| Dunno223 08.08.2013 17:21 |
This lesser known Innuendo track has grown on me - I just wondered if anyone could tell me more about it I.e who wrote it, and how it came about. Thanks. |
| Sebastian 08.08.2013 18:59 |
Freddie and Mike Moran wrote it around the time of the 'Barcelona' project, but it was left unused. Eventually, the other three joined in and it became a Queen thing. Mike plays piano and synths on that song. link |
| five 09.08.2013 08:53 |
Correct !! extract from wiki "All God's People" started off as part of Mercury's Barcelona project under the title "Africa by Night" (hence the co-writing credit with Mike Moran). He'd asked May to play guitar, then one thing led to another and the entire band played. Piano was recorded by Moran. The song features Mercury singing a chest-voiced F5, his highest full-voice note, as well as some very low notes. |
| k-m 10.08.2013 06:20 |
I wonder in which part can you hear the F5 note? Amazing song. |
| Chief Mouse 10.08.2013 11:09 |
k-m wrote: I wonder in which part can you hear the F5 note? Amazing song.link |
| k-m 11.08.2013 08:01 |
Thanks! Fantastic video. |
| AlexRocks 12.08.2013 12:43 |
Hands down one of the greatest songs of all time!!! |
| mooghead 14.08.2013 01:41 |
AlexRocks wrote: Hands down one of the greatest songs of all time!!!Woah! there nelly! |
| cmsdrums 14.08.2013 06:18 |
I remember listenign to Radio 1 in the UK, approx a week or two before innuendo came out, and they played two or three advance tracks, and a panel reviewed them. All God's People was one, and I think their review was fairly ambivalent, saying that it just seemed like Freddie's voice sampled and dropped in at random places. I think that's oversimplifying it slightly, and thes so called 'experts' not realising the brilliance of his voice!!! |
| Thistle 17.08.2013 19:50 |
Dunno223 wrote: This lesser known Innuendo track has grown on me.Well, f**k you lol I absolutely hate this song, but since you posted this, it's been stuck in my head :P |
| DLCVinnuendo 17.08.2013 22:59 |
it's not my favorite of the album, but it's a good track |
| Thistle 18.08.2013 09:59 |
I've just had to listen to it to satisfy the urge created by this thread. You absolute git! And now I'm having to listening to the "Happiness?" album to get shot of it. I don't know what's worse lol. |
| br5946 05.09.2013 13:28 |
As much as Innuendo has become one of my favourite Queen albums (only just got around to giving it a few listens - shoot me, I know), All God's People is the low point for me. Apologies to fans who like that one. And ironically, I have a quirky fondness for Delilah. |
| Mr.QueenFan 05.09.2013 14:07 |
I love "All God's People", i love the colours created by the synths towards the end of the song. For my personal taste it's a brilliant song. |
| waunakonor 08.09.2013 13:37 |
Don't really understand how someone could hate the song so much. It's pretty great. |
| Thistle 08.09.2013 15:31 |
^ it's down to personal taste, isn't it? One man's meat is another's poison and all that..... I'm not into it because I find the sentiment pretty puke-inducing - same as "Jesus". I'm not very religious, you see: songs like this make me go YUCK!! lol. |
| waunakonor 08.09.2013 19:36 |
Yeah, I know it's a matter of personal taste. Which is exactly why I don't understand why someone could not like it. Fair enough explanation, though. |
| Thistle 08.09.2013 20:36 |
waunakonor wrote: Fair enough explanation, though.I'm glad it gets your approval lol :p |
| thomasquinn 32989 09.09.2013 10:47 |
Thistleboy1980 wrote: ^ it's down to personal taste, isn't it? One man's meat is another's poison and all that..... I'm not into it because I find the sentiment pretty puke-inducing - same as "Jesus". I'm not very religious, you see: songs like this make me go YUCK!! lol.I'm not religious at all, and while I don't like "Jesus" either, I do appreciate the music of "All God's People". I just kinda ignore the lyrics for the most part (primarily because I just don't think they're very good, I don't consider them extremely religious). |
| AdamMethos 09.09.2013 11:50 |
I love All God's People. It reminds me a lot of the music from The Lion King, which I also love. African style music really speaks to me spiritually, not in a God & Jesus religious sense, but more of a primal feeling of oneness with Mother Earth. |
| Martin Packer 09.09.2013 13:52 |
I never liked the face value of the title. And it's been hard to get over that. Anyone else feel the same? |
| rhyeking 09.09.2013 18:45 |
As noted earlier, "All God's People" did start as "Africa By Night" from the Barcelona sessions. The FM Solo Collection boxed set says ABN was to be included on the then-forthcoming Queen rarities set. Obviously, that didn't happen. Brian has said that Freddie pulled the unused track out during the Innuendo sessions and he (Brian), Roger and John recorded their parts separately for it. I'm guessing they just layered their parts one at a time onto the backing track, which still had Mike Moran's piano, synth and programming parts on it, too, and since he co-wrote at least some of the lyrics, he's given a co-writer credit, too, which is fair. I've never heard it mentioned that he was directly involved in the Innuendo sessions, so I'm guessing he wasn't. I didn't like this song much at first, but it grew on me and when I was researching the Chronology book and learned more about it's creation, I came to like it more. It's got a lot of energy, optimism, a fun vocal by Freddie and the music is moody and atmospheric. I don't think it's trying to be overly religious in the sense of being evangelical, rather it's just having fun with the gospel style again, which Freddie obviously liked ("Somebody To Love," "Soul Brother," "The Golden Boy"), and playing around with the lyrical tropes of the genre. |
| Sebastian 10.09.2013 11:30 |
Regarding its songwriting: link No mention of Mike there, so the fact he's on the credits is more of a formality. Brian's input was described by John Brough in Mr Blake's book. |
| johannes 10.09.2013 18:15 |
Maybe people don't like it because it's too explosive compared to the tracks that come before it,don't try so hard and ride the wild wind,and after it there's these are the days of our lives. I wonder why there's a chainsaw at the end of the song. |
| tomchristie22 10.09.2013 18:31 |
Thistleboy1980 wrote: I'm not into it because I find the sentiment pretty puke-inducing - same as "Jesus". I'm not very religious, you see: songs like this make me go YUCK!! lol.Kinda off topic by now, but I always took Jesus as something of a lighthearted parody of heavy metal music at the time - it's got a sort of Black Sabbath sound to it, the punchline being that they're singing about Jesus rather than anything dark or stereotypical of the genre. I won't lie, I've never listened to All God's People all the way through, so I can't really comment. EDIT: Having listened to it just now, I like the vocals. Not sure if the bombastic-ness and bright synths fit with the rest of the album really. I'm indifferent towards the lyrics. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 10.09.2013 18:43 |
There's no true that song was for Barcelona. Before the meeting between Freddie and Montserrat, Freddie wanted to do a second solo album with Mike Moran as producer, and they wrote some songs, this was one of them. There were only demos, not final tracks. When Barcelona emerged as a solid album, they forgot the songs you can find in FM Box Set, and African By Night was one of those songs. |
| Sebastian 10.09.2013 19:34 |
Apocalipsis_Darko wrote: There's no true that song was for Barcelona. Before the meeting between Freddie and Montserrat, Freddie wanted to do a second solo album with Mike Moran as producer, and they wrote some songs, this was one of them. There were only demos, not final tracks. When Barcelona emerged as a solid album, they forgot the songs you can find in FM Box Set, and African By Night was one of those songs.That does make sense. I remember Brian mentioning it'd come from Freddie 'at the same time as the Barcelona project', as opposed to 'for the Barcelona project.' |
| cmsdrums 11.09.2013 02:18 |
Sebastian wrote: Regarding its songwriting: link No mention of Mike there, so the fact he's on the credits is more of a formality. Brian's input was described by John Brough in Mr Blake's book.Interesting to view some of the entries at the BMI page - this one for example: link |
| Sebastian 11.09.2013 05:19 |
That's probably a rap or hip-hop track that samples one of Freddie's songs somewhere. |
| rhyeking 11.09.2013 18:09 |
Sebastian wrote:From The Solo Collection boxed set book, Page 8, the Barcelona chapter:Apocalipsis_Darko wrote: There's no true that song was for Barcelona. Before the meeting between Freddie and Montserrat, Freddie wanted to do a second solo album with Mike Moran as producer, and they wrote some songs, this was one of them. There were only demos, not final tracks. When Barcelona emerged as a solid album, they forgot the songs you can find in FM Box Set, and African By Night was one of those songs.That does make sense. I remember Brian mentioning it'd come from Freddie 'at the same time as the Barcelona project', as opposed to 'for the Barcelona project.' *** In terms of songwriting, 1987/88 was something of a prolific period for Freddie. A number of the ideas he began during the Barcelona sessions were never finished, and those which were underwent significant changes along the road to perfection. Working titles such as Rachmaninov's Revenge, Vocal Exercises and Freddie's Overture gave way to The Fallen Priest, Exercises In Free Love and Guide Me Home, and another idea, the exotically-titled Africa By Night, evolved into All God's People, and although far progressed, was shelved only to be re-worked later by Queen for the 1991 Innuendo album. *** |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 11.09.2013 18:59 |
Well, Mike Moran told me about the second Freddie album. I give more credibility to Mike Moran than Greg Brooks (a workman of Jim Beach). link Minute 8:30 or so, Mike Moran talks about the second solo album, blocked by Barcelona recordings.. |
| rhyeking 11.09.2013 20:32 |
That a 2nd solo album was started was never in dispute. It's all explained in boxed set. That album project was overtaken by Barcelona. Africa By Night, as noted in the quote above, was an idea developed during the Barcelona sessions, after the solo album idea was abandoned. All of the demos and outtakes that appear in The Solo Collection are dated, based on information recorded on the tracking sheets and labels for the tapes they went through compiling the set. If it's noted that Africa By Night was a Barcelona-era track (not a pre-Barcelona-era track, as you claim), I trust that comes from looking at the dates ABN was worked on, which would clearly establish if it was pre- or during the Barcelona sessions. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 11.09.2013 20:56 |
Well, let me explain better. If I said was pre barcelona, it was my mistake. If I remember well, Mike Moran told me African By Night was for the FM second album, not for Barcelona record. |
| rhyeking 11.09.2013 21:43 |
If that's the case, The Solo Collection's description I quoted is unclear on this point. And as it's the only official mention of the track, so I hope it's understandable where I was coming from. That quote places it amongst the Barcelona sessions. You say Mike Moran claims it pre-dated Barcelona and was meant for what was going to be the second solo album. I don't doubt your claim, or Mr. Moran, but the only way we'll definitely know is if "Africa By Night"'s recording dates or a more precise description of the recording of the song is ever given. I think we'd all love to more from Mike! |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 12.09.2013 03:11 |
Hi rhyeking. I heard again the audio of the interview with Mike. He told me the first song they wrote for the second solo album was All Good's People, before known as African By Night (he told me was a working title only Africa By Night). He didn't say they recorded before, only they composed before Barcelona sessions. And later, after Barcelona, Queen liked All Good's people and finished as a Queen song for Innuendo. |
| Jeremy 12.09.2013 08:08 |
It's interesting that the track uses either Freddie's lead vocals circa 1987 or at least vocals recorded early in the Innuendo sessions (I lean towards the former) up to a point, then it appears that he finishes the track with then-current Innuendo era lead vocals. The change in tone is audible beginning with the " then I, then I,...." section after the bridge. |
| Sebastian 12.09.2013 08:47 |
rhyeking wrote: And as it's the only official mention of the trackOfficial liner notes have been wrong in the past, and the people writing them have made many mistakes ranging from understandable to embarrassing, all of which have escaped copy-editors, proof-readers and fact-checkers (if they even exist to begin with). |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 12.09.2013 15:06 |
Right Sebastian. In Barcelona box set 2012 the text by Rhys Thomas has mistakes, for example. |
| rhyeking 12.09.2013 20:38 |
Sebastian wrote:Of course, but until this thread, I had no reason to doubt the claim. I tend to assume such new info is accurate until I see compelling evidence to the contrary. While researching the Chronology, I had to weigh a lot of conflicting official accounts, more than one would expect there to be.rhyeking wrote: And as it's the only official mention of the trackOfficial liner notes have been wrong in the past, and the people writing them have made many mistakes ranging from understandable to embarrassing, all of which have escaped copy-editors, proof-readers and fact-checkers (if they even exist to begin with). Is there a record of the Mike Moran interview I can read, view, or listen to? Again, not that I think it's wrong, I just want to see it for myself so I can quote it later if need be. Thanks! |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 12.09.2013 22:44 |
I answer you by private mail. |
| rhyeking 12.09.2013 23:03 |
Thank you, sir! I appreciate it. Take your time, I'm not going anywhere! |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 12.09.2013 23:07 |
Don't call me Sir, hahaha, im only 30 years old!!! I send you two private messages. |