Now that I'm home and not on my cel (which I HATE posting from)...
Here is more on SCC for ar
First up is a vid with Brian talking to Alfie Boe about Freddie and specifically gets into Stone Cold Crazy
Stone Cold CrazyWritten by: Freddie Mercury/Brian May/Roger Taylor/John Deacon
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums
- The first track to have the band write it. In this case it is a genuine four way writing credit, although it is Freddie who initiated it as the track has it's origins as a Wreckage track.
- Rumors claim that it was initially MUCH slower and maybe even incorporated acoustic guitars but these are hard to substantiate when even Barry Mitchell (one of the pre-John Deacon bassists) claims that they played it when he was in the band and that it was similar to what it ended up being.
- This supposedly was the first song Queen played together on stage as Queen back in 1970.
- Played live through 1977 and then resurrected for the 1984 tour. It was also performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute with James Hetfield from Metallica on vocals and Tony Iommi (from Black Sabbath) assisting on guitar...the last time the band played it.
ALTERNATIVE RELEASED VERSIONS:
BBC SESSION 5 VERSION- NOT essential listening
- Backing track is the same, there is a new vocal by Freddie but not really different.
1991 HOLLYWOOD REMIXES BY MICHAEL WAGENER- NOT essential listening. The first is from the 1991 Hollywood Records remastering of
Sheer Heart Attack as a bonus track. The second is a slightly different take of the same remix from the
Encino Man soundtrack.
1991 REMIX BY TRENT REZNOR- ESSENTIAL listening. Ok I don't make remixes essential usually but this was one of the best remixes of a Queen track ever. Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) remixed the track adding bits of studio chatter, and alternate takes of Freddie to make a REALLY rocking track of it. VERY well done. It was issued on some Hollywood Records promotional singles and compilations.
UNRELEASED AND UNHEARD
QUEEN AND/OR QUEEN IISESSION DEMO- If they were performing it as early as 1970 it makes sense that this was originally tried during sessions for the first two albums. There is no confirmation that these exist and in fact even if it was recorded the tapes may have been destroyed but the speculation is certainly fair.
OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE AT THE RAINBOW - 1974- Officially a bonus iTunes video. This is a great perfomance. REALLY hard rocking and angry. Freddie at his most evil.
UNRELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE AT EARLS COURT - 1977- Another great gig and a bit older Freddie.
LIVE AT STUGGART - 1984 w/GREAT KING RAT- BAD quality video...but the only actual video I could find. In 1984 they did a bit of a medley with the tune and with
Great King RatALTERNATIVE LIVE VERSIONS
QUEEN + JAMES HETFIELD & TONY IOMMI - THE FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE- It was only fitting since the year before Metallica won a Grammy for covering the track. It still amazes me that the band is so diverse they could have Metallica and Liza Minelli on the same bill :D
QUEEN + JEFF SCOTT SOTO - 2002- Not great quality at all but when Queen got a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, they had an afterparty and did some jamming. Unfortunately not a lot of video escaped from the party...and even less good video. This is one of the better ones! This is with Jeff Scott Soto, a big Queen fan who sang with Journey for a bit and is now in the Queen Extravaganza alongside Marc Martel. This is not Jeff's best performance but it's not bad. Jeff did a GREAT Queen set at a Queen convetion one year doing ALL the obscure stuff...Phenomenal...
