My question is...did the guys always have recording engineers there, or did they know how to use the equipment themselves?
I'm looking at the "Made in Heaven" booklet to try to make sense of who really would *need* to be there.
For example, I'm thinking of the story that Freddie may have recorded "A Winter's Tale" or part of it in October - maybe even early November -- so, would he have called someone over there to do it for him...?
And does anyone know when Brian ended up recording the third verse of "Mother Love?"
Thanks for your help.
Sorry if this is inane.
Dave Richards worked with Freddie in those late days, he describes it in some documentary (can't remember which one sorry) but basically, in the earlier days Freddie would sit with the producer and choose what takes he'd be using. But in the case of Mother Love (or A Winter's Tale - I don't recall), he basically said 'nah you do it, I trust you with it'.
That alone would give *me* alarm bells... heh.
As for when Brian recorded his line?
There's a lot of talk about this. There seems to be a firm idea that it's actually his demo vocal, and since I've never heard the real demo I can't argue against that.
To be fair, the 3rd verse is kinda different lyrically. Hasn't anyone ever noticed that in the first two verses it's all "I'm this" and "I'm that", and the 3rd one is mainly "My this" and "My that"??
That probably means nothing, but to me it might mean that the last verse lyrics came from a different point in the songs development (either before or after Freddie had done his bit).
I'm sure that after 20 years dicking around in music, all the members in Queen would've been able to run the place by then. By the same token, Dave Richards himself said he was there during those last sessions, so there you have it.
Zebonka: I agree. I always thought that the third verse was written later by Brian, not by Freddie as the first two verses. I remember reading this somewhere in a Brian May interview...
Edit: link
So, Brian wrote the whole song... Ignore me.
Thank you so much!
In the booklet for MIH, "Mother Love" is listed as being written by both Freddie and Brian...
But I thought there was some story about Freddie downing a vodka to sing the back eight...and that he told Brian he would record the third verse when he was feeling better...
?
"But I thought there was some story about Freddie downing a vodka to sing the back eight...and that he told Brian he would record the third verse when he was feeling better..."
Indeed, Brian has on a few occasions mentioned that Freddie drunk a fair bit of vodka. Whether or not that was for the pain or just because he liked vodka, who knows!
As a footnote, I'm almost certain that they recorded the end of A Winter's Tale at Metropolis studios after he got back from Montreaux that last time. Dave Richards (or someone else) described Metropolis as the last place they worked with Freddie ever and therefore they didn't want to work on MIH there (memories being too painful and whatever).
Who knows.