Listening to Queen - Spread Your Wings for the first time

I've not had Queen on the channel so far until this song was suggested. it was described as having a different sound and i was intrigued, as i was confident i knew Queen's sound quite well. I dont think this was a million miles off what i know already. There were definitely less of the harmonies in the backing vocals, maybe even a lack of backing vocals altogether, but still this song was a good, solid song.
What is the Emerald Bar though and does it have any significance?
#Queen #Spreadyourwings #freddiemercury
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[@bettybaby63]

Fantastic song from Deaky. Fantastic live as well.

[@carlajimenez5483]

Always loved this song. John Deacon wrote this one.

[@lollinelson5549]

One of Queen's under-rated songs, written by the great John Deacon! Absolutely one of my most favorites! Thanks! Try Save Me live at Montreal, 1981.

[@celtasnake]

There are so many ......Great king rat, My fairy Queen, March of the black queen, Tenement funster, both lap of the gods, Prophets song, 39, Take my breath away, Millionaire waltz, She makes me, Jealousy, In only 7 days, Rock it .....and many more ....

[@glyngasson8450]

Yes to all of them

[@stevehulse4005]

Their album Queen from 1973 (recorded between 1971-1972) is a must listen, containing the stand out tracks: Seven Seas of Rhye, Liar and Keep Yourself Alive. This was their building blocks for what was to come!!

[@garysteinert8555]

Incredible song

[@Sneak65]

If you want to hear something a bit more diverse. Sounds you may not expect from Queen may I suggest. Seaside Rendezvous - bit of a vaudevillian twist '39 - Sci fi folk My Melancholy Blues - Jazz/blues Fairy Feller's Master Stroke - Prog rock ??? Sheer Heart Attack - Queens response to the punk rock scene Cool Cat - funk/soul Queen's catalog is where much of their best stuff resides. Deep and diverse. Cheers!

[@marvalstith2749]

I find it inspiring with that great melody - easy listening to rock band instrumentals (like no other) plus Freddie's emotional attention to the lyrics...oh my... The lyrics challenge an ego that keeps one from doing better - from pushing upward. Thanks!

[@betseyclark2832]

I really enjoyed listening to Spread Your Wings with you. Cool Cat, Son and Daughter, Bring Back That Leroy Brown are some of my favorites.

[@mattplus09]

When this came out all you heard on the radio was We Will RockYou/We are the Champions, which I loved and still do, but this was and still is my favorite song on the album :) Nice reaction! Peace!

[@johnk2495]

3 more good songs from the same album: "Fight from the Inside", "Get Down, Make Love" , "Sheer Heart Attack".

[@bluebell3720]

77 news of the world album song by Deacon

[@POWER-LINKS]

This album was a big hit with Queen's hard rockin' fans, too.

[@janematthews3394]

You should watch "Stone Cold Crazy" - live at the Rainbow 1974.

[@ronjm945]

Check out Death on Two Legs..

[@blackwaterrust476]

Good choice for a Queen Song.

[@BlueDawnEnduro]

Grew-up with Queen. Freddy was a phenomenum.

[@christineirving4491pluviophile]

An underappreciated gem courtesy of of our boy Deacy.

[@debramoore7513]

Good reaction! Hello from California, USA!! Great song choice ... love Brian’s guitar at the end. Check out BRIGHTON ROCK, FATHER TO SON, MARCH OF THE BLACK QUEEN, BIJOU, INNUENDO, SOUL BROTHER, IT’S LATE ...... Lotta Queenies out here. Freddie’s the G.O.A.T. 💕 Big shout out to Brian, Roger, & Deacy, too!!

[@johnrutherford6877]

Queen were such a versatile band. If you've only heard their "hits" then your in for a treat. Most of my favourite songs were never released as singles. Some of which Freddie doesnt do lead vocals! There has been many suggestions for songs already but here are mine: Sleeping On The Sidewalk, (blues inspired track with Brian May on lead vocals) Sheer Heart Attack , (punkish track with Roger Taylor on lead vocals) Stone Cold Crazy, (Queen may have invented Speed Metal with this track. Metallica would win a Grammy for their cover of this) Bring Back That Leroy Brown, (a boogie-woogie romp with ukuleles and banjos) All Dead, All Dead (a melancholic song about a dead cat sung by Brian) Dragon Attack (Bass driven tune written by Brian) Take My Breath Away (arguably Freddies best vocal track?) I could list more but this is a start. You could fall down a rabbit hole of deep cut Queen tracks and if you do, you wont be disappointed.

[@ZENOBlAmusic]

Sheer Heart Attack was actually both Freddie and Roger. They sing together on the verses and Freddie did the chorus alone. The live versions are better, far more fun. Sheer Heart Attack live in Paris 1979 kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYquXp6XgrNmnZY or for better video quality Sheer Heart Attack live at the Bowl 1982 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKuQn2l9jtx0mac.

[@lepantoslim7058]

This is on the same album as “We Are the Champions” the album is called News of the World “, I had it on 8 track and played it over and over till it broke

[@janmatusiak3676]

You would love Fat Bottomed Girls :)

[@JimmyRJump]

"News Of The World (1977)" was the last of the half-decent Queen albums. "Jazz (1978)" was good but then came the "Flash Gordon" and 'Radio Ga-Ga' shenanigans and 'Another One Bites The Dust' and I said goodbye to the lads.

[@ievabrice2587]

Innuendo aint bad, is it ?

[@aerynoftalyn1307]

If you want something not so common that rocks hard, look to songs like I Want it All (if you aren't already familiar), It's Late, Stone Cold Crazy (Lyric version first, then live is my personal recommendation), Gimme the Prize from Highlander movie, or Dead on Time (amazing guitar, such clever lyrics), even Headlong. Since you're a jazz singer how about My Melancholy Blues for a different sound than you assume you'll get from Queen/Freddie Mercury? And you can't go wrong with their late songs such as the pondering-the-meaning-of-human-experience musical masterpiece Innuendo. I like the baroque and utterly complex good vs. evil March of the Black Queen but it isn't for everybody. I'm sure others will recommend other terrific selections.

[@dbriddie9525]

a fans favourite live, great sing a long

[@GinMae]

thanks, Northern - glad you got lyrics -- but you really should see the "official" video -- kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6rHZ4KCrs2DgNE shot in Roger's garden in winter... story goes that Freddie got super-drunk, and ended up puking in Roger's hedges... lol -- (pretty sure they also filmed video for "we will rock you" at the same time...) -- oh, and BTW, this is a John Deacon song... oops - one more note: Brian did not use the "Red Special" guitar b/c he feared damage from the cold.. not that it mattered.. he could play anything! lol

[@Azabaxe80]

News of the World (1977) is one of Queen's three best records. The other two are Sheer Heart Attack (1974) and Queen II (1974). Queen II was pure hard rock and had elements of what later was known as speed metal. Sheer Heart Attack had elements of what became Queen's signature, variety. It included THE signature Queen song (Killer Queen) and a wonderful 2 minute metallic sonicgasm called "Stone Cold Crazy" that Metallica covered over a decade later. News of the World was recorded in 1977 in the same studio and at the same time as the Sex Pistols recorded Never Mind the Bullocks, and it was a direct reaction to the shift in pop music that punk brought about. Queen was exactly the kind of band that punk was supposed to destroy. They were seen as self-indulgent and decadent and that wasn't far from the truth. It's hard for me to listen to "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Somebody to Love" without rolling my eyes. But NOTW was a very welcome change, and it showed that Queen was up to the challenge posed by the rough and ready New Wavers. Yes, it does include "We Are the Champions", and "We Will Rock You", but even though those two songs are way overplayed, they presented a streamlined, more direct approach that made for far better music than the stuff found in A Night at the Opera or A Day at the Races . "Spread Your Wings" is a typical John Deacon song, straight forward and muscular. Roger Taylor wrote and sang lead in "Sheer Heart Attack", which is to this day, the best punk song ever written by a non-punk group. But the standout track in this record is Brian May's "It's Late". It's elegiac and multifaceted without being retrograde, and it looks back a bit to what Queen once was, but without any sense of self importance. And they all rock it in that tune. Whoever told you this was different Queen was right. This was so much more raw and powerful than anything they released in '75 and '76. And yes, Freddy cut his hair and started wearing that leather jacket. Sorry for the long rant.

[@ThomasJ_Music]

This is fantastic! Exactly the kinda comment I need to not only provide context, but to help steer me to another Queen song! Thanks!

[@ZENOBlAmusic]

That is a nice coment. However, I do have to disagree with the notion that Bohemian Rhapsody and Somebody To Love are self indulgent and pretensions. It might be over played but just look at a real musical analysis of those songs they are masterpieces that could almost have been composed by a classical composer. At the same time these songs are still catchy enough so that people can enjoy them. I don't see how this is bad music. It is part of Freddie's personality. Somebody To Love was his favorite song. Freddie came from a more exotic background then most. He started playing classical piano at 7. Being born in Zanzibar, and being sent to a boarding school in India, he grew up with a lot of different musical influences. Queen was never pretentious, they did almost everything with a sense of humour. Freddie most of all never took himself to seriously, he never pretended that Bohemian Rhapsody had some type of a profound meaning. He actually never really explained his songs in any details. Somebody To Love was written as somewhat of a tribute to Aretha Franklin who Freddie adored. These types of songs are very authentic to Freddie, you can see it when he performed it live, he was genuinely having a ball of a time, Somebody To Love live at the Bowl 1982 kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGmvZId5jdisjpY. Even We Are The champions is actually deceptively simple, the song is full of key changes and rhythm changes and is made up out of 27 cords. Musical theory analysis We Are The Champions: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYbYc2qwqJmYoJY Musical theory Analysis Bohemian Rhapsody: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpqrkHmogKplh8U Writing complex songs with layers was simply part of Freddie's personality, he later did the classical album with Montserrat Caballe as well. Generally he always just used music or styles that he liked in his own music. He even called his own music disposable. He was not like Roger Waters for example, who thought that his music was making some type of a profound statement about the culture, and he was creating musical landscapes in an artistic expression. Or Roxy Music who was trying to perform art that was a mixture of the 50's and the future, and art that could fit into society and influence people's subconscious. I have seen those types of statements from Pink Floyd, Genesis, David Bowie. Even The Who could be quite pretensions. Even a lot of punk rocker could be quite pretensions when discussing the meaning and impact of their music. Have you heard Richard Hell discussing Blank Generation? It is just as pretentious as some of the prog bands that were maligned at the time. You will never find such statements from Queen, or specifically Freddie. Freddie wore costumes because he liked the drama and entertainment. Therefore, I think it is slightly unfair to categorize this music as pretentious or self indulgent. Of course we all have very different taste in music, but objectively it is very difficult to think that something like Sheer Heart Attack is better then Somebody To Love. As I said these song are over played, but there is some merit to these songs.

[@stoneysopranoyukon9398]

🤘RIP FREDDY 🤘

[@garysteinert8555]

Get down make love... great album.

[@michellew8735]

I would suggest The Prophets Song if you haven't heard it already. It is not often heard or reacted too. And is pretty different. Great vocals and harmonizing. Another great one with harmonies is You Take my Breath Away. Great reaction.

[@TheWackytor]

Go to Great King Rat from their first album, much more heavier than later sttuff.

[@balthazarspencer704]

You could try "the millionnaire waltz" or "white queen"

[@RafaelMartins-wq4bt]

One of my favorite tracks from Queen. Anyone knows the Blind Guardian version ? So heavy... another great choice, Tommy.

[@glyngasson8450]

Try the track Sheer Heart Attack off News of the World, probably the fastest song they've ever written

[@angelak.7365]

Live at the Rainbow is fire!!

[@Sneak65]

@@angelak.7365 I like the '79 Hammersmith version. Freddie goes unhinged breaks his microphone and can't finish the last couple lines of the song.

[@neuron05]

Too low volume, sorry.