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Post by fabiogminero on Nov 26, 2022 13:45:16 GMT
Hello everybody.
Today I would like to share with you a very interesting article that I was lucky enough to find some time ago; this is probably the first ever article about Queen published in the English music magazine Record Mirror. It was written by Rex Anderson after an hour-and-a-half interview with Brian May and was featured in the issue of the magazine that came out on July 7th, 1973, just one day after the release of Queen's debut single 'Keep Yourself Alive': in the interview, Anderson discusses with May the details of his guitar and how he made it, going into technical details.
I had never read this article before and was unaware that the Record Mirror had dedicated part of its issue to Brian and his Red Special.
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vh
Ploughman
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Post by vh on Nov 26, 2022 16:11:52 GMT
Probably the first detailed report about Brian’s guitar, although in typical journalistic fashion the inaccurate info about it being a solid body guitar made of oak are way off.
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Post by fabiogminero on Nov 26, 2022 16:46:54 GMT
Probably the first detailed report about Brian’s guitar, although in typical journalistic fashion the inaccurate info about it being a solid body guitar made of oak are way off. Unfortunately, the mistakes made by journalists continued in the following years, especially in the Italian press. This being one of the first articles on a relatively still "unknown" band, such errors are, I believe, justified. |
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baronlutenvank
Ploughman
The Username Formerly Known as Killer_queenIII
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Post by baronlutenvank on Nov 26, 2022 17:05:39 GMT
To be fair, this was one of the 1st, if not THE 1st interview, and the Old Lady's already making impressions. To think he was tempted to swap it for a Les Paul...
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georg
Global Moderator 
wrote several books
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Post by georg on Nov 28, 2022 2:26:05 GMT
Very cool read. Surprising Brian doesn’t mention that he made the guitar with his dad.
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Ri
Ploughman
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Post by Ri on Nov 28, 2022 9:14:19 GMT
Wow, this even earlier than the August 1973 interview in Guitar Magazine (which I guess is the more well-known one?) Thank you for sharing!
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Post by Maxi Dries on Nov 28, 2022 13:06:47 GMT
A very nice find! Thanks
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Post by The Real Wizard on Nov 29, 2022 3:32:22 GMT
Very cool read. Surprising Brian doesn’t mention that he made the guitar with his dad. He and his dad were likely on the outs at that point. Apparently they barely spoke for years.
Or it could just as well be a case of a 25 year old man being an independent adult and not wanting to look like he's piggybacking off his parents.
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Post by The Real Wizard on Nov 29, 2022 3:43:57 GMT
Great piece. We can only wonder what that "anti theft device" was !
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pg
Queen Mab
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Post by pg on Nov 29, 2022 7:23:16 GMT
Probably the first detailed report about Brian’s guitar, although in typical journalistic fashion the inaccurate info about it being a solid body guitar made of oak are way off. As the central part is indeed a solid piece of oak, it's not that far off. If the exact quote was (hypothetically) "Effectively, it's a solid body guitar made of oak, with some hollowed out blockboard to make it look like a guitar, and feedback in the right circumstances" Then an edit isn't wrong, it's just slightly less specific. And it could have been edited to fit in the magazine, we can't necessarily blame the writer. |
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pg
Queen Mab
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Post by pg on Nov 29, 2022 7:29:02 GMT
Very cool read. Surprising Brian doesn’t mention that he made the guitar with his dad. Journalist changes "we" to "I". Maybe he was too busy being fascinated by the existence of a truss rod - the whole thing feels like he's been given a press release and has retyped it as an interview. |
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pg
Queen Mab
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Post by pg on Nov 29, 2022 7:30:23 GMT
Great piece. We can only wonder what that "anti theft device" was ! My money is on a little thing called a "bluff".... |
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vh
Ploughman
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Post by vh on Nov 29, 2022 10:16:44 GMT
Probably the first detailed report about Brian’s guitar, although in typical journalistic fashion the inaccurate info about it being a solid body guitar made of oak are way off. As the central part is indeed a solid piece of oak, it's not that far off. If the exact quote was (hypothetically) "Effectively, it's a solid body guitar made of oak, with some hollowed out blockboard to make it look like a guitar, and feedback in the right circumstances" Then an edit isn't wrong, it's just slightly less specific. And it could have been edited to fit in the magazine, we can't necessarily blame the writer. Yes and no. In the same paragraph he states it’s a solid guitar and the body is solid oak. But point taken.  |
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