| rhyeking 20.07.2010 21:33 |
Nothing too in-depth, but I'd like to take moment to look Brian's first credited solo album: Back To The Light. The Dark Begun in March 1988, Brian would incorporate some material recorded during the Flash Gordon sessions (Oct. - Nov, 1980, engineered by Alan Douglas). The last thing recorded was the lullaby intro. Back To The Light Begun in March of 1988, at least the earliest ideas (according to the liner notes), and finished by mid-1992. Love Token Two versions recorded in 1992, the Explicit Version and the (less fun) album version. The vocal of the Explicit Version sounds like it was recorded first, though I'm not 100% certain. Resurrection Begins life as "Ride To Win," an instrumental Cozy Powell track from his album 1992 The Drums Are Back, co-written by Brian. Brian would then write lyrics and turn "Ride To Win" into "Resurrection". Various instumental parts are re-mixed and re-recorded for Back To The Light. Too Much Love Will Kill You Written with Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers in or around 1988, recorded by Queen for The Miracle but left off probably for songwriting credit reasons. The instrumentation was changed for Brian's solo version. Driven By You Written for Ford's UK 1991 ad campaign and beefed up and slightly rewritten for the album, along with "Driven By You Two". The album version features a drum machine, though Cozy Powell would record drums for the Radio Mix. Nothin' But Blue Also began life as a Cozy Powell solo track, co-written by Brian, titled "Somewhere In Time". Brian remixed the track, where it became "Nothin' But Blue (Guitar Version)" and then wrote lyrics and edited the track, turning it into the album version of "Nothin' But You". I'm Scared Recorded in 1992, the Original Version appears on the "Too Much Love Will Kill You" single and the remix (Justin's Mix '92) appears on the album. The "Chaos Karaoke" section appears to have been added after the Original release. Last Horizon Recorded in 1992 in two parts, the first minute has a synchopated drum beat and the second part is a standard 4/4 time. According to Brian he was experimenting with the song in these two different ways. When compiling the album, he liked both and edited them together. The Single Version and released Backing Track are basically the second part. Let Your Heart Rule Your Head Started in March 1988 and recorded in 1989 with Lonnie Donnigan, as yet unreleased. Just One Life Written in 1989 after attending a memorial with Anita Dobson for actor Philip Sayer and recorded in 1991, along with the Guitar Version. Rollin' Over A cover of the Small Faces song, started in March of 1988. The last thing recorded was lullaby outro |
| Pim Derks 21.07.2010 00:47 |
Ktnxbye. |
| pittrek 21.07.2010 01:21 |
Thanks for another nice thread. Do you plan to also compare some of the remastered editions like you did with Queen albums ? |
| rhyeking 21.07.2010 01:48 |
Has it been remastered? I still have my copy from 1993, the Hollywood Records US release. Hard to believe it's been 18 years since the UK edition came out! And 19 since "Driven By You" was released! Part of why I posted this "look" at the album was because I find it fascinating to see how the album reflects Brian's life at the time, the same way Another World does for his late '90s life. Back To The Light grew out of a very turbulent time for him. |
| pittrek 21.07.2010 01:56 |
I had the original UK release but sold it long ago, now I have only a Japanese release from (I think) 1998, but I have nothing to compare it with, so I don't know if it was remastered or not |
| rhyeking 21.07.2010 02:39 |
Do the liner notes not say? The original was mastered by Kevin Metcalfe. |
| pittrek 21.07.2010 02:59 |
I'll tell you when I get home |
| Benn Kempster 21.07.2010 04:04 |
I always remember rushing tot he shop on the day of it's release and after listening, thinking "Why did he only make half an album". As "groovy" as Rollin' Over, Let Your Heart Rule Your Head and TMLWKY are, they're just really, really bad filler. SURELY, as a guitarist, Brian could have found more inspirational output than that. The heavier numbers are great and the combination of Brian and Cozy really was superb. |
| Pim Derks 21.07.2010 06:52 |
Agree with Benn - and I've got the same feeling about Another World. Both albums feel as 5 or 6 great tracks with some really really really heavy fillers added to make it last 50 minutes. |
| philip storey 21.07.2010 08:59 |
I have to agree that Brians solo stuff is indeed very patchy, if you put the two albums together you would have a great album.I much prefer Rogers solo stuff and what he did with the Cross. |
| bigV 21.07.2010 10:29 |
Great album. IMHO (the "H" stands for "humble" so resist the urge to bite my head off), of all the solo albums this one is by far the closest to the "Queen sound". V. |
| rhyeking 21.07.2010 10:33 |
I go through periods of listening to particular albums. When it first came out, my favourite songs were "Back To The Light," "Resurrection," TMLWKY, "Driven By You" and "I'm Scared." That was in high school. In university, playing it for some friends, we got into "Love Token" as well. Imagine our surprise when we found the Explicit Version. When I picked up the "Last Horizon" single, found as an import in a record storeo, I totally started diggin' on that song, too. Then Another World came out and my focus shifted to the newer stuff, though I also started getting into the Small Faces around this time, so Brian's cover, which I always thought was a decent enough song, got promoted to Pretty Sweet status. I'd load up my MP3 player with a few classics from BTLT, but not much else. I recently realized it had been a while since I put on Back To The Light and listened to it all the way through. It was like visiting an old friend, one whose qualities I didn't entirely appreciate in my youth, but now, not needing to rock out all time, I can chill to the mellower stuff and find it a great, solid album. It reflects the man who created it. Is every song strong? Maybe not, but they're his songs and I take them for what they are. Listening to it reminds of something my brother once mentioned, when skipping a song in the car on his MP3 player. He said, "I think we've been spoiled by CDs and MP3s. Remember when with tapes you were forced to listen to the entire album, because fast-forwarding through a song meant you might miss the next song? So you got to know the whole thing, every song." I think he was right. Too often I buy a CD (or download an album) and listen to it all the through once, then pull my favourites to put on my player and rarely give the rest of the album a chance to grow on me. I want to change that. I want to have the patience I had as a kid, when even if a song wasn't an immediate favourite, it had a regular chance to find a place alongside the rest. Am I alone in feeling this way? |
| bigV 21.07.2010 11:11 |
No, you're not alone. I absolutely know what you mean. V. |
| Benn 21.07.2010 11:40 |
Big V, Given that it's a solo Brian record, is the Queen sound really what the doctor ordered? Personally, I'd rather Brian moved right away from anything to do with Queen when he's issueing solo material. Look at just how amazing the Star Fleet Project was. Proving that Brian does NOT need to hid behind that ridiculous over-bearing multi-layered guitar thing. I remember the collaboration he did with Hank Marvin and after 1 listen, I threw the CD in the bin. Brian is a great guitarist but he doesn't ever just PLAY GUITAR. He gets embroilled in the need to be a singer and the need to produce something bombastic; The Dark, Space and Last Horizon are possibly the most cringeworthy pieces ever to come from any mamber of Queen, inside or outside of the band. Why on earth Brian doesn't just sit down and produce a great "live in the studio" guitar album I'll never know - he could base it on Clapton's "From The Cradle" or Page & Plant's "Walking In To Clarkesdale" and we'd have something truly worthy of such a great player. Instead, we get covers of shite like All The Way From Memphis and complete pap like Another World. Brian needs to man up and be the guitarist. |
| rhyeking 21.07.2010 13:01 |
If I can find the quote, I'll post it, but while promoting Back To The Light, Brian actually talked about how he felt more free to do slower, mellow songs and more emotional stuff on that album; that if it was a Queen project, he'd feel they'd needed to be heavier. Back To The Light was not a side project done to explore some need which was unfullfilled by Queen. At the time (and I stress that: *at the time*) Queen appeared to be done. Freddie died, Brian's marriage had fallen apart and he was a working to create an identity for himself. Back To The Light and its tour was self-prescribed therapy. Does the album sound like Queen? Sure it does. Some of the material extends back into the active Queen period. and Brian was never, and never will be, "just the guitarist." At least not on his two solo albums. and certainly not on Queen albums. Brian plays guitar, writes about half of Queen's songs, sung lead on average on one song per album for 2/3s of their career and was an active 1/4 (sometimes more) of the band. As I said, he was never "just the guitarist". Benn, you're entitled to your opinion, but I'm not sure where you got the idea that the guitarist in a band has a duty to be "just the guitarist" and nothing else. And that the guitarist should only ever be of the Clapton School of Guitar Licks. Personally, I find Clapton kind of vanilla. Was he talented? No argument, but other than his Cream and Derek And The Dominos periods, he doesn't rock out consistantly like he could. Same with Santana, who I think is overrated. I don't play guitar, so you can slam me on that point, that I don't know what I'm talking about. But as the saying goes, I know what I like. I like rock! I want mountains to shake and the Earth to crumble. It needs to be a dazzling spectacle of electric melody. I want to take my imagination far and wide, through deep valleys and over mighty spires of majectic mountains. Few musicians do this for me, but Brian is certainly one of them. |
| bigV 21.07.2010 13:31 |
Benn wrote: Big V, Given that it's a solo Brian record, is the Queen sound really what the doctor ordered? I'm not saying what it should've been, I'm saying what it is... to me at any rate. What I like about Brian (and Queen, come to think of it) is that very few artists can get away with a song as delicate as "Too Much Love" and a headbanging metal track such as "Resurrection" on the same record. The songwriting (if not vocal) range of the man is mindblowing! V. |
| pittrek 21.07.2010 14:07 |
OK the Japanese release is also from 1992, but it has 2 bonus tracks - Just One Life (guitar version) and Too Much Love Will Kill You (guitar version) . Sorry for any confusion |
| rhyeking 21.07.2010 14:44 |
No confusion taken. |
| Wilki Amieva 21.07.2010 14:58 |
There is a Japanese release from 2001 (light purple slim obi), but it wasn't remastered. |
| Walter B. 21.07.2010 15:15 |
Wilki Amieva wrote: There is a Japanese release from 2001 (light purple slim obi), but it wasn't remastered. Hi Wilki, I was only aware of a 2006 rerelease (TOCP-53713). Has there been a 2001 rerelease too? |
| Adam Unger (QueenVault.com) 21.07.2010 16:24 |
Was the japanese re-release in "mini-vinyl" format or jewel case? |
| Walter B. 22.07.2010 00:45 |
The 2006-version has a jewel case. |
| Wilki Amieva 22.07.2010 01:36 |
Sorry, I meant 2006 of course. |
| Sunshine 22.07.2010 03:38 |
rhyeking wrote: Too often I buy a CD (or download an album) and listen to it all the through once, then pull my favourites to put on my player and rarely give the rest of the album a chance to grow on me. I want to change that. I want to have the patience I had as a kid, when even if a song wasn't an immediate favourite, it had a regular chance to find a place alongside the rest. Am I alone in feeling this way? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That is because in the good old days, music was scarce and expensive. If you bought an album, you played it til death. I did with Queen 1, Aerosmith's Live! Bootleg and U2's Rattle and Hum. At the time (early nineties) these albums were € 20,00, a shit load of money for a 15 yr old. |
| rhyeking 22.07.2010 10:12 |
I was buying everybodies old LPs, because they were replacing all their music. That was the way to go, great music practically for free: 3 for $1...50 cents each...25 cent singles...those were the days! I'd buy a 10 pack of 90 minute tapes and slap an album on each side. If there was room, I'd put an extra song or two, like a non-album track or single version, on there. Don't even get me started on mix tapes! I was the master! I would calculate the entire side of the tape before I transferred a single song, so I wasn't randomly cramming songs in on the end and getting them cut off partway through. |
| the dude 1366 22.07.2010 13:32 |
Don't bet caught up in remasters. Google and youtube "loudness war" and you will see why. |
| rhyeking 22.07.2010 15:52 |
I know ALL about the loudness wars and have various releases which were unfortunately caught in the middle of the battle. :-) Rush, for example, released Vapor Trails and was not satisfied with the ramped up volume and compression. And that was an original release, not a remaster. When two tracks from that album were scheduled to appear on their Retrospective 3 collection, the guitarist Alex Lifeson sat down in the studio and fully re-mixed the tracks to the band's satisfaction and announced the fact as part of the promotion of Retro 3. He know wants to do the rest of the VT album, to fix it. |
| joesilvey 22.07.2010 23:16 |
rhyeking wrote: Personally, I find Clapton kind of vanilla. Was he talented? No argument, but... he doesn't rock out consistantly like he could. Same with Santana, who I think is overrated. I don't play guitar, so you can slam me on that point, that I don't know what I'm talking about. But as the saying goes, I know what I like. ................................................................................................................................ i DO play guitar, and I agree with your opinions on Clapton and Santana COMPLETELY. No offense to them or any fans of theirs, but i connect with Brian's musical choices in his playing MUCH more than some of the more often cited guitar "heroes" of the 70's etc. |
| joesilvey 22.07.2010 23:20 |
rhyeking wrote: Rush, for example, released Vapor Trails and was not satisfied with the ramped up volume and compression. And that was an original release, not a remaster. When two tracks from that album were scheduled to appear on their Retrospective 3 collection, the guitarist Alex Lifeson sat down in the studio and fully re-mixed the tracks to the band's satisfaction and announced the fact as part of the promotion of Retro 3. He know wants to do the rest of the VT album, to fix it. ................................................................................................................... Funny you mention RUSH, rhyeking, 'cause I can't get ENOUGH of them lately. Beyond The Lighted Stage propelled me from a casual fan to an addict. =) |
| AlexRocks 23.07.2010 21:28 |
Who there horsey! I LOVE all of "Back To The Light"!!! That studio is l.p. is why I said Queen should continue because if it was that good without Roger Taylor imagine how good it would have been if he had been involved as well!!! |
| Darren1977 24.07.2010 06:02 |
i have the gold tour edition of the album. paid around £10 for it. eil.com has a copy for £50. I didn't think it was that rare. |
| rhyeking 25.07.2010 14:28 |
joesilvey wrote: rhyeking wrote: Rush, for example, released Vapor Trails and was not satisfied with the ramped up volume and compression. And that was an original release, not a remaster. When two tracks from that album were scheduled to appear on their Retrospective 3 collection, the guitarist Alex Lifeson sat down in the studio and fully re-mixed the tracks to the band's satisfaction and announced the fact as part of the promotion of Retro 3. He know wants to do the rest of the VT album, to fix it. ................................................................................................................... Funny you mention RUSH, rhyeking, 'cause I can't get ENOUGH of them lately. Beyond The Lighted Stage propelled me from a casual fan to an addict. =) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ It's an excellent documentary and it's great that in the last 15 years, Rush has been getting some critical success to go with their steady commercial success. They're a thinking man's (and woman's) rock band and I've always felt they, as a trio, rival even Queen in terms of talent, though for a long time they were never commercial, because they didn't write as commercially accessible songs (according to their critics). In getting into music, in my teens, I learned that Rolling Stone and other music commentators were NOT the place to go for accurate feedback. It seemed every band or artist I liked, they slammed. Joe, I hope you get to see them on the current tour if they come your way. They rock live! |
| Amazon 25.07.2010 15:30 |
rhyeking wrote: "In getting into music, in my teens, I learned that Rolling Stone and other music commentators were NOT the place to go for accurate feedback. It seemed every band or artist I liked, they slammed." I love RS, however when it comes to informing my tastes, I don't listen to them. They are great when it comes to interviews and cover stories, but their reviews are problematic to say the least. Especially their reviews of Queen which are absurd. One of my favourite comments form a RS review (of AKOM) was that Gimme The Prize was greedy! Imagine that. Next thing you know, they will be accusing Queen of being impolite. The other thing is their lists. Now, I love lists. But I can not believe for one moment that any magazine would construct a list of the greatest artists, put Eric Clapton on it three times, and not even include Queen! They also put Freddie only at 18th on their vocalist list, when at the very least I think he should have made the top 10. Their album/song lists are also debatable, but I'm not as offended by them (althoug I do think that Bo Rhap was ranked far too low) as I am by the fact that RS does not consider Queen to have been among the 100 greatest artists of all time, as opposed to Tina Turner who only had one good solo album and a few other questionable selections. |
| rhyeking 25.07.2010 19:10 |
A snapshot of my teenage music collection, around 1994: About 200 previously owned records and 45s, most transferred to cassette for ease of transport and listening. Mostly classic rock, bought in the early '90s as everyone was replacing vinyl with CDs. About 30 store-bought original tapes, mostly Hollywood Record's 1991 Queen remasters. About a dozen CDs. Some were Queen (the first Queen CD I owned was a Xmas gift from my best friend). Also some Joe Satriani, Rush, some classical, Supertramp, Back To The Light. Some 8-tracks, bought for the novelty of them (though my dad owned probably the only still-functioning 8-track player in town). And crap-load of mix tapes, probably 80 to 100. Now, I still have all those records and singles, some of those old Queen tapes and the 8-tracks in a box somewhere. The mix tapes either died or were given away to people or just vanished. The CD collection grew, and still grows, though not as much as the collection of music on my computer, mostly in MP3 form. I still own only my second ever CD player: a Sony 5-disc player, which I use mostly when I'm firing up my Xbox (the original, not the 360...I also have a functioning N46 and an Atari 2600...AVGN anyone? I love that show!). Sadly, my record player died some time ago and I have yet to replace it. When I do, the old vinyl is coming out of the milk crates in my closet! |
| mike hunt 26.07.2010 03:02 |
Brians solo stuff.......back to the light and another world. Great music but forgettable songs. In all honesty his solo stuff I could do without, some songs I like are wilderness, another world. I guess business is ok. back to the light is a little better but the vocals at times is unbearable. love tokken, resurrection and maybe too much love will kill you (though his vocals on the chorus is hard on the ears) are the only tunes that stand up today for me. the only solo related album I like from a queen member is Barcelona, which is one of my favorite albums of all time...... the rest has some good moments but i find them mostly forgettable. Just my opinion, |
| andreas_mercury 27.07.2010 01:48 |
its a great album to think of someone not liking it? gives me a headache ........ |
| GratefulFan 27.07.2010 08:18 |
joesilvey wrote: Funny you mention RUSH, rhyeking, 'cause I can't get ENOUGH of them lately. Beyond The Lighted Stage propelled me from a casual fan to an addict. =) ================== Ha. I've watched it twice already. Great doc. I'm so glad I saw it prior to the show...added a whole new level of respect and appreciation for the band and the music and the history. |
| mike hunt 28.07.2010 09:25 |
Ready to buy that rush doc.....looking forward to seeing it. |