D-Sides, Orphans, and Oddities
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
Queen
Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
Wednesday Jun 02, 2021
Do you like the band Queen?
I do:
For good or bad, they maximized the potential of the modern recording studio with repeated vocal passes until the magnetic tape was almost transparent, pushing the envelope literally to the breaking point.
They never EVER limited themselves to one style. One need only listen to the first four tracks of “A Night at the Opera”. From almost prog changes in “Death on Two Legs” to the underrated, brave, funny, and effortless whimsy of “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon” to Roger Taylor’s best Queen song, “I’m In Love With My Car” to the light, breezy but taut pop masterpiece “You’re My Best Friend”. I didn’t even mention what would come on Side Two.
No Band Rocked Harder. Go back and listen to “Tie Your Mother Down” or “Killer Queen” (my first Queen record) and they effortlessly mastered style after style. And surprisingly, in the time of Glam, they weren’t Glam. Sure, they looked it. But looks were part of the contradiction.
Freddie Mercury never took himself too seriously. We all knew he was gay, but we didn’t care. In 1975, Elton John was flamboyant, but Freddie was gay. And the reason it never hurt him was because he didn’t care, at all, about what we thought of that. Think about how many gay pop singers had come out before that. Besides John Lennon, I mean.
Hits, hits, more hits. All styles. You just never knew what was going to come out of that radio. Every member wrote and every member wrote hits (in England, anyhow). And those hits were big, never cheap, never gimmicky.
They had a joy and a sense of daring that no one since The Beatles had tried. I cannot emphasise enough how many chances they took. Some, like “Mustapha”, didn’t land, but some most assuredly did.
I will also add that no member released anything remotely approaching solo success or artistic transcendance. I think this speaks to an overall undefinable chemistry. For a band, this is a GOOD THING.
I don’t:
Queen had the pretension to put the words, “No synths!” in their liner notes. Isn’t multi-tracking guitars until you gag pretty much the same thing? And making your vocal arrangements dense and multi-tracked to the point of sounding like a chorale, to me, was the same cheat.
I said no band rocked harder. But they were severely limited by their drummer. They couldn’t swing. Cheap Trick, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles...they could swing. I never heard a Hammond organ on a Queen record or soul of any kind. Or real emotion except for rage, lust, and occasional whimsy. There was nothing...whiter...than a Queen album.
Roger Taylor should not have been allowed to put his own songs on Queen albums. Those songs were all pretty much dreck, sounding like the opposite of the good things about Queen. They sounded like studio jam sessions. I never liked a single one. His boring solo records bear this out.
Queen is the bonafide best example of “live album as placeholder”. By no means were they the only ones. But if you’re the hottest band in the world (and would continue your run) why break your momentum with one of the worst, most lifeless live albums of the ‘70? It could only be as a money grab. This is a theme with Queen. In fact, by the end, Queen, like Journey, became a money-making Queen tribute band.
I HATED HATED HATED that movie. We’ll never truly know how it went down since Roger Taylor and Brian May had control of the way the story was told. But as an amateur movie critic, I would have really liked a bio that discussed the band less and just focused on Freddie’s amazing life, warts and all. That IS the remaining member’s fault. Reinventing the history, even of a band, does a disservice to Freddie Mercury. I think by now we can handle the dissonance and contradictions. Since the remaining members were portrayed so facelessly, why bother?
“The Game”, from 1980 was their only #1 album in the US. None of their subsequent albums reached even the Top 20. Sales don’t necessarily reflect quality, but I can assure you, young reader, in this case, the dearth of subsequent sales tells the story. Queen was decidedly on the downswing in America. Queen had 2 #1 songs in the US. Both from “The Game”. And “The Game” was their sole #1 album on Billboard. Ironically, it was the first album on which they DID use synths. “Another One Bites The Dust” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” were both departures. Almost parodies of styles derived from Black music.
This podcast is all Queen but very little...QUEEN. Every member is represented (including Paul Rodgers, but only one Bad Company song) but like I said, Queen was an unidentifiable mix of talents, and not only that, their chemistry was never duplicated...by them, anyhow. Queen’s trajectory was closer to The Doors than The Beatles in that every one of their albums had some pretty bad songs to go with the ringers.
I saw them for the “Jazz” tour, Buffalo, NY. 1979. They were ok.
So...I like Queen. For their constant bravery, which cannot be faked. For their daring use of harmony. For their very underrated bassist John Deacon. And because, like The Doors, those singles were like nothing before or since. Who would dare?
Man Friday & Jive Junior - Picking Up Sounds (1983) Man Friday is a former member of Funkapolitan who did this one 45 with John Deacon, which was produced by Wham! guitarist Robert Ahwai.
Queen - Fun It (1979) A precursor to "Another One Bites The Dust", no?
Freddie Mercury - In My Defence (1986) From Wikipedia: Dave Clark...wrote a science fiction stage musical, Time, which debuted in 1986. It played for two years in London's West End, starring Cliff Richard (replaced later by David Cassidy). The musical also launched a concept album called Time which featured Richard, Freddie Mercury, Leo Sayer, Stevie Wonder, and Dionne Warwick. Two million copies were sold and it spun off several hit singles. In the UK. Not so much in the US. Clark was by Mercury's bedside when he died on 24 November 1991.
The Opposition (John Deacon) - Sunny (1970) Deacon's pre-Queen band.
Michael Jackson & Freddie Mercury - State of Shock (1983) A terrible, horrible, dumb song. Before Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury tried to infuse some...er... jazz into the proceedings. I don't think the other Jacksons were in a position to argue too much when this was Side One, Track One of the Victory album. POACA might recall that MJ could have recorded himself punching a puppy in the face and it would have gone Top 40.
Brian May & Friends - Star Fleet (1983) I speak about the all-star (if you consider Alan Gratzer and Phil Chen "stars") jam session that lasted an afternoon or so, but produced some fun, un-self-aware jamming. This is an EP of sorts.
Larry Lurex - I Can Hear Music (1973) Discogs: In the summer of 1972, Trident Studios' in-house engineer Robin Geoffrey Cable instigated an experimental project in an effort to emulate the "wall-of-sound" style made famous by Phil Spector. Our boys happened to be recording their debut album in the studios at the time, so he invited FM to lay down the lead vocals who, in turn, roped in Brian May and Roger Taylor to provide percussion, guitar, and backing vocals - as paid session musicians.
Free - Heavy Load (1970)
Queen - Tenement Funster (1974)
Roger Taylor - Fun in Space (1981)
Roger Taylor - Future Management (1981)
Bad Company - Burnin' Sky (1976) "Naw, naw, mate. It's my new look. The kimono and headband." I love this song, and this album is ok. Look at Boz trying to make himself look small, subconsciously.
Roger Taylor - Killing Time (1984)
Larry Lurex - Goin Back (1973)
John Deacon & The Immortals - No Turning Back (1986) From the OST to the movie..."Biggles: Adventures in Time"? Hey, are either of you Yes completists? There are two incredibly bad Jon Anderson songs on this soundtrack. There's a video of this Immortals song that feels a little thrown together but not that bad. They're wearing flying helmets because that's what the movie is about. Not the Monty Python throw-away gag. Or maybe it is? It isn't. I wish it were.
Roger Taylor - I Wanna Testify (1977) Sucking to soul out of everything he touches. "Bohemian Rhapsody" paints the three guys who weren't FM as bland, personality-less school teachers. Maybe they were.
Freddie Mercury - Time Waits For No One (1986)
Queen - Mother Love (1991) This was the last song FM recorded with Queen, and it is a visceral experience. It really is too bad they were fading in the US by that time.
Queen - The Loser in the End (1974) We continue the Roger Taylor "one track per album in return for being able to use your van" discography. In gatefold: "...and nobody played synthesizer...again."
Roger Taylor - Masters of War (1984) For some reason, RT penned some mighty profound lyrics, exponentially better than wh....oh....this is the Bob Dylan song.
Brian May and Friends - Let Me Out (1984)