It's kind of sad listening to that - he was always a tasteful guitarist, but there's something not particularly tasteful about his lead guitar in the first thirty seconds or so of that track. Too much gain & the muting before every bent note, showing off rather than serving the song, methinks.
The sound and the virtuosity of Gary are much more inspired in this track
Brian's guitar is stripped-down and simplified, is like Brian has ventured into a territory that is not his
She must have pictures of Brian in a bad situation. Certainly a lovely voice but utterly forgettable IMHO. To use a Brian analogy, there a million guitarists on YouTube who are better technically and faster than Brian May, but they are a shadow of Brian May due to what he brings to the table in terms of originality and touch and taste. Kerry can sing but so can countless others. And that tracks represent Queen Productions and Brian since 1991. Flood the market with crap to keep sales going, a song that virtually no one's heard on an "Anthems" album? Shameful indeed.
Sheer Brass Neck wrote:
To use a Brian analogy, there a million guitarists on YouTube who are better technically and faster than Brian May, but they are a shadow of Brian May due to what he brings to the table in terms of originality and touch and taste.
It's just a pity he hasn't brought any of that to the table in a quarter of a century.
Brian's playing for a long time has been utterly boring, uninspiring and forgetful. It's for this reason I have absolutely no interest in any new material from him. Brian, once one of the guitar greats, possibly sits below even the likes of Noel Gallagher in this day and age.
I quite liked the song, even if I am not a big fan of his work with Ellis. I soon realized it should be a cover and found out it was originally by Gary Moore. Maybe my nice opinion of it has to do with the fact that I did not know the original beforehand.
Edit: I have just given the original a full listening. Brian sounds much better, IMHO. He should have sung it, he'd also beat the original with his own vocals.
Cheers,
Ogre-
Sheer Brass Neck wrote:
She must have pictures of Brian in a bad situation. Certainly a lovely voice but utterly forgettable IMHO. To use a Brian analogy, there a million guitarists on YouTube who are better technically and faster than Brian May, but they are a shadow of Brian May due to what he brings to the table in terms of originality and touch and taste. Kerry can sing but so can countless others. And that tracks represent Queen Productions and Brian since 1991. Flood the market with crap to keep sales going, a song that virtually no one's heard on an "Anthems" album? Shameful indeed.
She can sing, in tune, and is very suited to musicals/show tunes. However, she is not suited to 'rock/pop/ at all (IMO) and all those years of singing in theatres has pretty much stripped out any taste for light and shade in most of her performances - it always seems to be pretty much at full blast, and trying to hold long notes. If he was goign to pair up with someone from the WWRY musical, then Hannah Jane Fox (who Roger worked with) has a far more emotive voice, and crucially knows how to use it appropriate to the musical surrounding.
The most awful moment ever was when she was on 'The Voice' and (clearly expecting to get picked) became more and more desperate and shouty as the song progressed and the judges still hadn't turned around. Brian then royally and bitterly slagging that show afterwards (after flogging his wares on the X Factor) wasn't his finest moment either.
The Red Special sounds very thin compared to Gary Moore's Gibson Les Paul. There isn't much difference technically between Moore and May on this song but to my ears the original has more feeling (ps GM could play the socks off Brian May in any scenario). Ellis is technically a better singer than Phil but he put far more emotion into the song than she does. It isn't my favourite song by any means but the original version is much better, except perhaps for the ending, which Ellis does well.
In my opinion it's a sound out of phase,if you listen to it carefully is it emptied in the middle frequencies.
I would have opted for a more compressed sound with two pickups in series. ... Maybe neck and middle. However it's his choice and it must be respected.
Basically a butchering of one of my favourite ever songs. Back in 79, I heard it for the very first time on the radio in the morning, bought the single that lunchtime. It's been a favourite ever since. This version would not have illicit ed the same response.
I normally like Brian's guitar on anything he plays on, it usually enhances a song.
Not sure on this one , but at least he is not trying to match Moore note for note, he is doing his own style. Im sure they realise it's not as good as the original, of course it isnt.