Review
by Collectors
music reviews
Savage Young Mercury contains
two important early documents related two Queen and Freddie Mercury.
The first half of the disc contains a thirty-five minute audience
tape of Ibex, Freddie’s band before Queen. Recorded on September
9th, 1969, it was taped by the Ibex roadie Geoff Higgins on his
Grundig TK14 reel-to-reel machine, later sold in an auction to a private
collector, then lent to Queen so that “Rain” could be
included in the Freddie Mercury Solo Collection box set.
The entire tape was
thankfully leaked and appears on this title. It is a good,
clear recording but is also very loud and flat, lacking in
significant dynamics. It exists as a very good early record of
Freddie’s early development as a singer and entertainer. Along
with Freddie Bulsara, the other members of the band were Mike Bersin on
guitar, Mick Smith on drums and John ‘Tupp’ Taylor on bass. In
October 1969, the band changed its name to Wreckage but broke up in
November 1969.
As can be expected from a
minor band, the set list is filled with covers from more well known acts
of the day. The tape opens with the band playing Cream’s “I’m
So Glad” including Taylor’s bass solo before it segues into Led
Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown” complete with Bulsara imitating
Plant’s screams from the studio recording.
A cover of the Beatles’
“Rain” is interesting for Freddie’s interpretation of the vocal
melody. He does not try to copy Lennon’s style, but rather
reinterprets it for himself and adds some variation. ”Rock My
Plimsoul” is segued directly into Hendrix’s “Stone Free.”
There is a tape pause at this point before “Jailhouse Rock.”
After covering Cream’s
cover of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” they play the only original
tune found on this tape. Introduced as “one of our own numbers,”
“Vagabond Outcast” sounds similar to the Queen tune “Hangman” but
more melodic. There is a breezy quality to the performance and
arrangement that is appealing, but it breaks down and becomes very sloppy
by the middle.
The final song on the tape is
Ten Year After’s “I’m Going Home” during which Freddie’s
can be heard ad-libbing beneath Taylor’s bass solo. Freddie than
emerges with a loud shriek as the song draws to a close. At the
end of the show Brian May and Roger Taylor, who were in the audience,
join them onstage for the encore. This was the very first public
performance of (most of) Queen but unfortunately the tape ran out.
It’s a ragged performance
since the band sound under-rehearsed and showed some potential.
Taylor in particular takes several bass solos and shows some talent. But
eventually the band would not last more than two more months and would
disappear.
Queen: St Bernard
Center, New Orleans, LA - April 21st, 1974: Procession, Father To
Son, Ogre Battle, Son And Daughter, Great King Rat, Liar, Keep Yourself
Alive, Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll. Queen’s tour supporting Mott The
Hoople in the UK in November 1973 was positive enough that when Hoople
toured the US in the spring of 1974 Queen again opened for them.
Aerosmith also joined the bill on some dates.
The earliest tape of
Queen in North America is Freezer’s April 21st, 1974 New
Orleans tape. Like all his tapes this is an excellent stereo
recording of the entire forty-one minute set. Unfortunately Gypsy
Eye used the best available copy which is several generations from the
master. While it is duller than the best copies, it still is
enjoyable to hear.
Queen II was
released about this time but the set list remained very similar to what it
was on the UK tour the previous year. “Procession” is played as
an introduction before “Father To Son” opens the show. “Good
evening New Orleans. We’d like to carry on with a number off our Queen
II album. I think it’s been released this week. Oh, you
got it!”
Brian May introduces “Son
And Daughter” as “something more of you should know” since it’s on
the first album. It is followed by “Great King Rat” from the
first album. Freddie introduces it as about “a dirty old man”
and although it’s known to have been played as early as 1972, this is
the earliest live recording of the song.
“Keep Yourself Alive”
contains a short drum solo in the middle and the set ends with Freddie
singing “Modern Times Rock And Roll.” New Orleans is one of the
earliest and most important live Queen tapes in circulation. It
would be good to have an updated version of this show pressed on silver if
such a tape exists. But Savage Young Mercury contains two
great tapes worth having.
