The one Queen song Brian May was “never happy” with
The work that Queen did was never going to work if it was merely good.
Although the band were incredibly accomplished musicians before they even entered the studio, their need for perfection and getting a layered sound for every one of their tunes is one of the reasons why they are celebrated as the greatest technicians in the world. But when someone is that laser-focused on getting the perfect take, they can always end up falling for the trap of making things too overproduced.
And it’s not like Queen wasn’t guilty of that every now and again. While many critics could claim that they have been guilty of throwing in too many production touches since the start of their career, the only times where they really seemed to overstep their mark usually came in the years following ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.
Their flirtation with disco made them superstars all over again, but it also became a bit of an albatross around their neck in spots. Hot Space was meant to capitalise on the success of that record, and yet it stands as easily the band’s weakest effort as a full record. And judging by how many synths were incorporated on their later projects, it’s clear that they hadn’t got their fixation with new technology out of their system on tunes like ‘Machines’.
Then again, maybe the reason why the synths sounded strange was because Brian May could get most of those sounds with his guitar. This was the same man that created an entire guitar orchestra from scratch on tunes like ‘Good Company’, so having a lot of his guitar fireworks being overtaken by whatever new keyboard plug-in was on the market had to be a little disheartening.
But May was always the first one to say that he didn’t knock it out of the park every single time. Even when they were combing through material for their first record, the version of ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ that became iconic amongst Queen fans was always going to have a few black marks next to it in May’s mind.
Despite sounding like a radio-ready hit, May felt that the tune lost a bit of the passion that had been found on the demo, saying, “[The demo] is so relaxed. It’s got such a great feel to it. From that day on, I always had this theory that it’s really not a good idea to make demos. To actually make a demo of a record you’re going to make in the future [is] generally disastrous because you get something fabulous at the first attempt, something which you will never be able to revisit. The more you chase it, the further it gets away. I was never happy with any recordings we made after that first one.”
And while the acoustic nature of the demo does give it a more distinct character, it’s not like there was any better way to introduce Queen to the world than the recorded version. Freddie Mercury is in fine form, and getting vocal cameos from May and Roger Taylor is a nice touch, especially in the midsection when they start throwing in those distinct guitar harmonies on top of everything.
It’s hard to call any album Queen ever made scrappy, but the fact that ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ actually manages to sound a bit dishevelled compared to their later work is actually commendable to some degree. The classics hadn’t quite come yet, but Queen were still a great rock and roll band that wanted the same size and scope that Led Zeppelin was going for.
