Queen Discussion Thread

Late, but killing myself laughing at Roger's airsickness bag letter to Rolling Stone. I love finding treats like that here, talon! :4OMG:

Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)

Written by: Freddie Mercury

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano, synthesizer
Brian May - acoustic & electric guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums




- Written by Freddie after John Lennon's death in tribute to one of his heroes.
- Lately turned into a bit of a Freddie tribute.
- Queen performed it live sporadically on the North American leg of the 1982 tour but then dropped it. It was recently brought back in 2012 by Queen with Zemphira singing during the Moscow gig of Queen + Adam Lambert. Brian also began performing it with Kerry Ellis at their gigs.
- Initially the opening line of

was the much more crude

according to Freddie's assistant Peter Freestone. Peter convinced Freddie to tone it down so it was changed to

before finally to the final product.

QUOTES:
- "I basically write the tune [first]. I write the song around the melody most of the time. Sometimes a lyric will get me started. Life Is Real was one of those, because the words came first. I just really got into it, pages after pages, all kinds of words. Then I just put it to a song. I just felt that it could be a Lennon-type thing." - Freddie Mercury – 1982

UNRELEASED VERSION

DEMO

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- A few different vocal takes but not much different.

UNRELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:

LIVE IN CHICAGO - 1982

- AUDIO only.

QUEEN + ZEMFIRA - 2012

- The first time the line is changed to

BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - BRIGHTON - 2012

- Kerry continues the line.

BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - BURY ST. EDMONDS - 2012
soundcloud.com/queenonline/life-is-real-live-in-bury-st
- This was an official release via Queen's website of a soundboard recording of the song.

PERSONAL NOTES:
- One of my favorite songs from the album. It is beautiful, surreal and sounds a bit like a Lennon song. I was glad to see it resurrected this year.

Next up an underrated Roger gem, Calling All Girls

Merry Christmas Eve! This will most likely be my last post until New Years Eve. I go to California tomorrow evening to spend a few days in California with my sister in law and return on Sunday. I will be back to posting on Monday

Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)

Written by: Brian May

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - lead and backing vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, synthesizer,
piano
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals




- Issued as a single in the UK (where it hit #17), the Netherlands (where it hit #26), Mexico, and the Philippines.

- This was never performed by Queen proper. Brian played a few snippets of it at times, but it never made it's real debut at the Freddie Mercury Tribute in 1992 when Queen backed Italian superstar and Brian's friend, Zucchero. Brian also played it a few times on his solo tours and then finally during Queen + Paul Rodgers, the band played it with Brian on vocals during their trips to South America.

- Much like the band's visit to Japan inspired Teo Toriatte (Let Us Cling Together) it was the band's visit to South America that inspired this song.

QUOTES:

- "I write best when I'm not on guitar; maybe a few riffs or the basis, but strangely enough, you usually get the most perspective on a song when you're on an instrument that you're not accustomed to. I'm not accustomed to playing the piano and I find that quite inspiring, because your fingers fall on different patterns. Whereas on a guitar, I pick it up and know where my fingers are going to fall. Mostly I sit alone someplace and think about it. That's the best way. I don't think my songwriting has changed as much as the others in the group. I tend to write more traditional Queen material like 'Las Palabras De Amor'. I still tend to write melodies and that certain sort of heaviness, which the group does well at its best; the guitar and piano which have that sort of thick sound. I really enjoy that, although these days it's used a little bit more sparingly." - Brian May - 1982

- "The minimalist era of Queen, liked by some but not by others, but this particular track was un-minimalist, it's really rather romantic. I was playing keyboards in this one, Freddie seemed to be less inclined to play keyboards, and many ideas came from keyboards rather than guitar. I like the track, painted with a very light brush." - Brian May - 2003

UNRELEASED VERSIONS

DEMO

- ESSENTIAL.
- Different lyrics, some different musical sections, and additional Brian vocals. Very interesting.

OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSION:

QUEEN + ZUCCHERO - FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE 1992

- For someone who English is a second language, Zucchero does a great job. He is a real close friend of Brian's and his fun demeanor is a bit infectious.

BRIAN MAY - LIVE IN 1993
-NO YT video

QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS - LIVE IN SANTIAGO - 2008

- Brian and Roger on the B-Stage during the acoustic section, performed the track. It was a wonderful addition to the Cosmos Rocks tour.

PERSONAL NOTES:
- I love this track. This is one of the best Hot Space tracks. Why? All four band members performing (mostly) organic instruments with all three voices singing. One of the bad trends in the 80s is the songwriter singing and doing all the backing vocals themselves. This had all three voices again.

NEXT UP: Freddie and John do their thing...Cool Cat

Under Pressure

Written by: Freddie Mercury/Brian May/Roger Taylor/John Deacon/David Bowie

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano, handclaps, fingersnaps
David Bowie - lead vocals, handclaps, fingersnaps
Brian May - guitars, handclaps, fingersnaps
John Deacon - bass guitar, handclaps, fingersnaps
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals, handclaps, fingersnaps
David Richards - synthesizer (?), organ (?)

*** Synthesizer was played perhaps by Freddie, David Bowie or David Richards. Organ was played by either Freddie or David Richards. There is some additional guitar that was either David Bowie or John Deacon.***




- The first collaboration the band did with another artist and released initially as a non album single in 1981. In the UK it hit #1 while in the US it hit #29. It hit #7 in Australia, #88 in Japan, #1 in The Netherlands. It was also released (but there is no chart information for) in Germany, Mexico, and Venezuela.

- Played live through 1986 and then sporadically revived during the QPR era from 2005-2008 and again with Adam Lambert in 2012. Roger also played it solo during his Electric Fire tour in 1999.

- The bass and piano riff was stolen by Vanilla Ice to create his "song" Ice Ice Baby. Hollywood Records took Vanilla Ice to court and won their case.

QUOTES:

- "David Bowie and Freddie and I have been friends for the past few years. 'Under Pressure' was a spontaneous collaboration. We started out just playing some old songs, then worked on a few ideas and liked 'Under Pressure' very much, so we finished it." - Roger Taylor - 1981

- "Freddie and David had been friends for a long time, and he just came in to the studio we were in and we did a jam session. The song itself is mainly David's and Freddie's idea, but we were all included in the credits. It was an interesting experience, because David wrote the bass-line, he's responsible for it. He's a talented man, and that song is one of those that I really like." - John Deacon - 1982

- "Everybody laughed when they asked what 'Under Pressure' was all about. It's quite simply about love, which is the most un-cool, un-hip thing." - Roger Taylor - 1982

- "This is a very long story. He was quite difficult to work with, because it was the meeting of two different methods of working. It was stimulating, but at the same time, almost impossible to resolve. We're very pigheaded and set in our ways and Mr. Bowie is too. In fact, he's probably as pigheaded as the four of us put together. I think it was a worthwhile thing to do. But after 'Under Pressure' was done, there were continual disagreements about how it should be put out or if it should even be put out at all. David wanted to redo the entire thing. I had given up by that time because it had gone a long way from what I would have liked to see. But there is still a lot of good stuff in the song. There was a compromise; Freddie, David and Mack actually sat down and produced a mix – under a lot of strain. Roger was also along to keep the peace to some extent, because he and David are friends." - Brian May – International Musician & Recording World - 1982

- "That was through Dave Richards, the engineer at the studio. I was in town, in Montreux, doing some other work there, and because I believe that Queen have something to do with the studio on a business level, I think it's their studio or something like that and they were recording there, and David knew that I was in town and phoned me up and asked me to come down, if I'd like to come down to see hat was happening, so I went down, and these things happen you know. Suddenly you're writing something together, and it was totally spontaneous, it certainly wasn't planned. It was, er, peculiar." - David Bowie - 1983

- "On the album, the track was credited to Bowie and Queen, but in fact it was essentially Freddie, although all contributed. The bass line came from David, it took me a certain time to learn it. But there was also a strong influence from Brian for the middle part. It was an interesting experience which we might do repeat if we have a chance with David and other people." - John Deacon - 1984

- "We didn't plan anything. [Bowie] just happened to be in town with friends, and he just kept popping into the studio... and we were jamming to some of his songs and ours... and we had a few bottles of wine and things and we suddenly said, 'Why don't we try something totally new?' And out came this song. I remember David half way through said, 'My God, I think it's caught fire! Let's take it!' So suddenly it then became a worthwhile project. Before we were just fooling around, and we said, 'Let's grab this while it's happening, because if we come back tomorrow we will probably go our separate ways and not think about it', so we just carried on. It was virtually a 24-hour session. We just kept on at it, and finally got the crux of the song, and then when we knew it was going to do something we still worked on it another day, and then we finished it." - Freddie Mercury - 1985

- “I first heard it (Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ice Ice Baby’) in the Fan Club downstairs. I just thought, ‘Interesting, but nobody will ever buy it because it’s crap.’ Turns out I was wrong. Next thing, my son’s saying, ‘And what are you going to do about it, Dad?’ Actually Hollywood Records are sorting it out because they don’t want people pillaging what they’ve just paid so much money for. We don’t want to get involved in litigation with other artists ourselves; that doesn’t seem very cool, really. Anyway, now I think it’s quite a good bit of work it its way.” – Brian May - 1991

- "On the first night of recording 'Pressure', at the end of the evening Brian and myself went on a bit of a binge and ended up back at the studio with Dave Richards for a jam session. Once again we were out of it and Brian wanted to play, with him on guitar, Dave on piano and yours truly drumming, and let me assure you that I am the world's worst drummer when I'm sober so try and imagine this. Dave actually taped it, and years later we listened, and out of about an hour of playing there is actually ten minutes of good rock." - Crystal Taylor – 1997

- "Absolutely nothing was written, and, in fact, all that we were doing was jamming and David came in one night, and we were just playing other people's songs for fun and David said, 'This is stupid. Why don't we just write one?' It was originally called 'People on Streets', and that was the basis of it, and we took the multi track tapes to New York, and I spent all day there with David and mixed it that night. I remember, we were fiddling about and we got the bass line, and then we went for a pizza! And when we got back, we couldn't remember it, and somebody thought of it; John did, yes." - Roger Taylor - 2002

- "David was living in Switzerland, where we were recording in a studio we owned at the time [Mountain Studios] in Montreux. He basically just popped in to see us. Freddie had met him before. We all had a little chart and then went straight in the studio and started playing around. We played a few old songs and then something new started to happen and we said, "Okay, let's try and record this." It was a truly spontaneous thing. We felt our way through a backing track all together as an ensemble. And then David brought up an unusual idea for creating the vocal. He was kind of famous for writing lyrics by collecting different bits of paper with quotes on them. And we did a corresponding thing as regards writing the top line for the song. When the backing track was done, David said, "Okay, let's each of us go in the vocal booth and sing how we think the melody should go - just off the tops of our heads - and we'll compile a vocal out of that." And that's what we did. Some of the original bits even made it onto the record. Freddie going "b-b-b-boom-ba," that scat singing stuff, was part of the initial track he went in and did off the top of his head. Odd isnt it? That's why the words are so curious, some of them, anyway. There was a point where somebody had to take control, and I think it's fair to say that David took the reins and decided that he wanted to rationalize the lyrics and them say what he felt they should say." - Brian May - Guitar World - 2002

- “It’s complex really. We just happened to be in the studio, and David dropped in and we started jamming. We went out for some food and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to do some original ideas.’ John came up with the riff that started it all off, and we all got into it. Then it came to what is this song about? David came up with the idea of us all going in one after the other and singing what we thought the tune should be – I think he’d done that with some other people – but we did that and then we sat down and chose bits of everything. It was really done in an odd way. So that gave you the tune, and that point David started to feel very strongly about what he felt the song was about, so he wrote a set of lyrics – first of all it was called, ‘People On Streets’, but he wanted to revise it and make it slightly more abstract, so it became ‘Under Pressure’. – Brian May – 2003

- “It wasn’t the best recording ever made, but it was one of the best songs that we ever did. It sort of endured quite well – I love the last section. I found it very invigorating and interesting – a successful collaboration” – Roger Taylor - 2003

- “We’d never actually collaborated with anybody before, so certain egos were slightly bruised along the way.” – Roger Taylor

- “To have his ego mixed with ours was a very volatile mixture…it made for a very hot time in the studio.” – Brian May

- “It stands up better as a demo. It was done so quickly that some of the lyric makes me cringe a bit.” – David Bowie

ALTERNATE VERSIONS:

GREATEST HITS II EDIT

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Slightly different edit with only "This is our last dance" repeated.

CLASSIC QUEEN EDIT

- NOT ESSENTIAL but nice.
- A bit more prominence for the bass, the guitar, and Roger's backing vocals but deletes Freddie's "That's okay!"

RAH MIX

- ESSENTIAL
- When Queen released Greatest Hits 3 in 1999, Brian decided at last to do something he long wanted to do. Have a go at remixing Under Pressure. It features some different vocal takes from both Freddie and Brian as well as additional recorded guitar and drum work from the two remaining active members.
- Issued as a single in the UK where it hit #14.

RAH MIX EDIT

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Shorter version cutting off the extra vocals at the beginning.

RAH MIX VIDEO VERSION

- NOT ESSENTIAL BUT NICE
- Adds some crowd noise from Wembley footage as the band tried to make a live "concert version" featuring footage of Freddie at Wembley and David from the Freddie tribute.

MIKE S*&@^#R MIX

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Additional Bowie backing and more prominent bass.

2000 CLUB MIX

- ESSENTIAL
- A remix of the RAH for the clubs but very tastefully done.

KNEBWORTH MIX

- ESSENTIAL
- Incorporates bits from Queen live at Knebworth (their final gig) in 1986.

MR. MIXX MIX
NO YT VID
- NOT ESSENTIAL
- 2 Live Crew did a remix that was typical of the 1991 Hollywood Remixes. Avoid.

OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS

ROCKS MONTREAL VERSION

- The first time the band performed it.

ON FIRE AT THE BOWL VERSION
NO YT VID

LIVE MAGIC VERSION
NO YT VID
- Mostly the Knebworth mix though

LIVE AT WEMBLEY 1st & 2nd DAYS



QUEEN + DAVID BOWIE + ANNIE LENNOX - FREDDIE TRIBUTE

- NICE version although I found it humorous when Annie couldn't quite get the scat parts down and at one point Roger jumped in from behind the kit.

UNRELEASED VERSIONS

ROGER TAYLOR - LIVE IN MANCHESTER - 1999

- AUDIO only.
- Roger performs with his prodigy Treana Morris. There is a nice drum introduction. If I can find time I may upload a nice version from Wolverhampton during Roger's tour when Brian made a surprise appearance.

QUEEN + TREANA MORRIS - 10th ANNIVERSARY OF FREDDIE'S DEATH
NO YT Video
- On 11/24/01 Brian and Roger played a small set with the SAS band reluctantly (hating to celebrate this date) but it was very well received and at the end they were glad they did it.

QUEEN + PATTI RUSSO - AMSTERDAM 2002

- Queen's Day in 2002 and Roger with help from Patti Russo (of Meat Loaf fame)

QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS - VH1 ROCK HONORS 1996

- ESSENTIAL
- I loved this version. It is actually more Brian and Roger duetting than Paul but it works VERY well. One of those times that I believe a Brian/Roger concert could work quite well.

QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS - BUENOS AIRES 2008

- Much like the VH1 version. Fun!

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT - KIEV 2012

- Great seeing Adam and Roger duet on this. Adam did an admirable cover version. I still like Tom Chaplin from Keane's lead vocal with Keane's cover a bit better but Adam and Roger obviously had a lot of fun.

MAKING OF



PERSONAL NOTES:
- One of my favorite songs of all time period. Such a dramatic and powerful song. Great singalong at the end. Roger often cites this as his favorite Queen track and it shows.

Next up: The B-Side to Under Pressure - a VERY fun track with a ton of in-jokes...Soul Brother