| fras444 12.05.2018 22:11 |
There is a quite famous line Freddie said in an interview regarding playing songs differently live than like on album and how various people were upset by that and Freddie saying along the lines of.. "we might as well just play the whole damn record on show and not be there...." A part of that is true... Then for a comment like "we are a very well rehursed and professional band..." Queen never played a song exactly like they did on record... they couldn't because of all the overdubs (if it was a song like STL) Although the song never sounded like a album version, it was very close to it. But Queen never was a band like Led Zep, a band that could jam out a 4 min song into a 20min master peice. Did Queen ever had the edge or the ability to jam out a long version of their songs.. I know that Liar and to an extent... White Queen are good examples... and they sounded beautiful but what stopped Queen from giving most of their songs that treatment? Could they have turned many short songs into some beautiful and long jammed out masterpieces? I read on here that Brian was actually a very nervous musician and was terible at improvising solos on the spot in fear of fucking it up, Also someone mentioned in the ABBA vs Queen post.. saying led zep jams were in reality just pointless long boring piano bass guitar drums that went really nowhere. I guess I do like the fact that Queen could do an amazing live version of their songs and cram in alot of songs from various albums, short sharp and sweet. But also I do love their extended jams in their earlier years on a very select few songs especially White Queen. But it's from that song and Liar, I feel like queen could have definitely been an amazing band live and have an edge to really do some justice to some long live jams... the edge and excitment through Freddies ability on piano, Brian's beautiful and precise guitar work and his melodies, John's magic with his bare fingers and Rogers sometimes underrated drumming. Where Led Zep.. I hear more and more that they are.. sometimes regarded as a bit too loose, sloppy or lazy.... Queen could have had a more refined and professional edge to jaming on stage |
| mike hunt 12.05.2018 22:19 |
How about the simple pop song of A Kind Of Magic turned into a long Epic version on the Magic tour? I think they were Jamming nicely on that one. |
| fras444 12.05.2018 23:05 |
That was actually a good jam that they did for that song I totally forgot about it!! Thanks Mike. It would have been interesting to see John without using the pick on the Saturday as on the Friday show when he was using his fingers... (Prefer him with his fingers than a pick... Feel like he has more freedom to improvise more than being limited when using a pick) Especially when him and Brian were jamming away, John looked a little more limited to what he could achieve, maybe he would have been the same or maybe we would have seen him running up and down the fret board more and following Brian if he was using his fingers?? |
| Cruella de Vil 13.05.2018 00:08 |
My favourite Queen jam songs were, Great King Rat, Father to Son, the lead into and out of the guitar solo in Son and Daughter, White Queen, Now I'm Here, Sweet Lady and sometimes See What a Fool I've Been. In terms of 'extended jams', their best moments for me were in Liar. Here John provided the right stability while Brian and Roger bounced off each other, buoyed by Freddie's energy. |
| OhioMustapha 13.05.2018 01:25 |
Get Down Make Love? |
| dysan 13.05.2018 07:51 |
These are jams in the loosest sense - they were rigidly structured and didn't differ that much night to night. Listen to Rock In Rio Blues and Impromptu to see how imaginative and amazing they were when jamming together. |
| fras444 13.05.2018 08:20 |
^ all of those above are good jams but like you said dysan.... They are jams in the loosest sense.... but apart from the 70s stuff they were quite consistent from night to night. |
| Jekaling 13.05.2018 08:40 |
How about CLTCL ? With Spike on the piano it’s a nice jam I guess. |
| dysan 13.05.2018 09:26 |
Yeah but that was just playing the song really. |
| cmsdrums 13.05.2018 11:42 |
The full studio version of Stealin' is pretty 'jammy' |
| The Real Wizard 13.05.2018 14:42 |
Queen were not a jam band. If you want to hear a jam band, listen to Zeppelin or the Grateful Dead. Jamming is often high risk, high reward. When Zeppelin were clean and focused at their peak, their jams would be glorious and they could do no wrong (example, Europe 1973). When they weren't (most of 1975-80), they were a mess (Page, mostly - see: heroin). And they just got less hungry, as being labelled the best band in the world can do that to you. But I digress. This thread is about Queen. Even on the best of nights, Queen's jams in tunes like Liar and Brighton Rock were high energy but didn't really go anywhere. And it's fine, because it didn't need to. For a few minutes per night they could vamp on a couple chords and let it rip. But they just couldn't compare to, say, Pink Floyd, who played most of their songs differently from night to night with regularity and ease. The Allman Brothers Band and Phish are also good examples of this. More recent examples are Gov't Mule and Umphrey's McGee. They're just leagues beyond whatever Queen considered improvisation in their day. But of course this isn't a bad thing. Queen were about the presentation, and as the years went on they were less musically inventive and took less risks. When you saw Queen back then just once on a tour, you knew you were seeing a fantastic band. But if we listen back to the bootlegs even as early as 1974, every night was nearly the same. There's a reason why they rehearsed for weeks and rarely went off script. They were at their best in the studio when they spent months composing and refining their arrangements. But this isn't really a criticism - it's just a different methodology. There's a reason why Queen are seen an innovator in arena/stadium rock. They wrote the book on production by marrying rock with musical theatre. Their MO was just completely different. |
| dysan 13.05.2018 15:10 |
For the record 'Listen to Rock In Rio Blues and Impromptu to see how imaginative and amazing they were when jamming together.' was tongue in cheek. |
| The Real Wizard 13.05.2018 15:13 |
dysan wrote: For the record 'Listen to Rock In Rio Blues and Impromptu to see how imaginative and amazing they were when jamming together.' was tongue in cheek.Thank god. It's just a meandering vamp on two chords that goes nowhere. I can't believe they kept that thing in the set for years. It was a springboard for Freddie to jump up and down the octaves, but it was pretty blase more often than it was interesting. |
| Chopin1995 13.05.2018 17:53 |
link |
| Sam99 13.05.2018 18:19 |
Thanks very much Bob, you really do have a lot of musical depth, I really learn from your posts. When I was young I used to love Jams, the likes of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, Queen really didn't seem that much into jams. However, with maturity, or old age perhaps I now find those long jams tedious, where once I could happily listen to, or watch Dazed and Confused and Moby Dick they really were of their time. However, hand on heart having seen many, many bands Queen were quite simply a well oiled, slick entertainment machine when I saw them on The Works tour they quite simply eclipsed everything I had seen before or since, including themselves on the Magic Tour, I'm not being sycophantic, I am sure there were many musical mistakes, but they were entertaining, However, I simply love listening to Queen bootlegs i just wish they would indulge us with a landmark live release. |
| dysan 13.05.2018 18:20 |
To be honest, when I had Rare Live in '89 I was young enough to think they were just making it all up on the spot. Such is the magic of being a kid. |
| The Real Wizard 13.05.2018 19:28 |
Sam99 wrote: Thanks very much Bob, you really do have a lot of musical depth, I really learn from your posts. dysan wrote: To be honest, when I had Rare Live in '89 I was young enough to think they were just making it all up on the spot. Such is the magic of being a kid.These two posts make me feel like the Grinch who stole Christmas. Maybe ignorance is bliss. But it sure is fun listening critically and learning. |
| dysan 13.05.2018 19:47 |
Of course. |
| Supersonic_Man89 13.05.2018 20:56 |
Surprised no one's mentioned the Spread Your Wings demos/BBC versions... loving the jam at the end of those! |
| MemeOverlord69 13.05.2018 22:48 |
Brighton Rock from the Jazz Tour always contains nice 4 minute jams in there somewhere. Brian, John, and Roger all do their thing and play off each other. Complete improvisation. Vancouver 1978 and Osaka 1979 showcase this quite well. |
| cmsdrums 14.05.2018 08:46 |
The Real Wizard wrote: Queen were not a jam band. If you want to hear a jam band, listen to Zeppelin or the Grateful Dead. Jamming is often high risk, high reward. When Zeppelin were clean and focused at their peak, their jams would be glorious and they could do no wrong (example, Europe 1973). When they weren't (most of 1975-80), they were a mess (Page, mostly - see: heroin). And they just got less hungry, as being labelled the best band in the world can do that to you. But I digress. This thread is about Queen. Even on the best of nights, Queen's jams in tunes like Liar and Brighton Rock were high energy but didn't really go anywhere. And it's fine, because it didn't need to. For a few minutes per night they could vamp on a couple chords and let it rip. But they just couldn't compare to, say, Pink Floyd, who played most of their songs differently from night to night with regularity and ease. The Allman Brothers Band and Phish are also good examples of this. More recent examples are Gov't Mule and Umphrey's McGee. They're just leagues beyond whatever Queen considered improvisation in their day. But of course this isn't a bad thing. Queen were about the presentation, and as the years went on they were less musically inventive and took less risks. When you saw Queen back then just once on a tour, you knew you were seeing a fantastic band. But if we listen back to the bootlegs even as early as 1974, every night was nearly the same. There's a reason why they rehearsed for weeks and rarely went off script. They were at their best in the studio when they spent months composing and refining their arrangements. But this isn't really a criticism - it's just a different methodology. There's a reason why Queen are seen an innovator in arena/stadium rock. They wrote the book on production by marrying rock with musical theatre. Their MO was just completely different.Can't argue with any of that Sir - well put. |