Re: Queen Live Killers

[Chris Richards <kohntarkosz@yahoo.com>]

<<I think the most infamous overdubbed "live"
album had to have been "Queen Live".  It was not
only overdubbed, but claimed to use "no
synthesizers and no tapes" on the liner notes. 
It's obvious during a listen that tapes of
Freddie Mercury's voice are used for items like 
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (and obvious that they'd have
to be used in such a  situation, if not a
choir!)>>

That's how they played the song in concert. They
would leave the stage after the guitar solo and
play a tape of the "opera" section, then return
to the stage for the final section (starting with
the "hard rock" section after the words
"Beelzebub has put a devil aside for me"). The
only time they didn't do it this way was on the A
Night At The Opera tour, where they used the
opera section as their play on music, then come
in with the post-opera section as described
above, but where the song returns to the ballad,
they instead segued into something else. Later in
the show, they'd start the medley that was a
regular part of the show with the first half of
the song (sans the acapella intro, which near as
I can tell, they never sang in concert), and when
they'd get to where the opera section begins,
they'd segue into Killer Queen. 

If the live album you're talking about is Live
Killers, I don't remember any claim that there
were no tapes used (the "no synthesizers" line
appeared on every Queen album prior to The Game,
and near as I can tell, there are no synths on
any of them...there's stuff that don't sound
conventional instruments, but that's down to
knowing how to use a Harmonizer or Echoplex or
tape machine to manipulate the sound of a voice,
or a guitar or whatever). If you read the liner
notes on Live Killers, it specifically says the
band refused to lip synch or to sing along to
tape, so they simply leave the stage for the
section of the show. Seems kinda silly to say "No
tapes" and then contradict yourself with the
liner notes. 

<<the thing that drives the nails home on this
one 
  is that the taped portions sound in the mix
like they're being monitored from the back of the
hall, as well as attenuated down from the rest of
the 
vocals.>>

That's because they were recorded with the
audience mics. You're basically hearing an
audience recording of the band playing the tape
over the PA. One assumes it was done this way
(instead of simply running the tape machine onto
it's own tracks on the multi-track) to preserve
the live feel of the album.

As far as Live Killers being "infamous" as a
heavily overdubbed "live" album, you're the first
person I've ever heard make any such insinuation.
There's nothing on the album (with the exception
of that) that suggests there are any overdubs,
nor have I ever heard anyone who's worked with
the band or any of the band members admit to
there being any overdubs (contrastingly, one of
the members of Judas Priest once admitted that
their Unleashed In The East album is nicknamed
"Unleashed In The Studio" by the band). I assume
I don't need to explain how Freddie Mercury did
the vocal harmonies during the middle of Now I'm
Here, or how Brian May did those guitar harmonies
on Brighton Rock. 


=====
May you never thirst!
The Scuba Diver Presently Known As Chris

"What do you get when you give a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?"-James 
Earl Jones

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