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Post by tinafea on Jul 18, 2012 23:05:00 GMT -5
THANK YOU TALON!!!!!
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talon
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Post by talon on Jul 18, 2012 23:48:48 GMT -5
Talon, I have more questions about Queen. (Just FYI... before Adam, the only Queen I heard of was Queen of England  and when I started following Adam he mentioned Queen and Freddie Mercury. I then started searching these group/individual he mentioned in his interview. I did hear BoRap, WWRY and WATC but was never aware of who wrote them or who were the original artists associated with them :D ) Excellent! I shall endeavor to answer as completely as I can! The Red Special also known as The Fireplace and The Old Lady. Yes he still uses it 40+ years later. He is a rare guitarist in that he VERY rarely will use anything else. He made it with his father out of things around the house. The wood came from the mantel of a fireplace. Pickups and tuners were from buttons and the like in his mother's sewing kit. All in all he spent about 8 pounds to make the guitar. He recorded practically everything with it except the solo in Crazy Little Thing Called Love where he used one of Roger's telecasters because they were going for a very specific 50s rock and roll sound. Then on his solo album Back To The LIght, he used a guitar that Joe Satriani had bequeathed upon him. But generally it's all he uses. More recently he has had made a few copies and he does switch off in concert once in awhile (like in Under Pressure with Adam where he used the special doublenecked Red Special) and there is also a Green Special that was made as well. But mostly it's still the Old Lady This I don't know. I am not a technical person at all - I would assume they were wireless amps. The only thing I know about Brian's setup is that he uses a STACK of Marshall amps and also uses a little mini amp that was built in the 70s by John Deacon (electronics whiz!) In the later half of the 80s Brian had a tough time. His dad died right around the time Freddie died and his marriage with his first wife was breaking up. With all of that happening, it did lead Brian to be suicidal. But he checked into a clinic and worked through his issues and came out stronger. As for the Brian May Band. After Freddie died, there was a strong sense out of all three (Brian, Roger, and John) that without Freddie there was no Queen...(ironic considering some hardcore members still feel that way). He even went as far as to say that they might work together at some point but you'd never see them go out on tour as Queen again. (Time changes things I guess  ) But it is true that he really wanted to put Queen behind him...completely. He forged a new identity with the Brian May Band and toured non stop. He did do a few Queen songs in his set as a concilliatory effort to fans but he rarely talked about Queen in his interviews or on stage (except for singing Love Of My Life for Freddie). He really couldn't deal with the whole Queen thing. It actually got to the point where Roger and John were a little miffed and started working on Freddie's final recordings without Brian. That was enough to get Brian back in the Queen frame of mind and thus Made In Heaven was born. After that Brian slowly accepted that Queen was forever and he began embracing it again. I believe you are talking about the hiatus the band took in 1983 (although there was another one after the 1984 tour). Well let me take you back a little bit to inform you about the band's solo projects. Prior to Queen forming, Roger and Brian were in a semi-pro outfit called Smile who got signed and actually released a single in America (it is not clear why considering they were mostly a local London act). It flopped. Queen was formed from the ashes. During the making of the first album, a producer borrowed Freddie to recreate the famous producer Phil Spector's Wall of Sound on two tracks. Freddie brought Roger and Brian in for one of the tracks but only Freddie featured on the b-side. This was released as Larry Lurex. BUT beyond that the first real solo project came when Roger Taylor released a single in 1977. It didn't do much. He again went to the well and became the first band member to release a solo album, 1981's Fun In Space. At this point basically Queen had Freddie and Brian writing the majority of the material leaving Roger and John with 1 or 2 songs each. A solo album was Roger's way of releasing the tracks he was writing. In 1983 the band went on hiatus and they all went towards solo efforts except John. John has never wanted to make a solo album - he claims it is because he can't sing. The only solo project John ever did was form a quick sideband, the Immortals to record one track for a movie in 1985. Not very good  Anyways Brian used his time off to jam with some friends like Eddie Van Halen. They recorded three songs and it was eventually released as an EP but was never meant to be a true solo album. Freddie began work on his album but it is true Roger also went to record a second solo album, Strange Frontier. All of Roger's solo albums have Roger performing EVERYTHING. He plays drums, keyboards, guitar, bass, and backing vocals. He had a producer by the name of David Richards who helped on keyboards but really it was a solo project in name and in actuality. Freddie worked with Mack who had produced Queen's 80s albums. He got a group of musicians together - basically studio musicians. He wrote everything himself and was in a big 80s gay club scene mood at the time and it shows. It also shows that he didn't get Brian and Roger involved and the musicanship does suffer which is why his solo effort sounds dated although there are some gems. But no neither went back to a previous group. Roger did form a new group after Freddie said he wasn't going to be touring anymore. Roger's group was named The Cross and he was frontman and guitarist. He wrote a lot of it and the group toured but it was never very successful and after 3 albums the band split. Roger and Brian both did solo work after Freddie died but that is not what you asked so I'll stop there for now After Live Aid, Queen recorded a single, One Vision. After it's release they were approached to do a movie soundtrack for The Highlander. The band agreed and most of the material formed Queen's new album, A Kind Of Magic. It was NOT the last album. They toured it and then took a long hiatus again but Queen would go on to record and release 2 studio albums more (The Miracle in 1989 and Innuendo in 1991). After Freddie's death, the band finished the little vocals Freddie left behind and added some new re-recording of old solo songs as Queen for 1995's Made In Heaven ^ Really intriguing and humorous look at the making of One Vision Not sure what you mean? Paul didn't bring any actual band members on stage with him. Paul is a member of a few real rock bands. Free was his first and he was well known for his work with Bad Company but also worked in The Firm with Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin and had his own solo band. But QPR it was just Paul Rodgers with Brian and Roger, Queen's fifth member Spike Edney (still touring with the boys), a second guitarist named Jamie Moses (who had toured with Brian) and a bassist named Danny Miranda. I LOVE answering questions so please don't hold back if you have more I'll also try to stir things up with some discussions as I have time as well |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jul 19, 2012 10:36:14 GMT -5
Talon  Can't thank you enough for the Flac files and answering my questions. The last question I asked was about Brian May's entry from his soapbox: Adam has his own style and path, and there was never any intention that he would be 'another Freddie" - but there are many parallels, in the mechanisms which we've already developed - coming together as an organic band.
It's very pure - having no extra guitarist means I am back in the old place, as in the Old Days, completely responsible for holding up the 'wall' of sound, but also completely free to control the dynamics and 'feel', working more or less as a four-piece - something which is only possible because Adam is such a strong pivot and front-man. No backing singers - no dancers - it's pure - somehow it feels like Rock ought to be … … dangerous and stimulating. It's completely - real. In this epoch of auto-tune and hard discs on stage, that's pretty rare these days.
© brianmay.com
brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbjul12a.html#13 It's very pure - having no extra guitarist means I am back in the old place, as in the Old Days, completely responsible for holding up the 'wall' of sound Maybe I misunderstood this statement of him being the only guitarist on this tour that maybe in his other tour such as QPR there are extra guitarist(s). That was the reason I asked if in the QPR tour they have extra guitarist which may have included PR's band or PR himself playing the guitar. :D ETA: Talon, can you elaborate on that statement I bolded? Can you also explain the 'wall' of sound? Thanks. |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jul 19, 2012 10:53:11 GMT -5
Now, this is an amazing documentation of how creative artists work as a team....and also having fun on top of that. Thank you for providing us the link, Talon.
Queen - The Making Of "One Vision"
Uploaded by FreddieM85 on Dec 8, 2008
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talon
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Post by talon on Jul 19, 2012 16:52:23 GMT -5
Talon Adam has his own style and path, and there was never any intention that he would be 'another Freddie" - but there are many parallels, in the mechanisms which we've already developed - coming together as an organic band.
It's very pure - having no extra guitarist means I am back in the old place, as in the Old Days, completely responsible for holding up the 'wall' of sound, but also completely free to control the dynamics and 'feel', working more or less as a four-piece - something which is only possible because Adam is such a strong pivot and front-man. No backing singers - no dancers - it's pure - somehow it feels like Rock ought to be … … dangerous and stimulating. It's completely - real. In this epoch of auto-tune and hard discs on stage, that's pretty rare these days.
© brianmay.com
brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbjul12a.html#13 It's very pure - having no extra guitarist means I am back in the old place, as in the Old Days, completely responsible for holding up the 'wall' of sound Maybe I misunderstood this statement of him being the only guitarist on this tour that maybe in his other tour such as QPR there are extra guitarist(s). That was the reason I asked if in the QPR tour they have extra guitarist which may have included PR's band or PR himself playing the guitar. :D ETA: Talon, can you elaborate on that statement I bolded? Can you also explain the 'wall' of sound? Thanks. Ah ok. No it wasn't anyone from Paul Rodgers band. Starting in 1992/3 with Brian's solo tour and all the way through 2008, Brian toured with Jamie Moses, a second guitarist. Brian didn't use a second guitarist with Queen during any of their tours with Freddie except Freddie playing acoustic on Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Spike Edney playing rhythm guitar on Hammer To Fall. BUT Brian's studio parts were already so orchestrated that it would be guitar part recorded over guitar part recorded over guitar part. THUS it was impossible to recreate live which meant Brian had to be very creative to make it sound good. When he got the second guitarist he was able to be closer to the original feel. The best example I can give is Last Horizon. Here it is from 2012 with just him on guitar: This is from 2008 with Jamie Moses assisting him allowing him to play the orchestrated harmonies: But Jamie was with him on his solo tours and everything and I was actually surprised he wasn't going to be on the QAL tour except that Brian wanted to try to bring it down to the usual 5 piece of the past. The wall of sound is just a term that they use for Brian's loud wails. Since he builds up intrictae part over intricate part it's kind of the like the interlocking of a wall - thus the wall of sound and it's a challenge for him to keep the wall sound going with just him during a live performance. |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jul 19, 2012 19:05:07 GMT -5
Thanks, Talon.
My next question will be about Spike Edney. Per his tweet months ago he said he joined Queen in the late '80s and he was the 5th Queen member. This means he was with Queen when Freddie was still alive and performing live, right? IMO, he seems to be a "forgotten" member. Is it because Queen is "exclusive" only for the 4 creative artists who wrote and record/perform their songs? Was he ever in their recorded album or just in live performances? This may not be the case but since I've heard of him, he seemed to be really low key and seemed to be just contented with the role he played and does not get much recognition.....maybe from casual Queen fans. How is he received by the Queen fans? Does he have his own band such that Queen is just a part time gig he does when available? Just curious.
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Post by talon on Jul 19, 2012 20:51:39 GMT -5
Ahh Spike Edney. For all intents and purposes he is Queen's fifth member. BUT he is NOT an official member of the band. Spike was a musical director/session musician with a lot of different artists like Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats. Meanwhile after the 1981 South American tour, Queen decided they wanted to have a touring keyboardist so that Freddie wouldn't be as chained to the piano during the show. This way they could have the keyboards while Freddie could prance around and entertain. Queen's first keyboardist was a man by the name of Morgan Fisher. For an unknown reason he was replaced by Fred Mandel on the US tour. Then in 1984 Fred Mandel had a previous commitment so they needed someone else. Enter Spike Edney. So Spike basically became the touring keyboardist although in truth he definitely is more than that. His keyboards did appear a bit on A Kind Of Magic, but no other album. He did tour with Queen on every tour since 1984. He also joined Roger Taylor's sideband The Cross. With them he helped Roger record the first album and wrote and recorded 2 further albums and toured three times. He played at the Freddie tribute and after the Cross disbanded Spike joined Brian May's touring band for both of his solo tours and was on both QPR tours. He is more than just a keyboardist although no one but Freddie, Brian, Roger, and John will be members of Queen. He has been involved with the making of the We Will Rock You musical, and was also involved with helping Roger design, audition, and direct the Queen Extravaganza tribute act. His own band? Kind of. Spike's All Stars are not a full time band per se. From their website: Founded by renowned musician and musical director, Spike Edney, THE SAS BAND is the "Ultimate All-Star Band." Featuring a world class band, the artists and musicians who appear with The SAS Band (a.k.a. Spike's All-Stars) are some of the world's greatest Rock and Pop performers. Since their debut in 1994, The SAS Band have made various television appearances and performed at an array of international high profile public concerts, major corporate events and exclusive private parties around the world. These performances include The Prince's Trust "Party in the Park" and the Mandela 46664 concerts in Cape Town, Hyde Park, London and Radio City Music Hall, NY. Corporate clients feature Microsoft, Harley Davidson, HSBC and McClaren Mercedes, amongst others and Phil Collins, Queen, Rod Stewart, Bob Geldof and The Rolling Stones are a few members of the rockistocracy who have requested Spike to put something memorable together for their wedding, or a special event. Having toured and recorded with some of the greatest names in Rock history for over 35 years, it is from this extensive network of musician and rock star friends, which Spike calls upon to put together each unique show. www.sasband.com/SAS_Band.phpThey do a Christmas gig and Roger and Brian have performed with them in the past (Rog more than Brian to be honest). I think Queen fans like Spike but view him as a step above a hired gun. If Spike wasn't at a Queen performance there wouldn't be an outrage or anything -- surprise maybe. But they do like him and think he does his job well enough. He seems like a very valuable piece able to be a music director as well as a multi-instrumentalist. This is from last Christmas when Roger performed the David Bowie track Heroes with the SAS Band. |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jul 20, 2012 11:40:24 GMT -5
Talon, what can I say? YOU are just a font of information especially about Queen. Thank you again. Read an article (from UltimateGuitar.com - link below) a while back about Brian May: I guess the guy was responding to claims Queen is just doing the performance (QAL) for money :D And if you didn’t already think that Brian May could be bada-s enough (on top of being an astrophysicist), he’s most likely the only electric guitar player that has currency minted with his face on it! You may know that May uses a British six*[email protected]^# coin as a guitar pick because it plays a part in getting his signature tone. However, six*[email protected]^#s were discontinued in 1970. In order to keep using the six*[email protected]^#, the Royal British Mint made May his own custom six*[email protected]^#s with his likeness printed on it. Brian May is money. Then added this which is really AMAZING! And as amazing as Freddie Mercury was, you can’t forget how incredibly talented the other members of Queen were and how integral they all were to developing and executing their unmistakably unique, polished sound.
For instance, it’s no surprise that Brian May offered a distinctive and innovative guitar presence, but he also wrote many Queen songs and loved working in the studio. His interest in layering guitars helped shaped Queen’s massive and rich studio sound, which was really brilliant considering the analog recording technology available to them in their earlier days. Check out this video of May explaining the recording process behind "Keep Good Company", off 1975’s "A Night At The Opera"; he meticulously arranged his guitar parts to sound like a jazz band, mimicking HeWhoCannot amedet and trombone parts purely through his tone, tremolo unit and harmonics. Just incredible.
This article was published (02/24/2012) after the QAL collab (Sonisphere) was announced
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talon
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Post by talon on Jul 20, 2012 15:54:45 GMT -5
I love that clip The whole DVD that is off of - The Making Of A Night At The Opera is AWESOME. It goes into such detail and I love the little acoustic singalongs. BTW the other gentleman in that clip is Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme :D My second favorite band! This is from the same DVD with Roger talking about I'm In Love With My Car - the sheer musicality of these gentlmen. It also has a small clip of Rog singing and playing an acoustic version... |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jul 20, 2012 16:45:44 GMT -5
Talon, before I place an order can you please verify if this is the DVD that you are talking about? Thanks. Queen - Classic Albums: The Making of Night at the Opera Synopsis: "Queen: The Making Of A Night At The Opera" tells the track by track story of the album through new interviews with Brian May, Roger Taylor and producer Roy Thomas Baker along with archive interviews with Freddie Mercury and contributions from photographer Mick Rock, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and Ian Hunter from Mott The Hoople amongst others. Illustrated by classic live footage, much of it from the Hyde Park free concert in 1976, and in depth studio analysis the film gives an intimate portrait of the making of a true classic album and is a worthy addition to our acclaimed and highly successful Classic Albums series.
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Post by lambo on Jul 20, 2012 17:17:56 GMT -5
BTW the other gentleman in that clip is Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme :D My second favorite band! Oh Extreme are awesome. Get The Funk Out :wub: One thing I really love about Queen is all the vocal arrangements and multi-tracking. I find it really fascinating. I heard the BoRhap harmony lines isolated a few years back and it all just meshes together SO perfectly! |
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talon
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Post by talon on Jul 21, 2012 7:36:03 GMT -5
That would be the one! A great track by track look at their seminal album - in depth. :D Oh Extreme are awesome. Get The Funk Out ![]() One thing I really love about Queen is all the vocal arrangements and multi-tracking. I find it really fascinating. I heard the BoRhap harmony lines isolated a few years back and it all just meshes together SO perfectly! - :wub: Extreme is phenomenal - Gary Cherone is quite a singer himself - I'm sure he screams too much during his rockers for some but he CAN sing like an angel also....LOVE them. And they are big Queen fans too! As far as the vocal arrangements and multi-tracking go, it is quite amazing. Freddie had Bohemian Rhapsody all mapped out in his head! I remember also when Paul commented about making The Cosmos' Rocks album he was amazed how Brian just had the harmonies in his head and after a little work BOOM there was that big Queen sound. |
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Post by lynne on Jul 21, 2012 9:31:21 GMT -5
:'(I just found this thread. Thanks, Talon, for sharing so much interesting information!
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jul 21, 2012 14:42:06 GMT -5
Talon, just found this and really chocked me up...
Who Wants to Live Forever demo version with vocals by Brian May's daughter.
I wonder if she was in Ukraine or one of London shows to watch her Dad. Do you know if any of Brain May's children pursue music career wise?
Uploaded by pablocamoranesi on Jul 4, 2008
BTW I did order that DVD. Thanks.
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talon
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Post by talon on Jul 21, 2012 15:13:06 GMT -5
You're welcome lynne Gabby - yes, I always thought that was an adorable version - "whoopsie!" Brian's kept his kids fairly out of the spotlight. This demo is all I know of Louisa. Jimmy May, his oldest son has dabbled in music but nothing professionally. He is now a physiotherapist: www.jimmymay.co.uk/Emily May though has definitely been at least the closest to music even though she is actually a biologist. In 2000, Brian recorded the instrumental (and one song) score to a French film called Furia. And Emily appears on one track as an apparition vocal singing the basic theme of the film... and for reference here is the ballad that has Brian singing on it, "Dream Of Thee": They might have been in the Ukraine...but more likely the London shows. Emily and Jimmy did join their dad as backing vocalists on a song in the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2001...not a great vid though: AND while we're on the subject - Rufus isn't the only musical Taylor. Although Rufus is definitely the most prolific, touring with We Will Rock You, playing on Brian May and Kerry Ellis' Anthems tour BUT The kid responsible for partially writing Radio Ga Ga Felix Taylor grew up and recorded a lead vocal for a song with his old man under the monniker Felix and Arty (as in R. T.) |
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and when I started following Adam he mentioned Queen and Freddie Mercury. I then started searching these group/individual he mentioned in his interview. I did hear BoRap, WWRY and WATC but was never aware of who wrote them or who were the original artists associated with them :D )
) But it is true that he really wanted to put Queen behind him...completely. He forged a new identity with the Brian May Band and toured non stop. He did do a few Queen songs in his set as a concilliatory effort to fans but he rarely talked about Queen in his interviews or on stage (except for singing Love Of My Life for Freddie). He really couldn't deal with the whole Queen thing. It actually got to the point where Roger and John were a little miffed and started working on Freddie's final recordings without Brian. That was enough to get Brian back in the Queen frame of mind and thus Made In Heaven was born. After that Brian slowly accepted that Queen was forever and he began embracing it again.
