JackG
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Just Sleeping On The Sidewalk...
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Post by JackG on Nov 10, 2023 16:24:28 GMT
This just dropped circa 30 minutes ago.
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JackG
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Just Sleeping On The Sidewalk...
Posts: 195
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Post by JackG on Nov 10, 2023 16:25:36 GMT
Digital Single??
A thrilling collision of sound and vision dubbed “a masterclass” by USA Today, the Queen and Adam Lambert ‘Rhapsody' show opens with the juddering industrial beat and vocal harmonies of Machines (or Back To Humans) - a new reworking of the cult favourite track that opened the second side of The Works album in 1984. While immersive staging pulls the audience into a dystopian world of spinning cogs and hissing pistons, a battalion of CGI robots march across the giant video screens to the sound of “Machines” and look down on the crowd with unforgiving brimstone eyes – only to be vanquished with the assistance of a virtual Freddie vocal, the band then launching into a techo-infused but highly human Radio Ga Ga, which kicks off a two-hours-plus roller coaster of the band’s legacy catalogue. In the opening of the new ‘Rhapsody' production, the audience hears Freddie Mercury and Brian May’s duetting lead vocals from behind, raising the alarm (originally in 1984!) that The Machines are about to take over. Set against this, the robotic voices are provided by Roger Taylor’s vocoded vocals advocating the Machines’ point of view. The theme of this conflict bursts back in at various points later in the set.
Reintroduced to the Queen setlist for the band’s current US tour, the feverish live reaction to Machines (Or Back To Humans) has now prompted the band to release the original track as a digital single becoming available November 10.
Originally written by Brian and Roger almost 40 years ago and today holding a core position in the band’s current spectacular live production, “Machines” is undisputedly now even more of its time than ever.
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JackG
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Just Sleeping On The Sidewalk...
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Post by JackG on Nov 10, 2023 16:34:14 GMT
Here's the press release from Queen + the Single art cover:
"When the machines take over. It ain’t no place for rock and roll” 'MACHINES' (OR BACK TO HUMANS)
Jaw-dropping show opener of The Rhapsody Tour to be released November 10 as new QUEEN digital single.
Available at all major Digital music services
Click here to stream / download now.
Official 'Machines (or Back To Humans)' T-shirt available here.
A thrilling collision of sound and vision dubbed “a masterclass” by USA Today, the Queen and Adam Lambert ‘Rhapsody' show opens with the juddering industrial beat and vocal harmonies of Machines (or Back To Humans) - a new reworking of the cult favourite track that opened the second side of The Works album in 1984.
While immersive staging pulls the audience into a dystopian world of spinning cogs and hissing pistons, a battalion of CGI robots march across the giant video screens to the sound of “Machines” and look down on the crowd with unforgiving brimstone eyes – only to be vanquished with the assistance of a virtual Freddie vocal, the band then launching into a techno-infused but highly human Radio Ga Ga, which kicks off a two-hours-plus roller coaster of the band’s legacy catalogue.
In the opening of the new ‘Rhapsody' production, the audience hears Freddie Mercury and Brian May’s duetting lead vocals from behind, raising the alarm (originally in 1984!) that The Machines are about to take over. Set against this, the robotic voices are provided by Roger Taylor’s vocoded vocals advocating the Machines’ point of view. The theme of this conflict bursts back in at various points later in the set.
Brian May, co-creator (with Roger Taylor) of the Machines song, and advocate of the new theme, says: “The Robot Horde provide a narrative thread to our new show. In these days of Artificial Intelligence beginning to invade our whole lives, these mechanical guys personify Robotic Insurgence. In our still-developing current show, Back to Humans - is the soundtrack to us as humans reclaiming our control. Machines and Radio Ga Ga actually have a common ancestor, the beginnings of a collaboration between myself and Roger in the sessions for the Works album in 1984. But we had different ideas of how it should develop, and the track split into two songs going in opposite directions … Roger piloting Radio Gaga to completion and into a worldwide hit, and me taking the route of making “Machines” into a kind of unending battle. Putting the new show together, it hit me that ‘Machines' was more relevant than ever. So the idea came about of theming the show with a 21st-century version of this battle - and, incidentally, bringing Ga Ga and Machines fittingly back together once again. And this stands very well with our long-standing belief that a rock show should be live and dangerous rather than performed to clicks and electronic backings."
Adds Roger Taylor: “Machines” was born out of the electronica we originally explored on ‘Radio Ga Ga’ to create this sense of the battle between the electric side and the human side. Now at a time when it’s increasingly becoming a machines world and we’re all just trying to keep up, we felt it the perfect time to revive this idea of basically going back to humans.”
Reintroduced to the Queen setlist for the band’s current US tour, the feverish live reaction to Machines (Or Back To Humans) has now prompted the band to release the original track as a digital single becoming available November 10.
Roger Taylor says, "Basically, it starts off where everything is electronic – electronic drums, everything, And what you have is the ‘human’ rock band sort of crashing in. What you wind up with is a battle between the two.”
Originally written by Brian and Roger almost 40 years ago and today holding a core position in the band’s current spectacular live production, “Machines” is undisputedly now even more of its time than ever.
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Post by queenfan93 on Nov 10, 2023 16:40:06 GMT
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JackG
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Just Sleeping On The Sidewalk...
Posts: 195
Likes: 202
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Post by JackG on Nov 10, 2023 16:42:15 GMT
A thrilling collision of sound and vision dubbed “a masterclass” by USA Today, the Queen and Adam Lambert ‘Rhapsody' show opens with the juddering industrial beat and vocal harmonies of Machines (or Back To Humans) - a new reworking of the cult favourite track that opened the second side of The Works album in 1984.
While immersive staging pulls the audience into a dystopian world of spinning cogs and hissing pistons, a battalion of CGI robots march across the giant video screens to the sound of “Machines” and look down on the crowd with unforgiving brimstone eyes – only to be vanquished with the assistance of a virtual Freddie vocal, the band then launching into a techno-infused but highly human Radio Ga Ga, which kicks off a two-hours-plus roller coaster of the band’s legacy catalogue.
In the opening of the new ‘Rhapsody' production, the audience hears Freddie Mercury and Brian May’s duetting lead vocals from behind, raising the alarm (originally in 1984!) that The Machines are about to take over. Set against this, the robotic voices are provided by Roger Taylor’s vocoded vocals advocating the Machines’ point of view. The theme of this conflict bursts back in at various points later in the set.
Brian May, co-creator (with Roger Taylor) of the Machines song, and advocate of the new theme, says: “The Robot Horde provide a narrative thread to our new show. In these days of Artificial Intelligence beginning to invade our whole lives, these mechanical guys personify Robotic Insurgence. In our still-developing current show, Back to Humans - is the soundtrack to us as humans reclaiming our control. Machines and Radio Ga Ga actually have a common ancestor, the beginnings of a collaboration between myself and Roger in the sessions for the Works album in 1984. But we had different ideas of how it should develop, and the track split into two songs going in opposite directions … Roger piloting Radio Gaga to completion and into a worldwide hit, and me taking the route of making “Machines” into a kind of unending battle. Putting the new show together, it hit me that ‘Machines' was more relevant than ever. So the idea came about of theming the show with a 21st-century version of this battle - and, incidentally, bringing Ga Ga and Machines fittingly back together once again. And this stands very well with our long-standing belief that a rock show should be live and dangerous rather than performed to clicks and electronic backings."
Adds Roger Taylor: “Machines” was born out of the electronica we originally explored on ‘Radio Ga Ga’ to create this sense of the battle between the electric side and the human side. Now at a time when it’s increasingly becoming a machines world and we’re all just trying to keep up, we felt it the perfect time to revive this idea of basically going back to humans.”
Reintroduced to the Queen setlist for the band’s current US tour, the feverish live reaction to Machines (Or Back To Humans) has now prompted the band to release the original track as a digital single becoming available November 10.
Roger Taylor says, "Basically, it starts off where everything is electronic – electronic drums, everything, And what you have is the ‘human’ rock band sort of crashing in. What you wind up with is a battle between the two.”
Originally written by Brian and Roger almost 40 years ago and today holding a core position in the band’s current spectacular live production, “Machines” is undisputedly now even more of its time than ever.
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Nicki
Ploughman
Posts: 283
Likes: 187
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Post by Nicki on Nov 10, 2023 16:48:17 GMT
Well, that’s a surprise ! I just found the news in an e-mail from Queen. 😁
After watching it, I like it, somehow. But somehow I‘m also a bit confused. It’s the old record with some of the visuals from the current QAL tour, right? Actually I would have liked it better then, if they had used a record from the show. This way it’s kind of neither fish nor meat (as a German saying goes).
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cmi
Ploughman
Posts: 468
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Post by cmi on Nov 10, 2023 16:58:55 GMT
Fantastic laziness from QPL. Even fresh remix would be useful somehow. But 40 years old album version...WTF?
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Lord Fickle
Global Moderator
Posts: 21,130
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Post by Lord Fickle on Nov 10, 2023 18:40:35 GMT
What a pointless release! 🙄
At least we now know he reason for Roger's new drumhead!
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Post by Brian's Wig on Nov 10, 2023 19:33:52 GMT
Yawn. Now if they'd done a remix...
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Post by angusscrimm on Nov 10, 2023 19:34:44 GMT
Meanwhile, The Beatles are number one.
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pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 1,348
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Post by pg on Nov 10, 2023 19:36:13 GMT
Yawn. Now if they'd done a remix... ...it would still be the utter filler that Machines always was.
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Post by Brian's Wig on Nov 10, 2023 19:41:24 GMT
Yawn. Now if they'd done a remix... ...it would still be the utter filler that Machines always was. It's quite a nice filler though. I like it. Anyway. Here's the (not 100% perfect) filtered vocals.... youtu.be/YGlDPlpO3dw
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Post by peacelovingguy on Nov 10, 2023 20:17:47 GMT
Fantastic laziness from QPL. Even fresh remix would be useful somehow. But 40 years old album version...WTF? If ever there was a Queen release that justified a remix, this was it. Lazy. Where is Queen circa 1989 when you need it?
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Ri
Ploughman
Posts: 492
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Post by Ri on Nov 10, 2023 20:18:30 GMT
Brian said this in the press release, did we know this about Machines' origins? It's new to me:
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Post by angusscrimm on Nov 10, 2023 20:18:45 GMT
What this has made me do, however, is something I've not done in a wee while....listen to The Works.
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Post by leighburne on Nov 10, 2023 21:12:39 GMT
They could’ve at least included the instrumental remix as a “B-side”!
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Dimitris
Ploughman
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Post by Dimitris on Nov 11, 2023 7:36:31 GMT
They could’ve at least included the instrumental remix as a “B-side”! I will be devil's advocate here, I think they release it just for USA tour thus the video. It would be waste of opportunity to release the single with any extented tour intro, instrumental mix etc, if they are going to release it later in any kind of box etc. I am 90% sure that Queen back catalogue will take a new audio treatment in near future. Remixed albums, high Resolution something like that with some extras.
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Post by Brian's Wig on Nov 11, 2023 8:32:45 GMT
Brian has since posted on IG that an Analog release will be forthcoming.... So there you have it folks. Queen are celebrating their debut album's 50th Anniversary with a 7" single of "Machines".
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JackG
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Just Sleeping On The Sidewalk...
Posts: 195
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Post by JackG on Nov 11, 2023 8:37:32 GMT
Brian has since posted on IG that an Analog release will be forthcoming.... So there you have it folks. Queen are celebrating their debut album's 50th Anniversary with a 7" single of "Machines". It's all so tiresome....
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Arnaldo Ogre-
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Keep passing the open windows
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Post by Arnaldo Ogre- on Nov 11, 2023 11:28:43 GMT
Brian said this in the press release, did we know this about Machines' origins? It's new to me: Really interesting! I did not know that. Roger also mentioned something similar, but less detailed, as usual. Cheers, Ogre-
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pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 1,348
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Post by pg on Nov 11, 2023 11:46:04 GMT
Maybe Cool Cat will be the B side....
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Post by straycatbeatles on Nov 12, 2023 2:41:30 GMT
Brian has since posted on IG that an Analog release will be forthcoming.... So there you have it folks. Queen are celebrating their debut album's 50th Anniversary with a 7" single of "Machines". I mean cool I guess lol. This does feel a bit sudden and random, but we'll see what happens next...
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Post by macduff77 on Nov 12, 2023 18:20:17 GMT
Guess they pulled Cool Cat and are now going with Machines in the “most random release of 2023” category for $400, Alex.
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pg
Queen Mab
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Post by pg on Nov 12, 2023 22:41:13 GMT
A thought occurred.
IF there is to be a physical release, the B side would be an opportunity to put out something interesting - maybe even the "common parent" demo of Radio Machines (or 'Back To Ga Ga').
Then I realised.... Never gonna happen. What an idiot for having one of "those" thoughts.
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Post by leighburne on Nov 13, 2023 7:38:58 GMT
Tbf, if they were to do that but make the track exclusive to a vinyl single in 2023, that would be peak Queen.
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agkelly
Tatterdemalion
Posts: 46
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Post by agkelly on Nov 13, 2023 11:06:29 GMT
... or cassette.
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georg
Global Moderator
wrote several books
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Post by georg on Nov 13, 2023 20:55:07 GMT
A thought occurred. IF there is to be a physical release, the B side would be an opportunity to put out something interesting - maybe even the "common parent" demo of Radio Machines (or 'Back To Ga Ga'). Then I realised.... Never gonna happen. What an idiot for having one of "those" thoughts. A Kind Of Vision was eventually released, so you’re only partly an idiot for suggesting it.
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Post by ActionThisDay on Nov 14, 2023 6:34:35 GMT
Yawn. Now if they'd done a remix... ...it would still be the utter filler that Machines always was. Honestly Machines is one of my top 5 Queen 80s tracks. The guitar riffs rock.
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Post by ActionThisDay on Nov 14, 2023 8:04:02 GMT
Brian said this in the press release, did we know this about Machines' origins? It's new to me: Really interesting! I did not know that. Roger also mentioned something similar, but less detailed, as usual. Cheers, Ogre- I only found this out fairly recently but it does sort of make sense. Radio Ga Ga and Machines (the first part of it anyway) both use programmed drums and that pulsing synth bass thing Queen used a lot in the mid-80s (One Vision as well). The 'humans v machines' theme of the latter song is also partly reflected in the Radio Ga Ga video. I feel that these two tracks, the 'cogs' stage set, the album title and artwork gave The Works a kind of 'concept album' feel that the band could have got more mileage out of. Especially as they had recently been having their own 'humans v machines' battles, trying to successfully blend electronic/programmed elements with 'human-played' instruments on their 80s albums. I think Machines would have been more apt as the B-side of RGG rather than the B-side of IWTBF, which could have used I Go Crazy instead. Roger would have got 75% of the single royalties in that case but it was only the second time he got an A-side anyway and his first in the UK/Europe, the Calling All Girls single having flopped in North America. Come to think of it the video they made for Calling All Girls would have fitted the theme of Machines better as well. Since Machines had a rare May/Taylor shared writing credit I thought it was a genuine collaboration between them. The lyrics seem more like Roger (especially the 'parahumanoid' line) and he also does the 'robotic' voice part. But it seems it was mostly Brian's work after the initial idea splintered into RGG and Machines, Roger getting the shared credit for collaborating on the 'common ancestor' that Brian mentioned.
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august
Satyr
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Post by august on Nov 18, 2023 12:43:14 GMT
Brian said this in the press release, did we know this about Machines' origins? It's new to me: Brian revealed the shared origins of Radio Ga Ga and Machines in the commentary track of Abolute Greatest, in 2009 when discussing RGG: "One of our first excursions into real sort of machine type things. We started off, Roger and I together, on this one, strangely enough, with sort of, you know, chucking some ideas around, but we actually split in the end and Roger’s half became Radio Ga Ga and my half became Machines, Back to Humans . But it was an interesting time of us sort of blending our skills with the synthesiser world, I suppose."
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