Sail away Sweet Sister vocals

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I don't think Spike has a bad voice, but I agree that his timbre doesn't match in the Queen context

I thought Roger was responsible for the falsetto harmonies. Brian points out that Roger was able to sing higher and hold the note longer on BoRhap during the "let him go" line. I think Roger was the screamer and definately during concerts as well. Just watch the "We Will Rock You" concert from 1982. Brian is barely audible and Roger's voice will not be denied! And not just that concert, but any others you watch especially from the 80's.

Yeah, I have often wondered about that.

It seems 99% of the vocals in concert were done by Freddie (duh) and Roger. Brian has a mic, but he rarely used it, and when he did, it was way low in the mix. (Obviously it depends on what show, but in general.)

Why? Brian had a good voice, and did great vocal work in the studio. I can certainly understand why he would not be able to sing too much - he had a lot to do trying to play all the important guitar bits with one guitar, and probably singing would have been too hard to do while playing a lot of those parts.

But while he was singing, why not turn him up? It would have made things a bit fuller.

Roger wasn´t always responsible for that. Many many times Freddie did all the harmonies by himself, and in some cases Roger was there too but Fred was in the highest voice (e.g. Doin´ All Right).

The case of "let me go" is, I guess, because Freddie preferred Roger's voice timbre and color for that part

> Brian had a good voice, and did great vocal work in the studio.

But he had less pitch (I mean Fred and Roger were able to hit the right notes more than Brian).

> I can certainly understand why he would not be able to sing too much - he had a lot to do trying to play all the important guitar bits with one guitar

Most of times the guitar parts were simplified compared to the studio versions. The drum parts were amplified and Roger still could sing

> And probably singing would have been too hard to do while playing a lot of those parts.

He could do that, but in many cases the mic was very quiet

Somewhat off topic, but did Brian ever sing lead vocals on a song live while with Queen?

yes he did, in ´Hello Mary Lou´

I love 'Sail Away Sweet Sister'. Brian has a great voice in my opinion.

Ah yes, but is that the ONLY instance?

The "no I just think I'm two steps nearer to my grave" was sung by Brian & Freddie together. But perhaps in pre-73 concerts it was only Brian, who knows...

Somtimes John's could be heard. If you listen to STL from the Earls Court show he can clearly be heard as the 4th voice during the choir interlude. I'm not saying he's very good, but he can be heard. Also how about all the times they did Liar, during the "Momma gonna be your slave, (chorus: all day long). Any video I have of this John is singing right into Freddie's mic w/ him but he's hard to hear. Do you think he just mouthed the words for effect? I wouldn't think he'd do that.

He also sang "a cold wind blows, and a dark rain falls" in One Vision.

Yes in fact Brian sang that part

Brian has a lovely voice!