I read somewhere that Queen recorded every show during the Hot Space tour, and this got me wondering if they recorded all of there shows thought the years from the start to 86?
I might be mistaken but I think Brian addressed, and even confirmed, this on his Soapbox. Something about doing it so they could listen to the shows afterwards so they could find mistakes. But I do doubt they did it from the start. Maybe only in the 80s.
In a radio interview in the earlh nineties Brian said they indeed recorded every show but that the resulting recordings are very dry sounding board tapes with no atmosphere captured. He also said they were in some archive and could be looked at.
Since then Greg Brooks has denied the existence of those recordings, even stating that only 2% of the shows were recorded. Confronted with the fact that there are more shows we KNOW theh recorded he changed his mind and said: about 10 % was recorded.
so - in short - I don't know ??
This question has been brought up before...I've commented on it in the past.
There's a paragraph in the book 'Queen The Early Years' by Mark Hodkinson which discusses this subject. On page 203 it mentions John Harris, sound engineer for Queen in the early days....Trevor Cooper, a roadie for the band Mr. Big (support to Queen early on), says about John Harris: 'That bloke ate, drank and slept Queen. It was all he thought about, all he cared about. He didn't seem to have any other life. He taped every single show and when we were on the tour bus the next day he would be listening to it through his headphones. He was that keen to get it spot-on night after night. If things were going wrong, effects not working or an instrument not sounding right. I think John used to take it too much to heart. He seemed to think it was his job to do something about that kind of thing but it wasn't his fault. The band didn't give him a hard time, but it was as if nothing else mattered in his life.'
While, there might be some exaggeration in his saying he recorded every single show (well, who knows, maybe he did), we can be pretty sure there are many tapes of early Queen languishing in a drawer (or 'archive') somewhere.
That's amazing! Man I would love to listen to all the Chicago shows (where I'm from)
And the Mexico shows! HELL I would love to listen to all of them!!
But even if Queen taped some shows for the band members, it'll be just soundboard recordings as dry as possible to listen to the voices and music.
No glorious multitracks, so forgot about an official release. (Even if these tapes are gold to fans)
Doga wrote:
But even if Queen taped some shows for the band members, it'll be just soundboard recordings as dry as possible to listen to the voices and music.
No glorious multitracks, so forgot about an official release. (Even if these tapes are gold to fans)
You're probably right. I'd eat up any soundboard recording but I can understand that the average fan probably wouldn't.
Kamenliter wrote: Hey Pittrek, why do you say these recordings don't exist anymore? Are you referring to the ones recorded by John Harris or others?
Almost 45 years have passed, and nothing lasts forever. With these tapes being pretty insignificant to the band and general public, they were most likely stored in poor conditions - some of the tapes might not even play at all.
One can always dream that they will surface, and the quality will be amazing.
bodwinnumber2 wrote:
they may have recorded every show, but also may of used the same tape to record every show thus, recording over the previous recording.
Good point. Given the era that's possible. But I still doubt it given the attention this roadies ' devotion to the recordings.
I doubt he'd think they were expendable. They've gotta survive in some form. Hell, even Jerry Lee Lewis' first recording survived on acetate. This fella probably stored them under his bed for decades.
They may just not want to pay him.
. And if the economy of touring wasn't so awful, he might have granted them use of this stuff cheaply two decades ago when it was in demand.
Who knows. That's just my aggravating two cents of nonsense since i don't know either party.
When I offered Brian my Sheffield 74 recording last year, he said "Ooh. I don't think we've got that".
Of course, his memory ain't the best, but at least the comment would suggest they don't have them all....
brians wig wrote:
When I offered Brian my Sheffield 74 recording last year, he said "Ooh. I don't think we've got that".
Of course, his memory ain't the best, but at least the comment would suggest they don't have them all....
Interesting...it would also seem to suggest they had a number of other ones, or maybe even a good number of others. There's a quote from Brian in the Larry Pryce or George Tremlett Queen book (can't remember offhand) where he tells the interviewer he could play them tapes of Smile to illustrate a point on what their sound was like at that time; presumably not just the Smile E.P. songs. and maybe even live shows?
btw, did you get your tape of Sheffield to Brian?
Kamenliter wrote:
Hey Pittrek, why do you say these recordings don't exist anymore? Are you referring to the ones recorded by John Harris or others?
Wish I remember the exact source but I remember reading an interview with Brian where he said that most (?) of the existing recordings were taped over with other recordings