by Georg Purvis
FREDDIE MERCURY: THE UNTOLD STORY
• 2000 (112 mins)
• Directors: Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher
Released only as part of the Solo Collection box set in October 2000 (and reworked as a separate release in September 2006 as Lover Of Life, Singer Of Songs), The Untold Story is a documentary based on all aspects of Freddie’s life: his childhood, college experience, forming Queen, the music he produced, his many love affairs and his untimely death. It’s a lengthy documentary, with undue emphasis on his sexuality, a topic many fans feel should be consigned to the tabloids rather than an officially sanctioned documentary.
Regardless, The Untold Story is an interesting documentary including interviews with people who had been associated with Freddie in various ways: his sister, Kashmira Cooke, and mother, Jer Bulsara; the headmaster of the boarding school Freddie attended; school friends and teachers; former band members from Ibex and Wreckage; Tim Staffell, Brian May, Roger Taylor, Mary Austin, Jim Hutton, Peter Freestone, Mick Rock, Ian Hunter, Peter Straker, and still others. Most are respectful of Freddie, his memory and his achievements, and it’s clear that the documentary was a labour of love. With a soundtrack provided by French pianist Thierry Lang, The Untold Story remains the definitive word on Freddie’s life, and is certainly worth checking out.
QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS VIDEOS
RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS
• 2005 (140 mins) • Hollywood 2061 62527 9
• Directors: David Mallet and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell (‘Imagine’ only) • Producers: Brian May, Roger Taylor, Paul Rodgers, Simon Lupton, and Rhys Thomas
‘Reaching Out’ / ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Wishing Well’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Say It’s Not True’, ‘’39’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Hammer To Fall’ (slow/fast), ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, ‘Let There Be Drums’, ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, Guitar Solo, ‘Last Horizon’, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘Can’t Get Enough’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘All Right Now’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘It’s A Beautiful Day’, ‘Imagine (Hyde Park, July 2005)’
Released along with the live audio equivalent of Queen + Paul Rodgers’ 2005 concert in Sheffield, Return Of The Champions is a fascinating, beautifully filmed DVD release that certainly stands up superbly against Queen releases with Freddie. The full impact of the visuals was lost on the CD but can be appreciated here. The performances are similar to the CD, but the added bonus of ‘Imagine’ from the Hyde Park concert in July 2005 makes the DVD all the more worthwhile.
SUPER LIVE IN JAPAN
• 2006 (207 mins) • Toshiba TOBW-3296 • Director: Toru Uehara (‘Backstage in Budapest’ directed by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher) • Producers: HIP, Fuji Television, Fujipacific Music, Jim Beach, Chris Crawford, Simon Lupton, Justin Shirley-Smith
‘Lose Yourself’ (intro) / ‘Reaching Out’ / ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Fire And Water’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Say It’s Not True’, ‘’39’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)’, ‘Hammer To Fall’ (slow/fast), ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, ‘Let There Be Drums’, ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, Guitar Solo, ‘Last Horizon’, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘Can’t Get Enough’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘I Was Born To Love You’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘All Right Now’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’, Documentary: Backstage In Budapest
Released only in Japan in April 2006, Super Live In Japan (not one of the better titles for a Queen release) is superior to Return Of The Champions since it features a slew of material that wasn’t performed during the UK leg of the 2005 tour. ‘Fire And Water’ and ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)’ are two unsurprising (but certainly welcome) additions, while a rendition of ‘I Was Born To Love You’, as performed by Brian on acoustic guitar and Roger on lead vocals, is reason enough to buy an import of the DVD. Filmed at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo on 27 October 2005, the band are in good spirits here, though they are all visibly weary, considering the concert was coming at the end of a lengthy tour. A second disc features a twenty-five-minute documentary, filmed by The Torpedo Twins, from Queen + Paul Rodgers’ concert in Budapest in the spring of 2005, with interviews from the touring band and various tour personnel as well as fans.
LIVE IN UKRAINE
• 2009 (121 mins) • Parlophone 9 64603 2 0
• Director: David Mallet • Producers: Rocky Oldham, Dione Orrom, Jim Beach, Elena Branchuk, Justin Shirley-Smith, Kris Fredriksson, Joshua J. Macrae
‘Cosmos Rockin’’ (intro) / ‘One Vision’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Seagull’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘’39’, Drum Solo, ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, ‘Say It’s Not True’, ‘Shooting Star’, ‘Bad Company’, Guitar Solo, ‘Bijou’, ‘Last Horizon’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘C-lebrity’, ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Cosmos Rockin’’, ‘All Right Now’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’
Filmed on the opening night of Queen + Paul Rodger’s 2008 tour, Live In Ukraine was, like its predecessor Return Of The Champions, a bare-bones affair, with only a (slightly) edited presentation of the concert released on a single disc. It was bound with its audio equivalent – also with ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, and ‘Wishing Well’ absent – in a CD/ DVD package, and in a special collector’s tin that also included a T-shirt (!), and, of course, in its own right. As a concert documentary, it’s interesting, but its similiarities to Return Of The Champions are glaringly obvious: only three songs from The Cosmos Rocks were performed, and only a few new choices balance out a predictable and tired set list. The band are still in good spirits, which is encouraging, especially considering relations between the primaries would disintegrate quickly as the tour progressed. It’s a good DVD, but unspectacular, and its release six months after Paul officially announced the end of his partnership with Brian and Roger, and a very small promotional push, resulted in disappointing sales.
C. INTERACTIVE
Queen skated on the cutting edge of technology from the start thanks to the experimental nature of each band member, ever ready to push the limits, sometimes inspiring a positive reaction (‘Bohemian Rhapsody’) and sometimes a resoundingly negative one (Hot Space). One medium that Queen dabbled in, initially successfully, was the internet, an ever-burgeoning hotspot marketed towards the youth of the new millennium. Queen’s first foray into the worldwide web came with the release of Made In Heaven, where advertisements for the now-defunct address, http://queen-fip.com, were contained in the liner notes. With a futuristic front page depicting an almost Orwellian cityscape, Queen’s fans were able to receive access to the most up-to-date information on their favourite band.
Unfortunately, there was a lack of enthusiasm from those in charge of the site and, with the boom of fan sites boasting literally up-to-the-minute information as well as even more features, the official Queen site quickly became obsolete. Perhaps realizing that Queen deserved a proper site, Jacky Smith, head of the Fan Club, started up her own website in which the news was updated daily, though this, too, became obsolete when it was discovered that it offered little more. Promises were made to include an online shop, which would have been an ideal addition had fans not been obliged to pay by post; an online payment facility was finally set up in 2005, completing the sorely-needed integration of the Fan Club into the twenty-first century.
Queen’s official page was revamp
ed in late 1999 to coincide with Greatest Hits III, with many assurances made regarding timely updates. Only in 2002, however, was there an all-out attempt to make the website a viable source of information, thanks to a renewed interest in the band based partly on the enthusiastic reception of the We Will Rock You musical in various countries and, subsequently, on the re-formation of Queen (now containing only Roger and Brian) with Paul Rodgers handling lead vocals. With the band more in the public eye than they had been for a long time, neglecting such an important method of information delivery would be self-defeating, so QueenOnline (http://www.queenonline.com) blossomed into an international source of news, rivalled only by the stellar fansite QueenZone (http://www.queenzone.com), both containing forums (or noticeboards) allowing fans to interact with each other.
At some time in the early part of the new millennium, an unofficial Brian May site somehow became the guitarist’s official forum, transformed from a fan site into a regularly viewed source of information straight from the man himself. He was given his own corner for personal thoughts and ramblings (‘Brian’s Soapbox’) and publishes, almost daily, stories about how certain songs were written or recorded, or about whatever else is on his mind; recently, he has started a campaign against animal cruelty, Save Me. Fans are also encouraged to write in to Brian and to email him their thoughts or questions which, if the fan is lucky enough, will be personally answered by Brian himself – and maybe even featured on the website.
Apart from the internet, Queen have also made a few other forays into the world of interactive electronics, though they were greeted with only measured amounts of success.
QUEEN: THE eYe
Electronic Arts, 1997
Disc One – The Arena Domain: ‘Made In Heaven’ (1’08); ‘I Want It All’ (4’43); ‘Dragon Attack’ (4’22); ‘Fight From The Inside’ (3’02); ‘Hang On In There’ (0’57); ‘In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited’ (0’32)*; ‘Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (1’43); ‘More Of That Jazz’ (4’29); ‘We Will Rock You (live)’ (0’58); ‘Liar’ (1’26); ‘The Night Comes Down’ (0’47); ‘Liar’ (1’26); ‘Chinese Torture’ (1’44); ‘I Want It All’ (4’54)
Disc Two – The Works Domain: ‘Mustapha’ (0’25)*; ‘Mother Love’ (4’16); ‘You Take My Breath Away’ (3’14); ‘One Vision’ (0’32); ‘Sweet Lady’ (1’03)*; ‘Was It All Worth It?’ (1’57); ‘Get Down, Make Love’ (3’48); ‘Heaven For Everyone’ (5’36); ‘Hammer To Fall’ (4’22); ‘Tie Your Mother Down (intro)’ (0’40); ‘One Vision’ (2’27); ‘It’s Late’ (1’08)*; ‘Procession’ (1’14); ‘Made In Heaven’ (5’24)
Disc Three – The Theatre Domain: ‘It’s A Beautiful Day (reprise)’ (1’37); ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’ (1’59); ‘Princes Of The Universe’ (1’08); ‘A Kind Of Magic’ (4’25); ‘Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)’ (4’03)*; ‘Bring Back That Leroy Brown’ (0’26)*; ‘A Kind Of Magic’ (0’06)*; ‘You Don’t Fool Me’ (5’57); ‘Let Me Entertain You’ (0’49); ‘Khashoggi’s Ship’ (1’36); ‘Forever’ (3’21); ‘Don’t Try So Hard’ (1’34*); ‘Was It All Worth It?’ (0’37)
Disc Four – The Innuendo Domain: ‘Brighton Rock’ (0’12); ‘I’m Going Slightly Mad’ (2’40); ‘Bijou’ (1’25); ‘Khashoggi’s Ship’ (1’37); ‘The Show Must Go On’ (4’25); ‘The Hitman’ (1’07); ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ (1’50)*; ‘I Can’t Live With You’ (4’40); ‘Love Of My Life’ (0’04)
Disc Five – The Final Domain: ‘Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to......(piano intro)’ (0’39); ‘Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to......(remainder of song)’ (3’07); ‘Ride The Wild Wind’ (4’45); ‘Headlong’ (4’53); ‘Breakthru’ (2’06); ‘Hammer To Fall’ (4’32); ‘Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)’ (4’11); ‘The Hitman’ (2’39); ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’ (4’40)*; ‘Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)’ (4’10)*
Songs marked with an asterisk (*) feature vocals; all others are instrumentals.
Rumblings among the Queen fan communities had long speculated that the band were about to enter into the realm of interactive computer games, and in 1997 the rumour was confirmed. The basic premise of Queen: The eYe mirrors the plot of the We Will Rock You musical, set in the future where the world is ruled by an Orwellian machine called ‘The eYe’, which has abolished every creative outlet through which a human was previously able to express himself or herself. The main character, Dubroc, stumbles across a collection of rock music (provided, obviously, by Queen), is branded a traitor to The eYe’s vision, and is duly sentenced to death. At this point, the player takes over and tries to destroy The eYe and emerge from the various domains alive.
Unfortunately, despite the considerable amount of work that went into the project, it was deemed a failure due to poor promotion and confusing gameplay. The graphics were inadequate, though that didn’t prevent a book – The Art Of The eYe – from being published, featuring landscapes that were nevertheless intriguing and interesting. The single redeeming factor of the project was the music available on the five discs, considerably edited, remixed and rearranged to suit gameplay, thus creating a unique listening experience that could be played on any CD player. Containing mostly instrumental reworkings of songs (partly or fully stripped of vocals) that were generally lesser known to the casual Queen fan, the songs were also substantially remixed to bring aspects previously buried or unheard to the forefront.
Queen: The eYe is now hard to find, though it wasn’t exactly in surplus during its initial release. Fans of the band have little reason to track it down other than for the alternate song versions, as it isn’t compatible with a PC system above Windows 98, nor is it even playable on any Macintosh, making its appeal all the more limited. Unsurprisingly, Queen didn’t venture back into the gaming world, though their focus would remain on creating a surreal future in a different format.
THE TOP 100 BOOTLEGS
Available 8 March 2005:
A Day At The Apollo (30/5/1977)
Action And More Action (26/10/1982)
Jazz Final (6/5/1979)
Last Stand (15/5/1985)
Life Is Real (9/8/1982)
Available 10 September 2005:
Cardiac Arrest (31/3/1974 and 24/12/1975)
Cry Argentina (24 and 25/11/1981, taken from the official We Will Rock You video; 13/9/1973; and one track from Live Killers)
In Concert ’74 (6/12/1974)
Available 24 October 2005:
Bonsoir Paris (28/2/1979)
Crazy Tour (26/12/1979)
Done Under Pressure (21/6/1986)
Available 12 December 2005:
Live Alive USA (1982 Rock ‘n’ America tour)
Procession (29/11/1973)
Seven Seas Of Tsumagoi (29/4/1975)
Available 16 January 2006:
Killer Queen (23/4/1975)
Warehouse Copenhagen (12/5/1977)
Xmas At The Beeb (24/12/1975)
Available 13 February 2006:
Domo Arigato Osaka (24/10/1982)
Immigrant Magic Berlin (26/6/1986)
When You Don’t Wanna Hear It Frankfurt (28/4/1982)
In theory, the Top 100 Bootlegs was an inspired idea: beat the bootleggers at their own game and offer official downloads of the best-known bootlegs in existence. Unfortunately, the execution left much to be desired, and angered most die-hard fans: instead of offering cleaned-up live shows, Queen Productions unleashed onto the internet untouched bootlegs of dubious origin and with absurdly incorrect information. It was a project that was greeted tepidly, and rightly so: had something new and exciting been offered – perhaps a raiding of the live vaults to release soundboard-quality concerts (no need to remaster them, as Pearl Jam and The Who have been offering soundboard recordings of every concert of theirs since at least 2002) – it would have been hailed as worthwhile. Instead, it just confirmed how inadequately Queen’s back catalogue was being handled.
STEMS & MULTITRACKS
‘Another One Bites The Dust’ (2 versions), ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (2 versio
ns), ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘C-Lebrity’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (2 versions), ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ (album and single versions), ‘Get Down, Make Love’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘I Want It All’ (3 versions), ‘I Want To Break Free’ (2 versions), ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Killer Queen’ (2 versions), ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘One Vision’ (2 versions), ‘Play The Game’, ‘Somebody To Love’ (2 versions), ‘Stone Cold Crazy’, ‘Tenement Funster’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Under Pressure’ (3 versions), ‘We Are The Champions’ (3 versions), ‘We Will Rock You’
While it’s not in this book’s interest to condone material not officially sanctioned by Queen, the stems and multitracks that have leaked onto the internet in recent years are a difficult grey area. It’s true that Queen Productions didn’t release these as an official release, though they were okayed for use on the wildly popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band video game series. As such, industrious fans collected the ‘stems’ (isolated tracks of each song) and leaked them out onto the internet for bedroom remix enthusiasts to go to town. It’s a fascinating listen, offering fans exquisite insight into the painstakingly detailed process that each ‘track’ is made up of.
Furthermore, the legitimate leaking of four multitracks – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Get Down, Make Love’ and ‘Killer Queen’ – is even more fascinating, with all twenty-four tracks separated and isolated into their own file. The casual fan would be absolutely baffled by these, uncertain with which computer program they could even be played in (for the record, it’s Audacity, or other similar programs). For those patient fans who fancy a try at coming up with alternate approaches to Queen songs, the stems and multitracks weren’t so much a leak as they were a revelation and unintentional Christmas gift rolled into one.
