What do you think of Queen ending Flick Of the Wrist live versions in the ANATO tour with the Brighton Rock outro?. I've always found this an awful idea. Those two songs simply didn't fit well. IMHO, Queen has made plenty nice combinations in live songs like the famous medleys (Houston 77 is a great example), but this is not one of them. What do you think??
I always thought it was a nice idea, as "Flick of the Wrist "does not have a real power chord ending, while "Brighton Rock" has a great final sequence, that was rarely played in those times.
So why invent an new or use a standard ending when you have a good one lying around...;-)
Indeed, that was probably their thinking. Here's the thing...
They ended Flick Of The Wrist with the coda from Brighton Rock for about a year before playing the Brighton Rock song itself. When they started playing Brighton Rock instead of Son And Daughter by November 75, people who knew the music well enough must have wondered how the band would end the song, since they wouldn't do the same thing twice. They jumped into a verse of Son And Daughter instead. This is a pretty clever tactic, only appreciated by the studied listener. Their early shows were full of these little tidbits.
They played Flick Of The Wrist and Brighton Rock at every show from November 75 through September 76, so there were a fair number of shows where this happened.
Ending a song live with a snippet of a different song is nothing new, and in Queen's case, it worked very well. A couple of other examples, Muse plays the coda of Space Dementia as a finale to Knights of Cydonia. Since KISS needed a proper ending for Rock and Roll All Night live (the studio track ends with a fade), they went to another song on the same album that they never played live, and the final few notes of Getaway became the de facto ending of Rock and Roll All Night.
I'm not saying that is a bad idea ending a song with a coda from another one. I'm just saying that the "Brighton Rock" outro specifically doesn't fit with "Flick Of The Wrist". The change is very abrupt, and not that its this wrong, but it sounds no harmonious at all. In my opinion, it wasn't a good decision.
Sebastian wrote: I get your point. 'Crazy Little Thing' is the opposite case: the 'Best Friend' outro worked very well.
Exactly. That is what I was trying to say.
Sebastian wrote: I get your point. 'Crazy Little Thing' is the opposite case: the 'Best Friend' outro worked very well.
Exactly. That is what I was trying to say.