Tag: Brian May

My Sunday Song – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen

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For My Sunday Song #225, we are going to dive in to the Queen classic, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” off the band’s 1980 album, ‘The Game’. The song went all the way to #1 on the US Billboard Charts and sold over a million copies making it a platinum selling single. Not too shabby.

The song was written by Freddie Mercury and was a tribute to none other than Elvis Presley. Freddie wrote the song in only about 10 minutes and he wrote it playing a guitar. Freddie also plays rhythm guitar on the song as well which if I’m not mistaken is the first time he had ever done that for one of the band’s songs. In a Melody Maker interview back in 1980, Freddie had this to say about the song…

‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ took me five or ten minutes. 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 too many chords and because of that restriction I wrote a good song, I think. (Freddie Mercury)

I would say he did. The song is so simple, yet it is amazingly catchy and bores into your brain where it lives like a welcomed memory. It is almost magical. Once you here those first few notes, you know you are in for a good time as it has that old school rockabilly rhythm that you can’t wait to get to the sock hop and dance your ass off.

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My Sunday Song – “I’m In Love With My Car” by Queen

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For My Sunday Song #224, we are going to discuss one of Queen’s fun songs, “I’m in Love With My Car”. The song is off the album, “A Night at the Opera” which was released in 1975. The song was written by Roger Taylor and is one of his more famous songs mainly because it was the B-Side to a little known Queen hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”, you may have heard of that one. There is a whole story to that which we will get to shortly.

The song was actually inspired by one of the band’s roadies, Johnathan Harris. Johnathan loved his car to death which was a Triumph TR4. Roger wrote it and played all the instruments for the demo and the band kind of thought of it as a joke, but Roger wasn’t joking. They recorded the song and Roger pitched a royal tantrum to get on the B-Side of “Bohemian Rhapsody” which the band finally caved after Roger had locked himself in a closet (or cupboard) until Freddie finally agreed. This ended up causing a lot of tension between him and Freddie because Freddie was pissed he got as much in royalties for that “Bohemian Rhapsody” single he didn’t write-it. But because his song was on the B-Side he got a big piece of the pie as well. Turned out that whole tantrum trick worked out quite nicely in Roger’s favor.

The song is actually pretty great. What guy hasn’t fallen in love with his car. I had a friend that spent so many long hours fixing up their 69 Firebird and they loved their car so much. It was also fun to do burnouts with. And I love my car now as it is fun to drive and just hugs the road. So I get it. Musically, Brain May’s guitar work is great as he recorded it with his own Red Special guitar. Freddy is on the piano playing away and Roger’s vocals sound great. The song ends with a motor revving and that was Roger’s own car which was an Alfa Romeo.

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Queen + Adam Lambert – ‘Live Around the World’ – Album Review

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When I heard Queen + Adam Lambert were releasing alive album, I was quite excited. I had seen them live together and thought it was a wonderful show. They were here in Charlotte back on August 23, 2019 and you can read about it HERE. Sadly, this show wasn’t part of this release. But there were many others as the band chose from over 200 shows to come up with the 22 song set. The release came in both the CD and a Blu-Ray with the actual clips from the shows they used including the Fire Fight Australia appearance where they performed the full Queen set from 1985’s Live Aid and yes, that included the famous “Ay-Oh” actually done by Freddie.

The CD is missing two tracks that you only get on the Blu-Ray and those are the “Drum Battle” and the Brian May Guitar Solo / “Last Horizon”. The “Drum Battle” was really awesome because Roger was dueling with his son, Rufus Tiger Taylor. And Tiger is a pretty great drummer in his own right. What a proud moment that must be for Roger. The Brian May guitar solo was similar to what I saw at my show, but the difference was instead of riding an asteroid into the rafters, Brian was being lifted in the palm of the hand of the robot from ‘News of the World’.

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My Sunday Song – “Tenement Funster” by Queen

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For My Sunday Song #222, we are focusing on the song “Tenement Funster” off the Queen 1974 album, ‘Sheer Heart Attacks’. The song was written by Roger Taylor and sung by Roger Taylor. It was not a single and was actually part of a 3 song medley on the album with “Flick of the Wrist” and “Lily of the Valley”. Since the songs are only tied together somewhat musically, they are all 3 different songs lyrically and don’t really go together in any kind of story. For that reason, I want to focus only on the first track, “Tenement Funster”. What a song name. I love saying it…”Tenement Funster”, “Tenement Funster”, “Tenement Funster”…you try it now…see lots of fun and hard to say it 3 times fast.

As I said, the song was written by Roger and seems to be about youth and rebellion which is a typical rock & roll theme. Lyrically, it seems a little out there as I know idea what is so special about his “new purple shoes”, but his “rock-and-roll 45s, been enraging the folks on the lower floor” makes total sense as I can imagine if I was living in an apartment complex my music would enrage many a neighbors. I am still not sure what a “Tenement Funster” is except maybe it is as simple as a guy who lives in a tenement (apartment) and loves to have fun and not worry about what everyone else thinks. Good enough for me.

Musically, it is a solid rock track and Roger sounds really great on it. There are elements of the Beatles and yet there is still the Brian May guitar sound, the theatrical feel to it and the Queen backing vocals and if you listen close someone goes really, really high singing “Young and we’re crazy”, it is actually quite funny. You have John Deacon doing the bass and opening the track on the acoustic guitar while Brian still handles the lead. Freddie Mercury doesn’t do any vocals, but he does contribute on the piano. Roger’s drumming is great and it is an all around fantastic Roger sung song and one of my favorites of his.

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My Sunday Song – “Innuendo” by Queen

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For My Sunday Song #221, we are starting the next set of 10 songs with the band Queen and first up is “Innuendo”. The song is the title track to their 1991 album ‘Innuendo’ which was their 14th studio album and for me their last proper studio album as Freddy died a short time later after its release. The song was the first single off the album and went to #1 in the UK and #17 in the US. I bought this album the day it came out and loved this song instantly.

The song was written by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor and actually developed from a jam session that was going on by Brian May, John Deacon and Roger. It was very “Bohemian Rhapsody” with all the style changes and is actually longer than that song. It was pieced together from many different pieces, but when joined together it is a kind of magic. The lyrics are part tribute to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’ (Roger’s part) and part shout out to the stories on Freddie’s health (Freddie’s part).

But it is the music that blows me away with it’s drum roll opening and eerie tones building until we get to Freddie’s voice. It is dark and haunting and then goes “Bolero style” with its flamenco guitars with help from Steve Howe of Yes and Brian May. Steve actually handles the solo part. There is full on orchestration which harkens back to ‘Bohemian” and then it rocks out. The orchestration was done all on keyboards by Freddie and David Richards the producer. It is progressive rock, 1991. It is one of those songs that has so much going on that you find little nuggets that you missed in the prior listens. It is a song that keeps on giving. Queen does excess well and this song screams excess and over-the-top and it works on so many levels. What an opening track to an album.

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Def Leppard – ‘Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 29 March 2019’ – #RSD – Album Review

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On Record Store Day, August 29, 2020, I was able to pick up a few albums and one of the ones on my list this time around was a Def Leppard release of the live performance of their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on March 29, 2019. For a band that once said, live albums were for bands that couldn’t come up with anything else, they have now put out a bunch of live material since those words years ago. I’m not complaining, just saying.

As you know if you follow this site, I buy anything and everything Def Leppard and I figured this is a nice piece for the collection as it is a special moment in the band’s history. This band that I like so much was voted in to the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!! That means…well…it really means nothing, but still a cool honor for the guys. A little more validation that they are a great band so screw you haters out there that think differently!!! I will unfriend you and delete you because that is how Facecrack works right!!

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Queen + Adam Lambert – Concert Review (Charlotte, NC – August 23, 2019)

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On a dark stormy night in August, Queen + Adam Lambert came riding in to town for the very last show of their Rhapsody Tour.  Yes, Charlotte, NC was able to bid farewell to this legend of a band who has seen a massive resurgence thanks in large part to the movie ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and in small part due to the current singer Adam Lambert.

There is no exciting story to tell leading up to the show except the Rain Gods were nice to my daughter and I by not raining on us.  We got in to the Spectrum Center and about 5 minutes later the skies opened up.  People were coming in dripping wet, but no one cared because everyone was there to have a good time and listening to everyone’s favorite band, Queen.

When we finally arrive to our seats after a long line at the merch table and a long line at the bathroom and a short line at the refreshment stand to grab a couple of $5 waters (each), we were greeted to this…

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A giant crown wrapping the stage.  It looked so real and like it was made out of metal.  Impressive.  Even more impressive was the fact it was a giant TV screen.  The graphics, detail, clarity, hell everything about it was impressive.  It looked 3D without the glasses…amazing.

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Bohemian Rhapsody – Movie Review

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I have been a Queen fan since I was a young teen back in the 80’s and when this movie came out, I wanted to go see it.  I was worried about the cheesiness of a biopic and if they could represent Queen and Freddie Mercury respectable enough or would it look like a LIfetime biopic?  Could the actors make it believable enough that I could imagine that this was really the guys from the band I know so well?  Could I get lost in the movie and enjoy it?

All valid questions and let me tell you, the answer is yes to all three questions. The movie was respectable, believable and I enjoyed it.  It opens with the band about to take the stage for their Live Aid show and then cuts to 1970 where it all began and Freddie would meet Brian and Roger while the latter two were playing with their band Smile.  And the rest you can say is history.

The movie takes you through the start of the band, the struggles with the label, the struggles with each other and the struggles of Freddie’s life.  And the movie ends with that Live Aid concert which was quite possibly the greatest 20 minute set of any band in history.  How they recreated the Live Aid scene was magical and the Blu-Ray comes with an exclusive behind-the-scenes look on how they did it. Probably worth the price of admission alone.

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