Question for long-time Queen fans:
Did reviews from back in the day knock Brian and/or Roger for the solos saying how vain or boring they were? Granted, Brian's solo is quite long--I enjoyed it a lot at my one show. The drum battle is not that long. How could anyone get bored. I'm always amazed at the number of music critics who don't appreciate pure instrumental music. Maybe so many of us/them just don't have the attention span or focus to appreciate the solos.
Queen's live concerts got better reviews than their studio recordings. There are not many old reviews online, and most of the rock concert reviews were in the weekly free newspapers when Queen was in their prime.
> If there was anything like the long "no Adam" section back in 1975 or 1985, they would have been criticized. They did not do it.
> I don't think B&R care what the critics say, I think they care about their audience and my impression is the the Queen fans love or at least like it. I personally like it and I have seen it a lot of times.
There were not critiques of the long solo section because Queen did not do anything like that. But if they did, I think it would have been criticized.
1. Brian's Guitar Solo - this has been part of Queen concerts since the end of 1974 - sometimes it was a true solo, sometimes it was "Brighton Rock" with Freddie singing the vocal part and then the big solo.
The current Brian guitar solo is part of "Brighton Rock" (instrumental) + "Last Horizon" + some other Brian stuff. Very similar to what he played in Queen concerts but longer. The noteable exception is LH is a Brian May composition which was released in 1993 and my favorite part of the current solo.
Brian did a guitar solo with Queen -- here is the 1986 version from Hungarian Rhapsody - Live in Budapest 1986
youtu.be/u19EzQVe9soThe solo has evolved. Here is the solo from Rock Montreal 1981.
youtu.be/W_lyXfQgIV0Queen performed "Brighton Rock" over 350 times - from 1975 through 1985 and Freddie sang it:
youtu.be/Sbr7N_-rSz0Queen (with Freddie) had a separate Guitar Solo on the setlist over 300 times.
Someone put together a compilation of great Queen/Brian May guitar solos (not all really solos, more like features)....it is a fun listen and shows how good he really is. (I would love Q+AL to play LIAR!! and "Back Chat".) The compiler put "Brighton Rock" #1. He is right IMO.
youtu.be/9dNsM5a2FEk2. Drum solo - also goes back to classic Queen (Feb 1975) but was less common than the guitar solo. The drum solo came and went. It was usually short.
Typical Early Queen SetlistThis is a setlist from mid-1975:
Procession
Now I'm Here
Ogre Battle
Father to Son
White Queen (As It Began)
Flick of the Wrist
In the Lap of the Gods
Killer Queen
The March of the Black Queen
Bring Back That Leroy Brown
Son and Daughter
Guitar Solo Keep Yourself Alive
Drum Solo Seven Seas of Rhye
Stone Cold Crazy
Liar
In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited
Encore:
Big Spender (Shirley Bassey cover)
Modern Times Rock'n'Roll
Encore 2:
Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley cover)
God Save the Queen (Thomas Augustine Arne cover)
I was at this particular concert (Erlang Theatre, Philadelphia, PA, USA) my recollection was the Guitar Solo was the length of a song. The drum solo I do not every remember. My guess is it was just a transition between KYA and SSOR.
This concert was shorter than the current Q+AL concert but moved at a very fast pace, had no long "break" and was a rock concert -- not pop or funk involved. But even then Queen incorporated some other genres. And, of course, there was no nostalgia and no video. The audience was also very different -- mostly teens and young 20's, mostly male, very wild, lots of drugs.