Queen: The Complete Works (59 page)

Released as the third and final single from
Barcelona
in January 1989, and attracting a bit of attention from Queen fans due to the presence of John Deacon on bass, ‘How Can I Go On’, backed with ‘Overture Piccante’, charted at a disappointing No. 95 in the UK. Because the song was recorded without a break from ‘Guide Me Home’, a special single mix was created, with the ultimate piano notes of the preceding track serving as the introduction. The song was remixed and re-released in October 1992, this time with ‘The Golden Boy’, to capitalize on the success of the summer 1992 Olympic Games, and the consequential re-release of ‘Barcelona’. Unfortunately, the single performed even worse the second time, not charting at all in the UK.

A video was filmed on 8 October 1988 at La Nit,
Barcelona
, during one of the few promotional ‘concerts’ performed for the album (Freddie never performed any of the Barcelona material live, only miming to the album versions), this time at a celebration of Spain, who had just earned a contract to host the 1992 Olympic Games. The versions of ‘The Golden Boy’ and ‘How Can I Go On’ from this performance became the official promotional videos for the songs, and would later be issued on both a video EP in 1989 and
The Freddie Mercury Video Collection
in 2000.

HOW CAN IT BE

It’s unknown whether ‘How Can It Be’ is a cover or an original tune (or even an alternate title for a completely different song altogether), but it was reportedly played live by 1984.

A HUMAN BODY
(Taylor)

• B-side: 5/80 [14] • Compilation:
Vision
• Bonus:
Game

According to co-producer Mack, Roger’s ‘A Human Body’ was originally intended to appear on
The Game
in place of ‘Coming Soon’: “I remember Roger wrote three
tracks for
The Game
, and the three caused problems in the band: there was a song called ‘Coming Soon’ which Roger, at first, thought would be on the single, leaving a place on the album for another one of his, ‘A Human Body’. But Brian and Freddie objected that if ‘A Human Body’ was included, the album would be too melodic, since they had already written three songs for it. Finally, they convinced Roger, who was especially proud of ‘A Human Body’, and opted for ‘Coming Soon’.” Queen may have been guilty of some minor blunders in the past, but this was inexcusable: ‘A Human Body’ is a fine song and one of Roger’s most accomplished compositions, with a strong ensemble performance and lyrics inspired by Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s failed explorations in Antarctica. Roger takes the lead vocal on this mid-tempo, acoustic-driven rocker, performing most of the instruments (indicating it may have been originally intended for
Fun In Space
), with prominent backing vocals by Roger, Freddie and Brian.

Unfortunately, the song was neglected, due to its non-album status, appearing as the B-side of ‘Play The Game’ in May 1980, and included on the rarities album
The Complete Vision
, available only on the 1985 box set
The Complete Works
. The song eluded release on the CD format for years, glaringly overlooked for inclusion on the 1991 reissue of
The Game
, but was finally released in 2009 on
The Singles Collection – Volume Two
and two years later on the reissue of
The Game
.

I AM THE DRUMMER IN A ROCK‘n’ROLL BAND

In the ongoing saga of Roger’s fifth solo album and its progress, a track titled ‘I Am The Drummer In A Rock ‘n’ Roll Band’ and labelled as his next single was premiered at the 2011 Queen Fan Club convention. This tongue-in-cheek rocker, with a terse, synth-based backing and a sturdy rhythm, confirms Roger’s recent creative spurt, and that he hadn’t lost any of his chops on drums. A delicate bridge, dominated by piano, finds Roger affecting an upper-crust, almost Keith Moon-inspired vocal, as he channels the legendary Who drummer by rattling off a list of his likes and even addressing his status as “the butt of a thousand jokes / From far less-talented blokes”. With the year prior’s premiere of the sublime ‘Smile’ and the 2009 single release of ‘The Unblinking Eye (Everything Is Broken)’, Roger’s fifth solo album is gearing up to be a terrific album. The only question is: when will he get around to releasing it?

(I BELIEVE I’LL) DUST MY BROOM
(Johnson)

This song was performed live by The Cross, with Brian on guitar and vocals and John on bass, at the band’s 1988 Christmas party for the Fan Club.

I CAN HEAR MUSIC
(Greenwich/Spector/Barry)

• A-side (Larry Lurex): 6/73 • Compilation (Freddie):

Solo Collection

Queen had finally been given the chance to record their first album, though under restricted circumstances, and it was during this time that producer Robin Geoffrey Cable ran into Freddie in the corridors of Trident Studios in the summer of 1972. Cable had overheard Freddie singing a Queen track and, impressed with his voice, asked the vocalist to contribute lead vocals to a re-recording of the 1969 Beach Boys track, ‘I Can Hear Music’. Cable considered himself a visionary producer, going for the lavish ‘wall of sound’ that Phil Spector had pioneered in the 1960s, and successfully recreated that sound on ‘I Can Hear Music’. Even at this early stage of Freddie’s career, he pierces through the din of ringing acoustic guitars and thunderous percussion, with an exuberantly youthful delivery that’s still stunning all these years later.

Incidentally, during one take, Cable was heard grumbling about the sound of the synthesizer, which was providing a solo where a guitar might normally be; Freddie jumped at the opportunity, and suggested Brian provide a solo on The Red Special instead. Roger, too, was hanging around the studios and was duly recruited to perform the rollicking claves, maracas and tambourines that are densely layered throughout. Since the song wasn’t technically a Queen track (the drums, bass, acoustic guitars and strings were all performed by unknown session musicians, and John Deacon didn’t feature at all), it was initially fated to remain unreleased, but Cable loved the recording (and the other song, ‘Goin’ Back’, also recorded during the sessions) so much that he insisted they be released. Through negotiations with Trident, a one-time deal was struck with EMI, and ‘I Can Hear Music’ was released in June 1973; ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ would be released as Queen’s debut single two weeks later. For this reason, the song was not billed as Queen, but instead as Larry Lurex and The Voles From Venus, a lighthearted jab at two contemporary, separate acts: Gary Glitter and The Spiders From Mars, though The Voles From Venus
was eventually dropped. Receiving little promotion, apart from a brief mention in
Record Mirror
(“It may sink without a trace, but the arrangement of this old Spector-inspired piece and the high-pitched voice going like the clappers ... well, it could click”), the single simply disappeared and remained unreleased on any official compilation until 2000, appearing on
The Solo Collection
, and again six years later on
Lover Of Life, Singer Of Songs
.

I CAN TAKE YOU HIGHER

Unfortunately, only a forty-second snippet of ‘I Can Take You Higher’ has surfaced over the years, but from the short clip that exists, the strengths of the track are obvious, proving that it wouldn’t have been out of place on
Strange Frontier
, for which the song was originally recorded.

I CAN’T DANCE / KEEP SMILIN’
(Mercury)

• Compilation (Freddie):
Solo Collection

Inspired by an anonymous ballet dancer friend of Freddie’s, ‘I Can’t Dance’ was recorded on 17 February 1987 (also the birth date of Brian’s second daughter, Emily) at Townhouse Studios and actually featured the anonymous friend on additional backing vocals, though the released recording on the 2000 box set is an alternate version without the vocals (Freddie harmonizes with himself).

The song changes pace about two minutes in, with Freddie singing an upbeat song titled ‘Keep Smilin”. Freddie had been approached by the parents of Colin Preston, who asked the vocalist to visit their son in hospital. Colin was a life-long Queen fan, and bore more than a passing resemblance to Freddie, and was involved in a car accident and sunk into a coma. Freddie went one better and took the studio time to record a personal song for the fan, then sent the tape to Colin’s family. Freddie kept in contact with Colin’s parents and heard that, while he rallied initially, he died shortly afterwards, but that the song had made a difference. Colin’s family promised that the tape would be buried with him so that it would be a song just for him, and so it would seem in bad taste to include such a recording on any wider release, but it was included anyway on
The Solo Collection
, carrying a dedication to Colin.

I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD

Long believed to be an outtake from Roger’s
Strange Frontier
album, ‘I Can’t Get Yout Out Of My Head’ was recently discovered to be a Clayton Moss outtake from the
Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know
sessions – as confirmed by the songwriter itself on his YouTube channel page. (This, however, sits at odds with an acetate from the
Strange Frontier
sessions, purchased by a renowned collector in 1986, which has both this song and ‘Celebration’ on it. The plot thickens!) With ringing acoustic guitars and tasteful saxophone, and a set of lyrics of being utterly smitten with a past love while lamenting the loss of the relationship, the song would have been a pleasant addition to its parent album, but was dropped in favour of Moss’ other songs, ‘Penetration Guru’ and ‘Better Things’.

I CAN’T EXPLAIN
(Townshend)

The Who’s first single was performed live by The Cross at the first Fan Club show in December 1992 at the Marquee, with Roger Daltrey on lead vocals.

I CAN’T LIVE WITH YOU
(Queen)

• Album:
Innuendo
• Compilation:
Rocks

Unlike the raucous ‘Headlong’ and ‘The Hitman’, ‘I Can’t Live With You’ is a more controlled rocker on
Innuendo
, a track that Brian had originally written for a solo project. “I was in the studio for a couple of days to get some things out of my system,” Brian told Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt in a 1991 interview in
Guitar World
. “I thought that maybe I’d be left with a solo album, maybe with a Queen album – I just didn’t know – and I came up with ‘Headlong’ and ‘I Can’t Live With You’, and the guys liked them.”

Not one of the standout tracks on the album, ‘I Can’t Live With You’ sounds like a
Miracle
-era reject, especially with its tinny-sounding backing track. Freddie’s vocal performance, as always, is superb, and Brian redeems the track with several soaring guitar solos, but it’s neither offensive nor spectacular – merely ordinary. “For some reason,” Brian continued in
Guitar World
, “[‘I Can’t Live With You’] was almost impossible to mix. It was one of those things where you put all the faders up and it sounds pretty good, and you think, ‘We’ll work on this for a couple of hours.’ Then it gets worse and worse and worse. We kept going back to the rough mix. It’s got an atmosphere to it. I think it
sounds so special because we kept a lot of the demo stuff on it. Usually it all gets replaced.”

The song was remixed for promotional single purposes in the US by Brian Malouf, indicating it may have been in the running for a stateside-only release, but even that couldn’t save it from being more than a mediocre track with poor production. It was finally salvaged in 1997 with a completely new and more muscular backing track replacing the original, much as Brian originally intended it. The live drums and aggressive guitar turn it into the rocker it deserves to be, but, incidentally, it would have been out of place on
Innuendo
; thus, its placement was appropriate on
Queen Rocks
, a Brian-heavy compilation of rock songs from the band’s catalogue.

I CRY FOR YOU (LOVE, HOPE AND CONFUSION)

(Taylor/Richards)

• Album (Roger):
Frontier
• B-side (Roger): 7/84

Concluding Roger’s Strange Frontier in a typically overblown manner, ‘I Cry For You (Love, Hope And Confusion)’ has split fan appreciation neatly down the middle, but, love it or loathe it, it’s an optimistic rock anthem with percolating synths, programmed drums, and soaring guitars, with production values dating it firmly to 1984. Rife with cliché lyrics (“I cry for you”, “love me tender”, “give ’em hell”, “hope springs eternal”) meant to inspire, the song is nevertheless a superb finish to Roger’s second solo album.

Released as the B-side of ‘Strange Frontier’ in July 1984, ‘I Cry For You (Love, Hope And Confusion)’ was remixed by John Deacon, slowing down the song to half-time, removing most of the drums – which revealed Roger’s vocals more clearly – and adding his own flourishes on bass. This remix was then extended for the 12” vinyl version of ‘Strange Frontier’, this time by both John and Mack, bringing the running time to just over six minutes and adding further guitar work and programmed drums.

(I DON’T WANT NOBODY) TEASIN’

AROUND (WITH ME)
(Emerson)

Brian was asked to contribute a recording to
Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy Of Sun Records
, released in 2001 and also featuring luminaries such as Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. The absolute highlight was the one song that didn’t appear on the album: Brian’s recording of Billy ‘The Kid’ Emerson’s 1954 blues track ‘(I Don’t Want Nobody) Teasin’ Around (With Me)’ is deconstructed to a mournful slow burn, with the guitarist squeezing every last bit of emotion out of his weeping guitar. The true surprise was Brian’s voice: long suited only for tender ballads and not loud rock songs, his voice is especially powerful on this recording, bouncing between a barely-restrained whisper and an anguished howl. When asked about the difference between singing rock and slower numbers in 2001, Brian said, “Actually, I’ve been playing some blues lately. I’ve done a couple of tracks and I usually end up singing and not screaming; it’s in the range where I can put some passion into it. The funny thing is, I actually can scream. I just did this track for Scotty Moore on a Sun Records tribute. It starts off very quiet and then the guy screams because he’s totally pissed off ... I did a version of that and I screamed it; the problem is that I can’t do it all night.” Despite not being released on the album, Brian gave it its one and only live performance on 7 July 2001 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Stravinski Hall, Montreux.