talon
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Post by talon on Oct 13, 2013 6:58:53 GMT -5
Touch The Sky
Written by: Roger Taylor
Musicians:
Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals, drums, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
Jason Falloon - guitars
Mike Crossley - keyboards
- A midtempo rocker, played at all the Happiness? gigs.
LIVE IN PARIS 1995
PERSONAL NOTES:
- Often overlooked little gem. Yes the lyrics get a bit naff at times (Boil your eggs? Really Rog?), but the track itself is a very fun singalong track. To me it is reminiscent of Breakthru which is another song I dig so it is unsurprising that I dig this one!
NEXT? The most Queen-like track on the album. Roger's collaboration with Yoshiki is an epic beautiful track entitled Foreign Sand
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talon
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Post by talon on Oct 14, 2013 7:42:42 GMT -5
Foreign Sand
Written by: Roger Taylor/Yoshiki
Musicians:
Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals
Yoshiki - drums, piano, synthesizer
Jim Cregan - guitars
Phil Chen - bass guitar
Dick Marx - strings arrangement
Brad Buxer, Geoff Grace - programming
- Issued as a single and hit #26 in the charts
- Written and performed with Yoshiki from the Japanese band X.
- A long epic track with classical piano and soaring vocals. Played live throughout the the Happiness? tour
QUOTES:
“I was contacted by a man called Yoshiki. We met and we got on very well and we decided that we would do an ‘east/west’ collaboration. In the end, he wrote the music – this guy’s an amazing concert pianist – and also an incredibly able rock drummer. So he sent me the music and I thought the music was great, and we talked about that a little bit, then we changed it a little, and I sent him some lyrics and the top nine back.”
– Roger Taylor
“When I was in London, Roger invited me to his house, and we were talking about racial problems, discrimination, segregation…I just told Roger, ‘Can we do something about that?’ and we decided to make some songs for singing about segregation.”
- Yoshiki
ALTERNATE VERSIONS
VIDEO VERSION
- The official video, it cuts out a bit of the instrumental but retains more than the single edit version.
SINGLE EDIT
- Cuts out most of the instrumental interludes but works quite well considering how much is chopped off!
LIVE IN JAPAN 1994
- Roger went over to Japan for a great music festival and performed with Yoshiki. He also ended up drumming for Bon Jovi at one pont as well.
PERSONAL NOTES: Wow. What a beautiful song. Beautiful sentiment, well crafted dramatic powerful vocals, strings, drums. This is a timeless classic.
NEXT? Roger seems to love songs that are evocative of trains...those drummers and that chugging rhythm. A great building drum rocker in Freedom Train
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talon
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Post by talon on Oct 14, 2013 15:13:56 GMT -5
Jumping back on here because I was excited to get to listen to samples of Roger's new album on iTunes (UK).
It is definitely an older more mature album. It's more laid back and slower. Just from the snippets I'd say combine Fun In Space with Happiness? . But these are snippets so who knows. BUT I do LOVE a LOT of what I hear so far.
Track by track
One Night Stand - Not much different so far, some enhanced backgrounds.
Fight Club - Surprised me give the title. I expected a rocker - didn't expect a sax at all! It kind of gave me a Springsteen ballad vibe.
Be With You - Some great vocal choirs - typical ones, but they carry a very soulful RT vocal. This one reminded me a bit of a slower "The Key" (Upcoming song on Happiness?)
Quality Street - The keyboard violin is the same as The Unblinking Eye (2009 single) and because of that it was a bit distracting. But when it starts picking up a bit, it gets a bit more interesting. It reminded me of something that I couldn't put my finger on. A bit of "Tonight" (Upcoming song from Electric Fire (1998 album), a bit of Unblinking Eye, but less repetitive.
I Don't Care - This one REALLY threw me for a loop. Roger leading a big band jazz run and a drum pattern/initial bass run of You Can't Hurry Love. But it sounds damn fun....a bit like the upbeat portions of London Town (Happiness tune).
Sunny Day - We've all heard
Be My Gal (My Brightest Spark) - Back to back sugary tracks here but there's a....light touch to it I like. Nothing earth shattering but still a nice listen.
I Am The Drummer (In A Rock 'N' Roll Band) - Much better quality than what I've heard, and it helps. It's a very tongue in cheek rocker. A very dry sense of humor but a nice track - kind of this album's No More Fun I think...
- Small - SOOO great to hear this sung by Roger. Nice alternative version (This was originally on QPR's The Cosmos Rocks in 2008) - A bit less Queenish with a bit sparser vocals that work QUITE well. It'd be interesting to hear a mash up of the QPR version and this one with some Brian backing vocals, etc. But this is going to be a good one.
- Say It's Not True - This definitely sounds like it's taken mainly from his live performance with Beck and then he added a bit of studio bits to complete it.
- The Unblinking Eye - Definitely just a remix - although definitely easy to tell where the cut is as you listen - unfortunately it's the crunchy rock guitar part so far :( But ah well.
- Up - A nice dancy effort that turns into a nice soaring tune. Good to have an upbeat track at this point
- Smile - A bit different from what I heard previously with some additional background (although that might have been simply the low quality) I love this tune - very Beatlesesque.
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talon
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Post by talon on Oct 17, 2013 6:39:54 GMT -5
Freedom Train
Written by: Roger Taylor
Musicians:
Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals, drums, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
Jason Falloon - guitars
Mike Crossley - keyboards
- One of the few tracks Roger did not attempt live - it has never had a live performance.
- This is rumored to have been demoed by Queen for the Innuendo sessions. It is unclear in the rumor if there is a Freddie vocal version.
PERSONAL NOTES: Although it is quite repetitive, it is meant to be. It is meant to sound like the workings of a train of sorts. But it's very atmospheric and rhythmic. I also really like Roger's lyrics here (the non-repeated ones) and lyrics aren't usually his strong suit!
Next? 'you had to be there'
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talon
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Post by talon on Oct 18, 2013 6:46:03 GMT -5
'you had to be there'
Written by: Roger Taylor
Musicians:
Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals, drums, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
Jason Falloon - guitars
- Played live throughout the Happiness? Tour.
- Rumored to be at least in part about Freddie.
LIVE IN GENOVA 1995
- AUDIO ONLY
- Pretty similar to the studio version.
PERSONAL NOTES: Very simple but very nice song. It starts a run of similar tracks on the second half that all kind of run into each other.
NEXT? The Key
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talon
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Post by talon on Oct 19, 2013 6:35:33 GMT -5
The Key
Written by: Roger Taylor
Musicians:
Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals, drums, guitar, keyboards
Jason Falloon - guitars
Phil Spalding - bass
Mike Crossley - keyboards
- This track was played live throughout the Happiness tour.
Live in 1995 - Genova
PERSONAL NOTES: One of my favs. It sounds a bit like a classic Eurythmics track with that percussive string pattern. The lyrics are wonderful (some of RT's best lyrics are on this album). Beautiful track.
NEXT? Everybody Hurts Sometimes and NO...it's not the REM song.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 13:06:53 GMT -5
I just listened to 'Foreign Sand' for the first time and was blown away! It's like Roger's 'Imagine'.
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talon
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Post by talon on Oct 21, 2013 6:33:02 GMT -5
I just listened to 'Foreign Sand' for the first time and was blown away! It's like Roger's 'Imagine'. Good comparison - Definitely some similar sentiments and a beautiful Roger vocal! I'd love to hear some Brian on it. That's the problem with even the best of the solo projects - you know what the other members could have added! |
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Post by talon on Oct 21, 2013 7:05:43 GMT -5
Everybody Hurts Sometimes
Written by: Roger Taylor
Musicians:
Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals, drums, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
Jason Falloon - guitars
Catherine Porter - backing vocals
- Played live throughout the Happiness? Tour
- A live version from Shepherd's Bush in 1994 ended up as a B-Side
LIVE SHEPHERD'S BUSH 1994
PERSONAL NOTES: Another very nice sentiment from Rog. The assistance from Catherine Porter on backing vocals is quite welcome! Sweet track.
NEXT? Rog talks about Loneliness...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2013 17:13:34 GMT -5
I just listened to 'Foreign Sand' for the first time and was blown away! It's like Roger's 'Imagine'. Good comparison - Definitely some similar sentiments and a beautiful Roger vocal! I'd love to hear some Brian on it. That's the problem with even the best of the solo projects - you know what the other members could have added! Maybe, but I like the fact that this song is not like the others. I like the classical influence Yoshiki brings. |
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