Queen Discussion Thread

Is This The World We Created...?

Written by: Freddie Mercury/Brian May

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead vocals
Brian May - acoustic guitar




- Written by Freddie and Brian at the end of the sessions after Roger and John had already left. They decided it worked as a closer better than other choices.

- There is supposedly a version that has Freddie on piano accompanying Brian's acoustic guitar. Legend has it that the piano was accidentally wiped and the two decided just to go with the guitar.  It has never been verified.

- They tried to recreate the Love Of My Life vibe from live concerts and indeed the song would be paired with it during the 1984-1986 tours.  It was also played by Brian with Andrea Corr a few times for 46664 events.

QUOTES:

- "We were looking at all the songs we had and we just thought the one thing we didn't have was one of those little acoustic things, the Love of My Life type of things. One of us said, "OK, I'm gonna go back and do it... go back and think about it", but Brian... I just said, 'Brian, why don't we just think of something right here?', and that song just evolved in about two days, he just got on acoustic and I just sat next to him, we just worked it together. I came up with the lyrical side and then he came up with the chords, and something just happened and it's the first time that... we never had... see, if I actually thought before this that Brian and I should sit down and write a song together, I don't think it would happen, because then all kinds of egos... and who does what... this way we didn't have to think about it, we just sort of went in there, and it seemed to work, it was sort of quite strong, it worked very well as a tail end of the album. I wouldn't like to say I wrote all the lyrics, Brian helped, but I remember most of the lyrics of that song are mine, Brian probably did help with a line here and there." - Freddie Mercury - 1984

OFFICIAL ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS:

EARTHRISE VERSION

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Adds some jungle noises as being a part of the Earthrise album to benefit the rain forest.

OFFICIAL LIVE VERSIONS

LIVE IN RIO - 1985

- The only YT I could find of the High Quality audio is from someone posting the whole of the 2011 The Works Remaster with the Bonus EP.  It starts at 50:13.

LIVE AID - 1985


- Chilling performance

LIVE AT WEMBLEY - 1986


- The legendary 2 nights at Wembley

HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY VERSION


- Audio only, but great performance.

BRIAN MAY + ANDREA CORR - 46664 CONCERT - 2003/NELSON MANDELA'S 90TH BIRTHDAY - 2008


- The beginnings of Brian's memory loss as he allows Andrea to say that the last time it was performed was at Live Aid..well yeah except the full Magic Tour a year later   But a nice version.  Andrea handles it well.  If you don't know her Andrea is one of The Corrs, a family band that had a few big hits here.

UNOFFICIAL LIVE PERFORMANCE

BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - LIVE IN MOSCOW 2014

- Brian had stated that they would be doing a new (to them) Queen song during this tour (and possibly on Kerry's next album) and this seems to be it. He said initially that it would be done much differently and if that's true, it must be in the studio because the live version is really no different.


PERSONAL NOTES:
- It's a beautiful song on every level.  Freddies voice is hauntingly beautiful, the sentiment is great and moving.  A really fine song to end the album.

Next up?  We move to the bonus tracks, in this case the most rocking track from the session, that was relegated to B-Side status, Brian's tongue in cheek I Go Crazy.

I Go Crazy

Written by: Brian May

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - guitars, backing vocals, bass guitar (?)
John Deacon - bass guitar (?)
Roger Taylor - drums, percussion, backing vocals

NOTES: It is unclear if John or Brian play bass.  I would assume John unless otherwise told, but there are rumors.



- Issued as a B-Side to Radio Ga Ga
- This track was never played live although Brian would occasionally throw the riff into his solo.
- The original title (most likely) was Whipping Boy
- Reportedly it was relegated to B-Side status because Brian was the only one who liked it! (Nobody's perfect I guess...)

QUOTE
- "In
fairness, I must say that all the others go through these strong feelings,
as well. As it is a democracy, they don't get their own way, either. With
this last album, now, I wrote a single, you might call it one of my heavy
indulgences. It was very rough and raw, but I really liked the sound. The
other three hated it so much they were ashamed to play it. So, it wound up
as the B-side on Radio Ga Ga, which is good as it gives the fans a song
they didn't receive on the album, more for their money. But you see, it
was kept off the album by the majority." - Brian May - 1984



UNRELEASED VERSION

CONVENTION DEMO

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- From the Dutch Convention, it is an instrumental demo.  There is not much different although the quality of the demo is not the greatest either.

PERSONAL NOTES:
- I LOVE this song.  Maybe it's the interplay of Freddie and Roger vocally at the end (I love when they duet), but this is the type of rocker that had been missing from the 80s release.  More than a bit tongue in cheek - almost Tie Your Mother Downish.  I can't believe the rest of the band didn't like the song!  It seems perfect for a live show too.  Ah well.

Next up: Well we finished The Works album BUT we're not done with 1984 studiowise!  Because Roger Taylor also released HIS second solo album this year, Strange Frontier.  We start there next....

:D Real Life has a tendency to do that! Life Is Real afterall I hope you get your chance to come down soon. The thread works much better with some responders afterall! :D

Strange Frontier

Written by: Roger Taylor

Musicians:

Roger Taylor - vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards
David Richards - keyboards


- Issued as a single in the UK where it hit #98 and in the US where it did not chart.
- One of the few Roger Taylor solo tracks played by the Cross occasionally and even Brian got into the act once for a VERY rare appearance by a solo track during a "Queen" gig/one-off (No YT vid unfortunately!)

ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS

VIDEO VERSION

- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Basically the only difference is the water sounds added in the beginning due to the depictions.

12" EXTENDED VERSION

- ESSENTIAL
- Great version that adds a nice long drum intro by Mr. Taylor as well as additional percussion throughout.

UNRELEASED LIVE VERSION

LIVE - 1999

- The crowd is really into it which is cool.


Next up?  Roger talks about his Beautiful Dreams