Vocals you can imagine being sung by another Queen member

Btw - Roger on Get Down Make Love I`d also preferr. I`d like Show Must Go On to be sung by all three also

No-One But You and Resurrection by Fred.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Nickipee wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I agree with what a lot of you are saying about Roger's vocals - and I have to come out here as a Roger fan - I think his solo stuff just got better and better, with his singing seeming more confident (song writing too). As for live - I have always rated him as a live singer. In my little dream world anything new by Rog, or Rog + Brian, would go down a treat...
Nicki[/QUOTE]I totally agree with you here! ;-)
As for an old Queen song I'd like to hear Roger on "Sheer Heart Attack". That would be a blast (but remains a dream I'm afraid..)

I'd kind of like to have heard Freddie sing "Man On Fire" as well.

Actually "Ressurrection" could be really well sang by Roger... So could "Breakthru"...

From Sebastian's list:

If Roger sang the following I'd never have listened to Queen seriously.

Keep Yourself Alive - with Brian
Doin` All Right (NO WAY)
Now I`m Here - with Bri (Brian's too weak)
If You Can`t Beat Them
Play The Game - don`t ask (Oh I'd like to ask, though.)
Under Pressure - threesome with F & B (Brian would not have managed the high note in the way Freddie did. Roger would sound too rough - even Bowie sounded way too rough for me in that song.)
I Go Crazy
I Want To Break Free
Gimme The Prize
I Can`t Live With You (one of my fav vocal piece)
You Don`t Fool Me (ditto)

Perhaps you overestimate Roger's or Brian's voice? (Like, Brian's voice just falters behind Freddie's in Who Wants to Live Forever.) I mean, I'd love to hear them sing in all of the songs, but no way Queen would establish as much as they did if the vocals were done as you suggested. It's one thing to be experimental and eclectic, and another thing to produce.

Maybe if Roger were the main vocal of Queen the list would have been completely different, no? (We would have something like "the songs you want Freddie to have sung")

Some comments

> Keep Yoursel Alive - with Brian

Fred changed completely the feeling Brian wanted for the vocals. But that`s not a bad thing. Anyway this particular one in a B & R version I`d have liked, as some others, as B-Side or something, not as single. Or perhaps Brian & Roger in the album and Fred in the single.

> Doin` All Right (NO WAY)

I love the way Roger sings it in the BBC Version. I`d have preferred if Fred just sang harmonies in this one. Brian singing it would have been nice as well

> Now I`m Here - with Bri (Brian's too weak)

In his solo tours he sang it very good. But you may have a point - there`s no way he could have sung with that power in the 70s

> If You Can`t Beat Them

I`d love Roger to sing Don`t Stop Me as well. I love his voice a lot, his accent and his quick phrasing... he definitely is less powerful, has (a little) shorter range and has less technique than Fred, but I still like him more, as a singer.

> Under Pressure - threesome with F & B (Brian would not have managed the high note in the way Freddie did. Roger would sound too rough - even Bowie sounded way too rough for me in that song.)

Brian wouldn`t have managed the high note, not even in a bad way, he just couldn`t reach there. But with B I ment "Bowie", not Brian.

> I Want To Break Free

I`ve listened it by Roger and by Fred and I very much prefer Roger. Radio Ga Ga I think the opposite.

Hey Sebastian,

Been reading your list again... actually I agree with ~1/2 of them, although I love most of the vocal works they did.

I just have a question, though: I thought in your site (yes, I somehow managed to visit that site as often as queenzone.com) you complimented on Freddie's vocal work on Save Me.. so how come you'd prefer Brian's voice over Freddie's in Save Me?

"Now I`m Here - with Bri (Brian's too weak)"

Whoa no way, Brian proved that he can sing this song live very well.

I think it's great to have 3 singers with totally different kind of voices

Fred: All round
Roger: Raw
Brian: Warm and gentle

Thats probably why they sounded so great together

And I also think that Brian could deliver a song much better, Just listen to "Is this the world we created", "Too much love will kill you" or even "Love of my life"

Freddie 'just' sings them, Brian delivers them.
No doubt Freddie is a much better singer then Roger or Brian, but Brian really gets you with the song. He can put all his emotion in it, Just listen to the 3 songs I mentioned above sang by Freddie and Brian. I prefer Brian on vocals for all 3, And I think it's like this on most ballads for me.

If Freddie would've sang songs like Sweet Sister, or All Dead. I don't think I would like them as much as I do now

Exactly. Fred sings in waaaay better pitch with much better technique and doing the right notes and the correct ornaments (like the ones I compliment in `Save Me`), but that`s not all. Brian may not have (I use "may" as a verb here, that`s why I write it in lower case) the strenght, the technique or the "special effect" use but somehow he sounds incredibly good at most of his own songs, and some from the others too - like Lap Revisited. There are some exceptions, like Headlong. It`s an ok version but I agree with Brian that Fred took it another level

As for Love Of My Life: the "classical" version (ie piano harp and stuff) sounds of course better with a more technical singer, that`s why I like it more with Fred. But the guitar version is more like "human" in the matter that it`s more for "normal" singers. I love it more with Brian

That`s a clear example of the "roughness=quality" ironic cases. Love Of My Life live is to connect with the audience, to make them feel part of it. You can`t do that with an exceptional singer. You need something still in their level. Fred sinned for being "too good" to take that job. Same for songs like Dreamer`s Ball or Good Company

Axl mentioned that in the case of `November Rain`, he sang it very roughly and that was important for the song success because people felt part of it. And I agree that Freddie would have ruined it if he had sung it because he was "too much" for it. Unless he did another arrangement but that`s another story

That roughness issue is not only for vocals: how many people prefer Lennon/Harrison simple and easy to play riffs (Day Tripper, Birthday, I Feel Fine...) over Yngwie Malmsteen over complex and over fast guitar show-offs?

Would Stairway to Heaven be the same with that simple arpeggio with chromatic descending bass than with a fast agressive sweep picking intro with semiquavers all over the place?

Sometimes "more is less" really.

I've got Roger on 7 inch single on the b side of happiness singing ride the wild wind if anyone wants it contact me

Jeff

"There are some exceptions, like Headlong. It`s an ok version but I agree with Brian that Fred took it another level"

yeah, but i think Headlong and other hard rock songs are a different story, You can't deliver hard rock/heavy metal songs very well if you have a not so strong voice. Listen to Brian's live shows from '92-'93, He proves he has a pretty strong voice there (not as strong as freddie, but strong enough to deliver harder songs such as Now i'm Here or Resurrection).
We all know he had lots of voice troubles on his 98 tour (especially the last few weeks) And had to cancel some shows and see some doctors, And thats why a lot of the harder (Queen)songs don't sound very good, I bet songs as I Want it All and The Show Must Go On would've been great if he played them live in '92-'93, But unfortunatly he never did. And I think after 2000 Brian's voice got a lot better again. Just listen to some recent shows: Modena, Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, 46664, The Gorilla Fund concert. His voice got a lot better!

I hope Brian and Roger decide to sing more on their shows, instead of getting boring guest vocalists like singers of the musical cast or unknown african singers who don't know most of the lyrics of the well-known singles

It is very true that Brian and Roger have good vocals, better than many other "vocals". My reaction was simply due to the fact that my understanding of the original question was "what if, in the first place, someone else in the band sang in the studio version instead of what Queen has done." I basically think that Brian and Roger are entitled to try all the songs. We assume, based on the past experience, that Brian may be good in this song and Roger may be good in that song, but we might be in for a delightful surprise if they tried songs that are not in their "vocal style".

However, album production is a completely different thing. I agree with some of the songs from Sebastian's list and think that the alternative could work (I would have liked Brian to sing Teo Toriatte, for example). But for me, Queen would never have had such an attraction if Freddie sang significantly less.

"(I would have liked Brian to sing Teo Toriatte, for example)."

Find some bootlegs then, He played it live a couple of times