Great King Rat - by Freddie John: Bass Brian: Backing vocals, electric and acoustic guitars Freddie: Lead and backing vocals Roger: Backing vocals, tambourine and drums
The first two albums came from Freddie's fantasy world that he created with his sister called Rhye. They also recorded at night in the studio basically when they could get time slots that were not taken by other artists. Can't wait for My Fairy King! Thank you for doing the whole record.
They hated the drum sound on this record,and for Queen 2 moved the kit out from the drum booth, opened up the toms and the sound got much bigger.listening to early Freddie it was obvious this cat was different
OK this a great example of Queen vs "prog"... consider what was going on at this time: Yes and Genesis, who of course were composing "prog" as the whole point from the get-go, Styx (aka "accessible prog" if you've been following this channel for awhile..), of course soon to come early Rush - not so much aiming for "prog" directly, but wanting to explore (eg. in the Geddy interview, he says Alex was great at soundscapes, for example)... and then Queen... I've never felt that Queen was ever even trying to be "prog" - it's just Freddie's classical background and theatrical angle, and Brian just exploring the guitar (not necessarily trying to be "prog"), that Queen's version of rock seems "prog". But it's not. It's straight up Queen rock (which nobody sounds like because they lack the Queen DNA), and it just seems "prog" because of their approach to "rock" - they were never even trying for "prog" like all the above bands, they were just composing their "rock"... That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I think the unique part of "prog" is that each band was very much its own sound. : Gentle Giant; Moody Blues;Floyd; Genesis; Yes; Rush; DP; ELP; Kansas. All their own very individual style all very high level of musicianship.
Pretty wild song. Yeah they’re definitely some parts I like on the song. Drums sound great. Roger Taylor is definitely not only a great drummer, but a great songwriter and vocalist as well
In the late 1800's, The Great Order of the Water Rats was formed. It is, primarily, a British charity whose members are in the entertainment industry. Their members have various positions, one of which is the King Rat. I've tried to research if one of the King Rats was born and died on his birthday, at age 44, of an STD but information is limited. I found one that came somewhat close but his death was reported as a heart attack. Anyway, Freddie probably heard the term "King Rat" and let his imagination and lyrical story-telling create his own Great King Rat!
Listening to this album it is easy to understand why a record label and managers were interested, they could see a lot of potential in this band. Unfortunately Trident Studios really tried to dumb down the drums which keeps this album from having the fullness of sound we recognize as that Queen sound. Queen always used Roger to his full potential in all of their music, Roger was never just the beat, he added so much richness and interest to the music. If you listen closely you will hear the fills and drums that will later be bombastic.
It was Roy that messed up the over all sound They said they were dissapointed in it and took more control on the next one With the drum sound they said it took quite a while to figure out how to get the sound they wanted Trident more Roy who saw them work on their demo got them involved with Trident I think smile had recorded there previously as well They couldn't get anyone interested in the demo But they had no one to release the record So Trident ended up as middle men When Freddie wanted out they got a lawyer But John Reid was the only manager that really took an interest He got EMI to sign them and give a big advance But they had to pay Trident off
