Bravo : Wich reasons are on the table, to make a band like Queen composing the Soundtrack to a Science Fiction Movie ?
Brian : Our American Record Company has a publication agreement with Dino De Laurentila for his next three movies.
The Company made the contact between us.He wanted to do a Science Fiction Movie of the special kind.
Right from the start his idea was to involve a Rock Band in that project.
BRAVO : What was so attractive for Queen to get involved despite beeing on Tour and working in the Studio on other things ?
Brian : Usually, as a Rock Band you get offers for Rock-Movies, and maybe for a few others things.
The kind of Movies where the Songs have a specific role during the Plot.
But in the case of Flash we had to create a good musical background to the(moving)Pictures wich is very interesting.
In addition we actually liked the plot. But despite that we didn't jump to the offer.
We were more like " We give it a try - if it works - fine." The producer and the director were amazed when they listened to
our results after one week of studio work. From that moment on they also contributed their ideas.
BRAVO : Is it a big difference to you whether recording a QUEEN Album or this "Flash"Soundtrack Album ?
Brian : I think the Album "Flash" has more from a typical Queen Album then a typical Soundtrack album.
At first we recorded the music and then we rearranged it at a later point with some minor details.
Now you can follow the Story while listening to the Record.
BRAVO : You did the main work for the whole Record. What was the reason for that ?
Brian : As we were moving to the Deadline, the pressure was really high, and me was the person who probably had the most interests
in that project. The mission of the final mixing and synchronize the music to the Movie was on me and Mack our soundengineer.
It really was great fun.
A Soundtrack is a mixture of Speech, Sound-Effects from the Movie and the Music. The audience must be able to understand all three things at the same time,
without too much distraction.
The director is mainly interested that the Dialouges are easy to catch, so our opinion was that the music was too much in the background on his Mix / Version.
Me and Mack could turn things the right way with our final Mix.
BRAVO : Is it true that you guys split work after a 30 minutes preview of a raw Version of the movie ?
Brian : Well, almost...at the beginning we spend a week in the Studio and we were playing around with our ideas. The foundation for that Soundtrack is from that period.
As for example "Flash's Theme". When I first saw that raw Cut of the Movie, I had that idea for a little chain of notes wich would make a nice little pathetic heroic tune.
After the first week we know exactly for wich parts we were in need for more material.
We didn't have anything that was suitable for Ming, Flash's opponent. So Freddie said "Ok, I 'am the man for the darker stuff"...So he went away and when he returned
the next day, we had that nice Ming Theme.
BRAVO : Some inside information about the songwriters ?
Brian : John had an idea for a nice little three tone melody, he turned it into the " Arboria Theme ", it describes the Atmosphere on the "Tree People" Planet.
Roger wrote " Escape from the Swamp ". You hear that song when Flash escapes all the beasts that chasing him. And also " In the Death Cell " is Roger's work.
Freddie did " Vultan's Theme".
BRAVO : How do you feel when you are watching the Film with your Music ?
Brian : Satisfied but with a few Limitations. With two weeks more time on hands, we could have improved a lot of things.
Bravo : You 've studied astrophysics. Is your involvement in that project somehow connected to that ?
Brian : No, not at all. A Science Fiction Movie isn't science. Especially in the case of "Flash Gordon". It's just a funny thing.
Bite me ! I did a "hotfix" translation ;)
Cool, thanks for this !
I had no idea about the publishing deal. It all makes sense now, but it also removes the romanticization of "they wanted Queen and only Queen" from the narrative, as they only had a certain pool of bands to pick from.
Many thanks.
There is a piece from Brian in the middle which I think needs a translation correction....It currrently says: "I had that idea for a little chain of notes which would make a nice little pathetic heroic tune...". I'm pretty sure that "pathetic" should actually say "sympathetic".
Cheers
cmsdrums wrote:
Many thanks.
. I'm pretty sure that "pathetic" should actually say "sympathetic".
Cheers
In german we use "pathetisch" as word for "emotional" or "pathos". Yeah I mixed that up. No rude or degrading meaning were I 'am from ;)
No worries! You translation is great, but it just stood out to me that that specific piece means something different in English! :-)
Actually, "pathetic" is the correct English term for "expressing pathos", it's simply been appropriated in an incorrect definition in common parlance. Have a look: link
Both the primary and secondary definition refer to pathos, only the tertiary and quaternary definitions refer to pathetic as we usually employ it.