by Georg Purvis
CAN’T BE SO SAD (Miller/Stevenson)
Moby Grape’s 1968 obscurity was performed live by Smile.
CAN’T GET ENOUGH (Ralphs)
• Live (Q+PR): Return
Originally released on Bad Company’s 1974 self-titled debut album, ‘Can’t Get Enough’ was released as that band’s first single and immediately became a hit. It’s not surprising, then, that Brian, Roger, Paul Rodgers and the 2005 touring band performed the song in their set lists, giving a typical Queen-like treatment to Rodgers’ distinctive vocals, turning Queen into a barroom blues band if only for a few minutes.
CANCER ON MY MIND (Bulsara)
Another track written by Freddie, the song was part of the set lists of Wreckage’s live appearances, with two known performances on 26 and 31 October 1969 at Ealing College Of Art.
CELEBRATION
Rumors of the origin of this song bounce back and forth between it being an outtake from either Strange Frontier in 1983 or Shove It in 1987. The evidence in favour of both of these rumours is strong: it was included on a test pressing acetate of Strange Frontier, purchased in 1986, while Clayton Moss confirmed that it was written largely by Spike Edney, with outro vocal assistance from Peter Noone. Thus, no definitive answer can be given; whatever its origins, ‘Celebration’ is a strong composition, and didn’t deserve to be relegated to unreleased status.
CHAINS (Goffin/King)
Originally performed by The Cookies, but later covered by The Beatles, this Gerry Goffin / Carole King song was played live by 1984.
CHINA BELLE (May)
• Album (Brian): World
Unlike Back To The Light, Another World featured more hard rock songs, and ‘China Belle’ is an interesting amalgamation of rock and humour that introduced a lighter quality to the loftier songs on Brian’s second album. Starting off with a rollicking piano and guitar duet, the song kicks into high gear with some truly great drum and bass work from Cozy Powell and Neil Murray respectively. Brian’s guitar work is inspired and detailed, as expected; with a hint of Far East sound and humorous lyrics, it was presumably about a Chinese ‘lady of the night’, though Brian wouldn’t confirm this.
CHINESE TORTURE (Queen)
• Bonus: Miracle
Included as a bonus track on the CD version of The Miracle, ‘Chinese Torture’ started as a multi-tracked studio jam by Brian, and ended up as a released track thanks to Freddie’s enthusiasm. The composition is essentially an instrumental showcase for The Red Special and a harmony pedal, and would have been an ideal solo piece (even a perfect, atmospheric concert opener) if the band had toured in 1989.
CLOSER TO YOU (Edney)
• Album (The Cross): MBADTK
Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know was the first democratic album to be released by The Cross, with each band member contributing at least one song, and Spike Edney’s ‘Closer To You’ is an enjoyable, albeit ultimately forgettable, rocker. Considering that it’s the keyboardist’s songwriting debut within The Cross, there was obviously room for improvement, but it gives Roger a chance to stretch his vocal chords in the more ambitious moments. The song was performed live on the 1990 tour in support of the sophomore album, but wasn’t invited back for the next tour.
IL COLOSSO (May/Holdridge)
• Soundtrack (Brian): The Adventures of Pinocchio
The companion piece to ‘What Are We Made Of’, ‘Il Colosso’, with music by Brian and Lee Holdridge and a set of lyrics by Brian, is an ambitious, operatic, cinematic contribution to The Adventures Of Pinocchio, serving as an overture to the soundtrack of Pinocchio, though a more appropriate term would undoubtedly be ‘mini-opera’: the song shifts styles and moods ferociously, summing up the ninety-minute film succinctly in seven and a half minutes.
“Over the last months in the studio we have been recording the vocals of the puppet characters in the Opera,” Brian told the Official International Queen Fan Club in the summer of 1996. “A lovely Norwegian singer called Sissell for the Princess, a fantastic operatic tenor from the New York Met called Gerry Hadley as the King, our old friend Gary Martin (who sang with us on ‘Let Me Live’) as the Giant ‘Il Colosso’, and me as everyone else, including a cast of hundreds of peasants, soldiers, courtiers etc., and a cameo appearance as the Chamberlain!! Oh, and I nearly forgot – after many attempts we finally found a young boy to sing Pinocchio’s part, who wishes only to be known as Just William [in actuality, an electronically-altered Brian], and he’s made a fine debut as the rascal Pinocchio, himself playing the part of the Hero (for this is a play within a play). We recorded a full seventy-five-piece orchestra in Seattle a few weeks ago, then mixed it all together for the film in L.A. The soundtrack album will include a full-length version of the opera and a duet of the main song ‘What Are We Made Of’, which I wrote specially for the project (but also for my album, hopefully!) Sissel sings the duet with me and she really has a beautiful voice. This is being talked about as a possible single, probably following the release of a Stevie Wonder song which forms part of the end titles.”
COME TO YOUR SENSES
In 2009, Brian wrote this song for blues musician Troy Turner, who recorded it on his Whole Lotta Blues album, released the following May. This gritty blues grinder features accompaniment on guitar from Memphis session musician Steve Cropper, and is a highlight of Turner’s album. Unsurprisingly, a demo recording was made, with Brian on vocals, guitar and other programmed instruments, and was premiered at the 2010 Queen Fan Club convention. While the guitarist was presently infatuated with Kerry Ellis and recording and producing her long-player debut, Anthems, ‘Come To Your Senses’ proved that Brian still had the creative spark in him, and a blues album, with The Red Special featured prominently, would be a daring and welcome move from him.
COMING SOON (Taylor)
• Album: Game
The origins of Roger’s first contribution to The Game were rocky: starting off as an outtake from the Jazz sessions in 1978, the song was re-recorded the following summer, originally intended to be the B-side of ‘Play The Game’ but instead promoted to album filler status when the alternative – the far superior ‘A Human Body’ – was deemed too melodic and became the B-side instead.
‘Coming Soon’ is a faceless and lyrically ambiguous new wave rocker, with Freddie and Roger duetting on lead vocals while Brian riffs along in the background and Roger and John create a monotonous rhythm section. Roger mentioned it in a 1980 ‘Innerview’ with Jim Ladd: “Originally the idea was a sort of anti-advertising song, really: ‘Coming soon to your neighbourhood’. But in the end it was meant to be a modern pop song, that’s all ... I certainly didn’t have any intention of saving the world when I was writing it!” An alternate version, featuring different backing vocal and rhythm guitar parts, was included on the 2003 DVD-A release of The Game since the original master tape for the song went missing.
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
(Bonham/Jones/Page)
Performed by Ibex throughout most of their short career, a version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Communication Breakdown’ surfaced from the 9 September 1969 show at The Sink Club in Liverpool.
CONTACT (Taylor)
• Album (The Cross): Shove • B-side: 3/88 [83]
Sounding like a distant cousin of David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘Contact’ is the nadir of Shove It, encompassing everything that sums up the 1980s in five minutes: dominant synthesizers, poppy drum-machines, and the obligatory squawking saxophone, all overshadowing a thinly veiled set of lyrics about sexual contact. From any other up-and-coming band forming around 1987, ‘Contact’ would be expected, but is just embarrassing from a man who should know better.
COOL CAT (Deacon/Mercury)
• Album: Space • B-side: 6/82 [17]
The first effective use of Freddie’s falsetto is on ‘Cool Cat’, a delicious slice of cool funk from Hot Space that features John on bass and rhythm guitars, synthesizer and drum-machine (Roger and Brian are not present), thus justifying the
first collaborative effort between vocalist and bassist. Recorded during the latter half of 1981 during preliminary sessions for Hot Space, ‘Cool Cat’ originally featured David Bowie on backing vocals and was slated to be the B-side of ‘Under Pressure’. Bowie protested, however, much to the irritation of the band: “David just did a backing track,” Brian explained in 1982. “I don’t think anyone thought any more about it, except that it was a nice ornamentation. We just sent him a courtesy note telling him that we had used it and he said, ‘I want it taken off, because I’m not satisfied with it.’ Unfortunately, he didn’t tell us until about a day before the album was supposed to be released, so it really set us back. It delayed the album’s release.” A remixed version, without Bowie’s vocals, was included on the album release in May 1982 and became the B-side to ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’ the next month.
COOL JERK (Storball)
Originally performed by The Capitols, ‘Cool Jerk’ was covered live by 1984.
COSMOS ROCKIN’ (Taylor/Rodgers/May)
• Album (Q+PR): Cosmos • Live (Q+PR): Ukraine
The opening song to any album of new material after a significant hiatus is imperative for an artist. It can make or break fan and critical appreciation, and, no matter how good the other songs may be, it’s going to be that first song that people remember the most, and if it falls below expectations, maintaining any interest in the rest of the album is going to be an uphill battle. Queen, for better or worse, always had opening songs that grabbed listeners by the lapels and shook them around, but they weren’t always the best songs, or even all that easy to get into; more often than not, their album openers were always diversions from the norm, with gut-punching rock songs the exception rather than the rule. ‘Cosmos Rockin” follows in the trend of interesting and unconventional album openers, in that it’s a true rock song.
With an intro reminiscent of ‘One Vision’ – a keyboard drone, a swoop of guitar feedback, the sound of an otherworldly deity awaking and demanding that there be rock ‘n’ roll – and the main body of the song comparable to any Status Quo boogie rocker, this “fairly basic and jolly” song, as described by Brian, delivers a pure and simple message: the power of loud rock‘n’roll pervades all. There’s not much to dissect, no hidden meanings or philosophical questions left unanswered; at its core, ‘Cosmos Rockin” is a good-time rocker, an update of ‘Rock It (Prime Jive)’ – unsurprising, considering its songwriter. “Roger had this song called ‘The Whole World’s Rockin” and it’s on there now,” Brian said on a 2008 Bob & Tom Show radio appearance. “It starts off with ‘the whole house rockin”, and then ‘the whole town rockin”, ‘the whole world rockin”, and then I went, ‘Well, why don’t we have “the whole universe rockin’”?’ It’s just for fun, you know. It’s not a serious comment on cosmology, but it’s just fun to think – you can get the whole cosmos rockin’. So that’s kind of how the thing took shape and there’s a few little allusions in there to the cosmos.”
Is the song successful as an opener? It depends on the fan’s expectations for The Cosmos Rocks; it follows in Queen tradition with an opener that grabs the listeners by the short and curlies, and, as a rock song, it’s hard to listen to it and not feel the urge to at least tap a foot. But from a lyrical standpoint, it’s a shambles, with a slapdash set of lyrics that, even for Roger’s standards, are cringeworthy; it’d be nice to believe they’re tongue-in-cheek, but there’s no humour in Paul’s delivery anywhere to suggest this, which isn’t a condemnation of Paul as a vocalist, but his ability to sing the song with a glister of wit. It’s certainly not fair to compare Paul to Freddie, but if Freddie had been handed these lyrics, and provided he found them acceptable enough to sing without a major rewrite, his vocal delivery would have bordered on the preposterous so that the listener knew he wasn’t serious. As performed by Paul, however, one can’t help but feel he truly believes that the cosmos really will rock.
Despite its drawbacks, ‘Cosmos Rockin” is an ebullient song, with the band clearly enjoying themselves and taking their own words to heart. It became a welcome addition to the 2008 Rock The Cosmos tour as an encore number, quickly earning a coveted place among the rest of the Queen + Paul Rodgers repertoire.
COWBOYS AND INDIANS (Taylor)
• A-side (The Cross): 9/87 [74]
• Album (The Cross): Shove • CD single: 1/88 [84]
Shove It may have been a controversial release, but ‘Cowboys And Indians’ is the cause of much debate and discussion among Queen fans, with the general consensus that it is not among Roger’s better songs, especially for The Cross. That statement may be too broad, as it is important to look at the song in the appropriate timeframe: the late 1980s were full of musical and stylistic changes, and many of the old wave found themselves stuck hopelessly in the middle. Roger was no exception, but he was willing to push the envelope and embrace new things; he may not have learned from the critical backlash from Hot Space, but he did know that the charts didn’t lie.
That’s not to say that the song is a masterpiece, but it’s also not the worst song Roger ever wrote. ‘Cowboys And Indians’ was simply designed and constructed to be a danceable, likeable single to introduce The Cross to the world (even if it was still only Roger and, at times, Spike Edney), and, in that respect, it’s a success. Clocking in at almost six minutes, the song is energetic and jubilant, telling a warped tale of Americana, updated for the 1980s, with the sights and sounds of the Old West now spread across the entire nation.
John Deacon is credited as playing bass on some of the tracks on Shove It, and, while unconfirmed, the bass on ‘Cowboys And Indians’ has his fingerprints all over it; unlike Roger’s usual chunky sound, the style is fluid and more indicative of John’s distinct trademark. Elsewhere, the song is constructed around a dodgy synth riff, percolating in a nervous way that lends the song a tense edge. The guitars are minimal, almost rudimentary in approach, but the main focus is on Roger’s voice, and he doesn’t disappoint, showing he’s finally ready to front a band.
Released as the first single from Shove It, trimmed off nearly ninety seconds, the single didn’t perform as well as expected, stalling at a disappointing No. 74 in the UK. A video was shot in September 1987, debuting The Cross in their finest acid-washed jeans and feathered mullets, while Roger’s then-girlfriend, Debbie Leng, mimed backing vocals. Unsurprisingly, sales weren’t improved drastically, and the video remains hardly seen.
The Cross, now with a permanent lineup, made their television premiere on Channel 4’s The Roxy on 6 October 1987, with a performance of the song, and with three other specific performances on No. 73 on 17 October, Germany’s WWF Club late in 1987, and Japan’s Yoruno Hits on 6 January 1988. ‘Cowboys And Indians’ received considerable attention as the second song performed on The Cross’ appearance on Meltdown on 6 November 1987, and was featured extensively in the live setting throughout 1988 and 1990.
CRASH DIVE ON MINGO CITY (May)
• Album: Flash
This is yet another variation on the main theme from Flash Gordon, but featuring random guitar bursts from Brian and timpani rolls from Roger. The bulk of the song is comprised of dialogue and serves more as incidental music than as an integral composition.
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE (Mercury)
• A-side: 10/79 [2] • Album: Game • CD Single: 11/88
• Live: Wembley, On Fire, Montreal • Bonus: Wembley
• Live (Q+PR): Return, Ukraine
“I wrote it in the bath,” Freddie told Melody Maker in 1981 of one of his most famous compositions. “I actually dragged an upright piano to my bedside once. I’ve been known to scribble lyrics in the middle of the night without putting the light on. [It] took me five or ten minutes [to write]. I did that on the guitar, which I can’t play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords. It’s a good discipline because I simply had to write within a small framework. I couldn’t work through t
oo many chords and, because of that restriction, I wrote a good song, I think.”
The vocalist’s description of his song indicates that it was intended from the beginning to be a simple, almost throwaway song. Times had definitely changed: Queen had entered a phase in the summer of 1979 which would later prove to be their most successful, and it was all due to this record. Deliberately stripping back their approach and recording style, the band started writing songs more focused on rhythm and ‘feel’, as opposed to presenting the expansive sonic scope that distinguished so many of their early songs.
The actual recording process didn’t take long at all, as Brian explained: “The guys put down the backing track for that one when I was out doing something in Munich, where we were working ... I came back and thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s almost finished. Let me put some guitar on it before they stick it out.’ Fred plays the rhythm acoustic guitar. All I really did was add a kind of ersatz rock and roll solo and some backing harmonies and it was done.” Recorded with a sparse backing track of Freddie on acoustic guitar, John on bass and Roger on drums, the song was completed within a few takes; all Brian added was an appropriate solo on an old Fender Telecaster that belonged to Roger, and the song was completed.
“‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ was very untypical playing for me,” explained Brian of his performance. “I’d never used a Telecaster on record before, and a Boogie amplifier, which I’d never have considered using. It’s a very sparse record, and it was done with Elvis Presley in mind, obviously. I thought that Freddie sounded a bit like Elvis, but somebody’s done a cover of it who sounds absolutely like Elvis, and the whole record sounds like a Jordanaires/Elvis recreation.”
Freddie said of his first experience playing guitar on record: “I wrote ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ on guitar and played rhythm on the record, and it works really well because Brian gets to play all those lead guitar fills as well as his usual solo. I’m somewhat limited by the number of chords I know. I’m really just learning, but I hope to play more guitar in the future.”
