Dimitris
Ploughman
Posts: 476
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Post by Dimitris on Sept 4, 2020 15:27:02 GMT
For me as the music of Flash Gordon is great, the pionner on this album is on the flow which is very good like you watching the film and of course on the idea of using dialuge from the film.
The flash Gordon album was nominated for best soundtrack, if I remember correctly.
Also there are parts where Muse and other artist have been influenced, from tracks like football fight, the hero, Vultan's theme.
I think this album has similar atmosphere with Vangelis Papathanasiou band Aphrodite's Child album 666 1971-72.
I wish Queen had kept the synth balance with real instruments (not drum machines etc) like football fight or the hero.
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Post by ThomasQuinn on Sept 5, 2020 10:16:47 GMT
But that's not what dim said: "[...] great piece of instrumental music, very pioneer" The remark clearly referred to the music, which was in no way pioneering. As for the "first rock band to do the soundtrack for a big movie", that was more of a marketing line relying on a very narrow definition. There had been plenty of films scored by pop acts when Queen started work on Flash Gordon, so not very pioneering unless you regard a rock group and, say, a funk group as fundamentally different entities. To put it in perspective by only slightly exaggerating, it was a little like saying "this hypothetical soundtrack is the first ever by a five-piece multi-ethnic band with members from both sides of the Irish border that uses an autoharp and a gong".
But even if we disregard that - was Pink Floyd a rock band? If so, Zabriskie Point was a full decade earlier, and it was definitely a big movie.
I see. I'm not hip to Zabriskie Point, but it looks like a bunch of artists, including The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead, came together to record that soundtrack, not just Pink Floyd. Whereas Queen took sole charge of composition (with a little help from Howard Blake) for Flash Gordon. Perhaps a better example of an earlier rock soundtrack would be Tommy by The Who. However, that film was actually an adaption of the music, not the other way around. I'm trying to think of another rock band that actually wrote all of the music to fit the narrative and atmosphere of a film prior to Flash Gordon. And I just can't think of any.
Well, Pink Floyd is responsible for a considerable part of the incidental music, and I'd also like to point out that Flash Gordon also features quite a bit of music that's not by Queen - Howard Blake contributed a number of orchestral pieces - but if you insist on the soundtrack being exclusively by one band, I would mention "More" (1969), also by Pink Floyd - not as great a hit as Zabriskie Point but still a widely-publicized film that was screened in a large number of cinemas. I'd also like to mention "Deep Red" (1975) and "Suspiria" (1977) by Dario Argento, both of which had soundtracks by Goblin, an Italian progressive rock band (who actually scored a pretty major hit with the former soundtrack - and also provided the score for the European version of the major horror film Dawn Of The Dead in 1978). Then there's "Shaft" (1971) - ok, it's technically soul, but you can't honestly call most of the Flash Gordon soundtrack "rock", so I think it has to count. There's also "Easy Rider" (1969), scored largely by The Byrds. "One Trick Pony" (1980) has a soundtrack by Paul Simon (with guest appearances by a number of others, but no 'separate' recordings by them) and was released a few months before Flash Gordon.
The facts just don't, at all, support the claim that Queen was the first rock band to score a major motion picture, so I stand by my assertion that it was just a marketing line of questionable truthfulness.
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BrƎИsꓘi
Administrator
They called it paradise, I don't know why...You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Sept 5, 2020 10:30:09 GMT
Beatles Help movie (1965) preceded the release of the album by one week, and A Hard Days' Night (a year earlier) was a simultaneous release. ...and they recorded Magical Mystery Tour movie and soundtrack in tandem. so i suppose these all count?
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Post by ThomasQuinn on Sept 5, 2020 10:47:25 GMT
I would personally be inclined not to count musicals and music films - "The Last Waltz" was obviously not going to have a score by John Williams, and Beatles-films could hardly be expected to have a classical soundtrack.
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Post by mkstewartesq on Sept 10, 2020 13:38:27 GMT
Back to the original question:
I vividly recall visiting a friend's house to meet up to attend an early show (perhaps the tour opener) of the Van Halen 1984 Tour in Jacksonville Florida. This would have been late January/early February 1984. My friend subscribed to a lot of rock magazines. One of them (maybe Circus?) had a article about a celebration of Queen's move to Capitol Records, a party attended by Brian and Roger. I still remember the quote from a drunken Roger hyping up The Works almost verbatim:
"'The second side will definitely give you brain damage', slurred Taylor."
I was more than a bit confused when The Works came out a few months later, as it appeared my copy didn't have the same second side Roger was referring to . . .
M
(edit for typos)
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kosimodo
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Posts: 158
Likes: 79
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Post by kosimodo on Sept 24, 2020 18:42:51 GMT
Unlike scapp70 is heard Radio Gaga allready for weeks on the radio, and saw the amazing vid on then “music box” the that drumsound wasnt a suprise for me. Tbh, Radio Gaga really grown on me.. there is no song like it. And live ... a fantastic experience. TIU, ITTWWC and HTF i hardly listen to. Eventhough the latter has become a singalong.. it seems Fav: KPTOW
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Post by maidenpriest on Sept 26, 2020 12:05:24 GMT
But that's not what dim said: "[...] great piece of instrumental music, very pioneer" The remark clearly referred to the music, which was in no way pioneering. As for the "first rock band to do the soundtrack for a big movie", that was more of a marketing line relying on a very narrow definition. There had been plenty of films scored by pop acts when Queen started work on Flash Gordon, so not very pioneering unless you regard a rock group and, say, a funk group as fundamentally different entities. To put it in perspective by only slightly exaggerating, it was a little like saying "this hypothetical soundtrack is the first ever by a five-piece multi-ethnic band with members from both sides of the Irish border that uses an autoharp and a gong".
But even if we disregard that - was Pink Floyd a rock band? If so, Zabriskie Point was a full decade earlier, and it was definitely a big movie.
I see. I'm not hip to Zabriskie Point, but it looks like a bunch of artists, including The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead, came together to record that soundtrack, not just Pink Floyd. Whereas Queen took sole charge of composition (with a little help from Howard Blake) for Flash Gordon. Perhaps a better example of an earlier rock soundtrack would be Tommy by The Who. However, that film was actually an adaption of the music, not the other way around. I'm trying to think of another rock band that actually wrote all of the music to fit the narrative and atmosphere of a film prior to Flash Gordon. And I just can't think of any. Pink Floyd did it prior to Zabriskie in 1968 with The Committee, so Queen certainly were not the first, but i think what they did do with Flash was brilliant and was much more successful than what Pink Floyd did ! 'Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants' comes to mind
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Post by peacelovingguy on Sept 27, 2020 12:08:17 GMT
As Queen’s big “come back” album, the band are basically saved by Roger and John knocking it out of the park with their big contributions, but Freddie clearly thought It’s a hard life was gonna be a major song, but it just doesn’t work as an attention grabber. As another poster mentioned, Love Kills would’ve been way more effective as Freddie’s contribution on this album.
If it wasn’t for Roger especially pulling successive hits out of his arse (with Freddie’s help?) in the mid 80s, one wonders whether they would’ve made it through to their more golden twilight as a band.
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Frank
Politician
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Post by Frank on Sept 27, 2020 14:21:17 GMT
As Queen’s big “come back” album, the band are basically saved by Roger and John knocking it out of the park with their big contributions, but Freddie clearly thought It’s a hard life was gonna be a major song, but it just doesn’t work as an attention grabber. As another poster mentioned, Love Kills would’ve been way more effective as Freddie’s contribution on this album. If it wasn’t for Roger especially pulling successive hits out of his arse (with Freddie’s help?) in the mid 80s, one wonders whether they would’ve made it through to their more golden twilight as a band. I don't think Freddie necessarily put all his coins on It's a Hard Life. I think at this stage in his career he was growing more interest in developing others' ideas. Radio Gaga being the prime example. He saw the value in Roger's initial composition and took it upon himself to take it to that next level. In reality, it was a Roger/Freddie song. I don't think it would have been the hit it became without Freddie's encouragement and involvement. It's one thing to write a good song, it's another thing to write a hit. And Freddie had that inclination about him. So even when he wasn't 'writing' the hits, he was still 'arranging' them.
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Frank
Politician
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Post by Frank on Sept 27, 2020 14:30:23 GMT
Oh, and to add, I'm not trying to knock Roger down or anyone else to make it seem that Freddie was pulling everyone's weight around. Clearly, they each contributed to the songs. For example, the bass line we hear in Radio Gaga was John's. By the way, the rule that writing credit goes to whoever wrote the lyric was ludicrous...and Freddie's idea, if I'm not mistaken. Their songs should have always been credited to the group. Not only would it have saved them from ugly arguments, it would also have been more accurate. But then again, that arguing might have helped encourage sharper writing and better songs.
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