| zadigadabop 13.05.2012 11:15 |
Does anyone know where the photo used for the inner sleeve of the Jazz album was taken and are those guitars all owned by the band? It might be Super Bear studios but I find no pictures of that studio that match. Maybe it Wessex Sound Studio? As for the guitars I see the many owned by Queen but also a Danelectro and what might be an Alembic guitar or Carvin? |
| Bartosz 13.05.2012 11:57 |
It's from 'Mountain Studios' Montreux I think. |
| 1sharppencil 13.05.2012 12:40 |
yep |
| philip storey 13.05.2012 15:29 |
Its a good photo for sure.How many of you guys still have the colour bicycle race poster included with Jazz? Mine went on my bedroom wall much to my mums disgust! |
| Flash Jazz 13.05.2012 15:36 |
I've tried to find an image of it, scanning it in doesn't look as good :/ It's one of my favourite Queen pics |
| Sebastian 13.05.2012 15:55 |
The Danelectro is Brian's, the other guitar is a Kramer and I think (but am not sure) is Roger's. |
| Wiley 13.05.2012 20:18 |
Is it Mountain Studios? I don't think so. It looks much bigger than what I remember in my visit to Montreux years ago. I'm pretty sure it's Super Bear. I don't think any other studio was used for Jazz. |
| Sebastian 14.05.2012 02:44 |
It is Mountain, but I think the image is a composite, which may be the reason why the studio looks larger. |
| Jazz 78 14.05.2012 04:38 |
Not sure if it's a composite but Ratty took the photo and I saw another shot he had taken with all 4 members sitting on the drum platform from the same angle so he may have used a wider angled lens. |
| Dane 14.05.2012 07:36 |
">link It's no composit, it's a very wide angle lens. Although I do believe Brian is pasted into the picture. And how can scanning the picture not look good? Unless you have trouble using the scanner properly. (scan the image at 300dpi, then rescale to 96dpi.. cleans up perfectly!) |
| Flash Jazz 14.05.2012 09:53 |
I mean, I want an image of the actual photo, not an image of a photo/scan of the photo as it's seen in the sleeve |
| zadigadabop 14.05.2012 10:26 |
Nice scan. I have the album and have always loved this picture. And Brian does look pasted in. So, why 2 drum sets? Who uses the Marshall head (center left)? Do the panels in the back look like the same ones at Wessex (link or are these just really common. Anyway, I've always wondered about this picture. And I do still have the poster from the LP! |
| Micrówave 14.05.2012 10:51 |
Thanks zadigadabop... this is a really interesting site: link |
| zadigadabop 15.05.2012 04:47 |
Well, here is the story from the man who took the picture, Peter Hince: The gatefold photo was taken in Montreux in Switzerland in Summer 78 during the making of the Jazz album. The photo was set up - but all the instruments are Queen's own, including the Steinway grand piano - which we took out from England. As we were going to be out of England for several months in Switzerland and France, we needed to be self sufficient as far as musical equipment and effects etc was concerned. There were very limited or no hire facilities at all. So we took a 40 foot semi truck full of gear ! I hope that is helpful for you. I talk about all of this in more detail in my book Queen Unseen. Best wishes Peter |
| Sebastian 15.05.2012 06:08 |
As for why two different drum sets: Roger would often have loads of items both in the studio and touring, that way he could arrange his kit differently depending on the sound he wanted (or in the case of a recording, depending on the sound the creator of the song wanted). He would sometimes have, for instance, a Ludwig set with Slingerland snare and Pollard Syndrums, or a Premier snare, etc. If you listen to the drum stems from Play the Game, Crazy Little Thing and Another One Bites the Dust, you'll notice those are 99% sure to be different drum kits for each song. Not just different EQ or miking, but different sets altogether. |
| Togg 15.05.2012 06:25 |
Interesting, but I suspect the drums are simply different heads and tuning rather than completely different sets. I would agree that the snare on Crazy is possibly a smaller model than his normal Lugwig 6 1/2" one but I suspect they were actually basically the same kit. I own the same spec ludwig kit as Rogers standard kit and simply by changing the heads and re-tuning i would say it is possible to get all those tom and bass sounds from the same kit. I have always really wanted to know which lits he used to record which albums but there is really no detail out there that can be considered accurate. certainly he used multiple drums and occassionaly a smaller bass drum here and there. The roll on Fat Bottomed Girls was almost certainly played on the kit over to the side in teh gatefold sleeve due to the number of toms in the fill. But I feel Jazz was one of the few times he actually set up two kits in the studio. However when recording was broken by months apart he may well have had other kits in different studios as needed. If anyone has accurate info on what kit was used where I would love to see it. But after nearly 40 years of playing drums I can say that with care a huge range of tones are available on a single kit if you know what you are doing and in a studio I am confident my kit would match all three of those tracks in terms of tone once they have been tuned/dampened/EQ'd etc My guess is all were played on the Ludwig Black kit from 78-79 |
| Proko 15.05.2012 08:32 |
Mountain studios had a small recording room (which is what you probably saw in the tour with David Richards) and a hall (which belonged to the casino - in the picture). The hall was used for 'Live' sound. Hope this helps. |
| Bohardy 15.05.2012 15:08 |
Further info on this from Queen Unseen by Ratty: "For Jazz, we were lucky to have the use of The Salon, a vast sectioned-off area of the casino arena. (It can be seen in the gatefold photograph on the Jazz album.)" |
| Fireplace 15.05.2012 15:08 |
Speaking about David Richards, the last time I read about him on this board, some claimed he was seriously ill and quite bitter about all things Queen. Has anyone got any news? |
| Sebastian 21.05.2012 07:44 |
As a curiosity, that same casino hall was the one where they recorded the backing tracks for both Innuendo and Was It All Worth It. |
| zadigadabop 25.05.2012 06:33 |
It might be the 'geek' in me but I always wonder what the studios looked like. I had always assumed Mountain Studios was larger and had multiple rooms. I also can't picture the Salon being transformed into a usable sound recording space. I guess they really were after a more live sound instead of how we do it these days with individual tracks. Judging by the google maps location and the fact that they used the Salon makes me think this was a much more intimate place. I wish they kept it as a museum or something instead of making the studio into a bar (I think I read that?). Super Bear studios (now Villa Saint Benoît) still has the basic feel of the original. BTW, the tour program I have for Jazz has a photo taken there that looks like they are sitting on a mushroom. It's in the illustrated lyrics. I always wondered about that photo because and now I know. |
| dysan 27.05.2012 02:01 |
As for brian being pasted in - it might be an effect of the flash making a shadow aura around him. Unless of course he is taken from an alternate which means there are multiple versions from the same angle which seems enticing. |
| Ricardo Inclan 08.01.2013 19:27 |
IT IS Mountain studios in Montreux, BEFORE it was tear appart and reduced A LOT before your visit. DEFINITIVELY. It's well documented "Jazz" was recorded in Super Bear AND Mountain. Montreaux Jazz festival was perfomed in this very Room every year for a LONG time. Reggards. |
| Sebastian 09.01.2013 02:56 |
Yeah, just like you don't expect people to look the same now as they did in 1978, places also change. |
