QueenZone discussion #1281598
Any Queen Song You Just Didn't Like LIVE?
| malicedoom 05.08.2011 12:22 |
Is there any Queen song you really enjoy that you feel never sounded good when performed live? I think for me, it'd be Killer Queen. Easily one of my favorite songs, but yet I can't think of a single live performance where I thought it sounded good - probably because Freddie had to shave so many high notes when performing it live. The original song had such a smooth, delicate sound and live, to me, it just came across dull, flat and I dunno... too fast? No flair to it. Anyone else have one of those? |
| Gregsynth 05.08.2011 12:59 |
Freddie's hit the notes live! The one thing he always did (even at his live peak/best shows), was not do the falsetto parts for the most part. The Sheer Heart Attack versions of Killer Queen have Freddie singing it close to the album version! |
| ole-the-first 05.08.2011 13:01 |
Hammer to Fall One Vision Love of My Life (studio version is much better) |
| MadTheSwine73 05.08.2011 13:39 |
I'm In Love With My Car - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. Bicycle Race - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. |
| Mr Mercury 05.08.2011 14:13 |
There is more, but for me, I Want To Break Free just didnt do it. There was times when I felt dear old Freddie was "shouting" the notes rather than singing them Love Of My Life was ok live, but it might have been a lot better had the whole band played it pretty much like the studio version. Just my opinion |
| Your Fairy King 05.08.2011 14:15 |
MadTheSwine73 wrote: I'm In Love With My Car - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. Bicycle Race - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. ================================================================================================ March of the Black Queen - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. |
| MadTheSwine73 05.08.2011 16:07 |
Your Fairy King wrote: MadTheSwine73 wrote: I'm In Love With My Car - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. Bicycle Race - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. ================================================================================================ March of the Black Queen - If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. If you're gonna do a song live, do it in full. ========================================================================================================== Indeed. |
| brENsKi 05.08.2011 16:09 |
dont get me on this one please having seen them live five times between 79 and 86 i would say that anything that required vocal speed or range suffered greatly DSMN was terrible - you want evidence - listen to live killers version....freddie sounds almost drunk in places somebody to love is pretty much a hit n miss thing live play the game - again suffered on the plus side: they always got the "opera section" of bo rhap spot on live...or was that a tape? ;-) |
| Mercury 90 05.08.2011 17:00 |
I actualle have to say, that I prefer every live version to the studio versions. Especially in the years without the live keyboarder. I just love it that everything is rougher ( That's why I love Killer Queen live). |
| Gregsynth 05.08.2011 19:01 |
brENsKi wrote: dont get me on this one please having seen them live five times between 79 and 86 i would say that anything that required vocal speed or range suffered greatly DSMN was terrible - you want evidence - listen to live killers version....freddie sounds almost drunk in places somebody to love is pretty much a hit n miss thing live play the game - again suffered on the plus side: they always got the "opera section" of bo rhap spot on live...or was that a tape? ;-) =============== The Live Killers version was heavily overdubbed. Most Jazz versions didn't sound too hot (though there's a few decent ones), but Freddie nails the song during the Crazy Tour. Somebody To Love: As long as Freddie's voice was in decent enough shape, the song sounds great (which means stay away from Japan 1979 versions and some Works Tour versions :) Play The Game: My favorites are from the 1980-1981 era (so many excellent versions)! |
| Gregsynth 05.08.2011 19:04 |
The only song I can really think that I'm not too fond of live, is Bicycle Race. You just can't get the harmonies live on stage (all those multi-tracks), and the song just didn't sound right in a medley! |
| Gregsynth 05.08.2011 19:07 |
Mr Mercury wrote: There is more, but for me, I Want To Break Free just didnt do it. There was times when I felt dear old Freddie was "shouting" the notes rather than singing them Love Of My Life was ok live, but it might have been a lot better had the whole band played it pretty much like the studio version. Just my opinion ============ There are quite a handful of versions with that "shouting" or "barking" vocal quality to them! But there's always a silver lining in every cloud: Brussels 1984 (1st night): Freddie sings it very close to the studio version--and does not bark notes! |
| liam 05.08.2011 23:32 |
YMBF - Just never sounded great. Brians guitar never really fit. Killer Queen - Like many have said it sounds flat and lifeless live. They also made it too fast. DSMN - Freddie couldn't sing it live. Bicycle Race - Terrible live I'll probably get hammered for this but AOBTD has never turned me on live either. |
| fran1979 06.08.2011 00:44 |
Who Wants To Live Forever, live, sounds awful. |
| dysan 06.08.2011 03:33 |
First things first, Queen live was just super. The rearranged tunes were interesting and clever (not favorites, but I can always see the value of most of the songs mentioned here already) For me, the bad ones were those that dragged: Now I'm Here stretched out way beyond it's natural boredom level, Dargon Attack going on and on, the Hot Space tunes like Action This Day and Back Chat were you can see they are struggling. And those ones where you just think it's a bad idea - usually Tutti Fruitti or those jams when they're pretending they haven't been doing them the whole tour. But my main dislike, the one song that was just terrible ALL the time: Sheer Heart Attack. Album version: in my top 10. Live: Fast, yes. Good? No. |
| Gregsynth 06.08.2011 04:03 |
Freddie CAN sing DSMN live! Freddie nails it the closest ever to the record! |
| Gregsynth 06.08.2011 04:07 |
fran1979 wrote: Who Wants To Live Forever, live, sounds awful. ================== It sounds fine live. You can't get the full sound on that song live (which the studio version is over-produced), but considering things, it sounded OK live |
| Gregsynth 06.08.2011 04:08 |
This is my favorite version of WWTLF live--the chorus parts are awesome (excellent harmonies)! |
| Gregsynth 06.08.2011 04:12 |
This is dedicated to dysan: This is a top 10 version :) |
| Band Forever 06.08.2011 04:22 |
As one of the posters here mentioned 'I Want to Break Free', especially the pause athe beginning when Fred waits for the crowd to sing I Want Break Free, why didn't he sing it himself I 'm sure the crowd would have been a voluntary choir. I disagree with RT A Kind Of Magic not a patch on the studio recordings, maybe Freddie's voice reduced to a croak by the time of Wembley 86 for example. Who Wants To Live Forever could have done with a Choir to help out dear Fred but it seems strange Queen never hired any extras apart from the keyboard player for live sets. |
| ANAGRAMER 06.08.2011 04:34 |
I want to break free Hideous on record and worse live ;-( |
| Hangman_96 06.08.2011 06:15 |
I adore all songs performed live. |
| Your Fairy King 06.08.2011 06:54 |
dysan wrote: Now I'm Here stretched out way beyond it's natural boredom level +========= thank you |
| Holly2003 06.08.2011 08:00 |
I've seen Queen twice, Brian May once and Queen+PR once and I don;t recall any songs that were a major disappointment. On record, however, it's a different matter. Following comments relate to live recordings as opposed to live performances: Livekillers I rarely listen to the final side of Livekillers as Bo Rap, Sheer Heart Attack and We Will Rock You don;t really translate too well to a live recording. Also, Let Me Entertain You isn;t a great live recording. Live at Wembley AOBTD is poor, as is I Want to Break Free. I agree with a previous poster: Fred barks and shouts his way through it and Brian's Red Special sounds like it has Diarrhea. I'm not really sure what's the point in doing Is This the World We Created? live. I know it changes the dynamics a bit but Love of my Life does this much better and more naturally. Never been keen on the live version of Hammer to Fall. It always sounds a bit rough around the edges. Putting Friends Will Be Friends between WWRY and Champions is a criminal offence. Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl Fat Bottomed Girls always sounds weak live. Not one of their better songs anyway. Teo Torriatte (bonus) isn't great. Fred always has trouble staying in key. Plus, its not really a "live" concert song. Queen+ Return of the Champions Where to start? So many poorly chosen tracks for Rodgers' voice, but IWTBF, AOBTD (seriously? what were they thinking?) and Bo Rap are particularly poor as live recordings. |
| dougie 06.08.2011 09:34 |
Sheer Heart Attack never worked live for me. Also, You're My Best Friend sounded very rushed and lost all the warmth of the studio version. Good forum topic. |
| dougie 06.08.2011 09:52 |
ole-the-first wrote: Hammer to Fall One Vision Love of My Life (studio version is much better) Hammer to Fall?!?! Gasp! I think Roger even said of it, "A great live number for us." For me, Hammer to Fall was the highlight of Wembley '86. But, hey, to each his own! :) |
| cmsdrums 06.08.2011 10:19 |
Amazing how opinions vary isn't it?! For me. AOBTD was weak live in it's early days, but I really liked the 'more free' interpretation on the Magic tour. Hammer to fall was one of the strong points on the Magic Tour too, but strangely didn't sound right on the Works tour. I agree that DSMN was usually a vocal struggle that didn't usually work for Freddie. |
| dysan 06.08.2011 13:07 |
This all ties in nicely with the discussion about Live Magic a few weeks ago - I think the reason I like it so much is it removes the over long bits. |
| jamster1111 06.08.2011 13:40 |
Top Songs That Didn't Work Live: 1. Body Language (WHAT WERE THEY THINKING WHEN THEY DECIDED TO PLAY THIS LIVE?) 2. Who Wants to Live Forever (in the studio it was beautiful but live it just never sounded right, especially during the choruses) 3. Flick of the Wrist (awesome song but it just didn't work live). 4. Friends Will be Friends (i haven't heard one single version where Freddie's hasn't struggled with this song) 5. My Melancholy Blues (It seems like every live version has Freddie belting out all the notes when the song is a light song and not meant for yelling out notes that are supposed to be hit with falsetto). Songs that were performed Different From Each Album That Worked Very Well Live: 1. Love of my Life 2. I Want to Break Free 3. Any of the medleys, spefically the Game Tour medley (the 1980 one with Mustapha) 4. Dreamer's Ball 5. Doing Alright |
| philip storey 06.08.2011 15:08 |
Friends Will Be Friends and Its A Hard Life were never favourites of mine and live they were pretty awfull in my opinion. |
| Bo Alex 06.08.2011 16:26 |
Uhmm let me think. AOBTD was awfull in The Works tour. I agree with the guy who mentioned Fat Bottomed Girls being a weak live song. Also I don't like the live versions of Ogre Battle. I may add Flick Of The Wrist to the list. The Brighton Rock outro in Hyde Park just sucks to me. |
| Mr Mercury 06.08.2011 17:10 |
Another song, or version of a song, that didnt work live for me was the slow version of Hammer To Fall. Fucking awful is how I'd describe it. Thank god they never did it during the Freddie era live.... |
| Thistle 06.08.2011 20:42 |
Now I'm Here and Brighton Rock, just because of the overly long guitar solos, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love and Bring Back That Leroy Brown. It also annoys me that songs like MOTBQ where never played in full, although I can appreciate why. |
| Bo Rhap 07.08.2011 01:07 |
I never liked Crazy Little Thing Called Love.Neither live nor in the studio. |
| dysan 07.08.2011 04:56 |
How about songs that are better live? Rock It and Modern Times = awesome |
| Rick 07.08.2011 04:58 |
I never really cared for Put Out The Fire live. The harmonies are too difficult to produce live on stage. |
| bitesthedust 07.08.2011 06:51 |
dysan wrote: How about songs that are better live? Rock It and Modern Times = awesome Most songs from Hot Space Flash - Birmingham 06/12/1980 (the first performance) Another One Bites The Dust - the earlier versions from 1980/81 |
| dive2063 07.08.2011 11:35 |
You're my best friend and Bicycle race. |
| Your Fairy King 07.08.2011 16:49 |
Tie Your Mother Down - mostly played way too fast Now I'm Here - the call and response in '78 was cool but after that became a dreadful bore Sheer Heart Attack - came nowhere near the recorded version Tear It Up - didn't deserve to be on record let alone performed live. Hammer to Fall - total sludge Radio Ga Ga - torture to listen to live or on record Friends Will Be Friends - I have no idea why this song is so popular. Most trite lyrics in the catalog Bohemian Rhapsody - done to death, never played in full, no attempt to ever perform the operetta live. Later versions performed way too fast without feeling. I Want to Break Free - as others point out, Fred's barking makes this one a poor live rendition Love of My Life - the acoustic version was fine in '78, but the ANATO version is so much better. Would have been much better live with just Freddie at the piano. most of the above goes a long way to support why I dislike the Wembley concert and makes me cross-eyed to think it is being re-issued yet again when there are shows with much better performances sitting in the vaults. |
| jamster1111 07.08.2011 19:30 |
Your Fairy King wrote: Tie Your Mother Down - mostly played way too fast Now I'm Here - the call and response in '78 was cool but after that became a dreadful bore Sheer Heart Attack - came nowhere near the recorded version Tear It Up - didn't deserve to be on record let alone performed live. Hammer to Fall - total sludge Radio Ga Ga - torture to listen to live or on record Friends Will Be Friends - I have no idea why this song is so popular. Most trite lyrics in the catalog Bohemian Rhapsody - done to death, never played in full, no attempt to ever perform the operetta live. Later versions performed way too fast without feeling. I Want to Break Free - as others point out, Fred's barking makes this one a poor live rendition Love of My Life - the acoustic version was fine in '78, but the ANATO version is so much better. Would have been much better live with just Freddie at the piano. most of the above goes a long way to support why I dislike the Wembley concert and makes me cross-eyed to think it is being re-issued yet again when there are shows with much better performances sitting in the vaults. Love of my life was a totally new songs live... you just can't compare the two (the live version vs the studio recording). Each version served a different purpose and it would have been boring live if Freddie played it sitting at the piano. Part of the magic of the song was that he was able to stand up and conduct the audience. |
| Gregsynth 08.08.2011 03:05 |
Tie Your Mother Down doesn't work live because it was played too fast? Gimme a break! The record version is BORING!!!! That song was made to rock out, and play up-tempo! Concerning I Want To Break Free: A lot of people are saying stuff like "Freddie shouts or barks the song." That's true for SOME versions of the song. I have listened to every known version of that song (yes, my obsession is kicking in AGAIN--sorry), and rest assured that Freddie does not bark/shout every version out there. The song sounds better live musically, but I agree that Freddie sounds better in the studio on that song. |
| Djdownsy 10.08.2011 05:42 |
jamster1111 wrote: Love of my life was a totally new songs live... you just can't compare the two (the live version vs the studio recording). Each version served a different purpose and it would have been boring live if Freddie played it sitting at the piano. Part of the magic of the song was that he was able to stand up and conduct the audience. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree completely, if it had been Freddie at the piano, the song wouldn't have lasted in the setlist for two tours. |
| Djdownsy 10.08.2011 05:52 |
Your Fairy King wrote: dysan wrote: Now I'm Here stretched out way beyond it's natural boredom level +========= thank you ------------------------------------------------------------------ No it didn't, it was an excellent song, both at the slow tempo in the early days, and the fast tempo by the Jazz tour. What destroyed this song was turning it into a medley, dragon attack never fit imo, and put out the fire just made it longer and longer. By the magic tour, the song was just dreary and boring. |
| woodstar12 10.08.2011 06:59 |
Yes Loads of songs didn't do it for me live.... I think Killer Queen has been mentioned, but also Its a Hard Life Don't Stop me Now Death on 2 Legs Bicycle race I want to Break free (so so) Show must go on (now) I think its more to do with the intricate detail of these songs which is difficult to replicate live,and in part to the pop nature of some of these, compared to some of the harder edged songs which are easier to put across I think. Pop type songs might be hits, but don't come across live very well. Probably why they were mostly short lived in terms of performance. All sounded excellent on disc, but live...mmmm Mind you I guess other pop songs like Ga Ga /Kind of Magic, are more audience orientated so work better. I guess it was more down to honing a core base of songs which seemed to follow them through the years, and were always crowd pleasers. I always remember taking my ex (who loved 'Its a Hard Life') to see Queen at Wembley in 1984 and she was right pissed off, with that song live. She said they ruined it because it was too loud. She wasn't really into rock music that much, but I did tend to agree with her at the time. Probably for a bit of peace and quiet, after i made her queue for hours. Overall though, I feel tracks like Now I'm here/Keep yourself alive/Fat Bottomed Girls and the like just perform better live. Anyway, just my thoughts. |
| malicedoom 10.08.2011 07:26 |
Although I appreciate that artists (including Queen) play it live, to me it almost feels like The Show Must Go On should never be played live, for various reasons (one of the main, of course, being that Freddie so perfectly nailed that vocal that nothing else will ever come close to his performance). I mean I'm a long-time Elton John fan and yet I still cringe when I hear him sing that - not that he gives a 'bad' performance, it's just so far removed from the original version... dunno - just better left not attempted, to me anyway. |
| harrypotter6116 10.08.2011 07:56 |
what show was the youtube clip of WWTLF from? because that was better than wembley |
| Dusta 07.09.2011 20:26 |
Killer Queen and You're My Best Friend. I've never heard a version of the latter which I could even tolerate. Freddie seemed to have issues singing both songs live, and the rest of the band never seemed to get with the program, either. |
| Dusta 07.09.2011 21:11 |
Gregsynth wrote: This is my favorite version of WWTLF live--the chorus parts are awesome (excellent harmonies)! Very nice, though I'm the odd man out in that I enjoyed the live performances of this song. It seems as if it would be difficult to perform live, yet I was always surprised at how effective their performances were, particularly given that Freddie's voice was not always at its best during this tour, in my opinion. |
| Gregsynth 07.09.2011 21:45 |
Well, WWTLF is a totally different song if you compare it from studio to live: In the live performances, you can't get the orchestra part, all the overdubs, etc. It sounds like a suspenseful rock song live--while in the studio, it sounds like an emotional power ballad. Freddie's voice was excellent in the first few gigs of the tour, and was still fairly strong throughout (save a few gigs). I would rather listen to his weaker Magic voice over his weaker Works Tour voice (which has some of his absolute worst performances as a live singer). I agree that Queen performed their stuff effectively live! |