Was the transition from Smile to Queen....Tim to Freddie, a smooth and seamless as closing and locking a side by side shot gun barrel or was there a overlap/gap..?
Overlap:
I remember watching a old doco on Queen.. We are the Champions or champions of the world....? Think the same one with Axle as narrator.. And there was a little bit there with Tim Staffel talking about Freddie and Smile in its last days and about how Freddie was giving some advise and playing around with singing operatic parts with Brian and Roger in the toilets and how the sound echoed and using it in some songs and how Freddies songs were too airy fairy for Tim which in a way kinda suggest that Freddie was in some way and form, in the band Smile...?
Underlap:
Articles such as wiki and some docos/books suggest that there was a gap i.e a week or month between Tim leaving and Freddie becoming part of the band as lead vocals and naming it Queen
Seamless:
I have also articles and various accounts that suggest Freddie joined the band the day or a week of Tim's departure of the band and that there was one more gig to be honored and which was Freddie's first gig with the band although Freddie had come up with the name Queen and encouraged the rest to choose the name Queen as their band name, it was a little to late for a gig which they were still billed as Smile...
Please correct me if I'm wrong with any of what was mentioned there...!
My understanding is that Freddie was a big fan of Smile before he became a part of it, and was offering creative input during that time. So indeed, he may have been singing with Brian and Roger in bathrooms, and trying to get his foot in the door creatively while Tim was still around, but he wasn't officially a member of the band at this point - not until Tim left.