aaaaaaaaaaaaaarggggh!
what's up with me, cos i HATE the first two albums, and think most of his earlier work strange.
am i healthy?
roland
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Anto
Doesn't look like it, Rolly.:-p
FM
None of Freddie's work, especially his early work, was childish. Instead, I would say innovative, way ahead of its time, creative, deep, thought provoking and full of imagination. The man was multi-talented and extremely good at what he did! Just listen to the early albums to get a good feel of Freddie's mind and world.
iGSM
Hm, I'd say that most of his works on Queen, Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack are the best that he wrote but I like The Game and Innuendo.
Doesn't really answer the question, does it?
Doesn't really answer the question, does it?
roland
manina, with childish i meant his lyrics, especially in the 80ies.
he was not such a great poet like john lennon, but i think he could have written better lyrics.
some lyrics are a bit childish, cause the rhymes are not that good, you know?
I mean, c'mon Breakthru, Prowl or something like that are a little banal.
in the 70ies his lyrics were more special noone wrote/writes about taylors in fairy tales...
well, what i wanna say is, that i think it's such a pitty, that his lyrics were not better as some of them were...
some songs have good lyrics anyway:
Innuendo, I Was Born To love You (banal, but they just express a feeling), Hard Life... mh, yes, his love songs are great, though Innuendo is no love song, right?
he was not such a great poet like john lennon, but i think he could have written better lyrics.
some lyrics are a bit childish, cause the rhymes are not that good, you know?
I mean, c'mon Breakthru, Prowl or something like that are a little banal.
in the 70ies his lyrics were more special noone wrote/writes about taylors in fairy tales...
well, what i wanna say is, that i think it's such a pitty, that his lyrics were not better as some of them were...
some songs have good lyrics anyway:
Innuendo, I Was Born To love You (banal, but they just express a feeling), Hard Life... mh, yes, his love songs are great, though Innuendo is no love song, right?
Fenderek
Roland- what do you think then is "Breakthru" about...? It's also a love song...
Anyway- I'm not syre if Lennon was such a great poet- SOME of his lyrics were also banal... That doesn't mean anything... Freddie wasn't trying to be Roger Waters or John Petrucci, wasn't fighting with anything, wasn't really political in his lyrics- he was entertaining, although often in his lyrics there WAS sth more...
I personally think that IWBTLY is veeery banal- does it change anything? Still great track!!! I DO like when lyrics are about important issues (Dream Theater, Floyd, some Brian's songs), but if it's not- I'm enjoying music... And Fred's lyrics weren't as banal as 90% of what we hear nowadays in the radio...
Anyway- I'm not syre if Lennon was such a great poet- SOME of his lyrics were also banal... That doesn't mean anything... Freddie wasn't trying to be Roger Waters or John Petrucci, wasn't fighting with anything, wasn't really political in his lyrics- he was entertaining, although often in his lyrics there WAS sth more...
I personally think that IWBTLY is veeery banal- does it change anything? Still great track!!! I DO like when lyrics are about important issues (Dream Theater, Floyd, some Brian's songs), but if it's not- I'm enjoying music... And Fred's lyrics weren't as banal as 90% of what we hear nowadays in the radio...
Simmer
I think a good melody is better than smart lyrics.
Of course it's great if both are there, but most Freddie's songs were special.
Of course it's great if both are there, but most Freddie's songs were special.
Nuno
"Roger could never write something like that in a million years"
The chord changes and the key is very Roger - Freddie tended to play in flat's
This song is very guitar written not keyboard/piano
just my opinion
The chord changes and the key is very Roger - Freddie tended to play in flat's
This song is very guitar written not keyboard/piano
just my opinion
Sebastian
> The chord changes ...
From the top off my mind I don't remember a single song from Roger with a I > bII progression or a shift to III. Freddie's songs including half step chord progressions include for example Bo Rhap (at the end of the heavy section the chords go Eb F F# G G# A#).
> This song is very guitar written not keyboard/piano
Fred could write in guitar, Roger could write in piano. That's a pointless detail imo. Also, who says Freddie (or anyone) can't write a song in E with a keyboard? Does the piano implode if you don't write in Ab or Eb?
> and the key is very Roger - Freddie tended to play in flat's
The key can be changed. The song could have been easily written in Eb and changed to E for the recording. So if the song is in F# it doesn't mean it's Freddie's. If the song is in A Major it doesn't mean it's Brian's. I think Roger would have some problems writing a song in flat keys, a problem he'd solve by the tuning trick. Freddie preferred writing in "difficult" keys but it doesn't mean he couldn't write in the "easy" ones.
Freddie-esque details in 'Innuendo', musically are:
- Riff/motif/hook transposed in the different chords (check Bohemian Rhapsody, Fairy Feller's Master Stroke, A Kind of Magic's bass riff - which was Freddie's creation -, My Fairy King). As opposed, Brian wrote riffs which comprehended full chord progressions (check Tie Your Mother Down, Put Put The Fire, Good Company, etc). Note that the melody of the riff is similar to the lead vocal part of 'Good Old Fashioned' ("I can dim the light and sing you songs")
- I > V > vi progression with descending bass: Present in the orchestral section. All of them used it at least twice, but Freddie the most, and, ironically, Roger the least
- Orchestral Section: That's something only Freddie did and one of his trademarks in the post Magic era
- Slash chords (A/G#, F/E): Only Freddie was keen on those kinds of chords. Check Slightly Mad, Miracle and many others. The others used some slash chords, specially in their piano songs (D/F#, Bm/A) but most of times they weren't disonant, they were just inversions, and they were used for minimal extent.
- Time/signature/meter changes: Again something Fred did the most. Roger changed the meter in Rock It and that was it. 'Innuendo' changes meter much more than once.
- Phyrigian Mode: Used very few and for minimal extent, but only in Freddie's songs: Mustapha, March Of The Black Queen, It's A Beautiful Day
- Tempo changes: Used in many Freddie's tracks (Bo Rhap, Black Queen, Princes Of The Universe, Bicycle Race...).
Moreover David Richards (who, unlike us, was there) said that Miracle, Was It All Worth It and this one were mainly Freddie's. Brian just commented that Fred wrote the middle section. He didn't confirm or deny the about rest of the song. What he did say is that he (Freddie) started off the lyrics and Roger wrote the rest of them.
Talking about 'Innuendo', many people tend to credit the solo to Brian just because he was the guitarist. And it's totally absurd: the progression is the traditional flamenco one, it's almost like a pre-set. The notes the guitar plays are just a diatonic scale (white keys of the piano). Even Ringo Starr could write it, although of course he couldn't play it. Being able to write something and being able to play it is very different. The solo is basically the same transposing of riff thing, which is much more Freddie-esque.
From the top off my mind I don't remember a single song from Roger with a I > bII progression or a shift to III. Freddie's songs including half step chord progressions include for example Bo Rhap (at the end of the heavy section the chords go Eb F F# G G# A#).
> This song is very guitar written not keyboard/piano
Fred could write in guitar, Roger could write in piano. That's a pointless detail imo. Also, who says Freddie (or anyone) can't write a song in E with a keyboard? Does the piano implode if you don't write in Ab or Eb?
> and the key is very Roger - Freddie tended to play in flat's
The key can be changed. The song could have been easily written in Eb and changed to E for the recording. So if the song is in F# it doesn't mean it's Freddie's. If the song is in A Major it doesn't mean it's Brian's. I think Roger would have some problems writing a song in flat keys, a problem he'd solve by the tuning trick. Freddie preferred writing in "difficult" keys but it doesn't mean he couldn't write in the "easy" ones.
Freddie-esque details in 'Innuendo', musically are:
- Riff/motif/hook transposed in the different chords (check Bohemian Rhapsody, Fairy Feller's Master Stroke, A Kind of Magic's bass riff - which was Freddie's creation -, My Fairy King). As opposed, Brian wrote riffs which comprehended full chord progressions (check Tie Your Mother Down, Put Put The Fire, Good Company, etc). Note that the melody of the riff is similar to the lead vocal part of 'Good Old Fashioned' ("I can dim the light and sing you songs")
- I > V > vi progression with descending bass: Present in the orchestral section. All of them used it at least twice, but Freddie the most, and, ironically, Roger the least
- Orchestral Section: That's something only Freddie did and one of his trademarks in the post Magic era
- Slash chords (A/G#, F/E): Only Freddie was keen on those kinds of chords. Check Slightly Mad, Miracle and many others. The others used some slash chords, specially in their piano songs (D/F#, Bm/A) but most of times they weren't disonant, they were just inversions, and they were used for minimal extent.
- Time/signature/meter changes: Again something Fred did the most. Roger changed the meter in Rock It and that was it. 'Innuendo' changes meter much more than once.
- Phyrigian Mode: Used very few and for minimal extent, but only in Freddie's songs: Mustapha, March Of The Black Queen, It's A Beautiful Day
- Tempo changes: Used in many Freddie's tracks (Bo Rhap, Black Queen, Princes Of The Universe, Bicycle Race...).
Moreover David Richards (who, unlike us, was there) said that Miracle, Was It All Worth It and this one were mainly Freddie's. Brian just commented that Fred wrote the middle section. He didn't confirm or deny the about rest of the song. What he did say is that he (Freddie) started off the lyrics and Roger wrote the rest of them.
Talking about 'Innuendo', many people tend to credit the solo to Brian just because he was the guitarist. And it's totally absurd: the progression is the traditional flamenco one, it's almost like a pre-set. The notes the guitar plays are just a diatonic scale (white keys of the piano). Even Ringo Starr could write it, although of course he couldn't play it. Being able to write something and being able to play it is very different. The solo is basically the same transposing of riff thing, which is much more Freddie-esque.
Virtuoso
"I think a good melody is better than smart lyrics."-True,IMO.Listen to "Child in Time" and "Highway Star",both awesome melodies,but the lyrics are just ridiculous.
roland
yes, some Lennon lyrics are banal, too. Oh Yoko, for example. but yes Breakthru is a love song, but freddies refuse love songs, are great.
by the way, i sometimes wonder why he writes: Girl, i love you so. that's hypocrisy.
by the way, i sometimes wonder why he writes: Girl, i love you so. that's hypocrisy.