QZ Rescue: Innuendo Back to the Tapes Event (30.09.2017)

Sunshine on 01.10.2017

Well I heard that some would have like to hear more but I think the whole set up was justifying the price. I did not regret at all.

Justin was very open to play anything we wanted. But actually I think Innuendo was the most interesting as you heard this song build within 1,5 hours.

Also it was the first song for the album, beginning in November 1989.



I especially loved the drum sounds. Roger is really a fantastic player and also without clicks. Very very impressing stuff. His drum sound sounded SO good. Fat and aggressive and natural on TSMGO.

Brian played extremely complicated parts for that song.

Noel also mentioned Brian was really always there while the rest let Dave, Justin and Noel doing their job.

Dave was the fifth band member at the time, he contributed with creative ideas but is not credited for it.



Also, they went always out for dinner at the local Chinese or Indian restaurant at the corner. When Freddie got more ill, they stopped doing that.



Also interesting, no one from the production team had to sign a contract of secrecy about Freddie’s health despite they knew it. That shows there was a lot of trust and these 3 guys were really close to the band.

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Sunshine on 03.10.2017

Maybe also interesting are the start dates of the songs.



Innuendo started as the first track in early november 1989.

I'm Going Slightly mad started on December 4th 1989

The Show Must Go On started on March 22nd 1990, last sessions were in September 1990

These are the Days Of our Lives: I don't know, i didnt see any dates

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uef on 05.10.2017

Thought I'd write down what I can remember for this, both for my own purposes (I'll forget) and also to share info for those who couldn't make it on the day.



Talk presented by Justin Shirley-Smith and Noel Harris, both assistant engineers on the original sessions. Sadly the producer, David Richards passed away in 2013 but he can be heard on the takes. Chaired by Matt Everitt of BBC 6 Music.

Location: Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London



Innuendo



Working title for the song - “Bolero” (as written on tape box)



The first song we listened to. We spent about 2 hours on this song alone. Listened to various takes at various parts of the recording process. It (and a lot of the album apparently) was very much a creation of the studio; they’d sit there playing riffs and chords and mumbling until something took fruition.



Early takes consisted of Freddie playing the keyboard opening chords and mumbling a basic version of the verse melody. No real lyric at this stage. Lots of discussion between Freddie and Brian on which chords to use… “and that brings it back nicely to the E”, says Brian. Freddie calls out for a C# chord at one point.



We move to later takes in the recording process. By now, the song is sounding a lot more together. The verse is pretty much there, about half of the Spanish guitar bit and some of the ‘You can be everything you want to be’ section, not all of it.



A later take. By this point Roger has written 95% of the verse and chorus lyrics (minus mid sections) and has made a guide vocal for the song. The Roger version of Innuendo would make a great ‘demo’ to go in a deluxe album set. It’s reasonably complete.



We then listen to Brian and Steve recording the Spanish section. Brian has a go at doing the flamenco leads and they’re panned for comparison; Brian in the left channel and Steve in the right. Brian’s sounds pretty good! There’s a section of Steve’s line where Brian had to drop in a correction after he’d gone.



Also heard is the lower of the guitar harmonies playing the ‘All through my sorrow, through my splendour’ guitar motif



Brian has a few attempts at getting the end guitar run right. A band member suggests ‘we could change this, we could change that’. Brian replies ‘… or I could just get it right”. A long feedback section is recorded for the end.



At some point there’s some discussion on what to do next while an impatient roger in the background shouts ‘COME ON’ from the drum recording room.



Handclaps seemed to extend longer in the song than they do on the record.



I’m Going Slightly Mad



Freddie works this one out in the studio too. There are a lot of other “I’m not…” analogies tried before he settles on the final lyric.



Brian plays a different slide solo, some of the notes make it into the final version. It’s altogether not as good as on the record.



An ‘absolutely mental’ mix is played towards the end of the whole song. It’s utterly cacophonous and full of samples of screaming and random sound effects. Perhaps to be destined for a 12” mix or maybe dialled down to go on the record.



Headlong



A band member’s “Brian’s?” Handwritten chords on paper passed around. Song simply broken up into bars with a chord symbol in each.



Recording setup for the song revealed to be 2 Zoom 9002 units in stereo, to the desk. No AC30 for the effect sounds.



These are the Days of Our Lives



Like Innuendo, a Roger version of this is heard where he sings the full song (in much the same manner as he does for the current Queen + Adam Lambert tour)



Brian plays different trills in the verses.



Guitar solo is only half as long - the louder/faster section isn’t in the earlier take.



Some takes of the song feature Deacon playing a descending motif in the chorus on his bass. ‘These-are-the-days-of-our-‘ - that matches the vocal melody.



In another take the same idea is tried on the chorus but using a Deacy amp guitar harmony. Again matching the ‘These-are-the-days-of-our-lives’ melody. It sounds quite out of place. Sonically similar in timbre and pitch to the ‘You’re my best friend’ outro guitars. It was removed for the record, possibly (recalls Justin) because it sounded too linear.



Backing vocals are supplied by Brian and Roger at least on the takes we listen to.



Guitar solo is revealed to have been played on the Zoom 9002, for the delay sounds.



The Show Must Go On



Mostly a Brian solo record in its demo form. Brian has the intro keyboards from the off and sings the whole song. There’s a particularly high part (I take it with a grin, I’m never giving in, on with the show) where Brian audibly struggles to sing with full voice (its sung instead in a very thin head/falsetto voice) - the same part he’s said in interviews that Freddie hated him for writing. Apparently this was checked over with Brian beforehand as to whether he wanted it listened to by us or not.



Different guitar solos are played and there is some experimentation with harmonies in parts that aren’t quite right and would be further improved for the record.





The building / the experience



Metropolis Studios IS the Headlong video. Everything is there and looks like it did in 1991. The Art Deco exterior (that head the spotlights on it in the video) is the entrance /wall to the studio. The bookshelf the band lay on is there.



We enter and go up the flight of stairs to the bar, the same stairs that Brian is playing his guitar on in the video. The studio looks the same as it did in 91, very much a creation of the early 90s with purples, blues and shiny steel. Only small things like speakers and computer monitors have changed.



We’re shown the drum recording room, which is a fairly small concrete room of about 2.5 metres on each side.



The larger recording room has a piano in the corner, regularly said to be Freddie’s but actually not the case. Still a lot of people recording there have claimed (or been told) that it’s his. The story goes that they didn’t like the sound of the house piano when recording and had Freddie’s Steinway brought in instead. This now lives in Brian’s house.



We had our phones taken off us for the session so as not to record, and these were placed in the drum room.



At one point a Queen fan asks ‘I’m sure you chaps are very interested in where the microphones were positioned, but I came here to listen to the tapes’. The Q&A ceases for a while, and we do some quick runs through other songs.



The group is treated to a champagne reception, Moet et Chandon is served from a pretty bucket, and finger foods are served by waiting staff.



After the session the group is treated to a free bar in the ‘Mercury bar’ upstairs. Justin, Noel, Greg Brookes and other members of the Queen team laugh, joke and drink with the fans. Atmosphere is very informal and jocular.





The recording process



Brian: Shure SM57s for the guitar amp, with one (possibly Neumann) facing into the sweet spot, one further back in the room (not 100% on details). Brian played Pete Cornish TB83 booster in the control room, with a longer cable that would go to a single AC30 in another room. Brian never in the room with the amp unless for specific feedback purposes e.g. noise at the end of Innuendo. Some Deacy amp recording, presumably using TB83 as well. Zoom 9002 into desk for solos on Headlong and Days of Our Lives, possibly others. Brian would find the sweet spot on the amp himself by listening to treble booster noise on headphones and repositioning mic.



Freddie didn’t like wearing headphones to record vocals. Instead, they set microphone up on a stand in the studio approximately in the area where we were sitting. By his feet he had two monitors out of phase with each other to reduce spill into the vocal track. When listening to Freddie’s vocals solo, occasional band mix comes over from the monitors.

This is an indelible part of the vocal track. Freddie used a Shure 85 (not 58!) for vocals.



Trivia



Brian came into the studios one day and heard drums int he distance. “Ah, Roger’s already here then” - he could tell from the sound which amazed the engineers.



When recording Delilah - there was an argument over whether to use the lyric ‘you silly goose’. It was put to vote and the camp was split roughly down the middle as to whether to include it or not. Noel Haris was given the deciding vote. He asked Freddie, ‘Would you say that to your cat?’. Freddie said no. So Noel replied ‘well don’t say it then, it sounds silly’. Freddie apparently told him ‘well what the fuck do you know, you’re sacked!’. Not sure how jokingly Freddie meant this, but Noel said he apologised later that day. The phrase later used on a mix of Slightly Mad. Noel said that his tactic for avoiding band conflict was to go and make coffee to remove himself from the room.



Brian messing around on guitar a lot between takes. At one point mixture of shredding and playing things like Johnny B Goode to other band members annoyance!



One untitled blues Jam in which Brian is very much leading the arrangement. John plays bass as if unsure of the changes or maybe working out something more elaborate.



Freddie had to enter the studio each day via a side entrance, with his bodyguard, to evade paparazzi who would stay at the front gate. The band and staff would eat locally some times in the week, and due to the location a band member would occasionally take a week off to be with their family. Part of the press treatment suggested to be part of the reason for moving to Montreaux for the later sessions.



I’ll write up additional bits and pieces when I remember them. All in all a fantastic evening and I really hope that the demos we heard get to be heard by others some day. There didn't seem to be any plans to do so, but I did express interest in people hearing the demos but also the multitracks of the released songs.

I'd give an arm to have 'Innuendo' with Roger on vocals

Fascinating. If I hadn’t moved to NZ in 2009 I would have paid to go to this, no two ways.

Can I be really honest, I don't think I'd have enjoyed attending this session. Innuendo is one of my least favourite Queen albums although I probably would've liked hearing early versions of songs and hearing the information but I don't think it would have been value for me to go to it.

It might've changed your opinion on the album for the better, too. You never know.

You mention both Innuendo and Made In Heaven, and both appeal to a 16yo like me. The Hitman is a great song, and I Was Born To Love You is great too! I Can’t Live With You is a masterpiece, just like Let Me Live. It’s of course still different to each person, but I really think they’re great albums, although Made In Heaven, just like mentioned before by someone else, feels like an aftertaste of Innuendo. 

UEF: Something I've been wondering for over three years is which one's Noel? The one in the centre or the one in the left? I know Justin's the one in the right (technically, he'd be to everyone's left, of course).

Well, the melancholic feel reflects the mood of the band while recording it, I guess. They were knowingly in their darkest hour.

As always, the conditions under which the album was made are of interest, morbid as they might be. As with when I first saw the thread on Queenzone, I still feel the thread makes a contribution to that.

I really hope the demos get heard again one day. The Roger-sung demo of Innuendo and the Brian-sung demo of The Show Must Go On in particular.