Queen 'Keep Yourself Alive' demo tape hits the auction block

It is the recording that started it all; the one that introduced Queen to America and the one that was used for their first-ever radio play in 1973.


October 2019 - Backstage Auctions is honored to present this rare and one of a kind piece of Queen history in their upcoming Rock and Pop Auction event. “It’s truly a privilege to have Queen’s 1973 demo tape featured in our auction and to give fans and collectors around the world the opportunity to own this Holy Grail piece of music history,” explains Backstage Auctions founder Jacques van Gool.  

The history of the tape and how it became Queen’s introduction to America as well as all the individuals that made it happen is quite remarkable.  Elektra Records founder and president Jac Holzman received the 1973 Queen 'Keep Yourself Alive' demo from the bands' manager Norman Sheffield in the hope that he would sign them to his label for the US markets. Enthused about the band and their potential, Holzman went to see Queen perform at the infamous London Marquee and subsequently signed Queen to Elektra Records. This is when Holtzman issued his company wide memo "I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF POP MUSIC AND IT IS QUEEN" which everyone promptly threw into the trash except for the local promo man in Boston, Ric Aliberte.

The single ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ was released in October 1973. Aliberte right away took the 45 to WBCN-FM 's Maxanne Sartori.  Sartori wanted to broadcast it on her show but Program Director Norm Wiener insisted all new music be played using 15-IPS tape only, as he wanted the sound of WBCN-FM to be pristine. Aliberte requested the tape and the only copy available was Jac Holtzman's copy. As Holtzman had just sold Elektra Records and left the company, Ruth Manning, the New York Elektra office manager, gave Aliberte the ONLY copy she had; Holtzman's copy!

Aliberte brought the tape to WBCN-FM and Sartori immediately played it three times a day on her show. Soon Queen was a station favorite and all the DJ's started to spin multiple tracks from the now released vinyl LP. Aliberte retrieved the tape from the station and has had it ever since. This recording has been carefully preserved by Aliberte for the past 46 years and he recently showed it to Brian May, who graciously signed the back of the box. “Brian couldn’t believe that I still had the tape, he recalled the story very well,” says Aliberte. 

The tape was recently evaluated at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles by former VP and studio head Michael Frondelli, a famous engineer and producer in his own right, to check the quality. It turns out to be in perfect condition with the original alignment tones for accurate playback at the top of the reel.

To quote Michael Frondelli "In my 40 years as a recording engineer and producer, 9 years at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios and as the former VP for Capitol Records Studios for 11 years, I have never seen or even heard of an analog tape ever being sent to a label or radio station, let alone one with alignment tones with this ‘Master’ quality. This so-called demo was truly a master deal closer. I see this as historical evidence of a truly confident, brilliant artist strategy!"

Fans and collectors worldwide can participate in the auction hosted by Backstage Auctions. The item can currently be previewed online now and the online auction bidding will run from October 19, 2019 through October 27, 2019.

Learn more here: Queen 1973 Original Demo Tape

For more information and to register for your VIP All Access Pass for The Rock and Pop 2019 Auction visit:  www.backstageauctions.com 

DVD Review: Ritchie Blackmore – The Ritchie Blackmore Story

DVD Review: Ritchie Blackmore – The Ritchie Blackmore Story
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A-

Ritchie Blackmore - The
Ritchie Blackmore Story 2016

Enigmatic, demanding, quick to anger and evidently fond of pulling off elaborate pranks, the iconic Ritchie Blackmore has always jealously guarded his privacy. Though rather stodgy and a little dry, a revealing new documentary titled "The Ritchie Blackmore Story" finds the dark lord of rock guitar sorcery in a more open and talkative mood than usual.

Offering as much access to Blackmore's inner-most thoughts and memories as anyone ever thought possible, the film relates Blackmore's story in a dry, straight-forward fashion, going chronologically from birth through his time with pop act The Outlaws, his early session work in the '60s and then exploring in more detail the triumphant highs and disappointing lows of his glory days with Deep Purple and Rainbow. And with his wife Candice Night by his side, Blackmore recounts how his passion for traditional Renaissance music evolved, leading to the formation of the project that has consumed both of them in recent years, Blackmore's Night.

Professionally pieced together, "The Ritchie Blackmore Story" takes us inside the making of such landmark records as Deep Purple In Rock, Machine Head and Burn from Blackmore's point of view, and with frankness and soul-baring honesty, he talks of the lineup changes in Deep Purple and why he left the band on multiple occasions. Discussions with Glenn Hughes, Roger Glover and David Coverdale flesh out what happened behind the scenes, adding more meat on the bone.

What emerges from the video biography from Eagle Rock Entertainment is a revealing and in-depth portrait of a restlessly creative, if curmudgeonly and downright prickly but occasionally funny, artist who's authored a slew of original and memorable guitar riffs and rained down torrents of lightning-fast, yet tasteful and classically inspired, soloing like an angry god. Tributes and insightful commentary on Blackmore's brilliance come pouring out of admirers such as Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Queen's Brian May, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Joe Satriani, Gene Simmons of KISS and Toto's Steve Lukather – to name a few – and their observations are sincere and thoughtful, with some making him out to be a caucasian Jimi Hendrix. And there's 40 minutes of additional interview material tacked on to the DVD, packaged with informative and well-written liner notes and great vintage photos.

The best stuff, though, comes straight from Blackmore's mouth. In a series of casual interviews over beers, Blackmore pulls no punches, talking candidly about his temper, his belief in ghosts and dalliances with the supernatural, and his stormy relationship with Ian Gillan – including recollections of a restaurant fight that ended with him throwing a plate of pasta into the singer's face after Gillan had doused it in ketchup, as bandmates cringed.

In the end, however, what matters most is the music, and an abundance of sensational vintage live footage from various periods in his career speaks to his wild, unpredictable showmanship, boundless creativity and incredible talent. Segments of performances of such classic material as "Highway Star," "Smoke on the Water," "Black Night," "Mistreated" and "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll," among other favorites, are strewn throughout the film, and much is made of Blackmore's explosive meltdown at the infamous 1974 California Jam event. All of it is tightly edited so that the movie doesn't come off as some hastily thrown together patchwork. Ever the perfectionist, Blackmore would undoubtedly be livid if it had.

As it is, its contents comprise an essential dossier of Blackmore's life and career to anyone with even a passing interest in him, his bands and rock history in general.
– Peter Lindblad

DVD Review: Queen – A Night At The Odeon, Live At Hammersmith '75

DVD Review: Queen – A Night At The Odeon, Live At Hammersmith '75
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A

Queen - A Night At The Odeon,
Live At Hammersmith '75 2015

Fog machines on full blast, the stage at the grand old Hammersmith Odeon was immersed in clouds of billowing smoke. Colorful lights circled about, as Queen strutted and preened through the bombastic epic "In the Lap of the Gods ... Revisited" like luminous peacocks in satin suits.

And when they were done, blue balloons and festive streamers fell from the rafters on an ecstatic audience begging for more. Even the toy sex doll seen surfing the crowd seemed to want an encore. And she got one.

Far from spent, on Christmas Eve in 1975, Queen – riding high on the chart-topping success of "Bohemian Rhapsody," celebrating its 40th anniversary this year – re-emerged, vamping through their take on "Big Spender" and then careening into a raw, raucous medley of old-time rock 'n' roll covers based around Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock." A heady celebration, indeed, this performance, filmed beautifully for the U.K. TV show "The Old Grey Whistle Test," was as memorable and glorious as any for Queen, and it has now been released by Eagle Rock Entertainment in various formats as "A Night At The Odeon, Live At Hammersmith '75."

Along with a full CD, DVD and Blu-ray package complete with a never-before-seen "second encore" of "Seven Seas of Rhye" and "See What A Fool I've Been," there are separate DVD and Blu-ray versions with other bonus material. Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor reminisce about being broke and riddled with self-doubt, how wonderful the night in question was and what made this particular period in Queen history so transformative, when the album A Night At The Opera was soaring in popularity, with "Old Grey Whistle Test" presenter Bob Harris in a nostalgic and revealing 22-minute documentary. That's included with rare and rather dodgy, but still vital, footage of Queen on their much-ballyhooed 1975 tour of the Far East playing "Now I'm Here," "Killer Queen" and "In the Lap of the Gods ... Revisited" in the release's "Live at Budokan" segment.

In stark contrast, the vintage video imagery of the triumphant Hammersmith Odeon gig is sumptuous, capturing with superb camera work all the bluster, theatricality and assured brilliance of a band on fire. May's harmonic, echo-laden solo turn during "Brighton Rock" is truly mesmerizing and that great tone of his bites your ear lobe throughout, while Taylor's drumming is controlled fury and John Deacon's bass work becomes the elastic glue that holds it all together. Not surprisingly, though, it's Freddie Mercury who steals the show, his voice so pure and his expression fierce and unabashedly dramatic, while his piano playing displays both an incredibly deft touch and an ability to pound keys into submission when so moved.

Honest-to-God hits are hard to come by in an interesting set list that reflects Queen's position then as relative up-and-comers, but small portions of the lively, bouncing romp "Killer Queen" and the ominously powerful "The March of the Black Queen" are bookended by the lovely intro and outro of "Bohemian Rhapsody." Just for kicks, they tack on a vaudevillian bit of "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" to the back end of this neat and tidy little medley that is entertaining. For openers, Queen charges right into an uplifting, soaring "Now I'm Here" and follows by staging a cinematic, expansive "Orge Battle," before tenderly treating "White Queen (As It Began)" like the elegant maiden she is and getting swept up in the dizzying frenzy of "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Liar."

Here is a young, hungry Queen feeling its oats, buoyed by its recent success and eager to show off its exquisite song craft, dazzling chops and the audacious showmanship of Mercury. What a night it was.
– Peter Lindblad

DVD Review: Taste – What's Going On: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970

DVD Review: Taste – What's Going On: Live At The Isle of Wight 1970
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A

Taste - What's Going On: Live
at the Isle of Wight 1970 2015

The simmering tension had finally boiled over. In a van, on their way to play the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, Irish guitar hero Rory Gallagher and his two bandmates, drummer John Wilson and bassist Richard McCracken, decided that Taste was done. Somehow, they'd just have to smile and muddle through the biggest gig of their lives as if nothing had happened.

Or, they could go out in a blaze of glory, which the bluesy rock 'n' roll outfit did, burning the place to the ground with an electrifying set that won over an apathetic daytime crowd that practically yawned at their introduction. They were so good, in fact, that they decided afterward to carry on, however briefly. Soon, though, Taste would ultimately reach the end of their rope.

The thrilling action was filmed by Academy Award winning Director Murray Lerner, whose spontaneous cinematic instincts, an eye for action and drama and a gutsy appreciation for the raw, combustible energy burning uncontrollably in front of him threw gasoline on an already raging fire. And it serves as the centerpiece of a new DVD from Eagle Rock Entertainment named "What's Going On: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970," containing all the tracks from the 1971 Polydor LP and a few more, as the trio stomps all over "Sinner Boy" and "Catfish Blues" in riveting fashion. At one point, as Taste is storming through the heavy blues of "Sugar Mama," Gallagher pumps his fist at Wilson, who reacts enthusiastically by pushing harder and more violently. Seeing Gallagher's slide-guitar work in "Gambling Blues" is a revelation, his soulful soloing a mixture of finesse and daring skill that's simply breathtaking. And when they launch into "Same Old Story," Taste's engine roars to life, their muscle and barely harnessed intensity coalescing into a rip-roaring show of strength and unity.

Preceding this tour de force is an unflinching, well-constructed documentary on Taste that doesn't succumb to banal sentimentality, and yet it speaks in awed wonder of their uncanny musical brilliance. From Taste's origins in Cork, Ireland, through management-inspired lineup changes, financial disputes, touring with Blind Faith and that fateful drive to the Isle Of Wight Festival, the tale of Taste is told with warm memories and genuine honesty, reflecting – through insightful interviews with, among others, Queen's Brian May, U2's The Edge, Bob Geldof and Rory's brother Donel, who also served as the band's road manager – on what made the volatile chemistry of Taste work and how Rory and his sublime talent transcended the sectarian unrest of his native land.

Bonus footage of Taste performing three songs on the German TV series "Beat Club" and videos for "I'll Remember," "What's Going On" and "Born On The Wrong Side Of Time" only enhance the value of a nostalgic package augmented by concise, informative liner notes and great photography. One little Taste is all one needs to be hooked on Rory and company forever.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Roger Taylor – Fun in Space/Strange Frontier

CD Review: Roger Taylor – Fun in Space
Omnivore Recordings
All Access Rating: A-

CD Review: Roger Taylor – Strange Frontier
Omnivore Recordings
All Access Rating: B

Roger Taylor - Fun In Space and Strange Frontier 2015

Somewhat overlooked in Queen, what with Freddie Mercury's flamboyance and Brian May's dazzling guitar tricks hogging the spotlight, drummer Roger Taylor put out some rather interesting solo work in the late '70s and early '80s to hardly any fanfare whatsoever.

His obligations with Queen prevented Taylor from doing much, if any, promotion for 1981's Fun In Space or 1984's Strange Frontier, and that certainly contributed to the relative anonymity of both releases – Fun In Space preceded by the 1977 single "I Wanna Testify," which also made very little noise, which is strange considering Taylor's rather sizable songwriting contributions to some of Queen's biggest hits, the divisive "Radio Ga Ga" among them.

Making them ripe for reassessment, Omnivore Recordings is reissuing both Taylor solo outings on March 24 as expanded CDs, along with various vinyl editions. Stripped of Queen's theatricality and bombast, Fun In Space and Strange Frontier are more humble and modest records, although Taylor's wild and intimate studio experimentation and clever, down-to-earth songwriting manage to sparkle through the airbrushed '80s-style production values.

Of the two, both very much a product of their synthesizer-washed times, Fun In Space – recorded in Montreux, Switzerland in the down time between Queen tours in 1980 – is livelier, more whimsical and eclectic, as Taylor produced it himself and performed everything, save for some keyboard work by engineer David Richards. The jazz-rock ease of "Future Management" is reminiscent of Steely Dan's lighter moods, albeit with a chorus that is sharp and cutting, and offers glistening contrast from the bustling, energetic shakedowns and shuffles of "No Violins" and "Let's Get Crazy," the latter a feverish rockabilly workout with "snap, crackle, pop" drumming from Taylor.

Strange and menacing shapes, skittering percussion and swells of synthesizer make a sonic lava lamp of "Fun In Space," while the galloping beats and silvery guitar of "Good Times Are Now" run fast and clean, the circling guitar hooks and grooves of "Airheads" are unexpectedly weird and nasty, and "My Country I & II" is an oddly melodic and entertaining mix of guitar jangle, swirling keyboards and drumming hydraulics. And all of this comes with a single version of "My Country" and bonus tracks "I Wanna Testify" – a tight, funky little number with doo-wop backing vocals that is utterly infectious – and a jagged, herky-jerky "Turn on the TV" that fades out with a solar-powered guitar solo.

Neatly arranged, with unexpected delights planted throughout, Fun In Space is a colorful surprise party, whereas the dated electro-pop environs of Strange Frontier – partly recorded in Munich while Queen made The Works – find Taylor in a dour and mostly somber mood, his overly dramatic and futuristic reading of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" and the disjointed and chaotic "Abandonfire" lacking the fire and drive of the politically charged title track and "Man On Fire," where Taylor's frustration with modern living boils over.

On Fun In Space, Taylor seems playful, this mad scientist drawing inspiration from David Bowie's Let's Dance period, whereas on Strange Frontier, his muse is Bruce Springsteen, mixing introspection with grand socio-political statements but relying almost entirely on synths and electronic beats to deliver the messages, with less varied instrumentation. That's not to say that Strange Frontier is lacking for memorable melodies, the somnambulistic drift of both "Beautiful Dream" and "It's An Illusion" seeping into the subconscious like a cat burglar, and "I Cry For You" brimming with passion.

Padded with four throwaway remixes, two of them for Strange Frontier's closer "I Cry For You," and the extra track "Two Sharp Pencils (Get Bad)," Taylor's second solo outing at times seems forced. Even his cover of Springsteen's "Racing in the Street," while still imbued with blue-collar longing, comes off as mere imitation rather than a vigorous overhaul. On the other hand, Strange Frontier isn't without its charms, for all of its flaws. Taylor can have all the fun he wants right here on earth when he's adequately inspired.
– Peter Lindblad

DVD Review: Freddie Mercury - Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender

DVD Review: Freddie Mercury - Freddy Mercury: The Great Pretender

Eagle Vision

All Access Review: A-

Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender 2012

At death’s door, Freddie Mercury decided to reveal in a press release that he, indeed, had full-blown AIDs and that he wasn’t long for this world. The news wasn’t surprising. In public appearances around that time, Mercury appeared gaunt, as if he was simply wasting away to nothing. The rumor mill had been spinning out of control for a while, with many speculating that Mercury was in the throes of the deadly disease, and when the end came, the vultures descended to viciously pick his bones clean. Mercilessly, the British tabloids savaged Mercury and his personal life, taking him to task for his reckless promiscuity and his libertine lifestyle. Judgment day had arrived for this modern-day Oscar Wilde, only it was the armchair moralists and the gossipmongers rendering their verdicts, not Mercury’s maker.

Coming to his defense, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor went on TV to attempt to restore his good name and talk about the Freddie Mercury they knew, the quiet, more reserved aesthete who was completely at odds with the over-sexed madman in press portrayals. And there was more – much more, as it turned out – to Mercury than meets the eye, as the new documentary film “Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender” makes so abundantly clear. Mostly concerned with the extreme highs and lows – both professional and personal – that Mercury experienced between the recording of his first solo album, the disastrous Mr. Bad Guy, and his tragic ending, “Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender,” out via Eagle Entertainment, weaves together electrifying live footage – the Live Aid stuff, with Mercury exhorting the massive crowd to sing with him, is captivating – with candid, behind-the-scenes images of the singer and impactful interview snippets from the likes of May and Taylor, as well as friends and associates such as television personality Paul Gambaccini and Queen manager Jim Beach, to manufacture a colorful narrative fabric that Mercury would wear like a royal cape.

Edited and produced by Rhys Thomas, a diehard Queen fanatic, the documentary artfully explores how Mercury immersed himself in New York City’s wild gay club life and became fascinated with disco and Donna Summer, this along with his deep and abiding love and appreciation of opera and the ballet, which resulted in his sublime 1979 performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody” with the Royal Ballet. Going further, through Mercury’s own truthful admission, Thomas reveals the extent to which Mercury felt disengaged and distanced from his Queen band mates, due to their different outside interests, and the bullheadedness Mercury exhibited in steering Hot Space into more dance-oriented territory, which heated the friction between Mercury and May to an almost unbearable temperature.

And while all this controversy and drama certainly makes for good viewing, Thomas is also careful to attend to the smaller, more mundane aspects of Mercury's life, laying bare the vulnerabilities that made him uncertain in interpersonal relationships. Loyal to a fault, as his divisive relationship with former manager Paul Prenter illustrates – in the film, Taylor dismissively says of Prenter, “The less said about him the better” – Mercury was a cat lover, who could be shy and retiring offstage and willingly lament the fact that he didn’t have many close friends, as he did in a poignant talk about his star-crossed relationship with girlfriend Mary Austin in the movie, Mercury wasn’t the arrogant superman his dazzling onstage persona would suggest. He did have his endearing qualities, though, as his giddy adoration of opera singer Montserrat Caballe – whose friendship with Mercury is treated with such tenderness and pure joy in the film – so aptly demonstrates. It was Mercury’s determination to work with her that brought the two vocalists together for one of the most spectacular collaborations in music history, as their clarion calls sent the massive international hit single “Barcelona” soaring to the heavens. Outside of Queen, it was Mercury’s greatest triumph; more than that, it washed away the bad taste left in his mouth from Mr. Bad Guy, the result of a bloated contract with Mercury as a solo artist that caused excruciating financial pain to his record label.

Driving right through that intersection where art and life collide, “Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender” pulls no punches, and yet it is a warm, wistful eulogy to an artist who never stopped creating, even as AIDS ravaged his body. Startlingly honest and forthright about Mercury’s failings and his grand ambitions, the film introduces the world to Mercury’s flawed humanity, and through Thomas’s multi-faceted portrait, the once-blurry and undefined picture of Mercury, the man, comes sharply into focus. Near the end, as is outlined in Thomas’s heartfelt liner notes to the DVD, Beach once asked Mercury what he wanted done with his legacy and all that he’d left behind. Mercury responded, in typical devil-may-care fashion, by saying, “You can do whatever you like with my image, my music, remix it, re-release it, whatever – just never make me boring.” Mission accomplished.

-            Peter Lindblad

DVD Review: Queen - Greatest Video Hits

DVD Review: Queen - Greatest Video Hits

Eagle Vision

All Access Review: A-

Queen - Greatest Video Hits 2012

Donning a studded, black leather jacket in the video to Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” Freddie Mercury vamped around the air-brushed set like a cabaret version of Marlon Brando from “The Wild One,” strutting down a runway with a smoldering quartet of sexy male and female dancers in tow. In paying homage to rock ‘n’ roll’s envelope-pushing past, the always dramatic Mercury cut a very Elvis-like figure, coyly straddling that line between innocent, fun romanticism and explicit sexuality – much as Elvis did.

Where the King was only filmed from the waist up in certain TV performances, Mercury and his “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” playmates only hinted at the lascivious desires boiling up inside of them. Two years later, when Queen needed a visual accompaniment to “Body Language,” Mercury – largely responsible for the video’s steamy content – held nothing back, letting all of his deepest, darkest sexual impulses loose in a writhing orgy of sweaty skin and nubile bodies . As Roger Taylor and Brian May reveal in the surprisingly candid commentary included with “Greatest Video Hits,” the engrossing new compilation of Queen videos from Eagle Vision, the racy imagery was reflective of Mercury’s extreme nature and his increasingly reckless immersion in a homosexual subculture that laughed at prudish convention. And while that side of Mercury’s life may have provided titillating fodder for tabloid exploitation, there was more – much more, in fact – to Queen’s ever-evolving marriage of musical and visual artistry than stylized carnal fantasies, as “Greatest Video Hits” so magnificently illustrates.

Spread across two discs, this collection gathers 33 of Queen’s most inspired cinematic adventures – “Flash” and “A Kind of Magic,” influenced by the movie “Highlander,” being two of the most brilliant – vividly restored and fit into a widescreen format with remixed sound. There’s the lighthearted comedic romp “I Want To Break Free,” an infamous cross-dressing parody of the British soap opera “Coronation Street” directed by David Mallet that was banned by MTV, and the highly conceptual “Under Pressure” and “Radio Ga Ga,” which mixed vintage shots of Queen’s past and scenes from the visionary 1927 science-fiction film “Metropolis.” Evidence of Queen’s cheeky nature is found in “Bicycle Race,” featuring clips of comely naked lasses riding 10-speeds around a track without a care in the world, while the simple, straight-forward performance video of Queen playing “Hammer To Fall,” “Killer Queen,””Friends Will Be Friends” and “Another One Bites the Dust” – in all its grainy 16mm glory – remind one and all of the power and majesty of Queen’s prowess as a captivating, dynamic live band.

And we’re just scratching the surface here. Iconic videos of “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and, of course, the aforementioned “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” are included, as well as later works from when Queen tried to hold it together through May’s marital problems and Mercury’s disintegrating health, such “Breakthru,” which sees the foursome enduring a rather dangerous ride atop a train, and the joyously adorable “The Miracle,” with young children enthusiastically mimicking the roles of May, Mercury, Taylor and John Deacon.

These treasures alone would make “Greatest Video Hits” essential viewing, although what renders it priceless is that savagely honest and witty commentary track. So full of great anecdotes, unflinching opinions and rare insights, it goads May and Taylor into discussing the unvarnished truth behind every single video and song in the collection. Taking viewers behind the curtain, they are brutal when assessing “Scandal,” with Taylor admitting he was bored silly while making both the song and the video and May wishing it would have been more substantive considering how emotionally invested he was in the subject matter – namely, how gossip and rumor can damage not only reputations, but lives as well, as his was by the English press. Even more scathing when the subject turns to the staging of the ridiculously decadent “It’s a Hard Life,” May and Taylor can’t help chuckling at how “stupid” they look in ostentatious costuming that made a horse of Taylor and a colorful bird of paradise of Mercury. Even Queen, evidently, knew when things had gone too far.

Providing the perfect coda to “Greatest Video Hits” is the rousing anthem “One Vision.” Directed by Austrians Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, the video is memorable for its innovative morphing of Queen’s famed 1975 pose from “Bohemian Rhapsody” into an updated portrait of the band in 1985, but, in “fly on the wall” fashion, it also peeks in on recording sessions for the track at Musicland Studios. While May remembers the sort of bunker atmosphere of the place being rather drab and depressing, the guitarist points out how galvanizing the song was for the band and what a unifying message it had for fans, as well. Even if it’s not entirely thorough – the videos for “Innuendo” and “The Show Must Go On” are missing – “Greatest Video Hits” is, in a sense, a similar vehicle for that communal vibe May found so appealing. Watch them all and bask in the warm Queen-related nostalgia that, chances are, someone else is also experiencing in a place that, suddenly, doesn’t feel so far, far away.

-            Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Paul Rodgers & Friends - Live at Montreux 1994

CD Review: Paul Rodgers & Friends - Live at Montreux 1994
Eagle Records
All Access Review:  A-

In 1993, Paul Rodgers was a free man. The Firm had dissolved, the legendary front man was above and beyond The Law, Bad Company had become a distant, but still treasured, memory and the revered Free was long gone. Left with nothing to do, the singer with the brawny, torn-and-frayed pipes and expressive, denim-clad delivery looked again to the blues, his one true love, for inspiration. He found it in the music of Muddy Waters.

Keen to pay homage to the great man, Rodgers didn’t break character. Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters may have contained the spark of the Chicago-style electric blues that Waters once perfected, but it was powered by the blues-rock combustion of Rodgers’ work with Bad Company and Free. Not all of the tracks on Muddy Water Blues, the second of Rodgers’ solo albums, were Waters covers, but his spirit haunts the record, inhabiting its grooves and inspiring Rodgers and his collaborators. In 1994, a year after Muddy Water Blues’ arrival, Rodgers brought much of that record to life in a blustery, sweaty concert at Montreux, where he was joined onstage by the likes of Journey guitarist Neal Schon, drummer Jason Bonham, guitarist Ian Hatton and bassist John Smithson, as well as several guests, including Queen’s Brian May, Toto’s Steve Lukather and blues veterans Luther Allison, Eddie Kirkland, Sherman Robertson, Robert Lucas and Kenny Neal.

Though a star-studded affair, Live at Montreux 1994 has more of a blue-collar feel. This is a workingman’s record, with dirt under its fingernails and calluses on its hands. Sprinkled with plenty of songs that Rodgers made famous with Free and Bad Company, Live at Montreux 1994 also finds Rodgers digging his hands into the earthy soil of blues classics like Waters’ “Louisiana Blues,” which simmers with menace and pure nastiness on the stove here, letting all the rich flavors – including a particularly tasty guitar solo – sink into its meaty textures. In a surprising turn, May gets down and dirty on the Sonny Boy Williamson number “Good Morning Little School Girl,” his distorted guitar becoming a careening crop duster that dives and climbs with all the daring of pilot with a death wish. The highlight of a sensational set, “Good Morning Little School Girl” is simply mean, burning with intensity and passionate playing. To finish off the night, Rodger and crew slam into Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” and the closer, “Hoochie Coochie Man” by Willie Dixon, with all the force of a hurricane. The guitars sound like switchblades on and cut deeply with every note on “Crossroads,” as the rhythm section works up a mean, mean thirst crawling through the gutter on “Hoochie Coochie Man.”

Three of the songs Dixon wrote for Waters, including 1954’s “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “I’m Ready” and 1961’s “Let Me Love You Baby,” are included here and performed with all the righteous fervor of a tent revival ministry, as is Booker T. & the MGs’ “The Hunter.” Just as propulsive and muscular are the Rodgers’ classics “All Right Now,” the old Free hit, and rust-covered Bad Company diamonds “Can’t Get Enough (of Your Love)” and “Feel Like Making Love.” Ever the professional, Rodgers’ nuanced vocals add richness and depth to each track, while his handpicked group of hired guns plays the daylights out of this material almost all the way through, with the exception of the rare uninspired moment. The recording quality is pretty sound and world-class music writer Malcolm Dome does the show justice with well-written, informative liner notes. All of this makes you wonder if, or when, Rodgers will delve even deeper into the blues down the road.

- Peter Lindblad

Purchase CD: Artist Link 

Collectible Vintage Posters:

Bad Company
Queen