Worst use of synths on a Queen songs

I know many of you guys hate synths, but the truth is that most of the time Queen used their syths in a proper way. Yet still, there are a couple of songs where Queen should have never used synths.

If I had to name which song has the worst use of synths that would have to be 'Play The Game'. The intro is awfuly cheesy and those cheap sci-fi flick sounds totally ruined Brian's awesome guitar solo.

I'm with you on this song. What an awfull intro !! I can't understand why they did it this way... But apart of this intro, it's still a great song;

I agree with 'Play The Game' also. It's blatant that they used synths but it goes pretty well with the video. Okay. The video is pretty corny too... but, ah, whatever. :-)

Radio Ga Ga

I agree. Play The Game sounds much better in concerts, when Brian's guitar is more aggressive and there's no synth intro.

I'm with those approx. 90% of Queen fans who say that Hot Space is just too much. However there are good song on that album as well, with decent use of synhts.

The best use of synths on the other hand. Definately, Machines. It just fits to the lyrics, a battle between the machines and humans.

Synths use is good when synths does not sound like synths. Songs like A Kind Of Magic or The Miracle are good examples IMHO.

Hammer to Fall, totally unnessecary (sp?)

And all of the synths in live shows between 82-86

well the intro for play the game is a bit annoying and long, I usually end up fast fowarding it to the singing LOL. But the rest of the synths in the song I quite like, it sounds kinda cool. Brian's guitar solo is bold anyway, it goes over the synths.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]FriedChicken wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Hammer to Fall, totally unnessecary (sp?)

And all of the synths in live shows between 82-86[/QUOTE]

yer I think the correct spelling would be: unnecessary. LOL I am always correcting spellings

The synth guitar solo on 'I Want To Break Free'.

However, the background synths which were used to create the intro for the extended mix (and then the single version) are very nice. Simple, yet nice. They were done on a Roland Jupiter 8 by Fred Mandel.

PS- Interestingly, the synth intro to 'Play The Game' was originally stored separately from the main song on the master tape.

(http://www.brianmay.com/queen/thegame/technical2.html)

Synths that I really hate - Play The Game - intro & pre-solo, Hammer To Fall, and Body Language - in one of the pre-choruses

Synths that IMO sounded ok but I`d have preferred John doing that with real bass:

Breakthru
Body Language
Dancer -with slap technique it would have sounded so good
Staying Power - even if he did a loop, but the sound of a Fender is unique
Radio Ga Ga - ditto

I like the trick in Pain Is So Close: bass is done in synths during the intro but just when the voice begins it changes to a human one. The effect is very ear-pleasing to me. I also love the use of bass in Invisible Man, a clever combination of human & machine.

All use of synth in Innuendo is good... like Don't Try So Hard or I'm Going Slightly Mad.

I don`t like synth-drums in I Can`t Live With You either.

There`s still the everlasting "how would have sounded that album with piano and acoustic guitar" thing.

Some Mozart-esque piano playing by Freddie would have been awesome in tracks like Don`t Try So Hard and Bijou.

The main song that I love the synths on is Football Fight. Catchy as all heck!

I agree with you Mr. FredM. One of Queen's greatest qualities is that they were willing to branch out into a myriad of musical styles and take risks with their core fanbase in order to explore a more diverse catalogue. That's what makes Queen so great...you can't pigeonhole them into one specific sound or genre: their diversity was one of their main strengths and made them infinitely more entertaining. Think about it...if you listened to country or swing for hours and hours and hours you'd eventually be dying to hear something different. Queen kept it fresh, and that's what matters.

At the same time, I think it's OK to like or dislike particular albums or tracks--everyone's got a preference. You don't have to love each and every song to love Queen. Opinions are really what drive a message board such as this: it would be quite boring if everyone agreed on everything.

Anyway, to reply to the actual thread, I think the synths weren't used as well in songs on The Miracle album. Those synth strings on "The Miracle" are just too bright for my taste and it gets kind of cheesy. Also, the synth on "Invisible Man" makes it sound a bit too "kiddie." I sometime cringe when I hear the intro to that song.

And I have an unrelated (but important) question: does anyone know why I always get an error when I try to reply to or create a topic on the "new" board? What I mean is that from the homepage, I have to click on something that will take me to a section that's still up from before the site was redesigned, and then go to the notice board before I can post anything. I'd appriciate if anyone can help me with this. Thanks.