|
Review
by Collectors
music reviews
Canadian Assault on
Wardour presents, pressed on silver discs, the brand new tape source
which surfaced in November 2006 of Queen's Vancouver show on the Jazz
tour. Any good sounding tape is welcome, but this one is
especially because no other tape has ever circulated from this date
giving us a brand new show to enjoy. Notes accompanying this
tape by the one who did the transfer state this is a first
generation analogue remastered to digital: "Originally
recorded by Fred W. from right up front and center. Lineage: Fred's
mics and rig (unsure - Marantz?)>Maxell UD90 tapes>vintage
Akai replay deck (azimuth adjusted, no Dolby)>Sentrek 12 band
analog EQ (minor low and high boost)>Denon DRM500 recording deck
(Dolby on for recording) to make my tape copy>Maxell XL II
90>played back on same Denon DRM500 (azimuth re-adjusted, no
Dolby)>Sentrek 12 band analog EQ (more lows and highs, shaping
upper bass/lower mids)>SoundBlaster live! 5.1 card (grounded and
tweaked)>Wavelab 4.0 (track markers only, no digital processing
at all)....When I originally copied this from Fred's collection for
myself on cassette, I was amazed how clear this recording was and
how close Fred sounded to the stage. I almost always performed EQ
surgery on any copies I made to try and smooth everything out, and
this was no exception. This tape, like many recordings Fred did thru
the years, was pretty close to perfect already and didn't need much
work to make it sound like you were actually there, however, the
lowest tones of bass and kick drum were a little thin, and upper
bass/lower vocal range was a little jumpy.
"Well
that's all fixed now. There is some noise associated with the
original tapes (normal bias 'low noise' tapes!) but that should not
discourage you at all. My copy sounded more pleasing than the
originals did, and even more refined when played into the computer
for you now. I have chosen to not process the noise out, and leave a
little bit of the shit and corruption in. I think the background
noise gives this tape life and breath, and removing it would kill
the atmosphere it brings. You will get used to it after 5 minutes,
and it's not noticeable at all over the music." The cdr
label Breakdown was the first out of the gate with this tape with
the release of Right Up Front, but Wardour produced a
beauty of a release with Canadian Assault. They
compare this to the Montreal and Chicago tapes from this tour (and
also released by Wardour) and it is a fair comparison. The
hiss mentioned above is not a factor and outside of the audience
screaming their heads off in the beginning and some scattered
comments they are not intrusive. There are several cuts on the
tape with the first coming after "You're My Best Friend"
that omits the very beginning of "Now I'm Here".
There is a small cut after "Spread Your Wings", but
the biggest cut is at the end of the guitar solo in "Brighton
Rock" which cuts out the second verse. Nevertheless,
Vancouver is a beautiful, vivid, three-dimensional recording that
captures the essence of the Killers era. The performances of
the songs is reminiscent of the atmosphere on the official
release and now stands as one of the best recordings from the North
American Jazz tour.
The following
year's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and
"Another One Bites The Dust" would be their best
selling hits and would permanently change their aesthetic into
more pop and dance oriented, but Jazz is Queen at
their most dark and aggressive. The songs were slower and
more deliberate, and even their lighter songs sound menacing.
Brian May introduces "Somebody To Love" as "a song
that will bring back some memories" and give a performance that
gets the audience by the recorder excited. Freddie offers a
long explanation about "Death On Two Legs" when he says,
"About
three years ago we used to have a manager. Or a manag-ah in
English. The guy used to try to look out for us and he was a
real motherfucker I tell you. And we soon got rid of him and
we remember him and wrote him a song. That's right, that's
right, this is a song called 'Death On Two Legs.'"
"Bicycle Race" is included in the medley and includes
snippets of each of the parts of the very complex number.
Vancouver's "Spread Your Wings" is perhaps the best
version on tape with an emotional solo by May. A girl by the
recorder reacts to seeing the small acoustic set stage lowered as
May says, "We'll have a little fun now. We have a little,
special stage to get closer this time." The second half
is dominated by the long "Brighton Rock" solo that
includes May's effects and Roger Taylor's tympani solo. It is
cut as they get into a catchy heavy metal riff. Canadian
Assault makes good use of the Jazz motif and includes
several stage shots plus the famous photo of the naked women on
stage with their bicycles. Along with the other Queen releases
on Wardour, this is another high-class title worth having.
(GS)
|
