| Holly2003 26.02.2010 13:06 |
Some Queen songs really found a new lease of life when played live. I'm thinking here of WWRY (fast). Spread Your Wings, Love of My Life, 39 and A Kind of Magic. Spread Your Wings is fantastic live. Apparently they did two different versions, the Livekillers slow tempo and on the American leg of the NOTW tour, a version similar to the 1977 BBC sessions, when they quicken the tempo at the end of the guitar solo. Great stuff! |
| emrabt 26.02.2010 13:21 |
Somebody to love. |
| Gregsynth 26.02.2010 13:34 |
Radio Ga Ga. |
| cmsdrums 26.02.2010 14:57 |
I presume we need to keep this to songs that were not particularly great on record, but sparkled live, as opposed to just out favourite live tracks? Staying Power Keep Yourself Alive A Kind of Magic (which is almost a complete reimagining as a mid paced rock number, as opposed to the very much pop single) |
| mike hunt 26.02.2010 16:22 |
brighton rock, love of my life, somebody to love, radio ga ga, a kind of magic....Brighton rock for it's much longer guitar solo.......love of my life for obvious reasons...one of my all time favorite tunes in studio and live.......A kind of magic is a good pop song in the studio, but live turns into a epic 70's styled gem |
| david (galashiels) 26.02.2010 18:38 |
staying power.and it,s late ..it,s late live.very rocking and heavy. |
| mike hunt 26.02.2010 19:39 |
I agree with staying power...A decent studio song is so much heavier live. |
| Fly away 26.02.2010 20:33 |
Crazy little thing called love - for the long solo at the end. |
| queenfanbg 27.02.2010 09:04 |
emrabt wrote: Somebody to love. [img=/images/smiley/msn/thumbs_up.gif][/img] |
| paulosham 27.02.2010 09:36 |
Now I'm Here |
| bigV 27.02.2010 09:59 |
"Hammer to Fall" and "Stone Cold Crazy". I never cared for either one in their studio versions, but they sound really awesome when played live! V. |
| pittrek 27.02.2010 11:29 |
Anything from Hot Space, Works, or Magic |
| jamster1111 27.02.2010 11:34 |
Love of my life for sure |
| Jazz 78 27.02.2010 11:40 |
Staying Power, White Queen (never heard a bad version of this) Now I'm Here and We Will Rock You (fast) |
| rubens 27.02.2010 12:27 |
action this day, I want to break free, white queen, tye your mother down, under pressure and a lot more. I love Queen as a live band. |
| Gregsynth 27.02.2010 12:53 |
The live versions of Back Chat piss on the studio version. |
| GratefulFan 27.02.2010 12:59 |
Definitely the Hot Space tracks that were toured. |
| Gregsynth 27.02.2010 13:29 |
Here's a scenario: How would Hot Space do if Queen recorded the ENTIRE first side (the funk/dance stuff), like how they played it live? I'm guessing the album would've been better received. |
| ITSM 27.02.2010 22:25 |
[listu] [li]Put out the fire [li]Dragon Attack [li]'39 [li]Dreamers ball [li]Back chat [li]Staying power [li]Is this this the world we created.......? [/listu] [listu] [li]Crazy little thing called love (not in a good way, I think). [/listu] |
| Matias Merçeauroix 28.02.2010 02:25 |
I love White Queen live! |
| YourValentine 28.02.2010 05:37 |
I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imo - I always skip that. It's even worse when Brian sings it with his fake "this is for Freddie" intro when everybody knows it's for himself and the audience celebrating the "special band-crowd bond" - just awful. My favourite is Now I'm Here from the Live Killer period. Great guitar, raw drums and driving , pounding John Deacon bass, just a great piece of live rock music, much much better than the later version with Spike on keyboards imo. I also like AOBTD from the Magic Tour just preferring the rockier version over the earlier "dance floor - disco" version. |
| dragon-fly 28.02.2010 07:48 |
I always loved Love Of My Life live. Specifically on those tours Q+PR. It's very moving how the audience sings it. Beautiful. I was lucky to be on one of the concerts in 2008. I was amazed how all the people sang it (including myself). Few thousands sing like one. Brian did a good thing performing it. |
| LordOfAllDarkness 28.02.2010 12:45 |
Ogre Battle,39,Staying Power,Calling All Girls,Life is Real,Body Language |
| August R. 01.03.2010 04:04 |
YourValentine wrote: I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imo - I always skip that. I think it's one of those "you had to be there" things. I also skip it always on the record, but when I was actually "there" (in 2005) and sang it with thousands of fellow fans around me, it felt very special. Very emotional experience. BTT, The Works songs always sound somehow sterile on the record, but workwed very well live. I really like I Want To break Free and Radio GaGa live. Same for One Vision. |
| Vali 01.03.2010 04:40 |
White Queen, White Queen and White Queen ! the instrumental section with Freddie on piano is simply superb. I don't like the sound of the guitars in the album version ... the live rendition is close to perfection. Very moving. re Love Of My Life; I get Barb's point. The live version has somehow become a "myth" but, to me, it lacks of the magic from the studio version. The closest I've heard, although it was a mix of both versions, was Extreme's performance at the FM tribute. Nuno Bettencourt did a terrific job adapting the original piano to his guitar performance. Something Brian could never achieve. |
| August R. 01.03.2010 09:56 |
Vali wrote: White Queen, White Queen and White Queen ! Agree, agree and agree! ;) |
| The Real Wizard 01.03.2010 11:59 |
YourValentine wrote: I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imo Exactly. That's why I prefer the earlier versions, before the audience started singing along. The Houston 77 version is pretty gorgeous. |
| Gregsynth 01.03.2010 12:40 |
Sir GH wrote:The Montreal 1981 version is the best.YourValentine wrote: I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imoExactly. That's why I prefer the earlier versions, before the audience started singing along. The Houston 77 version is pretty gorgeous. |
| ParisNair 01.03.2010 14:37 |
YourValentine wrote: I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imoThe original essence of the song is completely lost in the live sing-along, but I do enjoy listeneing the live version too. Especially on the South American tour of the early 80s. Is it in Venezuuela or Argentina, where Freddie is in a Superman t-shirt and the crowd sings the verses alomost all by themseleves, with Freddie just conducting them? The crowd is so huge that you can hear the voices creating a ripple or an echo effect. The atmosphere is positively electric! I haven't watched Q+PR conecerts so didn't know that Brian dedicates it to our Freddie. That doesn;t make sense, and i agree it is artificial. He should dedicate it to the audience, becos this is their time to take the center stage. If Brian wants to dedicate a song to our Freddie, it should be We Are The Champions. |
| ParisNair 01.03.2010 14:41 |
And other songs that took on a life of their own when played live...the Hotspace tracks for sure, and Now I'm here as well. They have used this song in so many different ways. And Under Pressure sounded so refreshing on the David Bowie Reality tour DVD. |
| YourValentine 01.03.2010 15:11 |
August R. wrote:YourValentine wrote: I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imo - I always skip that.I think it's one of those "you had to be there" things. I also skip it always on the record, but when I was actually "there" (in 2005) and sang it with thousands of fellow fans around me, it felt very special. Very emotional experience. BTT, The Works songs always sound somehow sterile on the record, but workwed very well live. I really like I Want To break Free and Radio GaGa live. Same for One Vision. August R - I saw LOML once in 1998 (Another World tour), 4 times in 2005 and six times in 2008, so I was there and I know I have a minority opinion. I am sure it was cool in 1981 when the band did not expect the huge South American crowds to sing it but later it became such a routine with a predictible "let's become emotional" factor that I began to really dislike it. I think the studio version is one of the finest ballads in the 20th century which is truly underrated but the live singalong makes its original beauty forgotten to a certain extent. |
| Sheer Brass Neck 01.03.2010 21:45 |
"I think the studio version is one of the finest ballads in the 20th century." Amen, beautiful, beautiful song. Having said that, they didn't ask for an obscure track to become a live sing a long, it developed. |
| john bodega 01.03.2010 21:52 |
YourValentine wrote: It's even worse when Brian sings it with his fake "this is for Freddie" intro when everybody knows it's for himself(shrug) I guess you know him best! |
| mike hunt 02.03.2010 02:38 |
Love of my life is two different songs live and studio. The studio version truly is one of the best ballads i ever heard, yes that includes the beatles. The live version is also a favorite of mine with freddie, but can't stand brian singing it. Makes me want to slit my wrists. |
| ParisNair 02.03.2010 13:29 |
YourValentine wrote: I saw LOML once in 1998 (Another World tour), 4 times in 2005 and six times in 2008, so I was there and I know I have a minority opinion.What are you? a Queen fan or soemthing? lol! No seriously I envy you...one of the rare times that I feel i was born in the wrong part of the world. Did you ever get to see Queen + Freddie live? I am sure it was cool in 1981 when the band did not expect the huge South American crowds to sing it but later it became such a routine with a predictible "let's become emotional" factor that I began to really dislike it.In South America back in '81, I believe the "emotion factor" was very real. Many were possibly living their dream, never expecting they would get to see the band live on stage instead of on radio /TV. But other than that, I agree that later i t became a routine thing and lost much of the charm. |
| mike hunt 02.03.2010 22:45 |
disagree, the wembley version is awsome. After that I agree, it's lost it's charm with brians singing it. |
| YourValentine 03.03.2010 02:58 |
Very selective quoting, Zebonka :-) I wrote: when everybody knows it's for himself and the audience celebrating the "special band-crowd bond" You make it sound like I am accusing Brian to be on an ego trip. Interesting that people disagree so much on LOML. Does anyone else like NIH from the Live Killer period? @ParisNair: no - sadly I never saw Freddie live on stage :( |
| Gregsynth 03.03.2010 03:01 |
YourValentine wrote: Very selective quoting, Zebonka :-) I wrote: when everybody knows it's for himself and the audience celebrating the "special band-crowd bond" You make it sound like I am accusing Brian to be on an ego trip. Interesting that people disagree so much on LOML. Does anyone else like NIH from the Live Killer period? @ParisNair: no - sadly I never saw Freddie live on stage :(The Live Killer versions of NIH are good, but Freddie's voice was often worn out--the Crazy Tour versions are the best! |
| thunderbolt 31742 04.03.2010 16:49 |
Gregsynth wrote:Sir GH wrote:The Montreal 1981 version is the best.YourValentine wrote: I do not understand why Love Of My Life is so popular in live concerts. It's a beautiful, delicate ballad on ANATO with great vocals and piano turned into a horrible singalong stripped of all its original merits imoExactly. That's why I prefer the earlier versions, before the audience started singing along. The Houston 77 version is pretty gorgeous. Right up until the part where Freddie realizes that, no matter what he does, this audience ain't gonna sing along, and he voices his displeasure with it. LOML was only added to concerts, if I remember this right, because the guys liked having a couple of acoustic songs in their concerts (as mentioned by Freddie in Earl's Court), but weren't so keen on going acoustic on their albums at that point in time. The song kind of took off on its own in European shows from there. I've always loved the ADATR and NOTW versions of Now I'm Here. No long singalongs in the middle, no Dragon Attack randomly spliced in there, just four minutes of hard, solid rock. The song worked so well as a closer on the European ADATR tour that they were probably scratching their heads when it failed in that role on the Hot Space tour. Here's a hint--singalong medleys make for crappy set closers. The song was played with a slower tempo on the SHA and ANATO tours, closer to the album version, which still sounds great, but Roger's more intense drumming and Brian's quicker guitar fingers on the late-70's tours took NIH from a fairly standard mid-tempo rocker to a true standard. |
| Matias Merçeauroix 04.03.2010 22:27 |
Love of my Life is a total masterpiece. When played live, is a nice song. Not much more than that. |
| Sebastian 04.03.2010 23:58 |
Funky Horsie wrote: Love of my Life is a total masterpiece. When played live, is a nice song. Not much more than that. |
| Voice of Reason 2018 05.03.2010 12:50 |
Hammer to Fall for me. I didn't like it particularly on The Works, was surprised when it was released as a single, even saw it on The Works tour and don't remember it! I thought it was great at Live Aid and I've loved it since. |
| Wiley 05.03.2010 16:57 |
Thunderbolt wrote:
The song was played with a slower tempo on the SHA and ANATO tours, closer to the album version, which still sounds great, but Roger's more intense drumming and Brian's quicker guitar fingers on the late-70's tours took NIH from a fairly standard mid-tempo rocker to a true standard.
I prefer Now I'm Here's studio version, eventhough the live version is faster and a better showcase for the band's musical skills. I have the same feeling towards Hammer to Fall. In this case, Freddie's vocals in the studio were awesome. On the other hand, A Kind of Magic's live version kicks major butt, specially sung by Roger in the last QPR tour. Brian played it much better live in 1986, though. |