Rog,Brian,Paul

[jazz "The Mysterious"]

Hey guys, Eliza inspired this thread. Do you think the three of them are perfectionists? They obviously are the greatest musicians on the surface on this world. ;D but do you think you need to be a perfectionist to get there?

[Tina]

jazz said:

Hey guys, Eliza inspired this thread. Do you think the three of them are perfectionists? They obviously are the greatest musicians on the surface on this world. ;D but do you think you need to be a perfectionist to get there?

If you intend to be successful - no. There are plenty of so called superstars that lack talent.

If you wanna be an excellent musician - I suppose yes.

[jazz "The Mysterious"]

And I suppose you need to have a special chemistry and some adaptation, too,. Like you and me, hunny, when we talk about gardens and decoration. Wouldn't you agree?

[alison]

In the seventies there was a lot of talk about perfectionism concerning Queen, especially Freddie. But it's obviously a combination of things - talent, chemistry and hard work. What's working now with these three - all established artists - is clearly going to be different from the situation back then, when they first started out. They played in the town where I now live supporting Mott the Hoople in '73, I think it was. I recently met a guy at work who's lived here all his life, was at that gig, and said that they were booed off stage at that concert! It's easy to forget that they started somewhere, at a time when things weren't so good. And I remember Roger saying in a recent interview that Freddie really worked at his singing early on - he had a lot of faith in the others as musicians - and I've also read elsewhere that Freddie's vocals left quite a bit to be desired at the very start.
So none of it happens by magic although that helps! Watching the three of them on stage at Hyde Park you could just see the extent of coordination they've reached - a bit different from bumping into each other, which Paul admitted he and Brian were doing at first - and with the musical timing as well. There's also a balance to be drawn between practising hard and being spontaneous/able to improvise - which by '86 Queen as a foursome could almost do blindfold, as they knew each other so well. Queen+PR have been playing together only a few months, but with all those years of experience behind them they've already achieved this.

[Tina]

Well said, Alison!
It's unbelievable what the boys achieved. First of all the "old" Queen of course. I remember while reading the "As it began" book, I was thinking how determined they must have been at that time. Even when they went through less successful years and gigs, with booing and stuff. It takes a lot of belief in yourself and your skills to go ahead then. It took a couple of years until they had their first major hit with "Killer Queen" and they always believed in the group which turned out to be a wise decision.

[IloveRogerT]

Great post Alison! hey im back here again, ,just cant get my work done. To excited about Queen+ playing here. Cant keep my mine off of Roger either. Im listening to some of the Queen+ stuff from Queenonline that my friend downloaded. Its awesomeeeeeeeee Paul singing Feel Like Making Love, ok and Brian playing the guitar, Roger hitting the drums.. ahhhhhhhh, I need a cold shower now!!!

[jazz "The Mysterious"]

Me too. I have been needing it all day.

[alison]

Thanks for the positive remarks. For your info, I sent the story about that early concert to queenconcerts.com, here's the link:

www.queenconcerts.com/detail.php?action=stories&id=64&width=570&height=400

I first noticed Queen when they first hit the charts the following year with 'Seven Seas of Rhye'. All of them always came across as really confident, especially Roger! It's true that Freddie got an awful lot of attention, but I suppose it was partly because I was a drummer in our school group 'Jeopardy' that I took an interest in that hot piece of stuff sitting at the back.

A few more bits and pieces about that era specifically in relation to my life can be found at

www.now-im-here.com/schooldays.htm

(I then go on to write about 3 other seventies groups who were by no means my favourites, but it was topical and there were some interesting links to Queen too).

Some of the stuff I've copied from other forum entries to

www.now-im-here.com/actionthisday.htm

is also relevant.