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So which came first? There is a fair amount of Howard Blakes' score on the commercially released soundtrack album by Queen. As in the film some cues are presented outright while others appear mixed into the Queen material. Nearly all of the queen material is featured in Blakes score in some shape or form. So who originally came up with the themes. I've enjoyed the heck out of this score since picking up the Super Tracks release.
QUEEN was on the project first and Howard was called in late in the production to provide the score which used QUEEN's themes.
Ford A. Thaxton
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AMEN.
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QUEEN was on the project first and Howard was called in late in the production to provide the score which used QUEEN's themes.
Ford A. Thaxton
The more complete story is that Queen was hired to score the film, and, having never done a film before, couldn't figure-out what to do.
Blake was then called-in to write a score, incorporating some of thematic material Queen submitted. Blake wrote the score over a near-sleepless two weeks -- without an orchestrator -- and also conducted the session. (Then he collapsed from exhaustion -- his wife was out of town while he was working on the score, and when she returned could not revive him and called an ambulance. He might well have died had she not found him in time.)
After Queen heard his score, they suddenly realized how a film score is supposed to work with the picture. So they provided several cues for the film -- replacing Blake's cues, much to the chagrin of the composer, who almost literally killed himself to get the job done.
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QUEEN was on the project first and Howard was called in late in the production to provide the score which used QUEEN's themes.
Ford A. Thaxton
The more complete story is that Queen was hired to score the film, and, having never done a film before, couldn't figure-out what to do.
Blake was then called-in to write a score, incorporating some of thematic material Queen submitted. Blake wrote the score over a near-sleepless two weeks -- without an orchestrator -- and also conducted the session. (Then he collapsed from exhaustion -- his wife was out of town while he was working on the score, and when she returned could not revive him and called an ambulance. He might well have died had she not found him in time.)
After Queen heard his score, they suddenly realized how a film score is supposed to work with the picture. So they provided several cues for the film -- replacing Blake's cues, much to the chagrin of the composer, who almost literally killed himself to get the job done.
Ah, that explains why there's so much overlapping material
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DP
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Thanks beach bum. Is there anywhere online one could find even more detailed info as to which themes & material are Queen's and which Blake's. At least I think I have a rough idea which themes are almost certainly Queen's, but I still wonder what could be Blakes "original" material. I feel like the track credits on the soundtrack LP might be unfairly giving too much exclusive credit to the band members, but it could be correct.
FWIW, I'm in the camp that loves both the Blake score and the Queen album, sound effects & all, but would love to see some kind of expanded dialogue-free release as well.
More of interest to Queen fans than Blake fans, but for completists I could recommend the 2011 2CD Queen 40th anniversary edition which has the 2011 remaster of the LP on one disc and a short seperate disc of altnernate takes and a couple of concert tracks. It isn't awesome, but worth getting IMO. It was initially released as a Japanese ltd ed SHM-CD, but a regular version may be available. I even hung on to the 1991 CD for the cheezy but enjoyable remix track.
Looks like the 2011 version with bonus tracks is available by itself. http://amzn.to/1opQ3Wt
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I thought I read an interview with Blake naming Paul Buckmaster…?
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FWIW, I'm in the camp that loves both the Blake score and the Queen album, sound effects & all, but would love to see some kind of expanded dialogue-free release as well.
My close friend, Patrick Lemieux, author of the excellent The Queen Chronology, has noted several times in my discussions with him, that Queen guitarist and de facto leader these days, Brian May, does not seem interested in releasing the music without dialogue. Queen fans on the band's official message board have tried to persuade him but with no luck.
Fans both of the band and of the film want this (I know I certainly do!), but it may (heh, "May" get it?) never see the light of day. (Hey, that rhymes.) Sucks, 'cause as much as the dialogue-heavy album is a fave of mine, I'd still like this music on its own. As pointed out, the Howard Blake promo is wonderful, but an integrated album would be fantastic.
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Listening to this LP.
Wishing Brian May would change his mind.
Sigh.
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Listening to this LP.
Wishing Brian May would change his mind.
Sigh.
No kidding. Although I should go give Blake's music a spin. That's available, right?
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Listening to this LP.
Wishing Brian May would change his mind.
Sigh.
No kidding. Although I should go give Blake's music a spin. That's available, right?
It's out of print, but MovieMusic.com has it available new. If memory serves (Ford could shed further light on this), it was only ever available as a promo pressed by SuperTracks for Blake himself. A great CD to have!
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Na, I think there was more to it than that. You wouldn't expect a pop group to write all the music & a
"Pop group", huh? Read something about the band! "QUEEN" was much more!
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Dug out Blake's promo CD today. What fun. Glad we at least have that.
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Na, I think there was more to it than that. You wouldn't expect a pop group to write all the music & a
"Pop group", huh? Read something about the band! "QUEEN" was much more!
Knowing what I know of Queen, it surprises me NOT IN THE LEAST that they were able to co-write that score. They were, all 4 of them, innovators of rock music. It's why I'm such a fan.
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