Released on 4 November 2016, as part of the 'On
Air' deluxe 6 CD set only.
Length 77:25.
1-9. Freddie
with Kenny Everett, 'A Day At The Races' album, Capital Radio
10-30. Queen
Interview with Tom Browne, 'News Of The World' album, BBC Radio 1
31. Roger
with Richard Skinner, 'Live Killers' album, BBC Radio 1
32-36. Roger
with Tommy Vance, 'Flash Gordon' album and film, BBC Radio 1
37-40. Roy
Thomas Baker 'The Record Producers', BBC Radio 1
Compiled by Greg Brooks and edited with
Wilfredo Acosta
Mastering and audio restoration by Wilfredo Acosta at The
Soundhouse Studios, London
This page includes a transcription of all of the interviews which
were released on disc 4 of the 'On Air' 6 CD deluxe set, which
cover the period from 1976-1980.
The set included two other discs of interviews, covering the
periods 1981-1986 and 1986-1992, two discs
containing all six BBC Sessions,
and a disc containing highlights of three live shows.
All interviews contain excerpts of tracks, which are shown in
square brackets below. In general, these fade out shortly after
the start, and then fade back in towards the end, rather than being
full versions.
Freddie with Kenny Everett, 'A Day At The Races' album, Capital
Radio
Tracks 1-9. Total length 15:53.
This interview was broadcast in November 1976, is divided into
nine parts, and features excerpts of all ten tracks from 'A Day
At The Races', plus 'Dear Friends'. It begins with a radio tuning
sound effect.
[Excerpt of 'Tie Your Mother Down']
Kenny: God you're noisy, Fred
Freddie: That's one of the softer tracks
Kenny: That's called 'Tie Your Mother Down' from the new Queen LP
called 'A Day At The Races', which is actually terrifico and it's
just out in time for Christmas
Freddie: Yes, that's right
Kenny: Why 'Tie Your Mother Down'?
Freddie: Well, this, this one is um, a track written by Brian
actually, I dunno why. I think he was sort of, one of his vicious
moods (Kenny: going through a stage) I think he's trying to out
do me after 'Death On Two Legs' actually
Kenny: Let's play a nice gentle lilting one now. This is one
where you sing by yourself times thirty five or something, isn't
it?
Freddie: Yes, I've multi tracked myself on this one
Kenny: How many of you are there on this one?
Freddie: Actually I did this one by myself, I multi tracked
myself. So the others weren't used on this for the voices. I
played piano and basically, God I don't know how we sort of
managed to stay this sort of simple you know, what with our
overdubs and things. People think we're sort of over complex, and
it's not true, it depends on, it depends on, on the individual
track really, if it needs it, we do it. So this is pretty sparse
actually by Queen standards
Kenny: It still sounds like the choirs of heaven, folks. So here
comes Freddie, plus Freddie, plus Freddie, plus Freddie, plus
Freddie
[Excerpt of 'You Take My Breath Away']
Kenny: Mmm, another classic that'll live forever from the lips of
Freddie, 'Take My Breath Away' off the new LP, which there's
space for in your Christmas stocking. Freddie
Freddie: Yes, dear
Kenny: We're going to play a break now. We're going to play a few
of our bits (Freddie: OK), is that alright?
Freddie: Yes
Kenny: Smashing, back with another track in a sec
[Excerpt of 'Long Away']
Kenny: (Laughter) hey guys, the mike's on. That was 'Long Away'
by Brian May, and er, actually he does four tracks on your new LP
doesn't he?
Freddie: Yes, yes he does
Kenny: I see, can you proliferate?
Freddie: Well, you want, which, which tracks you mean? Well
that's, that's one of his and um, 'Tie Your Mother Down' was
Brian's, he's written a lovely sort of Japanese song, which is at
the end of the second side, it's got sort of Japanese verses,
which took a lot (Kenny: what, actual?) yes, actual Japanese
verses which we had to do, we did a lot of research actually and
had um, our, our interpreter, Japanese interpreter, we flew her
over from Japan
Kenny: Actually you should know Japanese off by heart by now,
because you're always there, aren't you?
Freddie: Well I do, do you want me just to say some of them then?
Teo torriatte konoma, konomama iko, aisuruhito yo, shizukana yoi
ni, hikario tomoshi, itoshiki oshieo idaki
Kenny: Oh flan flastic, vlelly glood
Freddie: Actually that was...
Kenny: Right, back to the spiffingest LP ever released, oh, what
do you think of the new ELO?
Freddie: Oh it's great, it's great, (Kenny: good, isn't it), I've
got a copy of that
Kenny: And also The Eagles, they're the three musts for your
Christmas stocking, folks, and this is me talking to Freddie
Mercury of Queen, who is, must be a millionaire by now, what
Freddie?
Freddie: Oh, in what way do you mean?
Kenny: Financially and commercially, I mean you keep buying these
expensive paintings and things
Freddie: Yes, because I, because I like them, it's what I've been
interested for a long while, and now that I've got a little bit
of money to throw around I thought I might as well go and buy it.
So I went to Sotheby's the other day, and got a few paintings.
The dealers weren't pleased at all
Kenny: Oh, giving them to a hairy (Freddie: yes). Actually, um
you've brought champagne with you, which is very good of you
Freddie: But of course dear, it travels with me everywhere
Kenny: You make Gerald Harper look quite cheap. Thank you for
that, right, 'The Millionaire Waltz' which is the next track on
the LP, it's a bit gay and weird and strange, but it grows on you
Freddie: Yes, it's, it's sort of very out of, out of the sort of
Queen format really, and we always like to do that every album,
and I think I went a bit mad on this one I know, but it's, it's
um, it's turned out alright I think, you know, it sort of makes
people laugh sometimes
Kenny: It's very jolly, let's have a little listen
[Excerpt of 'The Millionaire Waltz']
Freddie: Ooh, that's really good. I'd like to say that actually
Brian did do a very good job on, on the actual guitars, he's
really taken his guitar orchestration to it's limits, I don't
know how he's going to, I don't think he'll ever over do them,
out do that one actually. And John played very good bass on that,
and I think it's good, oh we're patting ourselves on the back
again
Kenny: Oh who cares
Freddie: No, I really, I really feel that that's worked out
really well especially from the orchestration point of view,
because he's really used his guitars in a different sort of way,
although he's done lots of sort of orchestrations before
Kenny: He's probably the world's greatest guitar technician
really, isn't he?
Freddie: Oh I'd say that dear, easily
Kenny: Yes, pass more champagne
Freddie: Champagne everybody
Kenny: Right it's half past now, which is exactly half way
through the Freddie Mercury show, and we'll take a slight break
and be back with the last track on side one
[Excerpt of 'You And I']
Freddie: Here. That's the um, that's the end of side one of 'A
Day At The Races'. A track, that was a track by John Deacon, his
contribution to this album. It's good, his songs are getting
better every time actually
Kenny: He's the quiet one
Freddie: I'm getting a bit worried actually. He's sort of quiet,
to lots of people he seems, don't underestimate him, he's um,
he's got a bit of, he's got a fiery streak underneath all that,
really. But I think um, because I talk so much anyway, he likes
to let me do all the talking, but I mean, once um, people sort of
crack that thin ice, then he's alright, you know, you can never
stop him talking then
Kenny: Actually, you're a very shy bunch really, aren't you?
Freddie: We are really, actually
Kenny: He said, hiding behind his bottle
Freddie: Not, not, me shy, of course. Yes I am actually, people
don't seem to realize that. Just because I go around tearing
around on stage, they think I should go tearing around life, but
I'm not really
Kenny: Good, well done, right, I've, I've said to you once, you
must have had a classical upbringing, and you went 'ha', so I
dropped that one, but I think you really must have
Freddie: I did, well I did have um, in my youth, that's a couple
of years ago, I um, no, when, when I was about seven years old, I
had piano lessons, and I did up to grade 4 classical, practical
and theory, and then I gave it up, because um, I basically sort
of play by ear really, and I couldn't, I can't sight read at all,
so I gave that up anyway, and now all my sort of playing is done
by ear. I can't read music that well, it takes me a long while
Kenny: Well, how do you work out these amazing harmonies you do?
Freddie: Well, that's quite easy, (Kenny: yeah), same as you do.
I don't know, I just sort of, you just have to work at it, you
know, and after a while you sort of fall into a pattern, and um,
experience. I think I'm, I feel I'm getting better every year,
don't you?
Kenny: Oh, I do yes
Freddie: I learn a lot from, from, from our past albums,
actually, see how they're constructed and things, and then you
sort of use what you've done in the past and work out different
things
Kenny: Oh, you're polishing beautifully, it's really a polished
product now, I mean that 'You Take My Breath Away', the harmonies
on that are supreme
Freddie: Yeah, they're nice, yes, I'm really very pleased with
them
Kenny: Isn't he modest
Freddie: I think they're wonderful
Kenny: Right, now, twenty two minutes to three, and from the
polished to the um, (Freddie: side two), yes. A bit hairy this
number, so if you're a little old lady, stand back
[Excerpt of 'White Man']
[Excerpt of 'White Man']
Kenny: Cor, how did you manage to get such a loud noise on one
record?
Freddie: I don't know, that, that's Mike Stone our engineer.
We're very bad in the studio for that actually, the poor engineer
has to really suffer because we really want as much level as
possible, and we keep pushing the phasers up and he keeps looking
at the meters and (Kenny: despairing) and going 'oh it'll never
cut, it'll never cut', and then we give him the added task of
going over to New York or wherever and saying 'make sure that
cuts as loud as possible'
Kenny: Yeah, I think I should explain for the folks, that um, if
a noise is too loud on a record, the little wobbly groove grunges
into the groove next door
Freddie: That's right
Kenny: And the record skips
Freddie: Yes, it can skip and do all kinds of things
Kenny: So the more noise you put on, the less, less likelihood of
you
Freddie: So if Mary, Mary Potts, Mary Potts has got a little
dancette, then it'll just go flying off
Kenny: So, I must admit, you do get a lot of sound on one little
LP
Freddie: Yes, it's um, it's a very fine dividing line really,
because we want to put in more music, but at the same time you've
got to make sure you don't put too much otherwise it suffers, and
then that's where all the, it's a very fine dividing line, as I
said
Kenny: And you've got a genius technician who looks after all
that
Freddie: Oh, Mike Stone's pretty good, yes, that little bugger
Kenny: Yes, right, um, sunny periods
Freddie: What a nice little chap here
Kenny: Minus four degrees, it's fifteen minutes to three and
here's a break. Right here we are in studio one of Capital tower,
with cuddly Ken and Freddie Mercury, nattering about the new LP,
and, which also has this track on it
[Excerpt of 'Somebody To Love']
[Excerpt of 'Somebody To Love']
Kenny: So, if you're planning to buy this LP, you get that thrown
in as an added goodie, the new number one single in Britain today
'Somebody To Love', well done Freddie
Freddie: They've probably all got their copies now anyway, so we
might as well play something else
Kenny: Yeah, but the thing is, I mean look, we all had 'Sailing'
by Rod Stewart, and then they re-released it and everybody bought
it again (Freddie: yes), very strange
Freddie: By all means go out and buy that again, I'm, I'm, I'm
not complaining
Kenny: Let's play a little trackette off 'Sheer Heart Attack'
now, because I thought this was one of your tunes, because it's
so lilting
Freddie: Yes, well this, this, I thought you had, you'd made a
sort of slight mistake earlier on, but this is, this is a track
called 'Dear Friends', off our 'Sheer Heart Attack' album, and
it's, it's written by Brian, and I've done the vocals on it, but
Brian wrote this lovely little tune
Kenny: Lovely tune
Freddie: And so we might as well get it right this time. People
do associate me with um, the sort of simpering little ballads,
but Brian has written some, some lovely ones in his time
Kenny: Alright, let's hear this one
[Excerpt of 'Dear Friends']
[Excerpt of 'Dear Friends']
Kenny: Very pretty. I didn't know Brian May wrote that, I thought
he was the hairy department
Freddie: Yes, he does those, very versatile
Kenny: OK, this next one is one of yours isn't it?
Freddie: Yes, it's called 'Good Old Fashioned Loverboy', and it's
in my sort of ragtime sort of mood that I sort of get a chance
to, to do on every album and yes
Kenny: Right, a little frilly number from the pen of Fred
[Excerpt of 'Good Old Fashioner Loverboy']
[Excerpt of 'Good Old Fashioner Loverboy']
Kenny: Great, shut up, right, that was um, one of Freddie's
tunes, I hear you're not too pleased with the musical press,
Freddie, let's be, let's be outrageous
Freddie: Well it depends, it depends, um, well I mean, I don't
take much notice to be honest of the musical trade actually, they
can say what they like
Kenny: I find they slag everything available, they just don't say
anything nice about anybody
Freddie: Not, not constructive at all actually. The American
press I find much more, I feel that they do their homework and
the kind of questions they ask you makes much better copy anyway
Kenny: I mean they pick the good points, and emblazen them all
over the place
Freddie: Yes, more sort of
Kenny: Ours do the opposite
Freddie: Things that are more relevant, I feel anyway, and
they're the, you can tell that they've done sort of their
homework because they ask you very penetrating questions, which I
don't mind, but you know they have some substance because then
when they're, when they write about it, they sort of, it has much
more bearing, but over here, it's all you know 'why have you
stopped wearing black fingernails' or whatever, and that's the
review, that's the review
Kenny: Have you stopped wearing?
Freddie: That's the review of the album, you know what I mean,
and they haven't a clue anyway, so (blows a raspberry) to them
Kenny: Yes (blows a raspberry) to them. Right, it's five minutes
to three, by my analogue rotary, and oh, looking at the studio
clock I see I'm two minutes out, hmm, let's have a little
commercial break, then back with a couple more tracks
Freddie: I have a lot of ideas that are bursting to get out
Kenny: And you've got a film, a film?
Freddie: Yes, we've, sort of um, he's no fool this one
Kenny: I tell you what, let's just go to the film
Freddie: He's a tart, but he's no fool
Kenny: I'm not a tart, I'm a DJ. Let's discuss the film after the
news and this little track off the new LP 'A Day At The Races',
which is dying to dive into your Christmas stocking
[Excerpt of 'Drowse']
Kenny: That's a Roger Taylor track, and Roger's just had a
requiem set for his hair, so we're all in mourning. And we'll be
back with some more really great stuff, including their climactic
climax to this LP right after the news. So I'll see you then,
right Fred?
Freddie: Yes dear, see you then
Kenny: OK, bye bye ladies and gentlemen
Kenny: Thank you my dear. And now here's Freddie with the weather
Freddie: Oh. He's just put it in my lap, I can't believe it.
Weather for the Capital area. It's dry with long sunny periods,
clean spells this evening, cold high
Kenny: Clear spells, dear
Freddie: Oh, clear, it's your, it's your writing. Clear spells,
clean spells, yes I. Clear spells this evening, cold high three
or four centigrade
Kenny: Oh forget it
Freddie: Winds light, force two or three, well this is the way
you've written it, it's in code, my God, two or three mostly west
to northwest, becoming south to south west later
Kenny: Are you done?
Freddie: I'm sure everybody got that
Kenny: Yes, right
Freddie: That does it, you wait 'till you come to the studio next
time
Kenny: Get your calculators out and work out the weather. Right,
here it is folks, the climax of this LP 'A Day At The Races',
waiting for a place in your Christmas stocking
[Excerpt of 'Teo Torriatte']
Kenny: The last track off 'A Day At The Races', the new LP by
Queen, and if you had your Grundig out, then you should be
ashamed of yourself, you've just robbed this millionaire of
another eighteen and six
Queen Interview with Tom Browne, 'News Of The World' album, BBC
Radio 1
Tracks 10-30. Total length 40:32.
This interview was broadcast as two programmes, on 24 and 26
December 1977, and is divided into twenty one parts.
The interview was originally released in the '40 Years Of Queen'
book, with initial pressings in 2011 incorrectly including the
first part only (lasting 32:33; up to the middle of track 21),
while subsequent issues included the full interview (lasting
61:44). The 'On Air' version is heavily edited, losing sections
about favourite songs, Brian's background, record deals, stereo
photography, legal issues, Roger's 'I Wanna Testify', and future
plans.
'On Air' features three tracks from 'Queen' and 'Queen II', three
tracks from 'Sheer Heart Attack', 'A Night At The Opera' and 'A
Day At The Races' (with the book version adding one song from
each) and two tracks from 'News Of The World' (with the book
version adding a further two). The book version additionally
features 'I Wanna Testify' by Roger, 'Heard It Through The
Grapevine' by Marvin Gaye (John's favourite), 'You've Got A
Friend' by Aretha Franklin (Freddie's favourite), 'Anyway Anyhow
Anywhere' by The Who (Roger's favourite), and 'House Burning
Down' by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and 'And Your Bird Can Sing'
by The Beatles (Brian's favourites).
In most cases, the tracks differ between the two versions in
terms of how they are edited, as the book version features
cross-fades, whereas 'On Air' features the tracks fading out and
then back in again.
Excerpts from the interview were also used in the 2013 Radio 2
programme 'Queen
At The BBC'.
[Excerpt of 'Seven Seas Of Rhye...' from 'Queen']
Tom: Hello there, Radio 1 proudly presents in two programmes the
members of Queen, talking about themselves and their music. Queen
as they are now were formed in February 1971 and have become one
of the most successful rock acts in the world, with over six
major albums, and ten hit singles. Well, let me introduce you now
to the members of Queen, first of all vocalist and piano player
Freddie: Freddie Mercury
Tom: On guitar, and arranging and writing
Brian: Brian May, I'm here
Tom: On drums
Roger: And occasional vocals, Roger Taylor here
Tom: Welcome Roger, and on bass and electric piano
John: Er, John Deacon
Tom: Right, together they've sold over forty million records
worldwide, that's quite something. Now first of all, let me ask
you, Freddie, how did it all begin
Freddie: Ahh, very sort of briefly, Brian and Roger they were in
a sort of very up-tempo, raucous band called Smile, and I used to
be in another band um, called Wreckage, or something
Roger: Even more up-tempo, with a name like Wreckage
Freddie: Even more up-tempo, and we used to be friends, I mean,
you know, going to college together and sort of met up, and after
sort of couple of years of knowing each other we just decided um,
we'd form a band together really, as simple as that, we thought
our musical ideas would um, blend, and then we met John, and
decided to call the band Queen
Tom: Roger, can we go to the beginnings of the group, you and
Freddie were working, or you had a stall right in the Kensington
Market
Roger: Ah, yes, partners in crime (Tom: partners in crime), um,
yes, it was really just a, it was more of a sort of social centre
I think at the time, at the time that Queen were sort of in it's
informative stages, we were going through all the traumas with
trying to find somebody to manage us, and find a record company
etc, we sort of slogged our way round, made some demo tapes, etc,
through some friends, and then sort of hawked them round the
business, as it was, and still is, eventually sort of securing
ourself several companies who were interested, we then did a gig,
I think it was at King's College, somewhere down in South London,
and er, got a load of record companies along, and then we started
to sort of er, try and wheel and deal a bit our way into sort of
good recording situations
Tom: How long did it take you from the time that you'd made the
demo to the time that you actually got a recording contract?
Roger: It felt like about eighty years I think
Brian: It was a long time, it was about two years
Roger: Yeah, it was about eighteen months, two years, yeah
Brian: There was a (Tom: Brian, this) a great, a great deal of,
feeling of frustration at the time, the first album was really
old songs by the time it came out, as far as we were concerned,
and it put us in a strange position, because there were a lot of,
we were sort of one of the groups who came along with a show and
a sort of an idea of a complete production as a stage show and
everything, which by the time the record came out and
particularly by the time it got played by anyone and all this,
and it took so long to get things going, it was all sounding like
old news, you know, so people were inclined to tag us as the tail
end of glitter rock or something
[Excerpt of 'Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll']
[Excerpt of 'Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll']
Roger: We've had a, a fairly um, fairly sour relationship with
the music press as, as, as it's called in this country, um
Tom: You, you don't like the music press, I understand?
Roger: No, to be perfectly honest, no (laughter)
Freddie: But from the very sort of beginning, I think as far as
the musical press are concerned, I mean they, they like, I mean
even now they like to sort of, put sort of up and coming bands
into a sort of particular bag for, for what they think, and I
think we sort of just rebelled, I mean we wanted to sort of do
what we thought was right and not sort of go along with what they
were saying, and I think since the very early stages, we've,
there's always been this sort of um, fracas between us and the
press
Roger: Yes, it started from day one (Freddie: day one) with the
release of our first album, plus the fact that before our, our
first actual release, we were virtually totally unheard of, and
then suddenly we were, not particularly famous, but heard of at
least, and er, they always like to think they've got one up on
you, and they always like to think that they've predicted
something (Freddie: yes, true), you know, and there, all of a
sudden there we were, and, and we were playing to quite a lot of
people, and er, it took people rather by surprise I think
Tom: Was the style though, that you had created, was that thought
out from the outset, or did it just evolve as time went by?
Brian: There were certain kind of ideals which we had in our
heads, definitely, certain patterns that we wanted to try and
live up to, and I think, to put it crudely, we started off
thinking that we wanted to be a, a kind of heavy group, but with
good melodies, and with good harmonies, and the other things grew
out of that, and the first album was really just putting down
what we did on stage at the time, it was quick into the studios
and quick out, even at that time, lots of big ideas about what we
could do in the studio if we were let loose for a, a proper time
in the studio, um, but we saved all that up, up to 'Queen II',
the second album. But a lot of the 'Queen II' stuff was written
at the time we made the first album
Tom: OK, well let's take some music now from 'Queen I', the first
track we're gonna play is in fact your first single, taken off
'Queen I', 'Keep Yourself Alive'
[Excerpt of 'Keep Yourself Alive']
Tom: 'Keep Yourself Alive', your first single. Brian, were you
disappointed that this didn't do better?
Brian: Oh yes, yes, it's, it takes me back very vividly to the
time actually, because this is just the time when we started, we
did a few gigs on our own, some small gigs, and then went on the
support tour with Mott The Hoople, and um, went round the whole
country getting really good reactions and thinking 'yeah, we're
really getting somewhere', and yet all the time we're watching
the single and the album and nothing appeared anywhere in the
charts, you know, and it just seemed like an impossible wall, we
thought how is it done, you know, we couldn't get the single
played on the radio, at all, hardly, well there was a couple of
people that played but it didn't get any sort of er, er, power
play, er, but there's no doubt that the beginning is the worst,
you know, you have no track record, you have no reputation
Tom: John, can I come to you now, we haven't heard from you I'm
sorry, you've got a degree in electronics, did this, er, mean
that the group all came to you and asked you questions when they
had complicated bits of machinery to look at?
John: Not particularly, um, I used to help a little out in the,
in the, in the early days, you know, when we were, basically when
we started out there was just the four of us and one guy, our
roadie John Harris, who's been with us right from the beginning,
and um, between me and him we used to do a lot in the early days,
but now we have quite a, a larger crew of about twenty who look
after it all for us
Tom: Well, being in a thirty two track studio, with all the
marvellous space age electronics all around, do you find it
difficult to sort of keep your hands off little buttons and
saying 'what's this, what's that'?
John: Er, well we do, we all, I mean we all of us um, try to
learn what the studio does, I mean, because it helps to get the
sounds and the ideas and to do what you want, and we've all taken
interest in what it is possible to do in a studio technically,
you know, because I mean, I think if a musician doesn't
understand that, it limits, you know, the ideas that they can
actually put down on tape
Tom: Now, you were playing bass, er, first of all with Roger?
John: No, no, I um, basically I came down to London to
university, and I was here for about two years, I wasn't playing
at all. I used to play like, before I came to university, in sort
of groups at school and things like that, and then I gave it up
when I came down, and after I was here for about two years, I
bumped into, I think it was Roger and Brian, somewhere, wasn't it
(Roger: yeah, yeah, yeah) and I heard just socially, because they
happened to be at different colleges around the same area in
London, and I heard they were looking for a bass player, so I
said I was interested, and um, went along for an audition really,
and it happened like that. I think you'd been together for about
six months previously, hadn't you?
Roger: I think longer, actually
John: Yeah
Roger: Oh, you mean Queen, yeah, Queen had (John: as Queen,
actually with the name Queen, no, yes, yeah) yeah, going through
about three bass players a week at the time (John: yeah), and er,
we eventually found er, John
John: Yeah, and I seemed to fit in and, you know
Tom: Did you immediately agree on the kind of music you wanted to
play?
John: Well, um, I don't know, I mean, they, they were already
formed, them, I mean to me they had the, the, they had all the
musical ideas then of what they were trying to do, and I just you
know, I basically, you know just fitted in really, at that time
Brian: He's very modest
John: Yeah, well my development came later, it took me a few
years to settle in
Tom: Well John, now it's, it's your personal choice, what, what
would you like to play now?
John: Yes, I've chosen a track um, by Marvin Gaye, 'Heard It
Through The Grapevine', er, I like a lot of these American sort
of Tamla things, for the bass players, some of the bass players
are very nice, (Freddie: Tamla things, I love it), you know
(Roger: Stanley Clarke), and it's a nice atmospheric song
Tom: OK, here it is, Marvin Gaye, 'Heard It Through The
Grapevine'
[Excerpt of 'Heard It Through The Grapevine']
Tom: John, you are a family man, am I right in
John: Er, sort of correct yes, I, yes (laughter) I have one
little boy, yes
Tom: Yes, right, do, do you find it difficult touring in the
States and being away from family
John: Um, it can be strain, yeah, um, you know, it's, I try and,
um, you know, make the two work together, you know, which is, you
know, which, which can be difficult, but I, I try, I try and fit
it in
Tom: How does he react to daddy being a big star?
John: Well, I don't know, he can't talk yet (laughter)
Tom: How do you think he will react?
John: Mmm, I don't know, I'll see then. He's just starting to
talk now actually, so I'll find out what he's been thinking
Roger: John is also the business brain of the group
Tom: He's the business brain?
John: I, I look after, I tend to look into that a bit, yes, and I
Tom: So, you're examining the contracts and er, checking on the
returns and
John: Well, yeah, it's nice, it is, it is, especially when you
get to, to the level we got to, I mean it's nice to know what's
going on
Tom: Brian, you did a degree in physics and then er, (Brian: yes)
you went on to do a PhD in astronomy
Brian: Yeah
Tom: What was the attraction of astronomy?
Brian: Something I'd always, always been interested in, I was as
a kid I used to look at the stars and I, I built a telescope and
things, and um, it was just something I thought, if I ever had
the chance to be an astronomer, I would, I would give it a go, so
I took a physics degree, and I, I mean when you're at school you
don't really know what you're gonna do, I think, I think it's
still true, you know, when you, when you come out of school you
tend to do what you're, you're best at, and if, if you happen to
be good at physics everyone tells you you should do physics, so I
did that, and it happened to be a good thing to lead onto
astronomy, um, so I did some research in astronomy after I got
the degree, but at that time the group began to take off, and
demand more and more time, so it just became impossible to er, to
carry on with the studies really
Tom: But I believe your PhD thesis in fact was practically
completely written wasn't it?
Brian: Yes I did, I spent a long time on it, I also taught for a
while at a comprehensive school to, to make the money to keep
going, and did most of the writing up, um, but it's just for the,
the sake of that last bit, and I, I seriously wonder whether it's
ever gonna get done now, it's a shame
Tom: And what was the thesis on?
Brian: Um, interplanetary dust, the motion of, of dust between us
and the sun
Freddie: Very cosmic
Tom: Cosmic yes, is there a lot of it? Is there a lot of it?
Brian: Yes there's a surprising amount of it actually, yes, you
can in fact see it, if you're in the right place at the right
time, in a very clear sky and a very dark sky, you can see a, you
can see the dust as (Freddie: tell him about your Zodiacal light)
as a, it's called a Zodiacal light, yes (Freddie: this is it, is
it, well there you are) which is a sort of milky glow, which
looks something like the milky way, but it's a cone of light
which stretches up with the sun as a centre
Tom: Um, where did you observe from, because I'd have thought
London sky at night was a bit murky?
Brian: Oh yes, I went to Tenerife, well I went to Italy first, in
the Italian Alps, we had an observatory there, but that was
plagued with bad weather, and we went to Tenerife, we set up an
observatory in Tenerife, I actually organised a hut being built,
which had our, well not actually a telescope but a spectroscope,
which is what I used
Tom: Well let's have some more music, and what we have coming up
is the 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'
[Excerpt of 'Seven Seas Of Rhye']
Tom: 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside', well that was the er,
single that broke you, the 'Seven Seas Of Rhye', that began it
all. Um, Roger why was there a little bit of 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'
on 'Queen I' and then repeated on 'Queen II'?
Roger: Well I think Freddie had half-written the song, and er, it
was, we thought it was a nice sort of tail-out to the first
album, with the, I think we had the idea of, of starting the
second album with the song
Freddie: With the finished song, yes
Roger: With the finished song, yeah, so it would sort of lead in
nicely, in fact we ended the second album with, with this song,
um, and it had changed a little by then, and we released it as a
single, because we thought it was fairly strong
Tom: Freddie, if I could come to you as the man what wrote it,
the lyrics, what does it mean?
Freddie: Oh, God, you should never ask me that. They're basically
um, my sort of lyrics are sort of basically for people's
interpretations really, I mean I think it's, I've forgotten what
they were all about
Tom: What were the 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'?
Freddie: It's really fictitious, I know it's like sort of bowing
out or some easy way out, but that's basically what it is. It's,
it's just um, a figment of your imagination
Tom: You have, you have a rather surrealistic approach, is that
the right word, could I say to your lyrics?
Freddie: An imaginative approach yes, I suppose you could
Tom: Imaginative, yes, no but I mean it's a
Freddie: It's an easy way out
Tom: But there's, there's a
Freddie: It covers such a lot of area, it really depends on what
kind of song really, I think um, I think at that time, I was, I
was, um, learning about a lot of things about actual song
structure and er, and as far as lyrics are concerned, they're
very difficult as far as I'm concerned, I find them quite a task,
and er, my strongest point is sort of like say melody content,
and um, I basically sort of um, concentrate on that first, the
melody, and the song structure, and then the lyrics come
afterwards actually
Tom: Are you influenced by Salvador Dali?
Freddie: Not really, I sort of um, I admire him yes, he's sort
of, it's not as um, involved as that, I don't sort of take things
like paintings too literally, the only time I did do that was in
a song called 'Fairy Feller's Masterstroke', where I actually
sort of, was, I was thoroughly inspired by um, a painting by
Richard Dadd, which is in the Tate gallery, and I thought that
sort of, er, did a lot of research on it, and it sort of inspired
me to write um, a song about the painting, depicting what I
thought I saw in it
Tom: What did you discover in your research about this painting?
Freddie: Um, it's just because I mean I've come through art
college and things like that, and I just, I basically liked the
sort of artist, and I sort of liked the painting, and I thought
I'd like to sort of write a song about it
Tom: Well, we're, we're gonna play this track, so um
Roger: Is it on, it's on 'Queen II'
[Excerpt of 'The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke']
Roger: It's one of our first major experiments in stereo I think
Tom: How do you sort out which songs are gonna go onto an album,
because you all write, don't you?
Roger: Yes
Freddie: We row
Roger: Yeah
Brian: Argue
Roger: Yeah
Freddie: We do write individually, so I mean like we go our
separate ways for, when the tour's over our whatever, and then we
sort of have a teething period where we sort of get together and
sort of play each other the new songs, and then what happens is a
sort of, a very huge sifting process, where we sort of find out
what songs
Roger: Like, 'no way am I gonna play that' or 'forget it'
Freddie: Things like that, and we sort of work in, also we, in
indi-, as far as the individual song is concerned, and also what
will go with, how the songs will sort of sound with each other,
so it's basically sort of, looking in terms of an album, as
opposed to just individual songs
Roger: Yeah, we, we try, we have tried in the past to provide a
lot of variety on each album, and a lot of contrasts, and so
we've had to sort of have a good cross section of material
Tom: Alright, well let's hear some of the heavy side of your
music, 'The March Of The Black Queen' from 'Queen II'
[Excerpt of 'The March Of The Black Queen']
Tom: From 'Queen II', 'March Of The Black Queen'. Brian, you were
going to say something about Queen
Brian: I, I thought it was a good idea to play that, because
'Queen II' is an album which in some ways is the root of all that
happened thereafter I think, and if, if people haven't heard that
before, I think you could hear that and think that that was
something off the new album, really, it still sounds that fresh
to me, and there are a lot of things that you can hear the, all
the sort of texture work was there, and the intricate harmonies,
the guitar harmonies and stuff, sort of the pre-cursor of
'Bohemian Rhapsody' in many ways, so I think that was a very
important album for us, it was also the first one which came into
the charts
Tom: How long did 'March Of The Black Queen' take you to record?
Freddie: Chunk
Roger: The tape went transparent (Brian: yes) genuinely (Brian:
yeah)
Freddie: Those were, those were the days of sixteen track studios
and I think, wasn't it, that was done in (Roger: yes, it was
sixteen track), we have, you have now twenty four and thirty two
track, but I mean as we did so many overdubs, I mean on sixteen
track, it was like, we just kept piling it on and on, and it was
like that's what Roger means that the tape went transparent,
because it just couldn't take anymore. I think it snapped in
about two places
Roger: It had gone over the heads so many times overdubbing, the
oxide had worn off (laughter)
Brian: It was a big step for us, at the time certainly, because
no-one was really doing that kind of thing in those days
Roger: We, in fact when this came out we were doing our own first
headlining tour, after the er, after supporting Mott The Hoople,
and er, gaining an enormous amount of live experience, and a
large following really, for a relatively new band
Tom: Well then Roger, you went on to support Mott The Hoople in
the States, right?
Roger: Yeah, it seemed the logical step, because it, it had
worked so well, and we got on with them very well personally as
well, which is, doesn't always happen on tours, you know, um,
it's always good if the bands sort of touring together do get on
well, and so we really took the logical step and went to America
with them as well, and er, we did learn quite a lot off them,
they're a really good live band
Brian: Excellent live band, yeah
Roger: We had a very good American tour, up to the point when
Brian got hepatitis and er, collapsed and we had to come home, at
which point things looked very black
Tom: Well then you did an extraordinary thing, having supported
once in England and having supported once in the States, you then
went to headline straight away in England, and then you went to
headline straight away in the States
Roger: It was quite rare then, yeah, because we did go to sort
of, playing the Rainbow by ourselves in, in one sort of step
Freddie: We did take a lot of risks actually, I think most of
them paid off I think
Roger: Yeah, most of them
Tom: In the States, you got yourselves an American manager
Roger: Well, we already had him in fact, he was, he was taken on
by, but it helped us for when we went to America, he was taken on
by Trident, which is the company that, which we were signed to at
the time, a sort of production deal, and er, I think he helped
in, in many ways with our introduction to America, being a yank,
you know (laughter) he's from California
Freddie: Basically I think we'd signed all the deals, I mean as,
the recording deals and the publishing deals, so in effect we
were signed to Trident and at a later stage Jack came in, Jack
Nelson, who's the person we're talking about, came in to sort of
look after the management side of things, so he was brought in at
a later stage
Brian: Yeah (Tom: sure, Brian) to make it a little clear, when
we, when we sign, when we came to the point of signing con,
record contracts, there was a couple of, there were a few record
companies who were interested, but instead of doing that we
signed to a production company, and the deal is that you, you
record for them, and they then do a deal with the record company,
so you have a kind of middle-man, and Trident were this
middle-man
Roger: At the time it seems a good idea because an established
company, a fairly high power established company seems more able
to deal with the fairly high powered record companies than, the
mere novice (Brian: humble musicians) humble musicians
Freddie: Twenty pound a week musicians
Brian: There is a huge basic drawback in the fact that you, your
manager is then your record company, and you don't have anyone
who can represent you to the record company, so you have an
impossible situation where it's basically the band against
everyone else, and it generated friction in every department
Tom: Alright, well now we come onto your third album, 'Sheer
Heart Attack', and the biggest hit from that, which went to
number two in November '74 was 'Killer Queen'
[Excerpt of 'Killer Queen']
Tom: Was this written about a, a lovely lady of your acquaintance
then?
Freddie: No, another fictitious person
Tom: I mean, there's wonderful lyrics in this, 'dynamite with a
laser beam, guaranteed to blow your mind', 'gunpowder, gelatine',
I mean marvellous stuff. But, we, we, we're not gonna get any
clues, to this, this, this (laughter) society
Freddie: I think if I was to sort of analyse, analyse every
verse, it would be very boring for the listeners, and it might
sort of shatter a few illusions (Tom: oh would it), I'd rather
sort of kept it
Tom: It's one that sticks in the mind, so anyway, it's very
obvious that you're a painstakingly thorough, very methodical
group, I mean you're a perfectionist
Roger: God, that sounds really boring doesn't it?
Tom: No, but I mean I, I think it's much to be admired, the fact
that you go into every facet of production, not only just the
music, you know, you see it right down to the last dot, as we
were talking about earlier
Brian: We always thought that was essential, not only in the
production, but in, in every detail that we're, we're involved in
Roger: We learnt through hard experience really
Brian: Yeah, I mean right down to the last bit of print on the
record cover and the way it's cut on the album which is crucial,
right down to um, the way the tours are set up, everything, we
try to keep control of, and it's not easy
Roger: Because when there's a lot of, there's so much money
involved these days, I mean it's, it's, it's almost sordid to
talk about the amounts of money but they are involved, and people
are very clever and nothing corrupts like large sums of money,
and um, so we do have to be very careful
Tom: Let's go on to another track from 'Sheer Heart Attack', it's
'Bring Back That Leroy Brown'
[Excerpt of 'Bring Back That Leroy Brown']
Tom: 'Bring Back That Leroy Brown' with a ukulele novelty from
Brian May there
Tom: Er, Brian, what would you describe as this ukulele type
music as, as barber shop ukulele, or George Formby, or?
Brian: The uku-, yeah, the ukulele in a way was incidental to
that, because that was Freddie's song and um, it had this kind of
Vaudeville atmosphere, and I just thought the ukulele would go
nicely on it, and we sort of worked it so that it could be done,
and I managed to fiddle a little ukulele solo (laughter)
Tom: You in fact learnt on a ukulele, right?
Brian: Yes, that was the first instrument I ever played, um, my
father had a genuine George Formby ukulele, George Formby was the
er, really the originator of that kind of style of playing, er,
which is rhythmic and slightly melodic at the same time, because
he plays across the top and bottom strings to make little
melodies, and er, I'm really a pretty poor imitator of that
style, but I got interested in it (All: ahhhh; Roger: makes you
sick, doesn't it) oh sorry (Roger: modesty)
Tom: And, and I believe your father also, er, was instrumental
in, in making your first guitar?
Brian: Yes, my father and I made the, the guitar together, which
is still the one I use all the time
Tom: What was it made out of?
Brian: Um, lumps of wood, and bits of pieces, it cost about eight
pounds to make in the beginning
Tom: I, I read in a press biog or something it was saying about
an armchair or a fireplace
Brian: A hundred year old fireplace, the legendary fireplace
(laughter) yes it did (Freddie: the things that are coming out of
that fireplace, quite staggering) yes that's the thing, the neck
was made out of a, an old fireplace yes
Tom: My goodness, he must have been quite a craftsman
Brian: Well, we just worked at it for a couple of years, because
I, I was at school, and it was evenings and weekends and things
Tom: I see, and that's still the one you play now?
Brian: Yes
Tom: Oh, terrific, well it must be worth a fortune in years to
come, so
Brian: I don't know really, it's, it's really not worth very much
to anyone except me, because everyone finds it difficult to play
Tom: Can we come now to your producer, Roy Thomas Baker?
Roger: Roy half-produced the first album, and er, and then he
went on to come, become our full producer, and er, he, I think 'A
Night At The Opera' was the last one, and we produced,
co-produced it with him
Tom: Freddie, did you, did you select him, or did EMI provide
him?
John: Well it was through Trident really (Brian: it was all
through Trident, yeah) because in the early days, you know, the
first album, um, and then we had, they stuck us with John Anthony
didn't they, as well, who we didn't really get on with, so we
gave him the elbow after one album, and then we did the second
album with, you know, with Roy and Robin Cable
Roger: Yeah, Trident was quite a Mecca for, for producers at the
time, because I remember sort of all the, Bowie's most successful
stuff was done with Ken Scott there (Brian: yeah)
Tom: Let's have another track from 'Sheer Heart Attack', this is
'In The Lap Of The Gods'
[Excerpt of 'In The Lap Of The Gods']
[Excerpt of 'In The Lap Of The Gods']
Tom: 'In The Lap Of The Gods', The Beach Boys meet Wagner, or
something like that anyway. Um, Freddie, er, was this a sort of
pre-runner to, to 'Bohemian Rhapsody', it has that sort of
operatic feel to it?
Freddie: I suppose it could be um, put across that way yes, I was
sort of learning a lot in, on this, on 'Sheer Heart Attack' we
were sort of doing a lot of things that um, was to come in future
albums, or was to sort of be used on, on the future albums, and
songs like that, yes I suppose um, working out the kind of
harmonies and things and the song structure did help a lot in
say, something like 'Bohemian Rhapsody', it's true. Somebody said
this was like a Cecil B. DeMille um, meets Walt Disney, or
something, which is the more to the point than say The Beach Boys
Tom: Wagner meets The Beach Boys, yes
Tom: Well like, talking about Cecil B. DeMille, can we come to
your colossal stage productions with (Freddie: oh yes and our
nice clothes) crowns appearing everywhere, thunder flashes all
over the stage, and you leaping about, 'bringing ballet to the
masses' I believe the quote was (Freddie: oh no, yes; Brian:
ohhhh)
Freddie: Oh, I mean, if you're referring to sort of a certain
article about all that, that's meant to be taken tongue in cheek,
but I mean it's just that, at this point in time, that's
something that interests me, and I'm just trying to incorporate
it in the stage act, nothing more really, and um, it's basically
to enhance the music we play, I mean if it was, if it wasn't
working then I wouldn't do it, and it's also a phase that I'm
going through, and um, I like the Nijinsky costume
Roger: The people who come to the shows seem to really enjoy
them, because you must aim for maximum effect, which we do, I
mean both aurally and visually, however some sort of people don't
seem to like this, the so-called purists or whatever, and they
think it's a techno-flash rock or something I've heard it called,
but basically we're just trying to put over the music and the
visual aspect as effectively as we can to as many people as we
can
Tom: Do you carry your own lighting crew all over the world?
Roger: Yes
Tom: So it's the same one, that was at Earl's Court, that was in
the States?
Roger: Yes, yes, it has to be, because the co-ordination, er,
required is, is quite unbelievable
Brian: Yeah, and the same for the sound set up. The way we
started off, we always had these big ideas, and we always thought
that it should be a visual and a, a sound experience, it should
be a complete thing that you can wallow in, you know, I think it
comes from when we were kids, if we went to see a rock band, we
wanted to be knocked out, we wanted to be blown away (Roger:
yeah) you know and er (Roger: stunned) yeah, it, it's for that
kind of thing, we think it should be a real event every time we
play
Roger: People are paying money to come and see you so, I mean
Freddie: Yes, as far as we're concerned, we're putting on a show,
it's not just, just us, just not another rendition of, of an
album, we might, if that was the case, we might as well just have
sort of cardboard cut-outs and just play the album, through,
through the sort of system
Brian: I mean, this
Tom: Yeah, yeah right. Let's have some more music, the next one
from 'Sheer Heart Attack' we're gonna play is 'Now I'm Here'
Roger: Call that music
[Excerpt of 'Now I'm Here']
[Excerpt of 'Now I'm Here']
Tom: 'Now I'm Here', which went to number eleven in February '75.
Um, do you find that er, the single helps you generate sale of an
album?
Roger: Definitely. That's what gets you to the mass of people,
even if they don't buy it, and even if they don't like it, they
still know who you are from a single, whereas I think you could
have a, a number one album for six months and people still
wouldn't know who you were. But we never record any record as a
single, it's always just a track off an album that we think might
make a good single after we've recorded it
Tom: Oh, I see, so you don't go into the studio, 'this is gonna
be the one'
Roger: No, never, we never have
Tom: Do you take advice from other people as to what could be a
good single?
Roger: No
Freddie: Never
Roger: No
(Laughter)
Brian: Next
Roger: It, it never works
Brian: Nobody wanted 'Bohemian Rhapsody' as a single really,
around us (Tom: really?) everyone said no-one would play it,
because it was too long, and all that stuff
Roger: Nobody except us wanted it
Freddie: But this is not to say that we're always right, because
we're not (Roger: well, we're not always right, we've been wrong)
the choice of single is (John: yeah, once, yeah) (laughter), is a
very difficult thing, I mean, there's no sure fire hit, you know,
there's just, there's no such thing, and with say something like
'Bohemian Rhapsody', it was a big risk, and it worked, because I
think with a song like that it was either gonna be a huge success
or a, or a terrific flop, and you know it was
Brian: But it's been no bed of roses no pleasure cruise, no
Tom: Well we're talking about 'Bohemian Rhapsody', so let's play
'Bohemian Rhapsody' now
[Excerpt of 'Bohemian Rhapsody']
Tom: 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. This was, for me, so amazing, because
it was such a departure from anything else that was in the charts
in '75, in November it got to number one, and stayed there for
nine weeks, I think, didn't it, amazing (Roger: yeah, something
like that, yeah), terrific amount of time, anyway, yonks and
yonks, and it was fabulous. Um, Freddie, can you tell us a bit
about how you recorded 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the actual technical
side of it?
Freddie: You want a few trade secrets? It was quite a mammoth
task, because it was basically done in three, three definite
sections and just pieced together, and each one required a lot of
concentration, the opera section, the middle, was the most taxing
I think, 'cos er, we just, we wanted to recreate a sort of huge
operatic sort of um, harmony section, between just the three of
us, and that involves a lot of multi-tracking and things, and I
think between the three of us we sort of, we recreated a, a sort
of hundred and sixty to two hundred piece (Roger: something like
that, yeah) choir effect between just the three of us, that's
Brian, Roger and myself just singing it
Roger: There's a tremendous range of harmonies, and it involves
doing it again and again and again and again to make it sound
bigger and bigger and bigger
Tom: Can you think how many times to get that number of people?
Roger: Well, divide two hundred by three (laughter), something
like that
Tom: Yeah, sixty six
Brian: This is for each, each little part so if you multiply that
by
Roger: Each little bit though has to be done that many times, and
you have to learn all the very different parts, because I think
some of them were, what, how many part harmonies?
Freddie: Because I mean like there was a section of 'no, no, no',
and we had to sort of do that in sort of different escalating
things and we just sat there going (sings) 'no, no, no, no, no,
no, no' about, I don't know, a hundred and fifty times (Brian:
going out of our minds)
Tom: Does one of you every now and again just say 'no more,
that's it, I'm not'
Freddie: Oh yes (Roger: yeah, all the time, yeah) all the time
Tom: And then the others sort of egg him on and say 'well it's
only one more' or something?
Freddie: It depends on who's
Roger: No, everybody agrees and we leave (laughter)
Tom: Well we come now to Freddie's personal choice of music.
Freddie, what's it gonna be?
Freddie: I've sort of chosen an Aretha Franklin track, I think
it's called 'You've Got A Friend', it's from the er, 'Amazing
Grace' album which she did a long time ago, it's a live sort of
thing, double album set, it's a sort of gospel thing that she did
live in a, in a church in California I think, it's called 'You've
Got A Friend'
[Excerpt of 'You've Got A Friend']
Tom: Freddie Mercury's choice there from Aretha Franklin
[Excerpt of 'Seven Seas Of Rhye...' from 'Queen']
Tom: Radio 1 presents the second part of Queen. In the first
programme, we covered the musical development of Queen from their
first album right up to their chart topping single 'Bohemian
Rhapsody', and in this second programme, we'll be talking again
to Queen about their music, we'll be playing tracks from 'A Night
At The Opera', 'Day At The Races' and 'News Of The World'. First
of all then, let's go to Queen's drummer, Roger Taylor. I've
noted down here Roger that when you're not playing or recording
with Queen, you're quite interested in motor racing and in cars?
Roger: Well more cars really, I'm not that up on motor racing, I
have Auto Sport every week, but I mean, really, sort of this is a
full time job, it keeps us so busy, I never get time to go to any
races or anything, I just like cars, they're rather nice
Tom: But you have driven, haven't you, um, round a track
Roger: Oh, only, only once, yeah, it was a very minor thing
really, but it gives you a taste you know
Tom: You're not thinking of taking on Noel Edmonds down at Brands
Hatch or something?
Roger: Oh, good God, I'd thrash him (laughter)
Tom: Hear that Noel? Ha, ha. Right
Brian: That's before he got in the car
Roger: Yeah, that's even before he got in
Tom: Anyway, that's our natural cue to 'I'm In Love With My Car'
by Roger Taylor
[Excerpt of 'I'm In Love With My Car']
[Excerpt of 'I'm In Love With My Car']
Tom: 'I'm In Love With My Car' from 'A Night At The Opera'. John,
I believe you're very interested in stereo photography (John:
stereo photography, yeah) tell us about stereo photography
John: I just like the um, the old weetabix things, you know where
you used to get the two things with the viewers, used to get two
pictures, you know both taken from a slightly different position,
and you look through a special viewer and you get a, a true 3D
perspective effect, and you can have attachments that you
actually put on cameras on special stereo cameras to take three
dimensional pictures
Tom: Three dimensional slides? (John: um) um, I mean you can't
sort of project it can you, or?
John: There is a means, you've tried it haven't you Brian,
projecting?
Brian: Yeah, I got quite a long way into it, yeah, you can do it
with a silver screen instead of a white screen and cross polarize
and things (Tom: mmm), takes a lot of setting up, it's very
interesting
Roger: Perfect for the average layman (laughter)
Tom: Brian
Brian: It's very unfashionable at the moment, 'cos it did, it was
quite a successful form of photography in the nineteen (Roger:
thirties) twenties and thirties or so, but it sort of went out of
fashion for some unknown reason, because I think it's amazing
Tom: Brian, I would have thought that you'd have been interested
too in um, holograms and er
Brian: Yes, strangely enough, holography was invented by Dennis
Gabor who was a professor at my college, at Imperial College
where I went, so we, we had a holography course, yes I was
interested, I don't really think it has as much application to
the rock stage as, as people think
Tom: You don't think you could incorporate holograms into your
act?
Brian: You can, but it, it's, the art is not at the state where
it, it's gonna be that good at the moment. The Who really are,
are the people who have got most into using lasers as part of the
stage show, but holography is a very dicey business really, even
with lasers, and to produce large scale impressive things is more
difficult than people think
Tom: I believe they are far more advanced than we are in the
States with holograms?
Brian: Um, yes, it's surprising though I mean, I keep vaguely up
with the developments, but it hasn't advanced hugely on the large
scale, um, the small scale making of holograms commercially has
advanced considerably, but the problems are still the same, you
need a large source of coherent light, and you need a, a screen
to work the thing from, you can't suspend it in thin air yet, the
image
Tom: And back to John again, you're playing the electric piano on
the next track, 'You're My Best Friend', how did you wrench the
piano away from Freddie?
John: Well, Freddie didn't like the electric piano, so I took it
home, and I started to, because I, I'd never played piano before,
I really started to learn on the electric piano, and, and
basically that's a song that came out, you know, when I was, I
was learning to play piano
Freddie: I, I refused to play the damn thing
Tom: Was this a question of ethics, or what?
Freddie: They're tinny and horrible, I don't like them (laughter)
why play those things when you've got a lovely super grand piano?
No, I, I think it's, basically what he's trying to say is that
there was a desired effect really, and
John: It was written on that instrument, and really it sounds
best on that, you know, on the, often on the, on the instrument
that you wrote a song on
Tom: Well, it got to number seven, in July '76, 'You're My Best
Friend'
[Excerpt of 'You're My Best Friend']
Tom: 'You're My Best Friend' with John fingering away like fury
on electric piano
Tom: Now we come to the grand subject of marketing 'A Night At
The Opera'. It's a fascinating subject, how did you conceive the
album sleeve and everything else, and how did you go about
marketing it?
Freddie: Well the sleeve had a sort of crest on it, didn't it,
that's right, sort of
Tom: Now you designed that, right?
Freddie: Well, it was an adaptation of an earlier crest that I
did, it was done by David Costa who sort of um, worked in
conjunction with us, and made sure it was what we wanted, since
then I mean as far as say marketing is concerned, it's a huge
process, I mean it covers such a wide area, it's like we said
before, we just sort of work on the album material and then we
choose a single, in this case, 'A Night At The Opera' case, it
happened to be 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and with that we made a film
which helped us a lot, I mean we did it with Bruce Gowers
John: Yeah, we made a film (Freddie: a promotional film) in
rather a short time actually, we were, just before we went out to
tour in England, when 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was released, we were
rehearsing, up at Elstree wasn't it, (Roger: yeah), yeah, and
they just came in one night with a video truck (Freddie: we all
came in) one or two little bits and we did it in about four hours
didn't we?
Freddie: Yes
Roger: The film opened up a new avenue for us, because the film
was used all round the world, and worked very successfully, I
mean it didn't only just get the record across, it got Queen
across both visually and sort of aurally, and now it's really a
part of the accepted pattern of marketing a single for any major,
or in fact even a new band these days, or artist, to make the
record, and then bring out the record, but they always have the
film with the record, in fact you can sell that film round the
whole world, and literally promote your records with it without
actually being there, I think Abba have, have turned that into
great advantage, yes
Tom: John, how deeply do you involve yourselves with the
marketing?
John: We involve ourselves artistically with the product
basically, I mean like the, I mean obviously the album and the
cover, and the film, we're very much involved with that, but as
far as the actual sort of marketing, I mean, I mean a lot is up
to the record company, you know, as long as they don't do
anything that is grossly in bad taste, you know, I mean we like
to keep an eye on what they're doing
Tom: Have you ever had a nasty shock, something you weren't
expecting?
Brian: Oh yes (general agreement)
Freddie: Especially now, there are so many, I mean you get
posters
Brian: Yeah, there's, there's been some really bad things,
there's one particular example in America we were very upset
about, where they, they put out 'Liar' as the second single, and
when we heard it we discovered that they'd chopped it, they'd
chopped a good ah, sixty percent of it out, just in a pretty
random way, not even done the edits very well, and that was being
put out as a single in America, and of course it was a flop, and
we've always tried to fight for complete artistic control
throughout the world, the normal thing is to, to send your copies
of the mastertapes when you finish the album to various
countries, and they cut it. Now, in cutting a record, which is
actually physically putting it on the, the disc, there's a huge
amount you can do with it, and you can completely ruin a record
which has been, taken months to produce, and we've got some of
the cuts back from countries that we've, that we didn't know
about, and they've been horrific. It's funny, the first album, in
America, was an interesting example, because they put it all
through a very viscious limiter, which means that everything
comes up to the same level, and everything pumps, they call it
pumping, so if you have a continuous note and a drum beat on top,
then the continous note goes up and down around the drum beat,
and in fact that, that improved some tracks, or, or made them
(laughter) it's very strange, it gave them a particular sound
(Roger: yeah, we really knew a lot about the studio then), it
gave them a particular sound on American FM radio, which we
discovered when we went there, that it, it did get us across very
well, and we sort of, we actually used that on subsequent albums,
it's very strange how things can happen
Tom: Let's have some more music, Brian let's take one of yours,
one that we're gonna play of yours in a minute, from 'A Night At
The Opera', which is called 'Good Company', which has a George
Formby style ukulele on it, and Trad Jazz, um, were you
interested a lot in Trad Jazz?
Brian: I can remember the Trad Jazz boom, and I, I was very, very
keen on a group called the Temperance Seven, who did in fact a
sort of revival of the twenties arrangements for jazz band, and
that, that's the kind of thing I was going after on this track
[Excerpt of 'Good Company']
Tom: Well Brian, now we come to your personal record choice, and
I believe instead of just having one, you're gonna have half of
one and half of another
Brian: Yes, I'm very greedy
Tom: Well, tell us what they're gonna be
Brian: OK, um, this is going to bring us onto Jimi Hendrix, who
I'm sure we can talk a lot about, I'd, I'd like to play the
beginning of a track called 'A House Burning Down', the beginning
of this to me is the most amazing attacking beginning to a song
I've ever heard, and it's the complete production job on guitars,
bass and drums, I've never heard anything like it
[Excerpt of 'House Burning Down']
Brian: And the other track is 'And Your Bird Can Sing', which is,
I think it's just something that's very simple and very beautiful
that The Beatles did, there's a lot of Beatles in us I think, a
lot of influence there, whether it's conscious or unconcious, and
that was one, one of the things which I liked, a very simple
song, very well done, and also a little bit of double tracking
from George Harrison, I assume it's George, playing the, the
little figures that go round the vocals, and that was an
inspiration aswell because one of my dreams was to be able to do
multi-tracking guitar on records, at that time it was unheard of
to do double tracking, I could name about three instances to do
proper harmony work with a rock sounding guitar, and George
Harrison was, was quite a pioneer, because he, he had a go at it
on this track
[Excerpt of 'And Your Bird Can Sing']
Tom: Brian May's choice, from Jimi Hendrix 'A House Burning Down'
and The Beatles 'And Your Bird Can Sing', and now
Tom: Can we talk about Jimi Hendrix, because I know Jimi Hendrix
has been a prime mover to the group, and a great influence to you
all, Freddie
Freddie: He was just a beautiful man, I think he was just a
master showman, what can I say, he was just a dedicated musician,
I mean he was just everything as far as I was concerned and I
went to numerous places to sort of try and catch his shows, just
magic, just magic, and it was really, it's quite sort of a treat
to watch somebody just come on the stage, I mean he didn't have
the kind of props and things that we have today, it all emitted
from him, you know, from, from the person, it was just him and
the guitar, very colourful, and just um, it was quite a stage
act, you, you learnt a lot from that kind of thing
Tom: Roger, I believe that, when he died, you were at the
Kensington Market, right?
Roger: That's true, actually yes, how did you that find out?
(laughter) um (Brian: I was) yes, I, I remember we couldn't
Freddie: We shut shop in his honour
Roger: Yes, we shut up our stall and went home and had a good
ball, 'cos it was (Freddie: played all his records), really, it
was dreadful when he died, for me, yeah
Tom: I also believe that when you did your big Hyde Park concert
last year, that that was on the anniversary of Jimi's death
(Roger: it was) tell us about Hyde Park, how did that come about?
Roger: It was an idea we had while, when we were touring in
Japan, we thought it would be nice to do something different in
England, rather than do the same old you know, yeah, tour, etc,
the same old places, and we thought we'd like to do a free
concert, and the best possible venue that occured to us was Hyde
Park, because it was more central than any other, it was an awful
lot of trouble, to, to get permission to play in the park, to
hold the event, it cost us a fortune, etc, but in the end it was
worth it, we wanted to just make a good gesture, er, to do
something for nothing, um, a lot of people still don't seem to
realise that, I mean there was no percentage from any angle in
it, really
Tom: Well, let's have some more music, this time from 'A Day At
The Races', and 'Somebody To Love', which got to the top ten in
December '76
[Excerpt of 'Somebody To Love']
[Excerpt of 'Somebody To Love']
Tom: 'Somebody To Love', with a very gospel sounding choir,
Freddie, was that choir built up in the same way as you did on
'Bohemian Rhapsody'?
Freddie: In a way yes, I mean we had the, the same three people
singing on the, the big choir sections, but I think it had a, a
different kind of techincal approach, because I mean it was a
sort of gospel way of singing, which I think was different to us,
and this is me sort of going on about Aretha Franklin, and sort
of made them go a bit mad, I just wanted to write something in
that kind of thing, I was sort of incensed by the, the sort of
gospel approach that she had on her albums, on the earlier
albums, although it might sound the, sort of same kind of
approach on say the, the harmonies, it is very different in the
studio because it's like a different kind of, actually a
different range
Tom: Can we come now to the territories in which you're very
enormous, I understand you're huge in Japan, can we hear about
Roger: Sounds as if you swell up as soon as you, as soon as you
arrive there (laughter)
Tom: It's all that sake, yes, well, tell us about Japan, why
Japan, I know Freddie sings in Japanese, right?
Freddie: Not all the songs
John: Only on
Roger: Only on one song yeah, I mean that was more of a tribute I
think
Freddie: That was afterwards I think
Brian: That was a long time after, really
Roger: You know, Japan really caught onto us fairly early on
didn't they
John: 'Queen II' I think was the big one they picked up on
really, wasn't it?
Roger: Yeah, and we knew that there was a sort of demand for us
there, and so we sort of tagged it onto the end of an American
tour, we had a holiday in Hawaii, and then it was sort of
logical, so we went there, and we arrived at the airport, and
suddenly realised it was on a scale different to that which we'd
imagined, because there were thousands of people there, just to
welcome us, you know, and normally you just don't get that sort
of thing anywhere. We've had two really amazing tours in Japan
since then, they sort of seem to have taken us to their hearts,
and I think we've, we've had some influences from them,
especially Brian I think
Tom: Which brings me to the next one, I mean, how, how do you get
on when you're not on stage, do you all mix together, or do you
go off your separate ways?
Roger: I dunno, it's hard to answer, a bit of both really, bit of
both, yeah
Freddie: We have, in America we have, we have a limousine each,
and we just, the moment we finish, just get into that, and do our
own bit
Brian: Go to the four corners of town
Tom: So it is that
Freddie: It really depends, I mean if there's a reception laid on
or whatever
Roger: It depends actually, yeah (Freddie: we've got to have
freedom) we've grown apart a bit more, you know, but I mean we
don't hate each other yet, which I think quite a lot of other
bands do
Tom: Well this is very apt, this next title, because it's 'Let Us
Cling Together', or, now you Freddie, you pronounce it for me
Freddie: Teo Torriatte
[Excerpt of 'Teo Torriatte']
Tom: 'Teo Torriatte'. Brian, this is a very reflective, quiet
song, which contrasts rather with the next song, which is 'Tie
Your Mother Down', um, how can we get two such opposite songs on
the same album?
Brian: Um, I don't know, we, we do tend to be attracted by
opposites, if that's the right way of putting it, we tend to, if
we go a long way in a particular direction, we tend to like to go
equally far in the opposite direction, I think we still feel that
we're kind of doing our apprenticeship in that we can try out
anything that comes into our heads, if a song comes along, and
suggests a certain approach, and you've written down reflective
approach here, OK, then, then we'll follow that to it's extreme,
and at the same time if another song comes out which is um, the
heavy kind of stuff, then we'll follow that to it's extreme, and
I think that's one of our strong points internally
Freddie: Yes, we, we're not scared of trying out different ideas,
you know, I think one of the things that we really steer clear of
is trying to sort of repeat the same formula, write different
ideas
Brian: The old thing of light and shade really (Freddie: it keeps
the interest there), which all the best rock bands have had on
stage, I mean, the rock band which have the most impact are the
people who can do a, a slow song, and then flatten the whole
place with a, with a (Freddie: completely devastating) a complete
contrast, that's what gets me anyway, if I, if somebody comes on
stage and blasts (Roger: it's dynamics) twelve bar blues all
night, then there comes a point I think where it sags in the
middle, although I love it, I mean I love hard rock well played,
and I think it's the hardest thing to do, in some ways, but the
way to do it is not to sort of rock and roll all night as far as
I'm concerned, it's, it's to, to do everything um, in it's right
place
Tom: Well let's have 'Tie Your Mother Down'
[Excerpt of 'Tie Your Mother Down']
Tom: 'Tie Your Mother Down' from 'A Day At The Races'. Can we
talk about your manager John Reid at the moment, he also manages
Elton John doesn't he?
John: Yes he does
Roger: He's very successful, good manager (Brian: will out) I
think good management is, is, is pretty vital, yes
Freddie: It is, it certainly is, you need, you need (Roger: in
fact it's totally vital) especially, say, for a band that's
starting up, I mean they need the guidance and things, so a good
manager is definitely vital
Roger: And you need somebody to take at least some of the worries
away, that aren't to do with the music, away from you, you see
Freddie: But we're a very difficult group to manage, we demand a
lot
Tom: Let us progress on this one, now there have been incorrect
newspaper reports, I believe, that you are about to de-camp for
the States because of tax reasons, Roger can we go on that one,
how did that occur?
Roger: Well, basically, I, must have been something that I said,
but it was (laughter), it was certainly um, it was taken
completely wrongly whatever it was I said, I certainly didn't say
we were going off to America, um, tomorrow, which was how the
article came out, um, it's something that we might do in the
future, but definitely in the future, certainly not tomorrow, or
even next month, or the month after
Freddie: But we are going to America for a tour
Roger: Yes we're going for a tour (Brian: unknown dialogue) but
we're not leaving England yet
Tom: I see, but they took it as though you were um
John: Becoming tax exiles really
Roger: Becoming tax exiles, that was how it was written up, yes,
it really was
John: It said we were going to live abroad, yeah?
Roger: What I gathered from what it said, I mean you know, you
know, you often, you do an interview, which is why we've learnt
not to do many, and you sort of read it back and you think 'good
God, was I there?', and er, people just sort of tend to turn
things round to, to say what they really want to say, you know,
whether it be the politics of one particular newspaper, the
article will sound as they want to sound it, or the editor wants
it to sound, as opposed to the interviewee
Tom: Now when you say something, somebody slaps a writ on you or
sues you, can't you then sue them?
Roger: It depends, I'd rather go round and smack him in the teeth
personally but (laughter), um, I haven't had any writs served on
me so
Tom: Well that, that sounds the old fashioned way to do it, which
brings us to (Freddie: oh) 'Good Old Fashioned Loverboy'
Roger: Corny
[Excerpt of 'Good Old Fashioned Loverboy']
Tom: There were four songs on the EP, but it was priced at the
price of a single I believe, why was this?
Roger: Yes, er, we just wanted to give something that was sort of
quite good value, and that was a good sort of sample of one track
from the last four albums, I think
Tom: It went into the top 20 June '77, so was it for the Jubilee,
was, was this a special
Roger: Not really, I don't think, um
Freddie: I think it was, it was, we wanted something released to
coincide with the tour that we were doing at the time, and as we
didn't have any new product, 'cos I mean we were, the way we did
it this time was we did a tour and then we were going to go in
the studio and do the new album, which is 'News Of The World'
Tom: Roger, we now come to you, and your personal choice, here
Roger: Yeah, it's very hard to choose one record, all I could
think of was a record that really excited me at the time, and
it's a record by one of the, the best bands ever I think, and
still are, The, The Who, very exciting, it was their second hit
single, and it, as far as production in those days is concerned,
it's the most over the top record I've ever heard, it had the
first use of feedback that I can remember, I think, on record,
it's called 'Anyway Anyhow Anywhere'
[Excerpt of 'Anyway Anyhow Anywhere']
Tom: 'Anyhow Anyway Anywhere' from The Who. Your fan club is one
of the biggest fan clubs in the world, with about forty five
thousand people, and I believe you do a very nice thing, that you
send them little personal letters that are then photocopied,
Brian
Brian: Yeah, we try and keep in contact, we think it's very
important to keep that sort of two way thing going, er, it's not
the easiest thing to run, there are a lot of pitfalls in running
fan clubs, you know, you can become too detached, or you can
become too involved and not get any of your actual work done, you
know, so you have to, I think it's important that we are kept in
touch, with all the reaction you know, and the girls that work
for us in the fan club, and, and a guy now, who's, who's doing
the organisational side, really make sure that there is this,
this two way communication all the time. We try and keep the fan
club as an information service, that was what it was started off
as, rather than as a promotion vehicle, because I think many fan
clubs become tainted with that, if you start using it purely as
a, purely as a selling device, the whole thing becomes horrible
Tom: Roger, in the last week of August you put out your own
personal single which was called 'I Wanna Testify' which you
sang, and you played every instrument on the single, tell us
about this
Roger: It's not a particularly big deal, um, it was just
something, we came back from America, and there's a sort of slack
period, and I was a bit sort of bored, I had nothing to do, and I
just went into the studio with our engineer Mike Stone and um,
did an old song by The Parliaments I've got a version, an
a-capella version, I just sort of heavied it up a bit and did it
all by myself, just really as an experiment, and, and a bit of
fun, however I found the experiment was slightly more expensive
than anticipated, and a lot of people seemed to quite like it, so
it was sort of, eventually came out as a single
[Excerpt of 'I Wanna Testify']
Tom: There we go, 'I Wanna Testify', a song played and everything
else by Roger Taylor, but ah, has it then sort of given you food
for thought to the future?
Freddie: After five, six albums, I think a lot of areas have
opened up, and they're sort of, there are lots of things that one
can do, and I think already we're sort of branching out and doing
other things, just, just for mere
Tom: With the financial reward that (Freddie: comes with it)
being a success, you know, of being a successful pop group,
obviously now Freddie, I mean you could open up a fine art
business, couldn't you, or, but I mean has it
Freddie: Come and see my gallery (Tom: has it) now they call it a
museum but
Tom: Has this crossed your mind that, you know, things you can
now plan to do with the finance you've accumulated?
Freddie: Yes I think one must definitely invest, that's what my
accountant says, I for one have sort of started up a little
production company of my own, and have signed to it a person
called Peter Straker, so that's a little venture that I've sort
of got myself into, you know, alongside Queen, which is obviously
the major thing
Tom: Now we come to your new album
Freddie: Yes it's called 'News Of The World'
Tom: 'News Of The World', alright, and I see down in front of me,
the first track is 'Sheer Heart Attack', now Roger you wrote this
one, um, tell us about 'Sheer Heart Attack'
Roger: Yeah, it might sound vaguely familiar (laughter). It was
written in essence, not completely, wasn't finished (Brian:
essence was brilliant) at the time of recording 'Sheer Heart
Attack', but really we didn't have room, and it wasn't quite
finished etc, and for a number of reasons it didn't get on, and
now it's been sort of, it, it lives again, and actually I'm quite
pleased with it, it's, it's really pure energy, and it's one of
my contributions to the new album
[Excerpt of 'Sheer Heart Attack']
Tom: 'Sheer Heart Attack'
Tom: Now we come to John Deacon song, 'Spread Your Wings'. John,
we haven't heard from you for a long time, tell us about 'Spread
Your Wings'
John: Um, just basically just one of the two tracks I happen to
have come up with, you know, this year and managed to squeeze on
the album
Freddie: Squeeze is right
Tom: John, does songwriting come easily to you?
John: No, it's, it's quite difficult actually, but it's getting a
little bit better as time goes on, you know I only started
really, the 'Sheer Heart Attack' album I had a little track
called 'Misfire', but 'Best Friend' was the real sort of first
proper length song I wrote really, so I'm sort of um, still new
to it, but it's improving anyway
Tom: Do you compose on your electric piano?
John: Er, piano, guitar, I, I don't actually tend to compose on
the bass, usually on either on a just sort of accoustic guitar,
or perhaps piano
Tom: 'Spread Your Wings' from John Deacon
[Excerpt of 'Spread Your Wings']
Tom: Before we have our finale, which is gonna be 'We Will Rock
You' and 'We Are The Champions', can Brian, as you wrote, er, 'We
Will Rock You', can we ask you about 'We Will Rock You', and then
we'll go to Freddie for 'We Are The Champions' who wrote that
one, so, Brian 'We Will Rock You'
Brian: Right, we have two kind of chanty songs in a way, 'We Will
Rock You' was just an experiment, the thing it's, it's designed
to simulate is the effect of an audience just stomping and
clapping, and the singing and nothing else, so there's not
supposed to be any bass or drums or guitar or anything, the
guitar comes in the end and plays along with it, er, just an
experimental thing really, and we're, we're waiting to see what's
gonna happen on stage
Tom: Can I just ask you, has 'News Of The World' cost you more
than 'A Night At The Opera' or 'A Day At The Races'?
John: It might in fact be less
Brian: It could be less, we spent less actual time, which was
deliberate, we, we came back from a tour of Europe, which we
hadn't done for a long time, we didn't mention Europe, but in
fact we neglected Europe up until last year and we did a proper
tour and came back and we had very little time left to make the
album
Roger: It's really a new departure, you know, because it's, it's
a, a more spontaneous album
Tom: Alright, OK
Tom: Freddie, 'We Are The Champions', I know you are but tell us
about 'We Are The Champions'
Freddie: It's the most egotistical and arrogant song I've ever
written (laughter, then a raspberry), you know
Tom: Was it, was it at all influenced by Elton John and Watford,
or?
Freddie: Oh, no
Brian: An interesting thing happened, may be worth mentioning,
when we, one of the best gigs we did on the last British tour was
Bingley, which is new for us (Freddie: Bingley Hall) and um, we,
we did an encore and went off, and instead of just keep on
clapping they sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' (Roger: 'You'll
Never Walk Alone') to us, and we were completely knocked out and
taken aback, and it was quite an emotional experience really, and
I think these chant things are in some way connected with that
kind of feeling really
Tom: Well gents, it only remains for me to wish you a very
successful 1978, and to thank you so much for coming in
Roger: Thank you
Freddie: Thank you very much
Brian: Thanks a lot
Freddie: Thank you
Brian: Thanks, thanks Tom
[Excerpts of 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions']
Roger with Richard Skinner, 'Live Killers' album, BBC Radio 1
Track 31. Length 4:29.
This interview was broadcast in June 1979, and features a live
excerpt of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
[Excerpt of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' from 'Live Killers']
Narrator: The latest album from Queen, it's a live double,
including stage performances of songs like 'Bohemian Rhapsody',
and it's their first live album, and drummer Roger Taylor has
been telling Richard Skinner about it
Roger: We recorded the live album actually in Europe. We did a
very long tour of Europe earlier this year and we just recorded
every night, took along a mobile truck and at the end we listened
to cassettes of every night and went to Switzerland and mixed it.
One of the things we tried to do with the live album, we did try
to make it a genuine live album, with a concert atmosphere, and I
don't, I don't think there's really any other way of doing it
Richard: There's plenty of audience involved there, isn't there
Roger: Yeah, there's tons of audience on it, because it's real
Richard: I must admit, listening to it, it does sound like a live
LP, it has the drawbacks of a live LP (Roger: yeah), but it does
have the excitement there
Roger: Yeah, I mean no live album is going to be as high fidelity
as a studio album, I mean there's just no way, so why try and get
halfway there, you might as well try and keep in that excitement
Richard: When it comes to putting the stage act together, how do
you decide which tracks you're going to use on the stage, because
so many of your tracks like 'Bohemian Rhapsody' are so
sophisticated and in a sense stuck in a studio, it must be very
difficult to reproduce them on stage
Roger: Yeah, well we have no trouble with the major part of the
song, but the middle section, that sort of, you know it, you know
(Richard: I know how it goes), the one everybody takes off, um,
it's er, we actually leave the stage there, and just play a tape,
just really to give some continuity, and then we all just come on
again for the big bang section at the end
Richard: Beyond that one particular section, do you find it
difficult reproducing tracks live?
Roger: Sometimes, yeah, I remember 'Somebody To Love', that was a
really, really hard one, we had a lot of problems doing that at
first, but now it seems to, they seem to take on a different sort
of life, and you have to cut certain corners, because you can't
do seven part harmony with like three or four people, so we
usually cut down to sort of three or four part harmonies and try
and make them as effective as we can
Richard: I admit that you can't say an awful lot now, but if you
look in general terms at the music you're making today, is it
getting simpler or what?
Roger: Yes, it's getting um, simpler in format I think, because
we used to go for really complex structures, but more subtle in
other ways I think. We're, we're much more spontaneous these
days, and I think we're just letting things come out, and really
mastering the ability to let things come out more naturally seems
to work better
Richard: In the future, do you intend to continue creating in the
studio and then going live, or would you like to maybe do it the
more conventional way, and go out and get music together on stage
and then record it?
Roger: Interesting, but in our position it's very difficult,
because people come to our shows I think um, wanting to hear
things they know, or partially know, or etcetera, and so what we
try and do is we basically play the songs we're best known for,
and extrapolate around them and try and give them some extra
dimension on stage, um, I think that would be a very hard way to
work, at the moment we're in Munich and we're working on just
some new songs, just to see what we can come out with as a new
approach
Richard: Is this the beginning of a new LP?
Roger: No, it's not actually, it's, it's, it probably will turn
out to be part of an album, um, as the songs do seem to be
coming, but we're sort, we're literally sort of creating them
there, which is very different for us, because we've always been
very, we've gone into the studio with the basic material there,
all sorts of surprising things coming out actually
Richard: Is it actually changing the sound of Queen?
Roger: Oh, some of them are, a couple of them are totally,
totally different, but I don't think any of this will be released
for what, for a while, because of this, the live album, but I'm
very enthused about it
Richard: Thinking of the future then for Queen, you've got such
success behind you, it must be difficult to think of new goals to
conquer, what, what would you like to say your ambitions are now?
Roger: Just, just to keep on being interested and to keep on
being excited by it is the main thing, because the money isn't
really such a goal, so it's great to see an album go in, go in
the charts every time, it's a great thrill every time, you never
lose that thrill, I don't think anybody could lose that, you
know, to know that people are, do actually want it, so you're not
sort of spending all that time in a sort of, you're not wasting
it in your own, just to your own ends really
Roger with Tommy Vance, 'Flash Gordon' album and film, BBC Radio
1
Tracks 32-36. Total length 5:50.
This interview was broadcast in December 1980, is divided into
five parts, and features excerpts of 'Flash's Theme', 'In The
Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise)', 'The Wedding March', 'Airheads'
and 'The Hero'.
[Excerpt of 'Flash's Theme']
Tommy: That's 'Flash's Theme', it's from the film 'Flash Gordon'
which had it's premiere here in London three days ago, and of
course all the music in the film is put together by Queen. We've
got Roger Taylor, drums, vocals and synthesisers this time, in
our studio. Roger let me talk to you first about this album. I
rather think a few people are going to think that it's the new
Queen album, it isn't is it
Roger: Well, not strictly no, although it is an album by Queen,
it's not our new studio album, it's something that we did for a
film, you know, which is a first for us, it was interesting, very
strange to do, working in the dark at first then working to film,
and we're quite pleased with it. With this we really sort of
could do almost anything we wanted, as long as it fitted in with
the film. We've been offered quite a few films, but 'Flash
Gordon' was something which I think Brian and I were quite
attracted to, because of it's sort of sci-fi, thirties
connotations, you know, it's like a sort of Superman for people
on drugs, you know
Tommy: Or off drugs as the case may be
Roger: Well, yeah
Tommy: When you put together the music for, say your own studio
album (Roger: yeah), do you adopt, or did you adopt rather the
same sort of attitude in the studio when you were working to
film?
Roger: No, actually we did this really totally off the top of our
heads, we'd go in there and have a look at a few video clips of
the film, which bits we wanted to, and drink a bottle of vodka
each, and er, see what came out, you know, it was very strange
yeah, we didn't really realise how much we were getting done, we
thought we were getting nothing done, all of a sudden we found we
had quite a lot of music
Tommy: What was the most difficult part of putting together the,
the soundtrack for 'Flash Gordon'?
Roger: Getting out the bar really, no, let me think, it was, it
was difficult, really just getting all the right bits to the
right film
Tommy: Did you have any say at all with regard to the extracts of
dialogue that are contained on the album?
Roger: Yeah, yes the album was totally under our control, and we
used, it was our idea to actually put dialogue on the album, that
wasn't the original idea, we thought we'd make it a little bit
different from a normal soundtrack album, say 'The Empire Strikes
Back' or something, it's just orchestra really, we thought we'd
just get little snippets to give some idea of what was happening
in the film, and some atmosphere of the story
[Excerpt of 'In The Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise)']
[Excerpt of 'The Wedding March']
Tommy: Do you think Queen as a band will end up feeling proud
about this soundtrack album, say in five years time?
Roger: That's a difficult question. Well, I hope so, yeah I hope
so. I mean I think it's pretty good, I think the film's pretty
good actually, it's had a great reaction in America because
they've had all sorts of previews there. I mean it's, it's not a,
a serious film, you know, it's a sort of fun epic fantasy, so I
mean it's not a Kubrick film, but it's a very, it's a good film,
I think it's a very good film, of it's kind, but it is a sort of
space adventure
Tommy: You've probably achieved as a band this year one of the
most, I would suggest exciting crossovers that's ever been
achieved, by
Roger: Oh, yeah, I know what you're talking about here
Tommy: Right, by a, what, if you like a heavy rock band. You just
blew America and their systemization totally apart, you appeared
in the disco charts, I think you even appeared in some soul
charts, and in the...
Roger: Yeah, in fact we were number one in the, all the soul,
black oriented charts, disco charts, it's totally unexpected, I
mean, um, amazed, you know, quite amazed, we never even thought
of that record as being a single, I remember we pulled up beside
some, er, a black guy in New York City, and he had a 'Another One
Bites The Dust' at full blast on his radio, you know, so we wound
down the window and said, 'hey, you know, you like this record?'
and he said 'this record is bad' which means it's good, you know,
and it just took off, in a, it started off in the discos and then
the black stations picked up on in it in New York and Chicago and
the whole thing went crazy
Tommy: You do quite a number of concerts, quite a lot of work on
the road
Roger: Yeah, awful lot this year, seems like we haven't stopped,
we did a huge American tour, and then we had a, a few weeks off,
in which I've just almost completed a solo album, and we're also
doing 'Flash Gordon' in between coming back from America and then
we've just done the first half of a European tour, now we're in
England, and then we've got to go back to Europe for Christmas,
so get back in time for Christmas dinner and then, then I think
we're off to Japan and South America
[Excerpt of 'Airheads' in the background]
Tommy: Would it be feasible to suggest that there will be
synthesisers on the next studio album?
Roger: Oh yeah almost certainly because there's so much synth on
this, it all started when I bought this synthesiser last year,
because I was going to use it on my album, which I have done, and
we ended up using a bit on The Game, but with, there's a lot of
'Flash' was done using the synthesiser, with the help of it
Tommy: So it won't be a question of the sleeve notes saying 'no
synths'
Roger: No, can't do that anymore
Tommy: You've blown that one up. Maybe you just don't only want
to be a rock 'n' roll band, maybe you would care to be actors at
some time, or
Roger: I don't know about that, you know, we've had our offers,
but basically we want to be a rock 'n' roll band still
Tommy: Really?
Roger: Yeah, we're really happy doing it, and that's what we want
to keep on doing
Tommy: You don't see any, other than the solo projects, any, any
expansion
Roger: Not really a lot, I mean this film thing was very
interesting and you know, if somebody comes up with a really
fascinating offer on another film, perhaps we might think about
that, but um, no we're a rock 'n' roll band and I think we always
will be you know
[Excerpt of 'The Hero']
Tommy: And that's Queen, from the album 'Flash Gordon', the
soundtrack from the film of the same name
Jingle: Tommy Vance
Roy
Thomas Baker 'The Record Producers', BBC Radio 1
Tracks 37-40. Total length 10:33.
This interview was with Andy Peebles and was broadcast in the
early 1980's. It is divided into four parts, and features
excerpts of 'Keep Yourself Alive', 'Seven Seas Of Rhye', 'Killer
Queen', 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and an unknown track by the band Jet.
Narrator: Welcome, once again, to The Record Producers
[Excerpt of 'Keep Yourself Alive']
Narrator: Queen, their first single from their first album. It
was produced for them in 1973 by Roy Thomas Baker, and marked the
beginning of their joint rise to international success. By that
time, Baker had been in recording as an engineer for some ten
years, working first on the staff of Decca Records, and then as
an engineer with Trident Studios. He maintains that he always
wanted to be a producer, and that engineering was the means to
that end. Whatever the case, he managed to get his first real
production credit in 1972, of a Nazereth album, 'Exercises'.
Queen followed very quickly
Roy: It was whilst I was producing their second album that a
brand new studio in, in London had opened up, called De Lane Lea
in Wembley and, and there was a, a band there which consisted of
two members of an old band produced by a partner of mine, the
partner was called John Anthony, two of the members of this band
called Smile, so he said 'oh, why don't you go along and just
look at the band while you're at it and just see what you think
of them' and I said 'well, you know, I don't mind looking at the
band, but I'm more concerned about looking at the studio, because
it's a brand new studio', and that was, so anyway I went along
with Robin Cable, and this band had done a deal with De Lane Lea,
to, you know, they, they went in there, and they played around
and everything, and meant the engineers could play with the
equipment to see if the equipment worked [unknown dialogue], and
at the end of it they'd get the tape. This band at that time were
toying with the idea of calling themselves Queen, um, I walked
in, they were doing a song called 'Keep Yourself Alive', as a
demo, and I, I said 'oh, this is fabulous, wonderful, what a
great song', I totally forgot about what the studio was like
altogether, and was suddenly turned onto the band called, this
band called Queen, no deal, nothing going for them at all, really
just sitting there, just doing these little demos, but the demos
were great, they were doing twenty four track demos and it was
fun, and they were all jovial, you know, they were, they were,
you know, having good time making it, and I was very, very
impressed. Obviously one thing led to another and I managed to
start negotiations going with them through the guys of Trident,
so they said 'OK fine, we'll do an album with them', so we did
the album, the first Queen album, in total downtime from,
literally from 10 o'clock in the morning through 1 o'clock in the
afternoon, coming back at 4 o'clock in the morning, oh it was
horrible, but that's how the first Queen album came together, and
that was, that was the start of my relationship with Queen
Andy: Whilst the first single 'Keep Yourself Alive' was a success
in the United States, Queen had to wait for their second album
before coming up with a hit single for Britain, and that was
'Seven Seas Of Rhye'
[Excerpt of 'Seven Seas Of Rhye']
Andy: Queen's first big hit from March of 1974, 'Seven Seas Of
Rhye'. What was it in particular that had attracted Baker to them
less than eighteen months before?
Roy: It was a question of, of depth of melodies, use of guitars
and vocals, using vocals as an instrument, because I've always,
I've always liked big vocals, I always have done, you know, that
was one of the striking points that I liked about it, plus the
fact that they were, they were very bolshy, they were very over
the top, they were very aggressive, they also had pent up
frustrations the same as I did, because obviously I'd lots of
production ideas, they had lots of musical ideas, they wanted to
put all their musical ideas onto a record, I wanted to put all my
production ideas onto a record, and the pure fact that we teamed
together, obviously we did the first album, I told you in
downtime, so we never, still never quite got it out of our
systems, but when it came to 'Queen II', which I don't know
whether you're aware of, or know about, or heard of, we did
things like, you know, 'Dance Of The Black Queen', and things
like that, I mean it's got every concievable musical and, and
production technique on that song alone, and everything got,
everything we just went over the top with that album, and that's
a very good album, even today's contemporary
Andy: Despite criticism of their glam rock posturing, Queen went
from strength to strength, and with Baker's assistance, came up
with album number three, and achieved gold sales in the United
States with 'Sheer Heart Attack'
Roy: If you imagine what was actually going through our minds,
during the 'Queen' period, obviously with their frustrations
musically, and my frustrations production wise, the first Queen
album as I mentioned was down in downtime, so there was no real
chance to express ourselves on any particular big level, apart
from just getting the songs onto tape, the second album, which
people didn't like at the time, because they thought of it being
over the top, which of course it was, but that was, we designed
it to be over the top, it had every concievable production idea
that was ever available for us at that time, machinery has now
been invented to be able to make the job of us doing that second
album easier but if we hadn't done that second album, a lot of
this song machinery, like some of the phlanges and phasers, and
things to do back, things back, would not have been invented.
The, the idea of 'Queen III' was, right lets just get together,
let's get some songs out there for once, you know, real little
short songs, 'Killer Queen', and it was very successful on that
level, very few of the production techniques we used, they were
used, but they weren't used to such great extents, you know I
mean, the track of say 'Killer Queen', if 'Killer Queen' would
have been done a year earlier and was on 'Queen II', it would
have been probably phased from beginning to end, but it was just
used on, on one word, 'laserbeam', that was the only thing it was
used on, um, the whole idea obviously of 'Sheer Heart Attack' was
just purely for the guys to see whether they can get together and
write nice, short, wonderful, down to earth, hit songs, and they
did
[Excerpt of 'Killer Queen']
Andy: 'Killer Queen', a magnificent track, and one which allowed
Queen to show their paces without the benefit of kitchen sink
production. In 1973 and 4, Baker was at his busiest, producing
albums also for Man, Richard Myhill, Lindesfarne, Hustler, a
Danish band Gasoline, and a band called Jet
[Excerpt of an unknown track, probably by Jet]
Andy: Jet proved to be a passing interest, not only to the
public, but to Roy Thomas Baker
Andy: Queen, on the other hand, were here to stay, and album
number four, 'A Night At The Opera', proved to be one of their
finest efforts
Roy: 'Night At The Opera', now that was fun, we'd all gone
through tunnels of frustration, we'd got the songs, the album
previous, and all our over production things, so we decided to do
something which was have a lot of the aspects of 'Queen II', a
lot of the aspects of the third Queen album, put them together to
do 'A Night At The Opera', and what happened was that I'd go to
Freddie's house on occasions and he would say 'oh I've written
this new song' and he would sit at the piano and he'd say, and
he'd sing bits of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and he'd say 'and this is
where the opera section comes in', and of course I just laughed,
you know, because it was the funniest thing, it's the funniest
line I've ever heard in my life, and of course everybody laughs
when you hear that, he said 'but it's only gonna be a few, you
know like, just a, you know, half a minute opera section or so',
anyway that half a minute of opera section ended up being, you
know, hours of opera section, it was great having, you know,
'Bohemian Rhapsody', and that was seven minutes long, and not
just, it had, it's a great song, we had all the aspects of 'Queen
II' in it, in respect of all the over production techniques that
we all got, got to love, lots of vocals everywhere and guitars
everywhere, plus the fact it was a good song, plus the fact that
it had that amazing opera section in the middle, which is really,
really funny. During actually making the album, we, we came to a
sort of lull in the proceedings, sitting down, a few arguments
amongst some of us, so I just said listen let's, let's call the
thing to a halt, let's go back, I, I'd rented this house in
Wales, just, just up the road from Rockfield, and I had a video
machine up there, and one of the, one of the things that we, I
had on tape was 'A Night At The Opera', Marx Brothers 'A Night At
The Opera', so we all went up there, and of course everybody was
feeling miserable, and nobody wanted to come up at all anyway, so
I said 'oh just come up, I've got a video machine, we'll put the
video on and get drunk or do something stupid', and I put on the,
the, the film 'Night At The Opera', and it cheered everyone up,
and they all laughed about it, and I think it was, it was either
Freddie or Roger Taylor, I can't remember which one, said 'we
should call the album 'A Night At The Opera'', just as a joke,
just as a joke, and then, and then, I turned round and said,
'yeah, that sounds pretty funny, yeah, I like that idea', and
everyone else said 'oh it sounds funny aswell', and that's why
the album got it's name, it was a combination of the fact that
there was, there was an opera section in the middle of 'Bohemian
Rhapsody' and plus the fact that we'd been watching 'A Night At
The Opera' on one of those dull moments
[Excerpt of 'Bohemian Rhapsody']
Andy: 'Bohemian Rhapsody' spent nine weeks at number one in
Britain, something that had not happened for over twenty years.
The track of epic proportions, it was seven minutes long, finally
gave Queen the stature in Britain that they'd already enjoyed
elsewhere
Roy: The whole of the, the first section was recorded as the
first section, the rock section at the end was recorded as the
rock section, and the middle section was just sort of bits of
drums now and again and basically edits, and we just lengthened
that middle section depending on what vocals were put in, because
Freddie would come up with amazing ideas, he'd walk in and sort
of say 'oh I've got some new vocal ideas, we'll stick a few
gallileos in here' and things like that, and so gallileos became,
became our definable, um, that, that sort of, that middle section
got longer and longer and longer, we kept adding bits of blank
tape on it to make it longer, but it was done actually in three
sections, and it was done, the actual basic recording was done
over a two day period of the, the basic backing track, the opera
section obviously was done over more like a seven day period of,
you know, we're talking about ten to twelve hours a day continual
singing, and also continual laughing, because it was really quite
funny to do those, it was funny, I mean we were all in hysterics
when it was being recorded, I mean it was, it was, it was funny,
it really is a very, very funny section. It took getting on for
two days to mix the thing aswell, and that's not even counting
all the overdubs with the guitars, you can imagine the overdubs
on the guitars aswell, I would say that track on it's own took
getting on for three weeks, because there's guitar overdubs, the
basic vocal overdubs, the centre section, because it is three
songs, it's three songs merged together to make this, this track,
and it was, I would say, definitely counted in the mixing time
and everything else, definitely I would say over three weeks
Narrator: Despite the success and acclaim of both album and
single, Baker and Queen parted company, although he returned to
them three years later to produce another album 'Jazz'
[Excerpt of an unknown track, probably by Jet]
Narrator: The Record Producers is introduced by Andy Peebles,
researched by John Tobler and produced by Stuart Grundy
