Classical Composer Reacts to The March of the Black Queen (Queen) | The Daily Doug (Episode 148) 

🤩 I'm one of those fans

@@gerardgalaxy35 Too!

Hard to decide but I'm almost there too. Also, goosebumps every time I listen the little gem that is "Nevermore". That final note, oh man...

Agree! Queen 2 and Innuendo their top, and in the between, lots of masterpieces

agree Queen II is my fav

Yes!!

They weren't quite as good again until Innuendo, although, of course, they were always brilliant.

Underrated comment here. It's that kind of album, which should be treated as one piece. Especially so the Black side with every song flowing into the next one (they had some of this in further albums as well, notably with the Prophet's Song, but less and less). The two songs featured here were even separated at a wrong place (before 'forget your singalongs', as the author of the video almost expected) in some releases.

@@MarcoWriedt In the case of Yes, that would be _Going for the One_ ;-)

@@davep8221 absolutely!!

one of my faves as well

Oh Yes!! Fairy Feller's Masterstroke and the transition into Nevermore!! The two of those together are amazing!!

Ooh, yes please.

#1 best song ever of any band/singer (IMHO).

YESSSS - Please let the song transition into Nevermore (beautiful song).

I smoked a lot of pot to this album in college. The best of times.

@@TheWaynos73 it really is one of those albums. What helps it is that you can pick out different things over several listens.

Soo much..!

Yes, there is also a White Queen, of course. ;-)

@@Nikioko dualism aside, this disc rocks, muchly!

@@roblaw4554 Yes, there is a lot more on it but most people only know Funny How Love Is and Seven Seas of Rhye, unfortunately.

@@Nikioko which is, I'm convinced, the REAL power of these platforms... I'm just an old rocker...yet I find true hope for humanity in recent generations discovering some of the soundtrack of my youth. Yes, self-referential more than a bit, but convince me I'm wrong. This stuff rocks🤘👹🤘

">>> Well I sold a million mirrors >>> In a shopping alley way But I never saw my face In any window any day Now they say your folks are telling you Be a super star But I tell you just be satisfied Stay right where you are" -- _Keep Yourself Alive_ Good thing he didn't take his own advice.

you mean 'Ogre Battle + The Fairy Feller's... + Nevermore' 😁

do altitudes or speed metal symphony by jason becker!

YES

Live at the odeon hammersmith is outstanding!

@@mori1bund Agreed... 1,000% It's not complete without the full three movement suite..., and it begins with one of their toughest tunes in their entire catalog..., then a prog masterpiece..., and finally one of their most beautiful and lush pieces of their entire catalog...

Amazing song.

I was just going to say the same thing. Nice!

Yes, I have also recommended this on an older video of The Daily Doug. Awesome art!

This is one of my very favroites!

Yeah, we really need this! It's my favorite too. hahah (and it sure have a lot of interesting sections and stuff... even an "only-vocals" really amazing section, with nice neat harmonies by Freddie)

Absolutely, an amazing song!

Up

Yes yes yes White Queen live!!

YESSSS 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Most beautiful balad I have ever heard. So emotional. I cried😭 again 🙈😂

Totally agree. An unjustly overlooked masterpiece!

And after millionaire waltz it has to be directly followed up by your my best friend

Millionaire walts is the shiiiiiiit. Fucking love that song so much.

it's 100% Brian May just taking the piss and enjoying himself on his guitar. Magical.

@@dmen89 And don't forget Deaky's magnificent counterpoint to Freddy's piano

A MUST !!!

Yes... Or Brighton Rock

Or the Dream Theater cover of these ... also great!

Absolutely, but I would prefer the original by Queen over DT's cover!

@@lacapsuladeltiempo9040 YESSSS - BRIGHTON ROCK

Yup totally

Always thought it was a better song than rhapsody,sort of a prelude to it

"The Prophet's Song" is a MASTERPIECE!!! 🤘🤘🤘🔝🔝🔝❤❤❤ Greetings from Italy!!! 😉

Every song on "A night the opera" is overshadowed by Bohemian rhapsody.

Ashamed, you should be excited and lucky. What a find!!!

Dive down the Queen rabbit hole. 18 albums and so many masterpieces it’s astonishing! Also check out Freddie’s 2 solos Mr. Bad Guy and his opera album Barcelona.

Ogre Battle is great!

The father of Power Metal genre

I like how it also kind of slightly touches on heavy metal

true both Freddie and Brian were inspired to write about fairytales like LZ

Well LZ was already very fond of JRRT: _Misty Mountain Hop_ , _Over the Hills..., maybe some others.

@@sandenson I'd say more like Damascus Steel ;-)

Is Ogre Battle technically the first ever thrash metal song too? Its pretty speedy.

I love the whole album from the start to the finish. White side compliments Black side perfectly.

I would love to see Doug's reaction of The Prophet's Song!

@@itstrivial1522 it's one of my favourites, just love it

Yeah The Prophet Song is amazing, would love for him to analyse the middle vocal Canon!

I totally get it!!!

i have managed to be obsessed with a few bands ,,, i like to think of myself as mr rainbow in that respect it is a lie ... im an obsessive ... pallas ... genesis ...

The Queen iceberg what awesome description of their talent simply endless.

@roger marques It doesn't get more mainstream than Queen, though

flamenco guitar solo by Brian May and Steve Howe

I also consider them as "kind of prog rock", but they (unlike Genesis or Yes) were never generally considered as such.

YESSSS to THE PROPHETS SONG & MY FAIRY KING

If you don’t know the Album, you should definitely check it out. Great stuff

I've got the album on CD somewhere but I've never listened to it all. Being seduced by night at the Opera, a kind of magic, and Innuendo makes you forget the classic early material.

This is revivalist history to suit the times of today. Freddie and his family loved the British culture, for them Britain was a save heaven from prosecution and rebellion. His father worked for the British government. Freddie has said if he could choose he would have been born in London at the age of 17 when he first arrived in Britain. The Black Queen is a pirate Queen, the song is full of Victorian words. Waterbabies, are fantasy creatures from a Victorian book. Powder monkeys also comes from the Victorian age. It starts with calm before the storm, just before the attack of the Black Queen. There are still waterbabies magical creatures playing in the water, and everything is peacful. Then there is a battle at sea, "Blue powder monkeys, praying in the dead of night. Here comes The Black Queen poking through the pile". The protagonist is captured by the Black Queen. She tortures them, "Black on, black on, every finger nail and toe we've only begun, begun, make this, make that, keep making all that noise". Pulling out your nails are methods of torture. And then she begins to seduce the protagonist. He struggles with the decision, "In each and every soul lies a man and very soon, he'll deceive and discover, but even till the end of his life, he'll bring a little love." He says he is about to deceive his side, but he will do it for love. He has fallen in love with the Black Queen's command and power. He swears fealty to her completely. " My life is in your hands, I'll fo and I'll fie, I'll be what you make me, I'll do what you like I'll be a bad boy, I'll be your bad boy, I'll do the march of the Black Queen. In last part he thinks about his old life and what he will miss, he does feel slightly sad about it, but he is prepared to forget his old life.

@@ZENOBlAmusic What are you trying to say? That Freddie wasn't born on Zanzibar and never heard any of the stories about the slave ships? Or are you saying that his admiration for the British Culture (and he did love Britain) means he was immune to the feeling and emotions of a young boy when confronted with the realities of slavery on a British ship? Or are you saying that Freddie could never identify with contrary emotions and how reality can produce a conflicting mental state? Despite the fact that Freddie was excited when his family was forced to leave Zanzibar for London, he still was conflicted by the fact that he never quite feel he fit into the British culture. Yes, he was British but he was also a Parsee and he was proud of his Persian heritage. That alone was a situation that produced conflicting emotions in his life. In addition, he had been forced by circumstances (by his own admission) to learn how to maneuver his life on his own between the multiple diverse forces in his life. He was sent to boarding school over 7400 away from his home at the age of 8. The school he attended was a Christian boarding school outside of Bombay (Mumbai), India where most of the students were English boys whose families were living in India. Freddie was a Parsee raised in a conservative, Zorastarian family from Zanzibar. His family's dream for him was to become a lawyer, find a nice girl, and raise a family. Freddie grew up to be a bisexual/gay, musically gifted, world-renowned rock star who raised cats. His life was full of contrary forces and conflicted emotions.

@@Sassypaws4927 I have seen this type of analysis or speculation about The March Of The Back Queen. You got that answer from a blog. Which is fine, I am not saying there is anything wrong with it. But this blog, or analysis don't know their own history. Historically these ideas does not bare any truth. Some groups of people do have a tendency to relate a lot of topics to slavery these days. This is not something people did in the 50's, 60's and 70's. There are a few very obvious problems with this whole premise, if you know and understand a bit of history. Slavery was fully outlawed in Britain and the British colonies in 1805. Zanzibar became a British protectorate in 1890, that is 85 years after Britain had fully abolished slavery. They didn't just abolish slavery they actually fought wars against slavery. (The debt Britain incurred from fighting slavery was only fully paid off by British citizens in 2018, after over 200 years). Zanzibar is mostly a Moslem country, most of their historical dealings was with Middle Eastern countries, not with Britain. Zanzibar is on East coast of Africa. The British and Americans got their slaves from the West coast of Africa. Slaves for these Western countries came mostly from The Kongo, Nigeria and Cameroon. If you look at a map of Africa you will understand why this is the case. The Western countries had direct and easy access to the West coast of Africa, they did not have much easy access to the East coast of Africa. Who did have access to the East coast of Africa? Saudi Arabia and Middle Eastern countries had quick and easy access to the East coast of Africa. The Middle East used and created far more slaves then Western countries ever did. That is the big problem with this premise and analysis. It is the Arabs who mostly ruled and occupied Zanzibar through the years. Being a British colony actually relieved the citizens of Zanzibar from Arab rule at the time. The conflict between Africans and Arabs almost immediately escalated as soon as Britain decided to abandon Zanzibar. That is why Freddie and his family had to fled the island. There was about 70 000 Arabs and Indians on Zanzibar at the time, 20 000 of them were killed in this revolution. That means 29% of the Indian and Arab population was killed. If Freddie had any torments from his upbringing, you would think a revolution would be a big torment. Freddie likely knew people where killed in this revolution. The Arab and Parsee population did not mix much with the African population. The African population were mostly servants to them. Most of Freddie's fellow student were Indian in the boarding school, not English. Freddie's friends were Indian, you can look at pictures from the school to see this. British culture was revered in India at the time. That is where Freddie learned all of the Victorian stories and phrases that he used in his early music. Freddie saw very little from his parents during this time, he saw his parents around 3 times from the age 7 - 16. He was really mostly exposed to the Anglican church in his childhood, (mass was compulsory and he sang in the church choir), far more then Zoroastrianism. When he returned to Zanzibar he was sent to a Catholic church. He had issues with abandonment, because he had so little contact with his parents. The only slight reference in the song to slavery is n**** sugar. This is not actually a reference to slavery. Coarse and unrefined brown sugar was sometimes called n**** sugar, during the Victorian times in unrefined company. Using oil and rubbing someone with coarse sugar or salt was actually a method of torture. In the song it is the Black Queen who orders her minions directly, to use oil and sugar in order to torture the captives. No, the Black Queen is not physically black. She is called The Black Queen because she is suppose to be an evil character. As the villain in the story she uses words such as n***** sugar. Of course Freddie had his problems and conflicts, but you cannot use ideas from today and supplant them on someone like Freddie, who did not grow up with these issues. You can do it, but you will never really understand his way of thinking if you assign ideas and motives to him which would not have been there. As someone who actually live in Africa, I have never heard stories of slave ships. I can perhaps give an explanation for that. The truth is that it was fellow Africans who mostly sold people into slavery. There was and still are warring tribes, they sold their captured enemies into slavery. And there is still slavery in Africa and in the Middle East. I think people who live in Africa understands this very well for the most part. But this is just a personal perspective, so it might not be relevant to every situation. I am not trying attack or target you. As I said, I know where you got this interpretation from. Not everyone is being taught a lot of history these days and people are often not that interested in history. So these are very easy mistakes to make, and they always come from an area of compassion or empathy. You can verify all of this information.

This thread... man some dedicated people. I like it.

Source, or is all this just speculation?

lol Queen never did rock opera do not talk about things you do not know

Progressive rock

Pure art🤘

I think White Queen is my favourite track. Black Queen is outrageous and schizophrenic but White Queen is simple and beautiful.

The albums were enormously popular in the 1970s, not underrated at all. Big sellers. But it's nice to see a young generation appreciating Queen's early albums.

Great info re: Victorian influence, thanks. Bring Back That Leroy Brown is a masterpiece! Also Dreamer's Ball and My Melancholy Blues.

It's funny that you mention Innuendo. The song (not the album) is such a dark song, and suddenly Flamenco-style guitars. I love that!

Are you thinking of Sweeney Todd who was the barber who helped bake "meat pies" at Mrs Lovett's Bakery?

@@amadeusm740 Not familiar with in detail with Sweeney Todd, though I've heard the name many times.

You mentioned Queen "giving into the synth craze," but they were never specifically anti-sent. The only reason they even specifically mentioned that there were no synthesizers used on the record was because people didn't believe them that they were making the sounds with only vocals, guitars, and sound engineering and and effects pedals. They didn't use synthesizers, not as a matter of policy or of hatred, but just because they didn't think the synthesizers of the time could make the kind of sounds that they wanted and sound good while doing it. They weren't wrong. They knew how to make the sounds they wanted with the things that they knew how to use instead. Once the technology caught up, they started using synthesizers. They used them well, in fact. They used them better than a lot of the garbage New Wave bands did. They used them to supplement the band. It wasn't like they compromise their ideals to do it because they never had any such stated ideals. This may not even be what you mean, but it's something that I've heard expressed many times by many others, so I'm just putting this out there. It bugs me as much as people trying to claim that the movie 300 is historical or sin City is good or...I dunno, that The Game was somehow worse than Jazz because it uses synths.

I can play Nevermore on piano and the intro from this song. This is one of their best three albums. I Love it so much.

One Night In Paris by 10CC is fabulous. Douglas should review that - I'd love to see that.