For Queen, the stage and studio were two sides of the same coin. While their legendary hard rock anthems were practically built for live performances, some of the group’s more intricate studio productions always seemed better-suited to headphones than the front row of a stadium.
But, there’s also a third category – the songs that transcended their studio roots to become entirely different beasts live.
“I think some songs are written with the idea of how it might sound live, like ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ for instance,” says Roger Taylor. “I always thought that would go, that would play, if we play that fast, that will go live.”
“I think there’s various processes,” explains Brian May. “Sometimes you’re in the middle of writing a song in the studio and you think, how would that be live? And it actually informs your recording process because you’ve fashioned it towards being a sort of live feeling kind of track, something like ‘I Want It All’, it’s pretty much designed to be a live track. Other songs not. Something like ‘The Miracle’; I don’t think that was ever envisaged to be a live song, and it never was. It was purely a creation in the studio, something which would be hard to reproduce on stage.
“So yeah, it’s moments of discovery. I love waking up in the middle of the night and thinking, ‘Oh, we can do this’. We could do this’. And you go in, ‘can we try this’, and then you go, ‘actually, yeah, that could work, that can pretty much work."
Pick up your copy of Queen’s “Greatest Hits” here.
See also:
Queen’s Brian May announces expanded Star Fleet Project reissue ft. Eddie Van Halen
Queen revisit intimate 1986 Wembley performance on The Greatest Live
Queen revisit 1982 performance of Dragon Attack on The Greatest Live
Queen revisit 1986 Magic Tour on The Greatest Live
Search Queen at hennemusic
