| John S Stuart 18.02.2010 07:43 |
Just a few disjointed thoughts and ideas. Nothing new, but perhaps it can start the discussion ball rolling. 1: Whether the Queen archives are as loaded as Aladdin’s cave, or as empty as an old witch’s tit – it matters not. Nothing is ever going to be released anyway. Entering into this sort of guessing game is like trying to find Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Even if they do exist – they were never intended to be shared amongst the plebs anyhow. Am I the only one who can see beyond the veil – and that the rumours of both were a mere ruse to con the public into buying into yet another bullsh*t product? 2: Queen Archivist – I mean what’s that all about? This position is not really in the same league as Silke Ackermann the British Museum’s Curator of European and Islamic scientific instruments, Arms and Armour (late medieval and post-medieval), Measurement or Judy Rudoe the Curator of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Collections; jewellery, silver, engraved gems from 1660; textiles and other East European/Balkan collections from the former department of Ethnography – is it? Think about it. What we have here is the grand cataloguer of Queen audio tapes – or in other words – a glorified librarian. How long do you think that job would take to achieve? I mean it’s not as if this is an infinite position of infinite possibilities. Once catalogued, that’s it – job over – finito. A good librarian should be able to do this in a few weeks – months at tops, and it’s not as if new material is being discovered or returned on a daily basis. Again, really think about it. If one had any personal collection which needed to be catalogued (CDs, DVDs or stamps even), by far, the largest chunk of time consumed would be spent in the initial setting up stages. Once that is achieved, the job for all intents and purposes is over – and since it is almost 10 years since the release of the Freddie box set – what has remained to be archived in the interim period? As Greg has clearly stated in here many times: He does not work for Queen Productions, but is self employed - so what is it he actually does to earn his living now? I guess a few conventions or consultations now and again may pay generous one-off fees, but it’s hardly a dependable salary. Rather, I think his fifteen minutes are over, and that is why Queen Productions allow him to behave in the way he does. 3: Let’s be honest here. Queen are well past their sell buy date. Even the hugely publicised nostalgic back catalogue CD of ‘Absolute Sh*te’ was still not enough to keep even Susan Boyle from the top slot. I mean, what is that all about - when a Scottish council tenant can keep Freddie from Number One? Surely that must send a very loud and clear message to someone – somewhere – that you just cannot keep expecting to pollute the music stream with the same old effluent and sit back and wait for the profits to amass? If that really is the case, is it any wonder that EMI have such massive debts? Finally: I guess what I really want to say is – is it only me who can see how low Queen, their fans and their expectations have sunk? Can they really consistently pump out perpetual crap based on the false promise that ‘Someday, One Day’, something better will come along, or (as Ted used to say) when will we waken up, smell the coffee, and realise that we are all part of one big marketing con? |
| emrabt 18.02.2010 08:00 |
The expectations are so low, yet they STILL haven’t been fulfilled. It’s true in many fanbases, not just queen, it’s left up to the fans to give out good products. We expect more from this forum than queen productions nowadays. Queen productions is a long running joke. |
| rubens 18.02.2010 09:18 |
Is there any real proof that Queen Archivist is Greg? |
| rubens 18.02.2010 09:19 |
I mean, he can be just a troll... |
| John S Stuart 18.02.2010 09:32 |
rubens wrote: I mean, he can be just a troll... rubens: Yes, the archivist who posts in here really is Greg. Like others in this forum I can vouch for his authenticty from personal contact and e-mails. So even if you do not believe in 'him', there is a small army of people in here who know that he is the 'real deal'. But even if he was a troll impersonator - so what? At the end of the day, what difference would it make - the position is still redundant and now serves no useful purpose. |
| tcc 18.02.2010 09:41 |
I see it this way. The fans want the old filmed concerts to be released in good quality dvds. There must be good reasons why those old shows are not released yet in dvds but we do not know what the reasons are. The problem with the band is that all four members have equal rights and all four must agree on everything before anything is released but no one in the band now is interested enough to persuade the others or to seek a compromise to overcome those reasons. |
| John S Stuart 18.02.2010 09:47 |
emrabt wrote: We expect more from this forum than queen productions nowadays. embrabt: That sir is the real essence of my point. When you really stop to think about it - how sad an indictment is that? Furthermore: When one considers the evaporation of 'big hitters' like PG, Georg Purvis, and Mr. Scully... the infrequent visits from the likes of Sebastian, Sir GH, Pittrek, Joxter, Fatty (and myself included) - only to be replaced with the spamming of the friendly 'Queenzone Ghost' - even this place here is beginning to look a bit worse for wear. |
| Negative Creep 18.02.2010 10:39 |
Oh come off it - you know QPL like to "keep it in the family", whether the people involved know what they're doing or not. Suddenly, when the Cross ended, Josh McRae, who was a drummer Roger picked up via a press advert, is involved in Roger's production work and now Q+PR - when there's nothing to suggest he's any good. Same With JSS - how many more dull sounding, poorly compressed recordings does he have to make before Brian or Roger realise they could out source the job and get it done properly? Why repeatedly pay Richard Gray extortionate amounts to produce shit artwork any cunt could come up with? Greg Brooks has a job for life with them - production credits on songs he has no involvement in, writing liner notes, annual convention jobs etc. Despite all the tapes have long been catalogued, you can bet Greg ensures he's at the studio when it gets transferred etc etc and probably ends up getting paid for attending! A cushy number indeed. QPL couldn't give a fuck what he writes on here, because they couldn't give a flying fuck about their repuation amongst Queen fans. |
| rubens 18.02.2010 10:44 |
" So even if you do not believe in 'him', there is a small army of people in here who know that he is the 'real deal'. " Don't get me wrong... I'm not doubting...I belive in you and a lot other people here who really know what talking about (like Sebastian, Sir GH and Pittrek) . I just asked because he seems to appear just to annoy people...you know, like a troll. "Furthermore: When one considers the evaporation of 'big hitters' like PG, Georg Purvis, and Mr. Scully... the infrequent visits from the likes of Sebastian, Sir GH, Pittrek, Joxter, Fatty (and myself included) - only to be replaced with the spamming of the friendly 'Queenzone Ghost' - even this place here is beginning to look a bit worse for wear." You are right. And it already shows the effects of the position adopetd by QP. If they continue to treat old fans like shit Queen will over with no fan at all. I'm a Queen fan for 20 years know and the majority of my collection are boots. So I never received anything really worthy by the official channel. If the situation stay as it is I will get tired of waiting as many people have... It's a real shame considering that for me, Queen will always be the best band ever. |
| mike hunt 18.02.2010 10:55 |
Oh please!....give it a rest.....Everyone knows that once freddie died it was all over. The rest of them don't know what the hell they're doing. At least we got made in heaven. |
| emrabt 18.02.2010 11:30 |
mike hunt wrote: Oh please!....give it a rest.....Everyone knows that once freddie died it was all over. The rest of them don't know what the hell they're doing. At least we got made in heaven. Well I think John Deacon made sure of some quality control within the music and the business in general. It may just be a coincidence, but there was a certain production standard, even after Freddies death which ended roughly the time Deacon left. With the music, the stuff in the 90’s, although there wasn’t much of it, including "made in heaven" and "no one but you" had the Queen feel to it. Deacon leaves the group and things go down hill, and get worse with every release, for example: Live at Wembley, really well put together, the best DVD for features by far. Live at the bowl, not bad, includes a disc with a couple of archive interviews, which could fit all fit on one disc. Then we have queen + everybody, rehash after rehash after rehash. Half the live aid rehearsal with bad sound Live in Montréal, with unrelated extras from a different period altogether and half the live aid rehearsal with bad sound. I'm not sure when John decided to call it a night, 2000 - 2002, but i'm almost certian he was active in the behind the scenes production of live at wembley? |
| mike hunt 18.02.2010 12:40 |
Nah, I think john called it quits after "no one but you" But i get you're point. When he was still active they made much better choices..... They did ok with the DVD's. They're only missing a 70's show. Then The DVD Collection is complete. Maybe Greatest hits 3. My problem is not releasing the boxset, while still releasing greatest hit packages. Especially Absolute greatest, and the singles collection. I want that Anthology, and I want it now. |
| mooghead 18.02.2010 14:06 |
John S Stuart wrote: 2: Queen Archivist – I mean what’s that all about? This position is not really in the same league as Silke Ackermann the British Museum’s Curator of European and Islamic scientific instruments, Arms and Armour (late medieval and post-medieval), Measurement or Judy Rudoe the Curator of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Collections; jewellery, silver, engraved gems from 1660; textiles and other East European/Balkan collections from the former department of Ethnography – is it? Yeah, but I know which job I would rather have. |
| people on streets 18.02.2010 14:24 |
John S Stuart wrote: ) when will we waken up, smell the coffee, and realise that we are all part of one big marketing con? I did that a long time ago already. |
| Pim Derks 18.02.2010 14:48 |
[quote] I guess a few conventions or consultations now and again may pay generous one-off fees, but it’s hardly a dependable salary. [/quote] I know he did work on the boxset of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds a couple of years back - which I greatly enjoyed. Very similar to the way the Freddie boxset was set up, with the original albums expanded with interviews, alternate takes and remixes - along with an extensive book. Highly recommended. |
| Micrówave 18.02.2010 16:58 |
Well, John, I certainly hope you don't stop posting. Seems like the only time we get something "real" out of the Archivist is when he takes a pot shot at you, then you put him in his place, razzle him, and he gives us something out of anger without knowing it. My problem with Greg is he likes to take credit for putting things in order. Things that other people, such as you, have spent many hours/days/years obtaining. And then he big-time's you. Then, two weeks later, he's asking for assistance again. |
| woodi485485 19.02.2010 04:40 |
Since the death of Freddie, in my opinion, Queen Productions Limited have produced some excellent products, as well as some utterly crap products. I have welcomed with open arms the Live Concerts, with more hopefully to come in the future, but I despise the singles collection and have refused to accept with a passion, Absolute Greatest. This album does not do what it ‘says on the tin’, as there is no Innuendo, therefore it is flawed from the off. Even if Innuendo was on the album, I still wouldn’t touch it on the principal that Queen Productions Limited and the Record Label have been milking fans for years with the regurgitation of the ‘Hits Package’ in album form or single form. Any Company that is worth its salt, will know what its Customers want. In Queen Productions Limited’s case, they should know that it isn’t tripe such as Absolute Greatest that the fans want. However, the problem from a fan’s point of view, is that Absolute Greatest is released on the run up to Christmas and it’s a great stocking filler as a present, which guarantees big sales, Absolute Greatest goes Platinum (however many times) and a big profit are recorded for QPL and the Record Label. Roger asked recently what happened to the protest song and he released Everything is Broken, a very good rant of a song indeed. As one of the three Directors of Queen Productions Limited, maybe, just maybe, Roger might want to step away from his position at QPL and look at Queen Forums and see what Queen fans (the true customers) are crying out for, he may then realise that Queen Productions Limited itself is broken. Brian, Roger and John are loaded and the legacy of Queen is there for eternity. Hopefully, ‘someday, one day’, they will be free of the shackles of EMI and they will be able to release something for Queen fans, not the Public....... I hope that day comes sooner, rather than later. |
| Penetration_Guru 10.03.2010 04:34 |
Right, I've read through all of the recent Archivist arguments, and I'd like to make a couple of points. 1. GB was going to conventions before he was QA - I doubt he gets paid to attend now. 2. The fact that he has almost certainly catalogued all tapes by now is utterly irrelevant. There will still be enough work to keep him busy for years - squirrelling away at foreign TV companies for rumoured footage, writing liner notes for something that may or may not exist, pulling together a proposal for something that someone said they might think about releasing someday, trying to track back to master versions of bootleg recordings. Just because it doesn't end up in HMV doesn't mean there isn't stuff happening. 3. I'm repeating myself, but I think it's a shame that the reasonable questions so often get ignored in favour of arguments with namecallers. |
| Regor 10.03.2010 14:42 |
This is really tiring. I have not contributed for a long time, but have read, as most of you, all these threads. I very much respect JSS and Greg, because of their incredibly huge knowledge and contribution to this forum (as long as it is just about Queen’s music). But what gives us the right to judge decisions by QPL? I used to play in a band, we recorded an album, played quite a lot of gigs, but we never made it. BUT: If that band had been successful, I would never react to anybody commanding me to do anything. And honestly: some of the things discussed here I would consider insulting, to say the least. As Freddie is dead, there is nothing new to release, and a possible Box set is their decision. If they would release an album full of farting noises, they can, because they CAN! And if they don’t want to, they’re entitled not to do it! It’s all the product of their creativity and no-one was forced to buy the stuff, neither is forced today to buy the re-re-re-re-re-releases of “Greatest Whatever”. It may be sell out, it may be boring, but I can stick to those wonderful recordings 1973-1995. QPR was their right. They are musicians. They want to play. Period. No-one told me to buy TCR, and actually I didn’t. But I saw them in Cologne 2005, and it was great. Now it’s over. Also great. I also do not agree with a lot of what they do (and thus release), and discussing it is absolutely okay, but sometimes people here make the impression that they tend to think they can blame the band members for not doing what they want them to do. But I would never ever doubt that the guys are thankful for what they have achieved, which of course to a large extend is because we, the fans, bought the stuff, but: they could’ve also been critics’ darlings, charting Top 50 and less, play the Leverkusen Jazz Festival every year, and make a living of it! In the end we did buy their music because we wanted to. No offense to anyone, just my 2 cents. Peace and cheers. ;-) |