I may be a little late to the party here…
Hearing Now I'm Here (via youtube thanks!!) from the soundcheck is amazing, as is the audio footage in the documentary e.g. Freddie telling the sound guys that Bob Harris is gonna use John's mic etc etc
So, just wondered: does anyone know (for sure?!) how long/complete the soundcheck audio is? Presumably if there was video as well they would have used it?!
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I'm really hoping the forthcoming release of BBC recorded audio will include the Golders Green concert :-)
It is curious as clearly during the soundcheck you can hear Freddie saying to John: "the cameras will have a little rest now" [or sth similar] and one could think that the video of the soundcheck was also recorded by the crew!
I also would like add the following question to this discussion: Is it possible that only the NIH was performed in its entirety during the soundcheck and therefore QPL released only that bit from the whole soundcheck ?
Didn't Greg Brooks state that they don't have Golders Green on a "serious format" ? Maybe their relationship with BBC (which is in much much better state since the DOUL documentary) fruited in obtaining the master tapes of that gig.
I'd heard they had it all because the cameras were practising their shots.
It actually staggers me that they didn't release the entire soundcheck in the boxset - it would have made it a much more worthwhile release, both in terms of content AND cost to the buyers!
As for Golder Green, I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this yet, but in the latest QFC mag, Brian states in his letter "The Queen backroom boys have been working hard on another rescue and re-mastering project - the very early recordings we did at the BBC, and our working title is Queen on Air."
I'd like to think that by "early recordings at the BBC", we're looking at all six BBC Studio Sessions, but also Golders Green, which we all know was recorded and broadcast on radio.
You can bet your ass that pre-concert footage exists. No one EVER broadcasts something live without having made sure all the cameras are set up properly and everything is working perfectly.
In this case, I can doubt that this footage still exists, since all the sources we have from this show came from the tape with the footage of the live broadcast, and not the individual tapes of each camera.
You can even see the new DVD, that in the end they put some effect to hide the credits, which shows that there are no original tapes from each camera.
So I think all we have is the live broadcast (The Old Grey Whistle Test).
