1 Queen II
2 Sheer Heart Attack
3 Day at the races
4 Night at the opera
5 Queen I
6 Jazz
7 News of the world
(large gap)
Innuendo,The game , the works, A kind of magic and the Miracle
(another large gap)
Hot space, Flash Gordon and Made in heaven
After Jazz they never really managed to impress me. Even the praised Innuendo seeems to lack that power and urgency that the earlier albums have.
I went to see the film earlier this week, quite expecting to like it after I'd read/heard positive reviews, which did mention that factual inaccuracies around the "Live Aid" closing segment. To be honest I was rather underwhelmed. First, there are many more factual inaccuracies, to the point where every single event depicted in the film can be doubted to ever have happened. OK, so they wanted to make the "Live Aid" comeback a little more dramatic by pretending the band hadn't played together "in years" (said by Brian May in the film), when in fact it took place a couple of months after they'd ended the world tour for "The Works". Sure, there had been a point in 1983 where Mercury was in Germany making his solo stuff after the "Hot Space" fiasco, but was there ever anything akin to a "break-up" ? Certainly the band meeting in the film where the rest of the band "pardon" Mercury in order to make the "Live Aid" show happen is ENTIRELY fictional - unless it happened prior to them recording "The Works" ? Others have pointed out that 1977's "We Will Rock You" is depicted as written in 1980, and the recording of their first album is a bizarre mix of them doing their first (in a shitty studio with their own money) and second (recording "Seven Seas Of Rhye" with better production values).
Added to that was the generally appalling dialogue, as in the several instances of band members (mostly May) expounding on how Queen were a band of "regular people" their fans could identify with. I was also bothered by the guy who plays Mercury being seemingly bothered by his false teeth to the point where he seems to struggle emitting any sound with his mouth whenever he's not singing. I haven't seen many actual Mercury interviews but it isn't my recollection that he spoke like that.
In the end the film did reaffirm my view that Mercury was an exceptional vocalist, but not much else. Whatever else I like about Queen was either secondary or absent from the film. I was talking to a friend last night about music biopics and we both agreed the Brian Wilson one was largely superior in every department.
Calyx (Canterbury Scene) - http://www.calyx-canterbury.fr
Legends In Their Own Lunchtime (blog) - https://canterburyscene.wordpress.com/
My latest books : "Yes" (2017) - https://lemotetlereste.com/musiques/yes/ + "L'Ecole de Canterbury" (2016) - http://lemotetlereste.com/musiques/lecoledecanterbury/ + "King Crimson" (2012/updated 2018) - http://lemotetlereste.com/musiques/kingcrimson/
Canterbury & prog interviews - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdf...IUPxUMA/videos
You are correct about the inaccuracies, but it did not bother me that much. From what I have read there were tensions at the end of "The Works" tour, but it does not appear that there was anything close to a break up. Of course Roger Taylor did a solo album before Freddie did, so that is off too.
As far as the actors portrayals of the band members, I thought they were pretty much spot on, especially Brian May. That guy sounded (and looked) pretty much exactly like May. I thought the Freddie depiction was very good too. Freddie often came across as rather shy in many interviews I have seen with him, and I thought they captured that quite well.
It's in below my avatar; though I work around the greater Amsterdam
The negative reviews I've heard/read were coming more from the rock experts than the pure movie critics, and were concentrating on the downplaying of Mercury's decadence (to the point that he's presented as an "LBGT-activist avant la lettre" and all sorts of personal abuses of all kinds (partying 'till you drop, thing), mainly, but many "approximations" about the band's history.
How much of that is justified, I don't know, and I probably will not know, since I don't really plan to see it (unless I get a near-unanimous nod from specialized sites like this one)
those are the more frequent critics read/heard that kept resonating with me
I also heard once or twice that this was more of a vehicle to Mercury's glory than one to the band... and I don't have much a trouble to believe it in my current state of mind about it
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Oh yes, sorry, I had overlooked that.
Yes, I completely understand that, but it didn't really bother me, since I have never been a big fan of Queen (although I enjoy listening to them from time to time). I enjoyed the movie as an entertaining piece that celebrates the band and the music. It probably would have been different for a band that I am really into, then the inaccuracies might have bugged me more. :-)
My Progressive Workshop at http://soundcloud.com/hfxx
This is a great version of Ogre Battle, taken from Queen’s first (of two) concerts at London’s Rainbow Theatre in 1974. This version was recorded on March 31 1974 and is, IMO, better than the second version, recorded there on a return visit in November 1974. However, while this is the better audio version of the song – I just love how relaxed Mercury is, asking the audience half way through the song how the band is doing and commenting ‘Nice one’ at the end – the video (which is a composite of various performances) is inferior to the video accompanying the November version of Ogre Battle (also available on YouTube). Both audio versions of the song can be heard on the double CD, Queen Live at the Rainbow ’74 (although there is a single CD album that only features the November recording of Ogre Battle).
We walked arm in arm with madness, and every little breeze whispered of the secret love we had for our disease
i could throw out a list of tunes already mentioned.... but for the record, Prog was an element in Queen's style- mostly with Freddie's songs. but if you go by time signature changes here's a few that might qualify... Bicycle Race, Mustafa, Somebody To Love,
This is interesting. Leo Moracchioli and some dude named Truls Haugen. This Leo guy has a bunch of metal covers. I've only watched three so far, this one(obviously), Peaches from The Presidents Of America(or whatever they are called) and Kansas Wayward Son and he does a decent job with the tunes. Loved what I would assume is his daughter in the Peaches video, jumping around and being just a kid, pretty cool.
Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000
Well, imho, Bohemian Rhapsody is SO much within the very definition of so called "progressive rock", it has earned them a spot as a progressive band in my eyes. Not to mention their unique take on recording and the brilliant songwriting - all very forward looking. But that track is a classic example of what i'd consider progressive rock. So excellent (y)
And the code is a play, a play is a song, a song is a film, a film is a dance...
always loved Bohemian as well.. wish they did more stuff like it later on. still amazes it was so popular on top 40 radio.
"She said you are the air I breathe
The life I love, the dream I weave."
Unevensong - Camel
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