Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Apr 28, 2021 8:53:47 GMT
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BrƎИsꓘi
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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 Apr 28, 2021 10:14:13 GMT
nice article. for almost all of my "Queen life" II has been my favourite. The terrible drum sound aside, it epitomizes Queen and the benchmark for any ambitious self-respecting rock band. There's (like most great albums) always a "filler" or two. For me - the standout is clearly an embryonic Bo Rhap in that mid-section of Side Black. FFMS/Nevermore/MoTBQ - epic stuff. and Side Black rounds the album off nicely with Queen's very own (Larry Lurex) Wall of Sound tribute FHLI and the epically bombastic and lyrically superb SSoR complete with tongue-in-cheek ending - just to show that - serious as Queen were about their music, they weren't so far up themselves as to have no sense of humour at all.
a fantastic LP - [IMO] only ever closely run by I, Races & NoTW.
I pray that - just because Brian is talking about the LP, this doesn't manifest in stupid fan frenzy rumours of a 50th Special edition of II.
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Post by dragonkiller on Apr 28, 2021 10:18:36 GMT
Thanks for the link, interesting read.
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Apr 28, 2021 12:27:39 GMT
nice article. for almost all of my "Queen life" II has been my favourite. The terrible drum sound aside, it epitomizes Queen and the benchmark for any ambitious self-respecting rock band. There's (like most great albums) always a "filler" or two. For me - the standout is clearly an embryonic Bo Rhap in that mid-section of Side Black. FFMS/Nevermore/MoTBQ - epic stuff. and Side Black rounds the album off nicely with Queen's very own (Larry Lurex) Wall of Sound tribute FHLI and the epically bombastic and lyrically superb SSoR complete with tongue-in-cheek ending - just to show that - serious as Queen were about their music, they weren't so far up themselves as to have no sense of humour at all. a fantastic LP - [IMO] only ever closely run by I, Races & NoTW. I pray that - just because Brian is talking about the LP, this doesn't manifest in stupid fan frenzy rumours of a 50th Special edition of II. It was the second Queen album I bought, only preceded by ANATO. I remember going into Woolworths, and they used to have the album covers in racks inside plastic sleeves. The price sticker was stuck on the plastic sleeve, so if you were crafty you could swap the plastic sleeve and get records for a lower price. I got Queen II for £1.99 when I think it should have been £3.99. A master criminal at the age of 11!
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ted
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Post by ted on Apr 28, 2021 14:43:44 GMT
Thanks for the link to a quite informative article. Queen II is my 2nd favourite Queen album, only a little bit behind SHA.
Ted
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mike71
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Post by mike71 on Apr 29, 2021 23:10:09 GMT
Finally, Brian and Roger are discussing Queen music other than the hits. Queen 2 is one of their very best albums. A little surprised, Brian's favorite record is Made In Heaven. The 3 albums that have shared my #1 spot is Queen 2, Sheer Heart Attack and A Night At The Opera. Favorite tracks are Father To Son, White Queen and The whole black side. Only weak song is Loser In The End.
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nickip
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Post by nickip on Apr 30, 2021 5:58:04 GMT
Finally, Brian and Roger are discussing Queen music other than the hits. The original article is seven years old so before the project with Adam took off. I wonder if they would be as candid about the old days if they were asked the same questions today. Nevertheless, a really interesting read that I hadn’t come across before.
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georg
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Post by georg on Apr 30, 2021 16:20:30 GMT
Yeah, when it said Freddie had been dead for 23 years I had to do some quick math to figure out that was not the case. Still, a great article.
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Post by Chopin1995 on May 1, 2021 23:19:41 GMT
Thank you for the link, some very interesting quotes from Roger and Brian.
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Post by soundfreak1 on May 2, 2021 10:41:41 GMT
If you watch "Queen" videos in surround, for example "Killer Queen", you hear countless voices and guitars coming from all sides. And watching those four people miming to that, somehow looks ridiculous.
And I think, that is similar to what critics in the early 70s thought, when they heard "Queen 2". There were hundreds of overdubs of voices and guitars - this cannot be done live in any way by four people, they must be "fakers". And the reviewers couldn't see the songs behind these arrangements. For many rock critics in those days albums had to represent, what a band could also do on stage. Also the other way around. I remember a review criticising Pink Floyd for adding a second guitar-player on stage....And ELO were totally put down, when they started using backing tapes on stage...
What critics and also fans had to find out concerning "Queen" is, how great the songs behind those "overblown arrangements" were. "White Queen" or "Ogre Battle" worked fine in a live-concert, perhaps even better....Unlike most every other band there were two "Queen". The studio act and the live act.
"Queen 2" is an amazing album, the blueprint for most everything else that was to follow. The only criticism I have is, that so little of that album was ever played live.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2021 12:07:21 GMT
I'd say 'Sheer Heart Attack' was more of a blueprint, to be fair. It's quite underrated. And, just to be pedantic, I don't think there were 'hundreds' of overdubs; dozens, perhaps. I know, I know, figure of speech and so on... but still, worth pointing out. Otherwise we'll have more people believing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has got 180 vocal overdubs or was played 14 times by Mr Everett.
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n39
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Post by n39 on May 2, 2021 14:12:00 GMT
I'd say 'Sheer Heart Attack' was more of a blueprint, to be fair. It's quite underrated. And, just to be pedantic, I don't think there were 'hundreds' of overdubs; dozens, perhaps. I know, I know, figure of speech and so on... but still, worth pointing out. Otherwise we'll have more people believing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has got 180 vocal overdubs or was played 14 times by Mr Everett. No need to be pedantic, the poster was using it as a figure of speech. Their sentence isn't being used as a statement of evidence to support anything, so it's fine. Please stop trying to nitpick every single thing that somehow doesn't sit right with you.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2021 10:23:48 GMT
There's no need for the 'no need' argument either: there's no need to be part of this forum, yet we choose to be here and that's fine; there's no need for you to have the 'Master-Stroke' painting as your avatar, but you chose to have it and that's fine.
I'm not trying to nitpick every single thing, just a few of them (which represent a portion which is larger than 0.00% and smaller than 100%).
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n39
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Post by n39 on May 3, 2021 12:03:49 GMT
Thanks for the statistic on what defines 'a few', Seb. Much appreciated.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2021 14:01:28 GMT
My pleasure.
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Post by The Real Wizard on May 4, 2021 0:28:20 GMT
That's some seriously good music journalism right there.
Although towards the end I'm pretty sure my website has been nicked for a few quotes about the ensuing 1973/74 gigs - that collection of anecdotes isn't available anywhere else in one place. Oh well, the joys of the internets.
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Post by soundfreak1 on May 5, 2021 8:37:35 GMT
I think the biggest thing about Queen is the singalong quality of their songs. That also kept the Beatles and ABBA songs alive for ages.
And it wasn't even the band, that wanted to have the audience sing along in the beginning. In the days when they started, it was "uncool", even Freddie didn't want a singing audience. But when Queen noticed, that the audience started to sing along in their concerts without being "invited", instead of fighting it, they made use of it and recognized, how great the audience could take over the choirs they did on the records.
And before you "kill me" for writing this, listen to this Noddy Holder interview (Slade) and go to 17:00 min. He tells the story of his iconic mirror-hat.....and then it gets very interesting....
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jo
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Post by jo on May 6, 2021 0:50:04 GMT
And before you "kill me" for writing this, listen to this Noddy Holder interview (Slade) and go to 17:00 min. He tells the story of his iconic mirror-hat.....and then it gets very interesting....
What a wonderful segment to hear. I really appreciate when artists have fun stories about other artists and they share them in a spirit of respect.
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Post by The Real Wizard on May 7, 2021 21:23:38 GMT
I think the biggest thing about Queen is the singalong quality of their songs. That also kept the Beatles and ABBA songs alive for ages.
And it wasn't even the band, that wanted to have the audience sing along in the beginning. In the days when they started, it was "uncool", even Freddie didn't want a singing audience. But when Queen noticed, that the audience started to sing along in their concerts without being "invited", instead of fighting it, they made use of it and recognized, how great the audience could take over the choirs they did on the records.
And before you "kill me" for writing this, listen to this Noddy Holder interview (Slade) and go to 17:00 min. He tells the story of his iconic mirror-hat.....and then it gets very interesting....
Wow ! Great revelation. And beautiful that Freddie thanked him all those years later when he knew he couldn't play live anymore.
But of course ideas have to come from somewhere after all, and few things are truly original. Robert Plant was doing the call and response thing even before Slade, so that may be where they got it from. And the overall idea long predates rock music, originating from blues and gospel.
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