We know that "Mother Love" was Freddie's last song he sang on and "A Winter's Tale" is the last one he wrote. What is the first Queen song that Freddie recorded?
pittrek wrote: Maybe Polar Bear ? Or the De Lane Lea demos ?
I never heard about when the Freddie vocals for Polar Bear where rcorded and according to Queen bio the De lane Lea sessions where the first time the band ever recorded in a studio. They could have made private demos in a home recorder as many bands do. But the De Lane lea tracks are regarded as the first studio creations.
Feel free to correct me though, I am aware that I'm not the most knowlegable person regarding this subject. I bet Lester's book covers this issue though.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was Barry Mitchell who played bass on Queen's version of "Polar Bear", whereas by the time the De Lane Lea demos were recorded John Deacon had already been in the band for a while. This would mean that "Polar Bear" is earlier than the De Lane Lea demos.
EDIT: I've just read in an interview with B. Mitchell (posted by John S Stuart on QueenOnline Message Board) that he actually didn't play on "Polar Bear".
There are NO studio recordings from before the dates of the De Lane Lea sessions. So, whichever one of those was completed first would be the first completed Queen song recorded by Freddie.
Thank you all so much for the info. Being a big Queen fan, I am trying to find all and I do mean ALL of their songs, I already have all their albums so I am looking for live tracks, demos of released and unreleased songs, remixes and extended mixes. As The song says "I Want It All" Anyway, Thank you all very much for the info.
Sebastian wrote: Yes, according to Dr May it's KYA. But we can't always trust his less-than-accurate memory.
We can only make educated guesses. Certainly I would've recorded Keep Yourself Alive first out of that batch of songs... not to say that much of the album was extraordinarily complex, but a song like "Liar" has lots of bits to remember. Keep Yourself Alive, logically speaking, would be the one to start on.
Of course, you're correct - they really could've gone with any one of those songs.
Sebastian wrote: Yes, according to Dr May it's KYA. But we can't always trust his less-than-accurate memory.
We can only make educated guesses. Certainly I would've recorded Keep Yourself Alive first out of that batch of songs... not to say that much of the album was extraordinarily complex, but a song like "Liar" has lots of bits to remember. Keep Yourself Alive, logically speaking, would be the one to start on.
Of course, you're correct - they really could've gone with any one of those songs.
First: let me state categorically that personally, I think both Sebastian and Zebonka12 are indeed correct, so I fully agree with their views.
However, can I also say that this perception is founded upon our 'best guess' - filtered from all known sources and publically available information - but it is still 'possible' that some hitherto unknown data could be produced to indicate otherwise.
Second: Without the input of Greg here (though I am amiss as to why answering this particular question could be viewed as 'box-set damaging'), I think that stepping first-time into a new studio would be a daunting experience for any band, and that the first few 'run-throughs' would not be new or experimental material - but good solid 'old faithfuls' - tried, trusted and 'perfectly' delivered.
So working from the above model (remember even the likes of the 'Beatles', the 'Stones' and 'Led Zepp' - debut LP's all consisted of a large number of good solid cover versions) it is highly possible that Queen too followed the same route.
If that WAS the case, perhaps 'Polar Bear' (a cover of an old 'Smile' track), Liar (an old 'Ibex' cover/re-write) or even the 'Rock 'n roll' medley (which was a live staple at the time - and definately recorded at De Lane Lea) COULD be more likely candidates - but I have no evidence to support this - other than it would have been easier for the band to record a couple of old standards first, before moving onto newer and more complex material.
But without any further evidence to support this theory, I think that the 'Keep Yourself Alive' school is indeed the most likely.