I may not be around so I'm sorry Q3 for spoiling your song choices again :(
TALON'S TAKE:
Somebody To LoveWritten by: Freddie Mercury
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano, gospel choir
Brian May - guitars, gospel choir
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, gospel choir
- The big single from
A Day At The Races. It hit #2 in the UK and #13 in the US. Also issued as a single in Australia (where it hit #22), Denmark, France, Japan (where it hit #51), Mexico, The Netherlands (where it hit #1), Poland, Portugal, Turkey, and Yugoslavia.
- Played live through 1982 in full and then as a part of a medley until 1985. It was not performed on the Magic Tour, but was resurrected at the Tribute Concert with George Michael in an infamous performance and then retired again until Brian and Kerry began performing it during the
Anthems tour and then with QAL.
- On a side note, this is John Ondrasnik (the singer/songwriter who goes under the band name Five For Fighting)'s favorite Queen track. Weird aside, but I am a fan of his, and have met him - REAL down to earth guy who I saw open for Train and met afterwards where he thanked me and hugged me for being a fan....and while he's gone down the piano soft ballad route too often for my sake now, his first album
Message For Albert is an absolute gem.
- Quite a few covers have happened over the years including Anne Hathaway for
Ella Enchanted, Brittany Murphy for
Happy Feet, Glee, amongst many others.
QUOTES:
- "It’s Aretha Franklin-influenced. Freddie’s very much into that. We tried to keep the track in a loose, gospel-type feel. I think it’s the loosest track we’ve ever done.” – Roger Taylor – Circus – 1977
ALTERNATIVE RELEASED VERSIONS:
VIDEO VERSION- NOT essential listening.
- The only difference is added crowd noise at the end.
1991 HOLLYWOOD REMIX- NOT essential but interesting.
- Released on the 1991 Hollywood remaster of
A Day At The Races. The vocals are phased and there seems to be more added to the harmonies and there is a more definitive ending.
BRIAN MAY + CATHERINE PORTER- ESSENTIAL listening.
- Catherine Porter is a lovely lady who was a backing vocalist on Brian's solo tour and she sang backing vocals on
Let Me Live on Queen's
Made In Heaven album. When she did her own album, she covered this song and had Brian on guitar. It is a VERY laid back version but it has it's own beauty to it. Brian's solo is VERY nice.
ALTERNATIVE UNRELEASED VERSIONS:
VOCAL OUT-TAKES- NOT essential but interesting.
- From a Queen convention, complete with Greg Brooks "Property Of Queen Productions" voiceover, it features a few different snippets of the Queen choir machine.
STUDIO OUT-TAKES-NOT essential.
-From a Queen convention, complete with Greg Brooks "Property Of Queen Productions" voiceover, these are instrumental takes of the song.
OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
ROCK MONTREAL VERSION- One of my favorite versions - possibly my favorite. Love the energy...and Rog's backing vocals.
ON FIRE AT THE BOWL VERSION- Ok THIS is my favorite version. Just FANtastic.
QUEEN + GEORGE MICHAEL - FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE- This is the infamous performance that has set the standard for any Queen + concert post Freddie's death. It was near unanimously considered the best performance of the night and singlehandedly sparked rumors of George Michael touring with the band. It definitely is a good one and it is fun but I never got George touring with them myself. I always thought it was interesting that people who said that Adam couldn't sing the rock numbers well were willing to back George. I couldn't imagine George singing
I Want It All or
Stone Cold Crazy that's for sure
UNRELEASED LIVE PERFORMANCES:
LIVE AT HOUSTON - 1977- Another good performance from much closer to when it was written!
ROCK IN RIO - 1985- An example of the medley version.
QUEEN + HANNAH JANE FOX/WE WILL ROCK YOU CAST - 2002 - Hannah Jane Fox is the original female lead in the
We Will Rock You musical. This is an interesting performance. I love Fox in the musical and this is a very decent version if incomplete for TV.
BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - 2011- Taken from a Freddie Tribute in 2011, it's a nice version although it's too...clean for my taste. Kerry is a bit too theatrical (and not in performance but in terms of vocal output. To me this song needs a bit more...rawness to it).
QUEEN + QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA - 2012 - AMERICAN IDOL- The first time the more rocking ending was tried. I think this performance is phenomenal ESPECIALLY given that the whole band had about 1 week to rehearse at this point having all just really met each other at auditions. Marc Martel's signature Queen cover.
QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT - DAY 2 LONDON - 2012- Once again one of my favorite parts of the London shows was when Brian did an acoustic version of a song. This one was amazing as the audience really became part of the band. Brian backed the audience for the most part and it was a very community-love feeling. And you could tell how much Brian was enjoying the interaction. LOVED it.
QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT - DAY 3 LONDON - 2012- I'm not sure what to say here. Let me get it out of the way that I do think it's a damn good job. However for whatever reason this one was one that disappointed me during the QAL tour. I think the main problems for me was my own expectations. When I heard of the QAL tour I thought for sure this song was one that Adam was going to knock out of the ballpark. I hate sounding negative because I did highly enjoy his take, but for whatever reason it didn't quite meet my godlike expectations. The only thing I can point out is that I wasn't really a fan of some of his choices at the end. They didn't quite mesh with the instrumentation imo. While AL did blow me away on some songs (
Who Wants To Live Forever and
The Show Must Go On (post Kiev anyways
)) this one didn't *quite* hit the mark for me.
- I WILL say that I picked Day 3 because I think as the tour went on he got much better at it and if the tour went on, he might have hit those expectations I had!
BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - CANDLELIGHT - 2013- Brian gets to sing a bit more - based on Day 3 in London with QAL, it's a very nice version!
CHANCES:
Somebody To Love......99% -- I can't see them taking it out now - the song has had quite a resurgence in the US...
SUPPLEMENTAL:
It's A Beautiful Day & It's A Beautiful Day (Reprise)Written by Freddie Mercury/John Deacon
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano
Brian May - guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar, keyboards
Roger Taylor - cymbals
- The oldest "song" on the album. The vocals and piano are taken from a bit from
The Game sessions. It was expanded out by the band and the classical motif/keyboard sequence came from John.
ALTERNATIVE:
ORIGINAL SPONTANEOUS IDEA- Released on the 2011 remaster of
The Game this was the original vocal/piano snippet the band took to create the track with/
SINGLE VERSION- A combination of the album track and the reprise track from the end without the Queen samples.
2005 TECHNO REMIX- Remixed by Ross Robertson and DJ Korma. This was an unsanctioned mix that was basically a fan mix. Somehow the band heard it and dug it so much they used it as the "opening" track of their 2005 tour with Paul Rodgers. It was "released" on the band's website as a download.
PERSONAL NOTES: It's a great sentiment to start the album (and kind of end as well). It works well and I remember the first time I heard it I held such a bittersweet hope. It was beautiful, sad, and yet hopeful. Great snippet.
It's A Beautiful Day (Reprise)Written by: Freddie Mercury/John Deacon
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano
Brian May - guitars, backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar, keyboards
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals
- Based on the same spontaneous idea but this one goes off into a far more rocking finale. It includes samples from Queen's first ever hit,
Seven Seas Of Rhye and Brian doing an Indian sounding motif.
- The final "Yeah" is given it's own track for some unknown reason. The "Yeah" from all reports is a sample from
Action This Day so no idea why it warrant's it's own track.
ALTERNATE VERSION
VINYL EDITNO YT VID
- Includes the "Yeah"
DEEP CUTS VERSION- Also includes the "Yeah" and also trails out a bit slower.
PERSONAL NOTES:
Another nice way to go out and nice to have a bit more thunder at the end. The Seven Seas sample is a nice addition and overall it's a fun track. Next? Well the album tracklisting was done...but what is this hidden 22 minute ambient piece of music? An untitled experiment that has been given the simple monniker of
Track 13CHANCES:
It's A Beautiful Day (and/or Reprise)......1% -- Better chance of being pre-concert music.
RT @glamlawyer: Lay Me Down was played earlier today on German radio station bigFM. They display Adam's name. 
