolute megalith of a song. the absolute core of what early Queen was all about. Freddie's finest hard rock moment - as a writer and singer.

Father To Son - Always liked this track, but agree re: a muddiness in the sound. However, I disagree re: the vocals - they're mixed justa bout where they should be volume-wise. Am wondering if some of Roy Thomas Baker's production just squeezed too much in (here). Would like to hear the multitracks for this one and see what can be done with a little "stripping away" of the layers. Bass sound is pretty good though - a Deacon high. I love the vocal harmonies from 1:50-2:09
There's also some great guitar playing from 3:30 - but most of it is buried away.