| Daniel Nester 15.07.2015 19:46 |
I'm writing a piece about cover versions of "Bohemian Rhapsody," prompted by Kanye West's train wreck of a version at Glastonbury. I am wondering if anyone can answer these questions. Thanks in advance. 1. Does anyone have an idea the exact date of the night Kenny Everett played "Bohemian Rhapsody" on Capital Radio over and over again? 2. To the best of everyone's knowledge, is this 1975 Top of The Pops version of "Bo Rhap" the very first cover version? link According to the discography of these "not by the original artists" compilations, the volume in which this cover appears was released in December 1975. The original was released in October 1975. link |
| Sebastian 16.07.2015 01:58 |
As far as I know, yes, that was the first cover officially released. Regarding Kenny Everett, he played it twice on his Saturday programme and twice on his Sunday one (adding up to four times he played it, not fourteen as the legend states). The most educated guess would be the 18th and 19th of October, although it could theoretically also have been 11th/12th or 25th/26th. |
| Costa86 16.07.2015 04:28 |
Daniel Nester wrote: 1. Does anyone have an idea the exact date of the night Kenny Everett played "Bohemian Rhapsody" on Capital Radio over and over again? linkAs far as I know, and I'm not sure about this, Kenny played Bohemian Rhapsody fourteen times (not always the whole song) on the weekend of 11th and 12th October 1975. it might also have been the weekend of the 18th and 19th. |
| thomasquinn 32989 16.07.2015 05:42 |
@Costa86: Please read what Sebastian wrote right above you before perpetuating myths. Four. Not fourteen. |
| The King Of Rhye 16.07.2015 07:00 |
Daniel Nester wrote: 2. To the best of everyone's knowledge, is this 1975 Top of The Pops version of "Bo Rhap" the very first cover version? linkThat was surprisingly good! I was quite prepared for that to be awful, I was watching a thing on youtube a while ago about 'record rip-offs' as they called them....some were just really bad....lol |
| Costa86 16.07.2015 07:17 |
thomasquinn 32989 wrote: @Costa86: Please read what Sebastian wrote right above you before perpetuating myths. Four. Not fourteen.I might well have made a mistake in not reading Sebastian's post in it's entirety, but I'm certainly not knowingly perpetuating any myths, as your condescending post suggests. Your rather abrasive attitude is not appreciated. I also made it clear that the fourteen times did not refer to fourteen instances of the song being played in its entirety. For all you know, it could have been played four times in full, and the rest of the time in little snippets - this is what happened - Everett was giving the radio audience little sneaks peaks (i.e. small parts of the song) to get them curious and interested. |
| mooghead 16.07.2015 08:18 |
That version was alright, a lot of thought went into it, not the car crash I was expecting, kudos to those involved. I notice Rogers high note wasn't attempted though (or maybe it was, but not put on the track) |
| mooghead 16.07.2015 08:31 |
This is in one of the youtube comments "'It had reportedly taken Freddie and the boys almost a month to perfect the original, resulting in close to 200 vocal overdubs, but Tony and the others did thier recording in just one night. It was so good that Kenny Everett spliced thier version together with Queens rendition and defied listeners to tell the difference'" BS? |
| Daniel Nester 16.07.2015 08:41 |
Thanks for the date of the Everett playing. Is it in one of the many Queen bios on my shelf? Must investigate. I just interviewed Tony Rivers about the TOTP cover. He's had a really cool career and has some more comments about the song and the cover. I think it's a pretty super 70s cover, and find it interesting it was recorded within months of the original's release. As for the debate around how many times Everett played Bo Rhap: I would err on the side of the lower number. Tony did say again that Everett played this TOTP cover alongside the original, in little bits, to ask if people could spot the difference. I'm sure we all could, I'm sure. But still--interesting. |
| mooghead 16.07.2015 09:06 |
Just found a Seven Seas of Rhye..... link Not quite as good.... :-( |
| Daniel Nester 16.07.2015 09:13 |
Oh nice find! I know TOTP did "Somebody to Love." Don't think this is the same crew as for Bop Rhap but I could be wrong. These covers are such interesting curios, made within months of the original's release and, at least in the case of Bo Rhap, recorded in De Lane Lea Studios, where Queen did their early recordings. |
| mooghead 16.07.2015 09:15 |
And according to 20.54 into this vid a TOTP album cover says it contains a You're My Best Friend link , not been able to find it though |
| Daniel Nester 16.07.2015 09:33 |
There have been TOTP CD reissues; I wonder if they on those? I think these covers are charming. The people behind them are legit and have these other careers, and they did these albums for a regular gig. These compilations are a bit before my time, but nowadays the closest comparison would be the Kidz Bop compiliations these days. |
| Vocal harmony 16.07.2015 09:33 |
Costa86 wrote:My understanding, from what I've been told by a listener is that Small snippets were played through out the weekend as a tease adding up to 14 times. However the following weekend the whole song was played four times.thomasquinn 32989 wrote: @Costa86: Please read what Sebastian wrote right above you before perpetuating myths. Four. Not fourteen.I might well have made a mistake in not reading Sebastian's post in it's entirety, but I'm certainly not knowingly perpetuating any myths, as your condescending post suggests. Your rather abrasive attitude is not appreciated. I also made it clear that the fourteen times did not refer to fourteen instances of the song being played in its entirety. For all you know, it could have been played four times in full, and the rest of the time in little snippets - this is what happened - Everett was giving the radio audience little sneaks peaks (i.e. small parts of the song) to get them curious and interested. This was over the last two weekends in October |
| Sebastian 16.07.2015 09:38 |
Daniel Nester wrote: Thanks for the date of the Everett playing. Is it in one of the many Queen bios on my shelf? Must investigate.I did check on my shelf and didn't find any exact date. Hopefully you'll be luckier. Daniel Nester wrote: As for the debate around how many times Everett played Bo Rhap: I would err on the side of the lower number.That's what Everett himself said in early 1976 (on the band's first bios). The whole fourTEEN thing arose from a comment made a decade later by Roy Exaggeration Baker. Just think about it: despite the tabloids' fondness for reporting even the most irrelevant events or rumours, there was no fuzz about a well-known radio DJ (in the times when radio was of utmost importance in Britain, even more so than now) arguably playing a song fourteen times on his programme. Why? Either because it wasn't that big of a deal, or because the media wouldn't necessarily report a lot of things that never happened. Fair enough, they also do report loads of things but never happened, but this one didn't even qualify for that. No single mention of the 'alleged two-digit figure before the 'Magic Years' documentary was issued, containing Roy's quote. Ever wondered why? |
| Daniel Nester 16.07.2015 09:53 |
Good points. I have no dog in the "how many times Kenny Everett played Bo Rhap" hunt. It's the date that for my own purposes that's important, to establish just how early on this TOTP cover was released.... |
| The King Of Rhye 16.07.2015 19:41 |
Daniel Nester wrote: There have been TOTP CD reissues; I wonder if they on those? I think these covers are charming. The people behind them are legit and have these other careers, and they did these albums for a regular gig. These compilations are a bit before my time, but nowadays the closest comparison would be the Kidz Bop compiliations these days.I've heard that Elton John was on some of those records, before he got famous....I think there's even a CD compilation of the stuff he did for them, might be wrong on that... |
| tomchristie22 16.07.2015 20:49 |
mooghead wrote: This is in one of the youtube comments "'It had reportedly taken Freddie and the boys almost a month to perfect the original, resulting in close to 200 vocal overdubs, but Tony and the others did thier recording in just one night. It was so good that Kenny Everett spliced thier version together with Queens rendition and defied listeners to tell the difference'" BS?I doubt it took that long, or that many attempts, for Queen to get the overdubs right. Still, it would make sense that the Top of the Pops people could do it more quickly and easily - all they had to do was emulate what they were hearing, rather than actually come up with anything. |
| scallyuk 20.07.2015 06:18 |
Interesting comment from Ian Hunter, What were your thoughts when you first heard ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?’ "Buffin and I were there during the mixing – actually, it was the third day of the song being mixed. It came blaring out of four monster speakers right in front of me – a glorious caphophony of ‘bits’ Fred had put together. What did it mean? ‘Nothing’ Fred told me. They were so far into it they were asking me what I thought of the third line in the second section etc. etc. But really, the whole thing was pretty overwhelming coming in off Wardour Streeet on a rainy day. I know some people have compared it to ‘Marionette’ but the only thing they might have nicked was the idea of doing something in the same vein. There are no similarities between the songs." |
| Sebastian 20.07.2015 10:05 |
So many people now have claimed to have been in the mix ... now, the mix did take a while, so theoretically there could've been a lot of visitors without necessarily having been in the studio at the exact same time, but it makes me wonder... either at least half of them are talking bollocks, or it's too much of a coincidence. |
| Daniel Nester 20.07.2015 19:55 |
You're talking about the TOTP cover? There's a finite number of people involved, and there's not much bollocks. I mean, you can just say that, but it's not necessarily true. I'm interviewing the actual people now, and verifying facts. |
| Sebastian 21.07.2015 01:17 |
No, I mean just about every second person who knew Fred at the time claims to have been present when Fred + Roy were mixing 'Bo Rhap.' |
| Daniel Nester 21.07.2015 09:30 |
Ah, I see. As Bugs Bunny once put it, "pronoun trouble." |