5.17.14 LMD Released in the UK, QAL heading to Australia?

Emily Lambert ‏@xadamsbabex 19s
The Memories of Adam Lambert will always be in my hearts <3 pic.twitter.com/Uz66wtUSPJ

What our friends in San Diego are going through... near Escondido. Arson is not being ruled out.

TALON'S TAKE:

Ogre Battle

written by: Freddie Mercury

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, screams
Brian May - guitars, backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, gong, backing vocals, screams





- Side Black Begins! Freddie at his most mythological. Although there are a few more moments in the next album this really is the last of Freddie's BIG myth-type lyrics. Fantasy stories, fairy tales - Freddie's forte at the time.

-Played live through 1976 and sporadically in 1977. A crowd favorite.

- A real prototype for heavy metal.

-Yes - Screams are musical instruments here

QUOTES:

- "Freddie also wrote Ogre Battle which is a very heavy metal guitar riff. It's strange that he should have done that. But when Freddie used to pick up a guitar, he'd have a great frenetic energy. It was like a very nervy animal playing the guitar. He was a very impatient person and was very impatient with his own technique. He didn't have a great technical ability on the guitar but he had it in his head. And you could feel this stuff bursting to get out. His right hand would move incredibly fast. He wrote a lot of good stuff for the guitar, a lot of it was stuff which I would not have thought of because it would be in weird keys. He had this penchant for playing in E flat and A flat and E and these are not places that your hand naturally falls on when playing the guitar, so he forced me into finding ways of doing things which made unusual sounds. It was really good." - Brian May - Guitar World - 1998

- "That was a bit of a miracle, actually. They had this massive gong in the studio that Roger hit. When we turned the tape over, the gong sounded great backwards and that sound was going to be at the beginning of the track. That got us wondering what the rest of the track would sound like backwards. Well it sounded very similar. The riff is palindromic; it sounds the same forwards and backwards in the intro and then we seamlessly crossfaded it with the forward track. I don't think it's even a crossfade. I think it's a butt edit and you can't even tell. I used my fingerboard pickup and bridge pickup out of phase for that tone." - Brian May - Guitar Player - 2008

ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS:

BBC SESSION 3 VERSION


-ESSENTIAL listening.

- Released on Queen At The Beeb in 1989 in the UK and Queen At The BBC in 1995 in the US.

- This version features a much more relaxed Freddie but haunting effects on the backing vocals and a bit more...raw feeling from Brian.

- Unfortunately there was an additional intro to this version that was lost over the years when the tape was damaged. It did surface later on but it is of very poor quality. It was a very moody piece with stabs of guitar.

1991 Hollywood Remix by Nicholas Sansano


-NOT essential listening.

- Released on the 1991 Hollywood Records remastering of Queenas a bonus track.

- An official remix from a producer who had worked with Sonic Youth and Public Enemy. It generally adds a few effects and strips away a few things leaving a generally intact song with some interesting moments. I prefer the original but do appreciate the strength of the drums that is missing a bit from the original due to the way it was recorded.

Deep Cuts Version


- NOT essential.

- When Island Records acquired the Queen catalogue - it not only remastered all of it, it released three compilations entitled Deep Cuts which basically took some of the non-singles of a five album period and compiled it into a compilation as a way to get those who just had the Greatest Hits to get a sampler of five albums to see if they wanted to explore further into the catalogue. What makes this track different? Not much - it just is a standalone version that does not segue into the next track....which is not that important. It is far more interesting for March Of The Black Queen later...

UNRELEASED AND UNHEARD:

QUEEN DEMO

- It is known that this was attempted during Queen sessions. It is unclear if this exists somewhere.

LIVE VERSIONS:

LIVE AT THE RAINBOW - MARCH 1974


- "What do you think of the show so far?" Freddie being playful and the sound on this bootleg is phenomenal - but unfortunately it's only audio no video..but very powerful audio! The whole band in good form here.

LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH - DECEMBER 1975


- Includes some of the BBC intro, it becomes a real manic-playful rocker in concert. Roger's drums are far more powerful! Freddie definitely has fun here and since this shows them actually in video I figured it was worth another link.

PERSONAL NOTES:

-One of the songs I bring out when people say that Queen isn't as heavy as "such and such" band. Sure Queen developed and went into dance music, ballads, and more pop rock. But at their root they could produce hard rock as well as anyone!

Sweet Lady

Written by: Brian May

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - guitars, backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals




- I never got that line about being as sweet as cheese, but it made for a good chuckle :D

- A heavy rock waltz? In 3/4 time it was a uncommon rock and roll time signature and very difficult to play. A complex track that is somewhat unique on this particular album as it plays most as a straight ahead rocker than any other.

- It was played live although it was sporadic. It was a very difficult song for Freddie to sing live at the time especially as it was right during some of his nodule difficulties.

- The main riff evolved into the fast version of We Will Rock You.

QUOTES:

- "It is particularly difficult track to play” – Roger Taylor - 2002

- "There's an old song called Sweet Lady, which Brian wrote, on A Night At The Opera, and he was saying, 'I want it to go like this,' and he wanted it to do three different things at once and that was a bit hard to understand." - Roger Taylor - September 2002, Rhythm Magazine


OFFICALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSION:

LIVE AT HYDE PARK - SEPTEMBER 1976


- ESSENTIAL listening as this also contains the documentary!

UNRELEASED LIVE VERSION:

LIVE AT LIVERPOOL - NOVEMBER 1975


- AUDIO only. Probably one of the better live versions.

PERSONAL NOTES:

- To be honest, this is probably the weakest track on the album in my opinion. (See...I CAN be critical of the band ) That being said, the weakest track on this album is better than many tracks on lesser albums! It is a fun rocker even with the somewhat cringe inducing lyrics at times. Brian had a lot of ambition for this song, but it did somewhat get overshadowed by the rest of the tracks.

CHANCES:
Ogre Battle.....3% -- Only if they are feeling nostalgic enough - but I bet they won't do too much with the fantasy lyrics.
Sweet Lady......1% -- I don't see any reason this comes back, especially if they do the fast We Will Rock You!

SUPPLEMENTAL

Gimme The Prize (Kurgan's Theme)

Written by: Brian May

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead vocals
Brian May - guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums




- A return to hard rock form for the band, this was written as the theme of the Highlander bad guy, Kurgan.
- Reportedly according to Brian, Freddie and John were not big fans of the song which might explain why it was never done live...or perhaps it's because it would be killer on a voice to try to do it on tour night after night!
- Incorporates some dialogue from the film.

QUOTE:
- "There's a song called 'The Prize', and that is a song which is based around the Kurgan's theme, which... The Kurgan is the bad guy in the Highlander and I wrote this piece for him, and then once the film was out of the way I was able to make it into a complete song." - Brian May – 1986

ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS

SINGLE MIX

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Mostly instrumental.

PERSONAL NOTES:
- I LOVE this song. Yes it is a bit stupid, but it is big, brash, and in your face and Freddie rocks it! I also love Brian's bagpipe guitar solo! It was a great reminder that Queen could still rock your socks off if they chose to.

CHANCES:

Gimme The Prize.....0.5% -- Never performed live - I don't see it happening now - especially since it would be a tough live vocal...Not that Adam couldn't do it, but why bother on this one?