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Good Company....a bit of a question....

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Ok, so inside the record cover of ANATO, or on the CD sleeve, it says right under the lyrics for Good Company that there was a guitar jazz band by Brian.
However....
When I was playing that song for my friend, and told him it was all guitar, he didn't believe me.
Now....am I wrong? Or were all those weird, quirky noises actually from the guitar? I thought they were.....I'm pretty sure they are.
Cheers
"Today I saw an American flag flying at full mast and I was reassured--I knew someone....somewhere....was alive."
Yes, apart from the ukelele, it's all Brian. I recall seeing an article with Brian where he said it was all a matter of engineering as opposed to today where you could probably dial up a trombone or clarinet sound on a processor or pedal. It's sad, but whenever the guitar mags have their "greatest guitar albums", ANATO isn't mentioned. I can't think of an album where the guitar was taken in such a unique direction by a player. Good Company, though little known outside of early Queen fans, is every bit as groundbreaking as Bohemian Rhapsody.
You know, good times are now.
BHM 0271 wrote:
Yes, apart from the ukelele, it's all Brian. I recall seeing an article with Brian where he said it was all a matter of engineering as opposed to today where you could probably dial up a trombone or clarinet sound on a processor or pedal. It's sad, but whenever the guitar mags have their "greatest guitar albums", ANATO isn't mentioned. I can't think of an album where the guitar was taken in such a unique direction by a player. Good Company, though little known outside of early Queen fans, is every bit as groundbreaking as Bohemian Rhapsody.


I totally agree with you. We all know that Hendrix is praised with his unique sounds from his guitar. But think about a lot of songs by Queen (mainly early/70's Queen) and what noises come from that. It is crazy, and takes talent to say the least; the very least. *Sigh* The songs unheard by most of the so called "music-conscious" people (by Queen) are the ones that deserve the most praise.
Cheers
"Today I saw an American flag flying at full mast and I was reassured--I knew someone....somewhere....was alive."
BHM 0271 wrote:
Yes, apart from the ukelele, it's all Brian.


So who played ukelele? Spike Edney?
Brian played ukelele. I meant that apart from the ukelele, the sounds were all from his guitar.
You know, good times are now.
There are bass and drum in there as well you know.

> It is crazy, and takes talent to say the least

Imho there`s no such thing as "talent". It`s not that Brian got his ideas from air or God sent him the ability to play guitar like that. He made himself, the credit is to his own effort. And of course, in this case, to the producer and engineer without whom it couldn`t have been possible.
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
Yes there are bass and drums Sebastian, I gave people credit for figuring out those sounds weren't made by Brian's guitar though.
You know, good times are now.
You know, he sang, too. I'm sure his guitar didn't do that.

Sorry, just really poking fun at the pedantics here, not you.

But I'm still amazed that Brian hasn't gotten more credit than he ever has for his guitar orchestrations; amazing that Keith Richards can get so much plaudits for writing three notes for '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', but Brian's work on the early Queen albums, where he was particularly creative, goes unnoticed.
Sebastian wrote:
Imho there`s no such thing as "talent". It`s not that Brian got his ideas from air or God sent him the ability to play guitar like that. He made himself, the credit is to his own effort. And of course, in this case, to the producer and engineer without whom it couldn`t have been possible.


Of course there's such a thing as talent. Not every person has the same potential as everyone else in everything. It takes work to develop the talent, certainly, but many people could practice 8 hours a day for a twenty years and still never be able to play anywhere near as well as somebody like Brian.
finally a few people on this site know what the hell their talking about, good company is a great song.
> Of course there's such a thing as talent. Not every person has the same potential as everyone else in everything. It takes work to develop the talent, certainly, but many people could practice 8 hours a day for a twenty years and still never be able to play anywhere near as well as somebody like Brian.

I disagree, but I also agree to disagree. I just give credit to Brian for the fact his expertise is owed entirely to him, not to any "gratuitious" pre-disposition.
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
There's a couple of times when you can guess that it's a guitar i.e. the muted trumpets sound too sweet and the trombones are a little damp but it's mind bogglingly amazing. My favouritest song on ANATO.
...this kettle is boiling over... ...one dump...one turd...two tits...John Deacon... ...one prawn...one shrimp...one clam...one chicken!
Sebastian wrote:
> Of course there's such a thing as talent. Not every person has the same potential as everyone else in everything. It takes work to develop the talent, certainly, but many people could practice 8 hours a day for a twenty years and still never be able to play anywhere near as well as somebody like Brian.

I disagree, but I also agree to disagree. I just give credit to Brian for the fact his expertise is owed entirely to him, not to any "gratuitious" pre-disposition.


Clearly, a lot of practise and thought went into Good Company, for example, but there has to be some 'pre-disposition' there so that all the accumulated knowledge and practise result in something musical. Good Company was the result of both talent and study. Anyone can learn anything if they really want to, but to use the knowledge creatively is what the talent part is about.
Lester Burnham wrote:
Amazing that Keith Richards can get so much plaudits for writing three notes for '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', but Brian's work on the early Queen albums, where he was particularly creative, goes unnoticed.


I could NOT agree more. That is so true its not even funny.
"Some day, one day. . . "
Brilliant guitar work, the man's a genius.
www.myspace.com/babybeatle www.soundclick.com/paulstaveley It's the dogs testicles darling!

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