|
Queen
Jun 23, 2021 13:17:59 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2021 13:17:59 GMT
You're exactly right about Brian's voice. It's a very good voice, and it added a lot to Queen. But as THE voice? I don't think it works, and part of it is that it's so soft, or what I consider "round." It doesn't have the sharpness and brightness that especially heavier songs benefit from. It doesn't cut through mixes or slap listeners in the face.
In a way, it's like George Harrison's. Not exactly, not in the details. But in its general character, and then also in the resulting reality that it's best as one of the voices in a group, a voice adding a few leads and lots of harmonies, but not carrying the load.
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 23, 2021 13:48:51 GMT
Post by kds on Jun 23, 2021 13:48:51 GMT
You're exactly right about Brian's voice. It's a very good voice, and it added a lot to Queen. But as THE voice? I don't think it works, and part of it is that it's so soft, or what I consider "round." It doesn't have the sharpness and brightness that especially heavier songs benefit from. It doesn't cut through mixes or slap listeners in the face.
In a way, it's like George Harrison's. Not exactly, not in the details. But in its general character, and then also in the resulting reality that it's best as one of the voices in a group, a voice adding a few leads and lots of harmonies, but not carrying the load.
Fortunately for George, the music he wrote tended to suit his voice. Brian wrote a lot of Queen's heavier songs, but the vox were always handed to Freddie, where Brian would take his leads on the lighter songs he wrote. On Back to the Light, you have songs like Driven by You and Resurrection that really would've benefitted with a powerhouse lead. And I remember watching the Leno performance with Slash of Tie Your Mother Down that'll be included on this reissue. His vocal limitations were really exposed live. That may be why Brian didn't even tour on his 1998 Another World album, and didn't tour again until he and Roger Taylor created Queen + as a touring band.
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 23, 2021 13:57:11 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2021 13:57:11 GMT
Re George, I would agree ... though my comments on Living in the Material World were along those same lines! He strained and in my opinion failed at times there.
Re Brian, exactly: the Queen version of "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and the splitting of duties on "Who Wants to Live Forever?" say it all. Even on those ballads, as they built to their pinnacles, it was Freddie's voice that carried them over the top. Even Roger had a better voice in terms of its sharpness, though I strongly prefer Brian's to his. (I just mean "better" for that one characteristic, not overall.)
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 23, 2021 14:12:17 GMT
Post by kds on Jun 23, 2021 14:12:17 GMT
Re George, I would agree ... though my comments on Living in the Material World were along those same lines! He strained and in my opinion failed at times there.
Re Brian, exactly: the Queen version of "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and the splitting of duties on "Who Wants to Live Forever?" say it all. Even on those ballads, as they built to their pinnacles, it was Freddie's voice that carried them over the top. Even Roger had a better voice in terms of its sharpness, though I strongly prefer Brian's to his. (I just mean "better" for that one characteristic, not overall.)
I'll agree that I prefer Brian's to Roger's voice. I found listening to Taylor's solo material even more difficult than Brian's.
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 23, 2021 14:13:24 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2021 14:13:24 GMT
But I'll give him this: Roger's voice was part of the secret sauce that made Queen's harmonies sound great. His high range, plus the grit he had that neither Freddie nor Brian had, really helped fill things out in an interesting way that's similar to how Dennis's voice functioned in the Beach Boys' harmony stack. A gritty blending voice adds body, thickness, to harmonies.
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 23, 2021 14:28:23 GMT
Post by kds on Jun 23, 2021 14:28:23 GMT
No doubt, and I always enjoyed his one or two leads on the earlier Queen albums.
Same with Dennis, and one of the reasons I'm not as high on Pacific Ocean Blue as many BB fans.
|
|
|
Queen
Aug 11, 2021 16:10:00 GMT
Post by kds on Aug 11, 2021 16:10:00 GMT
Bump. It seems like Brian May has been waffling about a sequel to Bohemian Rhapsody ultimateclassicrock.com/brian-may-queen-bohemian-rhapsody-sequel/I'd say if Brian wants to focus on getting more Queen stuff out there, how about releasing more of those classic concert films. There are a few shows from 1977 that have been widely bootlegged, but never officially released. I would suggest maybe a documentary, but there have already been three - The Magic Years (1986), Champions of the World (1995), and Days of Our Lives (2011). Although, I'd be curious to see how a second biopic would alter the history of Freddie's last five years. SPOILER ALERT I say this because, while I do know that biopics take certain liberties, that concocted "reunion" at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody was ridiculous.
|
|
|
Queen
Sept 19, 2021 13:26:18 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Sept 19, 2021 13:26:18 GMT
Brian May, who has been doing the rounds lately promoting the reissue of his solo album Back to the Light, talks about the origins of "Driven By You" and, interestingly, poignantly, and hilariously, "Too Much Love Will Kill You."
|
|
|
Queen
Sept 28, 2021 23:24:53 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Sept 28, 2021 23:24:53 GMT
Did I link this before? (I don't think so ... I saw it existed the other day but am just watching it now.) Here is the full interview with Brian May (by Rick Beato) that was used in the recent "What Makes This Song Great?" So interesting.
|
|
|
Queen
Jan 13, 2022 20:56:49 GMT
Post by kds on Jan 13, 2022 20:56:49 GMT
Apparently four years later, the fudging of the timeline in Bohemian Rhapsody is still a talking point. Here, Roger Taylor specifically defends the decision to have Freddie share his AIDS diagnosis with the band prior to Live Aid. In real life, it didn't happen until much later. ultimateclassicrock.com/bohemian-rhapsody-timeline-change/A lot of biopics fudge around with timelines. My issue with Bohemiam Rhapsody wasn't with that so much as the fabricated break up / reunion that was made up for the final act.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 20, 2022 17:31:55 GMT
Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the amazing Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. ultimateclassicrock.com/freddie-mercury-tribute-concert-queen/This is sort of an odd article, in that only the first three short paragraphs talk about the tribute show. Instead, it goes into the post Freddie history of Queen. The title's a bit misleading too, saying Queen were "reborn" at that show. In reality, Queen lay dormant for the better part of 12 years after the show.
|
|
|
Queen
Apr 25, 2022 12:55:53 GMT
Post by kds on Apr 25, 2022 12:55:53 GMT
For any curious listeners, Brian May's second (and to date, final) solo album Another World, originally released in 1998, just got a deluxe reissue, and is now available to stream for the first time.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, after Freddie's death, Brian May made a go of a solo career, but it didn't really go too far. By the dawn of the 21st century, he realized that the name Brian May just didn't have much cache.
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 6, 2022 19:57:29 GMT
Post by kds on Jun 6, 2022 19:57:29 GMT
Well, well, well. Just when you thought we've heard everything from Queen, a "new" song with Freddie Mercury on vocals will arrive in September ultimateclassicrock.com/queen-freddie-mercury-face-it-alone/As this article states, a couple "new" songs were released on the 2014 compilation Forever. Prior to that, the 1997 compilation Queen Rocks saw the release of the "final" Queen song, No One But You, which is the only Freddie-less track that Brian, Roger, and John ever released. So, will Queen release another themed compilation for this new gem? Or maybe make it a bonus track on an archival live album? Or, maybe just digital only.
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 6, 2022 20:01:44 GMT
kds likes this
Post by Kapitan on Jun 6, 2022 20:01:44 GMT
I'm glad they keep finding, finishing, and releasing material. My first thought was that they've just pulled the "this is all we have, there's nothing else" as a gimmick each time, but as I think about it, the technology has changed so much that it actually is possible that some things once deemed unreleasable (like they say this was) can actually be worked with now.
So I hope they find more, more, more. Let's have it all! Clearly anything else won't be the cream of the crop, or it would have been released already. But even interesting or mediocre unreleased material from artists you love who are no longer with us can be really enjoyable.
|
|
|
Queen
Jun 6, 2022 20:07:35 GMT
Post by kds on Jun 6, 2022 20:07:35 GMT
I hope they find the equivalent of four album's worth of stuff in the vaults. Heaven knows I don't typically have a ton of new music to look forward to these days.
I'm just hoping they find better landing spots than compilations for them. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of their debut album. Maybe they can cobble together some sort of archival collection. Other than some of their live releases, Queen have never really done any type of rarities collection, instead opting to make some of their non album releases and rarities available as bonus tracks on CD reissues or on various comps.
|
|