| rhapsody8 12.11.2013 00:50 |
CLASSIC ROCK 'Lost songs' unearthed - including duets featuring Michael Jackson. BRIAN MAY HAS revealed that there will be another Queen album, which will feature previously unreleased recordings made by the band's late signer Freddie Mercury. "I never thought this would happen," the guitarist tells Classic Rock. "But I think we have some very interesting material. It's very exciting." With the project still in early stages of development. May is cagey about revealing details of which songs will appear on the album or even a release date. But he confirms that he and drummer Roger Taylor are currently sifting through a variety of 'lost' Queen tracks - including a number of duets featuring Mercury and Michael Jackson. "The amount of stuff that's just washed up in the last few years is amazing," May says. "These tapes materialise from various places that had been forgotten. We knew they existed, but we hadn't paid much attention to them. But as soon as we actually researched and found all of these original tapes, we realised there was a lot more material than we had thought." According to May, the new album will be created along similar lines to 1995's Made In Heaven, which found the surviving members of Queen completing tracks from demos that Mercury had recorded prior to his death in 1991. "You're working with Freddie's voice, as we were with Made In Heaven," says May. "And yes, there are a lot of moments of emotional contact. Sometimes to can be hard. But you have to get past that. And after a while you do get over it and you're just working with great material. So it's worth doing." May confirms that three duets featuring Mercury and Michael Jackson have been unearthed. There Must Be Moe To Life Than This, Victory and State Of Shock were recorded in 1983, reportedly as part of a bigger collaboration between the two singers that was eventually scuppered by their clashing schedules (although Jackson later re-recorded State Of Shock with Mick Jagger). "We used to bump into Michael a lot on the road," says May. "He came to see Queen at Madison Square Garden and loved the production, so be 'borrowed' a few elements of our production for the Victory tour. He was quite up-front about it. You can hear there was a lot of fun being had on those songs." Aside from the new album, May is working on other Queen-related projects. The long-awaited movie of Freddie Mercury's life is still going ahead, albeit now not with Sacha Baron Cohen, who was lined up to play the lead role. "Sacha is a very respected friend," May says, "but we came to the conclusion that it wasn't right in the end." Drummer Roger Taylor recently said the band favoured Skyfall actor Ben Whishaw to take Baron Cohen's place. Taylor also told Classic Rock that he and May plan to perform as Queen again in the future - with or without singer Adam Lambert. "I have reservations about calling it Queen, as you would imagine - it's something different," says May. "But Adam has a voice in a billion. Freddie would have loved it. And I'm not a person that plays guitar just to widdle. I like the guitar to be part of a creative process, making songs, and you need a singer to perform songs. We'll be looking at what the possibilities are in the future." One casualty of this new-found activity is an anthology of lesser-known ballads compiled by May and Taylor over the past year, with the working title Queen Forever. "That album exists in embryo," says May, "but I think we're going to shelve it. We're more interested int he material that hasn't been heard at all. That's something that's taken us over." PE "It's mind-blowing!" Brian May on his new 'stereoscopic' book BRIAN MAY has published a new 3D book, Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures In Hell, inspired by both satirical French 19th-century cards and the guitarists's love of stereoscopy. "Stereoscopy is 3D photography, invented the 1840s, and it has all these scenarios with skeletons and ghosts and ghouls - it's mind-blowing," says May. "And The Diableries were very seditious criticism of the regime of Napoleon III. So we combined the two and packaged it with a 3D viewer, the Owl Stereoscope, which is my own invention." |
| inu-liger 12.11.2013 01:31 |
I'll believe it when I hear it. |
| rocknrolllover 12.11.2013 01:59 |
I hope new album will be better than Made in Heaven 1995. |
| Day dop 12.11.2013 04:27 |
rocknrolllover wrote: I hope new album will be better than Made in Heaven 1995.^ Three tracks with MJ is way too much MJ. On that basis alone, it won't be. (Unless the rest of the tracks are utterly mind-blowing and exceptional to make up for it) |
| rocknrolllover 12.11.2013 04:36 |
Day dop wrote:Wait and see.rocknrolllover wrote: I hope new album will be better than Made in Heaven 1995.^ Three tracks with MJ is way too much MJ. On that basis alone, it won't be. (Unless the rest of the tracks are utterly mind-blowing and exceptional to make up for it) |
| MrFunster 12.11.2013 05:02 |
I expect some great material. I believe it is getting more serious....(and definite) There's less gossip, but more positive response from Brian & Roger the last 2/3 months. That means something, we can look forward to some new releases. I am not a great MJ fan, but if that leads into some new releases of Freddie. I will be more than happy ! I have good feeling about it. I am convinced they will release the best 'lost demo's' of freddie, I don't think they scrap the barrel, like Roger told us before. This will be the final Queen album release they will work on, I hope they will make the best of it. |
| thomasquinn 32989 12.11.2013 05:50 |
Sounds like that might be a very interesting album, but it also sounds like there are going to be three tracks that I'll consistently skip. No MJ for me, thanks. |
| L-R-TIGER1994 12.11.2013 06:17 |
What could he mean with "on the way"?out within one month,2 years,1 decade??? |
| rocknrolllover 12.11.2013 06:20 |
L-R-TIGER1994 wrote: What could he mean with "on the way"?out within one month,2 years,1 decade???Possibly summer 2014 |
| brunogorski 12.11.2013 08:03 |
Brian May saying that they're working on a new album it's like Nick Mason saying that Pink Floyd will play again. It happens at least 1 time per week. LOL |
| Band Forever 12.11.2013 08:35 |
This is great news for the Music World not just the Queen fans around the globe. To think there are more Queen tracks out there featuring Freddie's vocals is mindblowing. MIH was a little disappointing for me with the Freddie solo tracks re-worked plus a few new songs which were rather good HFE and YDFM should deserve special praise. This album including the MJ+FM tracks should be more eagerly anticipated this time around I believe as Brian mentions fresh unheard material, plus it will be almost 10 Years since we had a proper Queen album. QPR doesn't count in my view, No Freddie, No John. |
| Queenman!! 12.11.2013 08:36 |
The best thing I noticed Is that we can expect a full new Queen album!!! The compliation album (ballad thing) seems to be shelved according to Brian. |
| Hangman_96 12.11.2013 10:32 |
Whatever this album is, it sounds right about amazing! |
| musicland munich 12.11.2013 10:56 |
Last thing I heard that there were troubles with Jackson's estate ??? |
| AlexRocks 12.11.2013 11:24 |
I think that a new studio l.p. of Queen + should be done first with either one or multiple guest artists before a new release using old Freddie vocals. This will help them to transition to doing more things in the future! |
| rocknrolllover 12.11.2013 11:49 |
AlexRocks wrote: I think that a new studio l.p. of Queen + should be done first with either one or multiple guest artists before a new release using old Freddie vocals. This will help them to transition to doing more things in the future!No, only Queen ! No need guests artist. |
| Lord Gaga 12.11.2013 14:39 |
AlexRocks wrote: I think that a new studio l.p. of Queen + should be done first with either one or multiple guest artists before a new release using old Freddie vocals. This will help them to transition to doing more things in the future!No. |
| madprofessorus 12.11.2013 16:47 |
And if this is true....who's gonna be the bassist??? |
| YAFF 12.11.2013 17:12 |
Best. News. Evah. (well as regards Queen that is). Glad Brian and Roger have realized unheard Freddie vocals are the holy grail right about now. I'm sure it will be fun seeing Queen all over the charts again because it's a guarantee. I'm sure "Let Me In Your Heart Again" will be one of the tracks and that's a good song as done by Anita. With Freddie singing and the band putting the Queen touch on it there's a Top 10- maybe #1 UK hit right there. |
| Penetration_Guru 12.11.2013 17:13 |
"We're going to do something that means something we previously said we were going to do is now getting shelved". Cue 39 eejits not noticing that the same logic could subsequently be re-used to disappoint them. |
| YAFF 12.11.2013 17:17 |
madprofessorus wrote: And if this is true....who's gonna be the bassist???I'm sure most of the tracks will already have Jon's bass on them unless they are some Freddie solo stuff they rework. If Queen versions were done for tracks like "Man On Fire", "Let Me In Your Heart Again" were laid and then discarded those would most likely have Deaky. I don't need him to be on every track just on the album somewhere. Like it or not the two most indispensable elements to Queen's sound was Brian's guitar style and Freddie's voice. That's how it is for most iconic guitar-driven bands. Page/Plant. Jagger/Richards. Daltrey/Townshend. Dio/Iommi (or Ozzy/Iommi if you must) |
| YAFF 12.11.2013 17:24 |
Penetration_Guru wrote: "We're going to do something that means something we previously said we were going to do is now getting shelved". Cue 39 eejits not noticing that the same logic could subsequently be re-used to disappoint them.Well, sure. Until there's an actual street date given for the new Queen album there's no certainty but as regards Queen what better, most rewarding, challenging and creative thing could they do with their time than use the last good unused Freddie vocals for a "lost" Queen album. This will net them 10x the press and mileage than that of the musical, QE, Lambert, Paul Rodgers and more insipid Queen + projects, solo projects and whatever. Another Queen album after all these years would be an event. Since they found enough GREAT not just "pretty good" material I think this is almost a sure thing because what an unbelievable waste it would be not to do this! If the Beatles felt fit to release two "new" songs using terrible quality Lennon boombox vocals imagine what Queen can do with Freddie studio vocals in this day and age! |
| MERQRY 12.11.2013 18:30 |
thomasquinn 32989 wrote: Sounds like that might be a very interesting album, but it also sounds like there are going to be three tracks that I'll consistently skip. No MJ for me, thanks.I'm 100% agree with you... No MJ for me neither... Put aside it, i think it could be a great album... so sad the interviewer didn't even mention to Rainbow 74 projetc, i know it's highly probable that we never will see a 70's gig like that, but is hard to shelve all my hopes. |
| the dude 1366 12.11.2013 20:43 |
Logic would say that is would be as out close as possible to Nov 23, 2014 for 2 reasons. One is the that hellish season of peace where sales would be higher. |
| jondickens1 13.11.2013 02:34 |
I guarantee Radio 1 won't play any of the tracks off it,no matter how brilliant the tracks are. |
| cmsdrums 13.11.2013 03:51 |
YAFF wrote:Having listened to The Cosmos Rocks, and Queen's live perfromances over the last few years, it actually strikes me that John's bass was absolutely as intrinsic; totally key to those songs. Brian's bass playing is pedestrian at best.madprofessorus wrote: And if this is true....who's gonna be the bassist???Like it or not the two most indispensable elements to Queen's sound was Brian's guitar style and Freddie's voice. That's how it is for most iconic guitar-driven bands. Page/Plant. Jagger/Richards. Daltrey/Townshend. Dio/Iommi (or Ozzy/Iommi if you must) I sincerely hope that they retain parts of John's, but that any 'fillers' have a BASSIST, not just someone playing bass (BIG difference). |
| mr mason 13.11.2013 04:04 |
Fantastic news,i just hope im alive long enough to hear it! |
| Arnaldo "Ogre-" Silveira 13.11.2013 06:43 |
cmsdrums wrote:I hear you, cmsdrums, but I serously doubt Brian would not do it himself. I too miss John's fantastic bass. But Brian wants to do everything, and that has its positive and negative effects on us fans. You mentioned one possible negative effect, but as positive effects of his attitude are him actually working on the tracks, his willingnes to keep playing, etc. Consider his bass playing as just one more badger in our lives. If you consider it overall, it can't hurt that much, can it?YAFF wrote:Having listened to The Cosmos Rocks, and Queen's live perfromances over the last few years, it actually strikes me that John's bass was absolutely as intrinsic; totally key to those songs. Brian's bass playing is pedestrian at best. I sincerely hope that they retain parts of John's, but that any 'fillers' have a BASSIST, not just someone playing bass (BIG difference).madprofessorus wrote: And if this is true....who's gonna be the bassist???Like it or not the two most indispensable elements to Queen's sound was Brian's guitar style and Freddie's voice. That's how it is for most iconic guitar-driven bands. Page/Plant. Jagger/Richards. Daltrey/Townshend. Dio/Iommi (or Ozzy/Iommi if you must) Cheers, Ogre- |
| andyb1968 13.11.2013 09:44 |
Roger said in a recent interview that this album was Brian's project, it's obviously a great device to put Queen back in the world's consciousness, before the release of the Freddie biopic, and on the back of that, all the back catalogue would go stellar again, and another generation introduced to the band's work. Could be excellent marketing ! |
| gerry 13.11.2013 12:51 |
The new Queen album will be the last thing May & Taylor work on because Adam crappy Lambert and noisey Kerry ellis come before our beloved Freddie as usual. May knew there was always spare new material with freds vocals on them he just makes things up to suit himself. Freddie always said there was some lovely unfinished tracks running about from most Queen albums. May quoted back in july, new stuff to listen too folks in a few months time, where is it? more lies eh! Maybe hes wiping lamberts arse thats it! |
| Stelios 13.11.2013 12:51 |
I have the feeling it will not be as powerfull as MADE IN HEAVEN. It may have a vintage quality and a lost treassure value that will shine on some tracks, but overall i am afraid that it won't be "current" and connected to whatever is happening now for apparent reasons. But i may as well be deadly wrong and it would be a true Queen Mother Fu**er of an album that we never expected. |
| andyb1968 13.11.2013 14:40 |
Stelios mate, let's not kid ourselves whatever is left over with Freddie' s vocal on cannot be current, it's all down to the production values, and with today's technology you can do a lot with the oldest of tracks, any ballad however is a ballad and should stand the test of time. Personally I can't wait to hear these tracks, but let's make sure the guys are given the time to make this precious material special, I'd happily wait a year or two for a special album.It'll be the last one remember. |
| Cruella de Vil 13.11.2013 14:45 |
Just don't let anyone from Team RT manage the website or any aspect of product quality management! Hey maybe it's the ghost of Paul Prenter causing all the havoc and having the last laugh at RT's expense? They obviously didn't get on! |
| AlexRocks 13.11.2013 15:38 |
This without doubt should be done. But in 2015. In 2014 a new studio l.p. with whoever guesting should be done with a world tour for a number of months. Then they will be able to have some time off and finish this new studio l.p. with Freddie. Perhaps new members should officially be added to the line-up such as Rufus Taylor and Marc and other people from Queen Extravaganza. That group are better at performing the songs live than even Queen were able to do! Oh my god the possibilities are amazing! It will help everyone to continue in the years to come to have this done first so that it would get the best exposure possible! |
| rocknrolllover 13.11.2013 22:23 |
AlexRocks wrote: This without doubt should be done. But in 2015. In 2014 a new studio l.p. with whoever guesting should be done with a world tour for a number of months. Then they will be able to have some time off and finish this new studio l.p. with Freddie. Perhaps new members should officially be added to the line-up such as Rufus Taylor and Marc and other people from Queen Extravaganza. That group are better at performing the songs live than even Queen were able to do! Oh my god the possibilities are amazing! It will help everyone to continue in the years to come to have this done first so that it would get the best exposure possible!No Extravaganza |
| inu-liger 13.11.2013 22:59 |
AlexRocks wrote: Perhaps new members should officially be added to the line-up such as Rufus Taylor and Marc and other people from Queen Extravaganza.Have you been hanging out with Rob Ford a little too much? |
| rocknrolllover 13.11.2013 23:37 |
Live At The Rainbow" and "New Queen album" -these things more interesting to me ! |
| Stelios 14.11.2013 12:06 |
andyb1968 wrote: Stelios mate, let's not kid ourselves whatever is left over with Freddie' s vocal on cannot be current, it's all down to the production values, and with today's technology you can do a lot with the oldest of tracks, any ballad however is a ballad and should stand the test of time. Personally I can't wait to hear these tracks, but let's make sure the guys are given the time to make this precious material special, I'd happily wait a year or two for a special album.It'll be the last one remember.I agree with you. What i am saying is that Made In Heaven while also a collage of different eras had a strong bunch of songs that showcased the "exit" period therefore was current in its own way. I am thinking that it is just difficult to create a vibrant album ( and Queen were all about spark and vitality) from "left overs". However Freddie refaired to them as lovely so perhaps there is strong case that it will be interesting in its own way. |
| MadTheSwine73 14.11.2013 19:35 |
inu-liger wrote:I never thought I would see a Canadian political joke on a thread that was not in "Personal." This could very well be the best and funniest thing I've seen posted here in a long time.AlexRocks wrote: Perhaps new members should officially be added to the line-up such as Rufus Taylor and Marc and other people from Queen Extravaganza.Have you been hanging out with Rob Ford a little too much? |
| Back2TheLight 15.11.2013 02:57 |
I personally thought MIH was a fantastic piece of work, shy of a few rockers, but that obviously wasn't the theme of that project. Beautiful songs, amazing melodies, all things Queen. In terms of what Cosmos Rocks missed, was yes, JD's bass parts, but also his songwriting, and honestly it sounds mostly like the songs were very unfinished. But that was Q+PR, which was good in it's own way, but anyone who was expecting a full Queen album from that group...was in for a major let down. There's no Freddie or John, and they didn't let on the fact that it was going to be the same. This new project I'm actually very excited for. Upsetting that John isn't involved with this project, sure. But...he has his reasons and it should be respected. |
| Pingfah 15.11.2013 03:04 |
If we get a Queen record with Freddie but without John i'll be depressed. That's worse than a record without either IMO. I agree with the poster above that QPR was good in it's own way, but yes there was no expectation for it to sound like a Queen record without either Freddie or John. With Freddie I expect a record that sounds like Queen, and that is going to be difficult without JD. |
| Djdownsy 15.11.2013 04:41 |
''Freddie would have loved it.'' The five words that I most detest coming out of Brian May's mouth! |
| YAFF 15.11.2013 15:58 |
Pingfah wrote: If we get a Queen record with Freddie but without John i'll be depressed. That's worse than a record without either IMO. I agree with the poster above that QPR was good in it's own way, but yes there was no expectation for it to sound like a Queen record without either Freddie or John. With Freddie I expect a record that sounds like Queen, and that is going to be difficult without JD.I'm sorry but I have to say it. I admire and appreciate John Deacon but it will sound exactly like Queen without him. Sure I'd prefer John but as long a I get another Queen album with Freddie's voice I wouldn't care who played bass. |
| mike hunt 15.11.2013 16:11 |
YAFF wrote:I agree,Pingfah wrote: If we get a Queen record with Freddie but without John i'll be depressed. That's worse than a record without either IMO. I agree with the poster above that QPR was good in it's own way, but yes there was no expectation for it to sound like a Queen record without either Freddie or John. With Freddie I expect a record that sounds like Queen, and that is going to be difficult without JD.I'm sorry but I have to say it. I admire and appreciate John Deacon but it will sound exactly like Queen without him. Sure I'd prefer John but as long a I get another Queen album with Freddie's voice I wouldn't care who played bass. |
| mike hunt 15.11.2013 16:12 |
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| Heavenite 15.11.2013 16:43 |
gerry wrote: May knew there was always spare new material with freds vocals on them he just makes things up to suit himself. Freddie always said there was some lovely unfinished tracks running about from most Queen albums.Of course he did! They just didn't want to get harassed about it for the last 18 years since MIH. Who really knows how much material is left? Could be quite a bit! I mean Freddie knew what he had for a long time and turned to music it seems very much as the end drew near. However, I tend to think that this stuff will be delayed because of the Freddie movie delays. They want that to be mega I reckon, so getting QE going around the States and then a hit or two with MJ should set the scene about as well as they possibly could I reckon. As far as Deaky goes, I reckon his paw prints will all be over any Queen-related tracks. He may want privacy, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't want anything that Freddie worked on to come out as good as it possibly can. I mean who knows what file sharing has been going on! This stuff could have been getting recorded in 1998 or 2005. No need for John to be doing it now, apart from the MJ tracks I guess. |
| AlexRocks 15.11.2013 21:46 |
Mmmbaby! I can't wait for the new Queen + studio l.p. and tour next year and THEN the new studio l.p. with Freddie in 2015! I love Queen! Ow! |
| LilKing22 15.11.2013 22:41 |
I welcome the album but John Deacon wrote arguably the two best bass-lines in music history and has a definitive style. If they are going to clean up tracks or add new parts I think an offer should at least be extended to him, and if he balks, he balks. I think they owe him that much. |
| cmsdrums 16.11.2013 04:00 |
YAFF wrote:[/ I'm sorry but I have to say it. I admire and appreciate John Deacon but it will sound exactly like Queen without him.No, it really won't. If they get a tasteful bassist in that replicates John's clean sound and lyrical high end of the neck playing, then it would go a long way to helping. However if Brian plays the bass, which I suspect will be the case, then you won't even notice the bass parts; they will just be marking time. |
| Vocal harmony 16.11.2013 11:21 |
I totally agree with cmsdrums. JD was a great bassist who brought out the best in RT playing too. Lilking22 if you're talking about the Bass lines I think you are, you need to listen to late 70's Chic! |
| Back2TheLight 17.11.2013 17:08 |
Queen were 4 individuals, all with very strong ideas. It was the push/pull arguing and the equal talent between the 4 individuals in that band that made the music awesome. JD may have been just a 'bass player' in some ppls eyes, but his lines we're just as signature to Queen's music as John Paul Jones was to Led Zeppelin, or John Entwhistle to The Who. Sure you can get someone else to 'play the parts', but it won't be the same monster. To face facts, John isn't coming back. No matter how much we all wish he would. I would also kind of like to see either David Richards or Mack at the helm of the board...I mean if ths is going to be a full-fledged album, it needs to have the proper production values, and the artwork to match it. A Queen album was never just a few songs on tape just willy nilly, it was a whole production. MIH had the same type of treatment, I think this one needs to have the same! Just my opinion... |
| Queenman!! 17.11.2013 17:30 |
Well... John's basslines must be there because before Freddie put any vocals on a track piano, bass and drums or guitar , bass and drums were recorded! Made in heaven is of course a different story |
| mike hunt 18.11.2013 03:10 |
If this album is released John will be on most songs from the old demo tapes, but I can't see him coming out of retirement too record new bass lines. If this thing happens I predict late 2014 for it's release. The new movie and in time for either freddie's birthday or the anniversary of his death in november. I'm hoping "no one But you" is on it, it's deserves to be on a proper Queen album, and maybe a new song with roger and brian singing. I don't like negativity, but i have a feeling this will be Queen's worst album. MIH wasn't horrible or great, it was a nice record. I'm hoping it will be at least equal to that. |
| Benn Kempster 18.11.2013 04:33 |
My take on it is that John will be interested if Brian releases the shackles on what HE believes is the best way to produce an album. If Brian is OPEN to using John's talents as a player and member of the band then I'm sure he'll jump at the chance to be involved again. Chances are, though, that Brian will remain as pig-headed as ever and want nothing other than what Brian wants. |
| cmsdrums 18.11.2013 05:59 |
bambams-paradise wrote: Queen were 4 individuals, all with very strong ideas. It was the push/pull arguing and the equal talent between the 4 individuals in that band that made the music awesome. JD may have been just a 'bass player' in some ppls eyes, but his lines we're just as signature to Queen's music as John Paul Jones was to Led Zeppelin, or John Entwhistle to The Who. Sure you can get someone else to 'play the parts', but it won't be the same monster. To face facts, John isn't coming back. No matter how much we all wish he would. I would also kind of like to see either David Richards or Mack at the helm of the board...I mean if ths is going to be a full-fledged album, it needs to have the proper production values, and the artwork to match it. A Queen album was never just a few songs on tape just willy nilly, it was a whole production. MIH had the same type of treatment, I think this one needs to have the same! Just my opinion...Good point about the producer; I'd plump fopr David Richards myself. Chances are he was the original producer at the time on most of the outtakes being considered for working on here too, so that would be a logical continuation of that work. Sadly this won't come to pass as we've already had confirmation of William Orbit for at least some of the stuff. Whilst Mack is most likely the producer for the Jackson tracks, I was never a great fan of his sound with the band, and am hpapy to see him excluded (double standards with my Richards comment I know!) |
| Vocal harmony 18.11.2013 10:34 |
Mack gave Queen a very dry sound with more presence. He stripped away the gloss that Roy Thomas Baker gave them. It was very much a sound of the time and worked well. To me David Richards production work sounds a little bland now. At the time it seemed to work. One of the best sounding Queen albums is A Day At The Races, which was self produced. Willian Orbit might bring something very original to "the Queen sound". As has been pointed out he is the only producer that has been named in connection to this project. I don't believe JD will actively be involved in this. He has made a choice to retire from music. His choice. The stories about BM forcing him are just wild speculation. JD retired for his own personal reasons. |
| Kevinrm15 18.11.2013 15:29 |
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| cmsdrums 19.11.2013 05:29 |
Vocal harmony wrote: One of the best sounding Queen albums is A Day At The Races...Agreed 100% |