Post by Deleted on May 31, 2021 14:26:16 GMT
I've been thinking about this a lot lately: Brian's understandably world-famous as a guitarist, and he also gets a lot of attention as a composer, producer, animal rights activist and online personality of some sorts. It's also quite frequent to see memes where he's celebrated for being an astrophysicist with a PhD, a former maths lecturer, a remarkably nice bloke and a vegetarian (though at some point he did eat prawns, so I'd challenge that label at least then). He's also occasionally praised for his lead vocals, especially in the last decade and a half thanks to his live renditions of Love of My Life, '39, Teo Torriatte... but his backing vocals rarely get some love. Contrast with Roger, who's sometimes as famous for his high harmonies as he is for his (also excellent) drumming.
For that reason, I'd like to give a shout out to some of his best, most interesting or most intricate roles as a choirboy. Here are my temporary picks per album, with some bonus stuff:
- Earth: Brian doing the falsetto while Roger sings the lower part. True story!
- Liar: Roger sings the first 'why don't you leave me alone' with Frederick; the second one is Brian + Frederick.
- Ogre Battle: He, and not Roger, did the highest part on stage (in the studio it was likely all three of them on every part).
- Dear Friends: An interesting record as Brian performed two functions at which he was really good (piano and backing vocals) but not the one he's most famous for.
- '39: The beginning of each chorus is Frederick, Brian and Roger singing in three-part (different inversions on each instance), but the resolutions ('write your letters in the sand...') were Brian + Brian + Brian.
- The Man from Manhattan: Frederick did most of the harmonies, Edward did a few as well, but there's a voice on 'gun' which is either Brian or a great Brian impersonator.
- Teo Torriatte: The first Japanese chorus is in fact two soloists as Frederick is doing the melody and Brian's harmonising with him. Note that it's not a typical parallel backing vocal, but it sounds magnificent.
- All Dead, All Dead: Frederick did most of the backing vocals there (and they were flawless), but 'take me back again' is just Brian, Brian and Brian.
- Don't Stop Me Now: The vocal stem has all three of them, of course, but it's nice to spot the little bits in which Brian's voice is a bit more prominent or he holds the note for half a second longer or something.
- Save Me: The part where Frederick sings 'I hang my head and I advertise a soul for sale or rent' features a choir of Brian plus Brian plus Brian doing 'oh' accompaniment in the back. Precious!
- Las Palabras de Amor: 'This night and evermore'. Beautiful falsetto!
- Hammer to Fall: I wouldn't be surprised if the 'oh, oh, oh, oh, oh' vocals during the solo were all by him. They've got his particular timbre.
- Who Wants to Live Forever: The ending of the first verse, where he harmonises with himself.
- My Baby Does Me: Odd to hear him being so prominent in a John & Frederick collab, but he's there doing some three-part choirs by himself at some point. He had the perfect sound for that (Roger and/or Frederick would've been too abrasive).
- The Show Must Go On: The very last line (after Frederick does the high note on 'show') is, yet again, Brian plus Brian plus Brian.
- A Winter's Tale: Frederick did his own backing vocals for the end bit, but the refrain features Brian and Roger together on each part. You can hear how much his high range had improved thanks to his solo touring, to the point that he was able to keep up with Roger, which is saying a lot!
Honourable mentions go to Fat Bottomed Girls as it illustrates quite well the way his voice blended with Frederick (it sounds like Roger isn't there at all), Somebody to Love where his voice is far more prominent than on Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm Going Slightly Mad for another interesting piece of a soft unipersonal choir, Seven Seas of Rhye where he sang the top part on stage except instead of Roger, a lot of solo things (e.g. Too Much Love Will Kill You, Love Token, Driven by You), Anita's I Dream of Christmas, some stuff on Kerry's album as well (can't remember what exactly).
A nice comparison to realise how much his colour added to the Queen backing vocal sound is to listen to William Squier's Emotions in Motion (which features Roger and Frederick but not Brian) and then to Ian Hunter's You Nearly Did Me in (which features all three of them, except the top part which is Roger on his own).
For that reason, I'd like to give a shout out to some of his best, most interesting or most intricate roles as a choirboy. Here are my temporary picks per album, with some bonus stuff:
- Earth: Brian doing the falsetto while Roger sings the lower part. True story!
- Liar: Roger sings the first 'why don't you leave me alone' with Frederick; the second one is Brian + Frederick.
- Ogre Battle: He, and not Roger, did the highest part on stage (in the studio it was likely all three of them on every part).
- Dear Friends: An interesting record as Brian performed two functions at which he was really good (piano and backing vocals) but not the one he's most famous for.
- '39: The beginning of each chorus is Frederick, Brian and Roger singing in three-part (different inversions on each instance), but the resolutions ('write your letters in the sand...') were Brian + Brian + Brian.
- The Man from Manhattan: Frederick did most of the harmonies, Edward did a few as well, but there's a voice on 'gun' which is either Brian or a great Brian impersonator.
- Teo Torriatte: The first Japanese chorus is in fact two soloists as Frederick is doing the melody and Brian's harmonising with him. Note that it's not a typical parallel backing vocal, but it sounds magnificent.
- All Dead, All Dead: Frederick did most of the backing vocals there (and they were flawless), but 'take me back again' is just Brian, Brian and Brian.
- Don't Stop Me Now: The vocal stem has all three of them, of course, but it's nice to spot the little bits in which Brian's voice is a bit more prominent or he holds the note for half a second longer or something.
- Save Me: The part where Frederick sings 'I hang my head and I advertise a soul for sale or rent' features a choir of Brian plus Brian plus Brian doing 'oh' accompaniment in the back. Precious!
- Las Palabras de Amor: 'This night and evermore'. Beautiful falsetto!
- Hammer to Fall: I wouldn't be surprised if the 'oh, oh, oh, oh, oh' vocals during the solo were all by him. They've got his particular timbre.
- Who Wants to Live Forever: The ending of the first verse, where he harmonises with himself.
- My Baby Does Me: Odd to hear him being so prominent in a John & Frederick collab, but he's there doing some three-part choirs by himself at some point. He had the perfect sound for that (Roger and/or Frederick would've been too abrasive).
- The Show Must Go On: The very last line (after Frederick does the high note on 'show') is, yet again, Brian plus Brian plus Brian.
- A Winter's Tale: Frederick did his own backing vocals for the end bit, but the refrain features Brian and Roger together on each part. You can hear how much his high range had improved thanks to his solo touring, to the point that he was able to keep up with Roger, which is saying a lot!
Honourable mentions go to Fat Bottomed Girls as it illustrates quite well the way his voice blended with Frederick (it sounds like Roger isn't there at all), Somebody to Love where his voice is far more prominent than on Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm Going Slightly Mad for another interesting piece of a soft unipersonal choir, Seven Seas of Rhye where he sang the top part on stage except instead of Roger, a lot of solo things (e.g. Too Much Love Will Kill You, Love Token, Driven by You), Anita's I Dream of Christmas, some stuff on Kerry's album as well (can't remember what exactly).
A nice comparison to realise how much his colour added to the Queen backing vocal sound is to listen to William Squier's Emotions in Motion (which features Roger and Frederick but not Brian) and then to Ian Hunter's You Nearly Did Me in (which features all three of them, except the top part which is Roger on his own).
