Issues with Queen

decampos wrote:

• Their tendency to never stray too far from the standard setlist.
Throughout their many tours the band appeared to have a setlist they would never really deviate from. I wish they'd have taken more risks and varied the setlists from gig to gig like other bands.

Not only the setlists, but the same order of the songs, the same way to play and sing them:

Typical order: Starting Rocker / Medley / hits / impromptu / brian's solo / Love of my life / Bo Rhap / final rocker / encore / WWRY-WATC

And they could stick to the same setlist for the whole tour as I've heard on many bootlegs, which sounded almost identical.

Not bad to have one or two shows from a same tour, but to have more can be somewhat boring.

"• Dearth of good non-album tracks
Many bands have a least half-decent songs as b-sides and not just reworked or straight album tracks.

• Their tendency to never stray too far from the standard setlist.
Throughout their many tours the band appeared to have a setlist they would never really deviate from. I wish they'd have taken more risks and varied the setlists from gig to gig like other bands.

• Synths and inviting other musicians on the road with them.
As far as I'm concerned their live shows from 1982 onwards were un-enjoyable thanks to the horrible plastic-sounding synths ruining even the old tunes."

I agree on the non-album tracks, particularly after Live Aid they decided to re-release hits as b-sides (Who Wants To Live Forever w/Killer Queen, for example). What b-sides there are though, are pretty solid - I Go Crazy, See What A Fool I've Been, Hijack My Heart etc....

The setlists particularly became humdrum once starting the Jazz tour - would have been nice to have varied the starts/finishes more often and included songs from previous albums which had never been done before; although Teo Torriatte & Love Of My Life were done so, It'd have been nice to have seen Dead On Time, Long Away & Fight From The Inside appear on The Magic Tour.

Regarding the synths and other musicians - the only complaint I have is with Save Me on the Hot Space tour - too much organ/synths instead of the piano !

Brian's best guitar solos were the ones that would end with an improv with drums and bass(Earls Court 1977, Live Killers and We Will Rock You 1981). The guitar solo on the NOTW tour was after White Man and he didn't do the same solo, he would try different things each time, like he did a few parts of his solo without delays(listen to Houston 1977). The Live Killers and We Will Rock You 1981 solos also had Roger drum solos on the tympani. Roger is my favorite member of Queen. His songs are fantastic on the Queen albums from 1973 to 1984. The only song of his with Queen I didn't like was Don't Lose Your Head but the rest rocked, especially the ones he sang like Drowse, I'm In Love With My Car, Rock It and so forth.

• Roger Taylor
Not his drumming; his slightly sloppy style and his own distinctive use of the hi-hat is certainly part of the queen magic. What bugs me was his voice when singing live. It was mostly awful; hi pitched gravely off-key shrieking. There are live recordings where his attempts to harmonise with Brian and Freddie are utterly embarrassing.
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Rog's Off-Key Vocals may be do to a lack of moniter near him, and thus his inability to hear during the live performances.

Another thing about Roger's live vocals, I've heard some where he has had to cover for Fred on the High parts because of Fred's vocal exhaustion.
Ex. I believe it was a live version of Teo T. (Let us Cling Together) recorded in Japan.


But what is annoying live is when they used to leave the stage during the Opera part of Bohemian R. I've heard live performances from the 70's whereby they would begin the song with Bohemian, transition into Killer Queen, transition into the rocking part of March of the Black Queen, and then do the ending of Bohemian. This was much, much better.

I don't understand tho why they never did the Opera part live -- even Simon and Garfunkle could pull that off. Roger sings the high part, Fred the second highest, Brian the lower and John the bass.

decampos wrote:

• Roger Taylor
Not his drumming; his slightly sloppy style and his own distinctive use of the hi-hat is certainly part of the queen magic. What bugs me was his voice when singing live. It was mostly awful; hi pitched gravely off-key shrieking. There are live recordings where his attempts to harmonise with Brian and Freddie are utterly embarrassing.
In the studio, his song writing was for the most part atrocious and the lowest point of many of their albums. His insistence on singing them made them the more unbearable. Take these sore thumbs for example:

Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll
Loser In the End
Drowse
Fight From the Inside
Fun It
More of that Jazz
Rock It (Prime Jive)?

I thnka RMT's vocal add some rawness to the Queen sound. Take for example 'I go Crazy' (Radio Gaga B-side) the scream at then end of the last chorus is great. As for the 'Hammer to Fall' backings live, killer!

As for the songs mentioned, I quite like Loser, Drowse, fight and Jazz. But then maybe it's a "drummer's song" and being one I may aprreciate them more. Who knows.

decampos wrote:

• Brian's extraordinary guitar solos. My god, what an ego. Who else besides Anita Dobson actually enjoyed these pointless displays??

He has come up with quite a sound with the harmonies and echos, you got to give him that. On record, it can get quite boring, but live was nice.

decampos wrote:

• Dearth of good non-album tracks
Many bands have a least half-decent songs as b-sides and not just reworked or straight album tracks.?

Well, must admit that appart from 'I go Crazy', the B-sides are not my favourites.

decampos wrote:

• Their tendency to never stray too far from the standard setlist.
Throughout their many tours the band appeared to have a setlist they would never really deviate from. I wish they'd have taken more risks and varied the setlists from gig to gig like other bands.?

The problem with a gig is the audience is so divers in taste and following, you have to make a choice. Tours are made to promote a record sale. Bands don't often make money off the tours.
As much as I'd have loved to hear Motörhead play more obscure songs, not getting 'Overkill' at the end would be quite a loss. Many songs can be left back, but could you go to a Queen gig without getting 'Tie your mother down'?
Experimenting would have been nice, but if you go through the bootlegs availble, you do find some nice surprises.

decampos wrote:

• Synths and inviting other musicians on the road with them.
As far as I'm concerned their live shows from 1982 onwards were un-enjoyable thanks to the horrible plastic-sounding synths ruining even the old tunes. ?

Wasn't there. But I do prefer the pre-Day at the races gigs.

decampos wrote:

• Brian and Roger's need for the spotlight.
The decent thing to do would be to have retired the name and not tarnish the legacy (and their dignity) with collaborations with all and sundry. They are already multi multi millionaires. Do they really need to suck that cash cow so damned dry? Is the latest 'tour' purely an ego thing? Freddie must be spinning in his grave. It's interesting that when Brian toured under his own name after the death of Freddie he used to encore with a re-working of John Lennon's 'God' singing the line: 'I don't believe in being Queen any more'.
... If only

What do you guys think?

I'm not keen on the new tour also, but I saw it in order to say this. I don't know about you, sorry. As a musician, I can understand them wanting/needing to play these songs. also, it keeps the name Queen in the minds of the new generation that never got to see them play. It was a nice treet for the younger fans, as it seems the majority of them

Congratulations Decampos, you're wrong.

What do you mean Roger and Brians constant need for the spotlight? A lot of the stuff they do is using their celebrity to raise awareness of AIDs. They even mentioned it on this tour.