Review
by Collectors
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Invite You To A Night At The Warehouse on Wardour is
the first silver release of the vinyl title of the same name on the
Stoned label in Sweden. This label operated for
about eighteen months before being shut down and busted.
The six titles they produced are among the best recorded and
professionally presented, setting a high standard for unofficial
releases. The sound quality of their Queen tape is very
good to almost excellent. There is a some distance from the
stage but the taper was able to capture the atmosphere of the
concert perfectly and this is one of the best audience tapes from
the A Day At The Races era. The webmaster for the
excellent Queen
On Stage website spoke to two of the men behind the label
and writes:
“I bought my copy from H. Lilliegren, one of
the ‘Stoned’ guys. I had also a good correspondence with
the producer Bolle Gregmar. They told me the following about
this album. It’s made in 986 copies, recorded from row 15.
The plan was to record from row 10, but inside the hall they
found out that row 1-5 was A, B, C, D, and E, so they end up in
row 15. The sound quality ended up a bit worse than what they
expected. One of the microphones also failed, so it’s in
mono. I will try to get more info later. For those
who hoping for a complete re-release of this nice show, I’m afraid
I must disappoint you all. The police seized everything
including the master tape, used as evidence in court. That’s
what they told me. The stuff has never been
returned. The running order of the songs had been mixed to fit
onto vinyl disc.”
A silver disc version of the LP was released in
1997 on Stoned 5. Wardour provide a better transfer of
the vinyl LP from a flawless copy with no hint of its source.
There are various cuts scattered throughout the tape including one
at 7:38 in “Brighton Rock” and cuts around the encores
omitting the audience cheering the band to come back out.
There is also no intrusive audience noise except for the taper
saying “This is Queen live in Copenhagen” during the beginning
of “Liar.” The show unfortunately isn’t complete since
it is missing the final encore which on the tapes for the two shows
before this from Stockholm and Gothenburg are “Big Spender,” ”Jailhouse
Rock” and “God Save The Queen.”
The mid-seventies were a fascinating time for
Queen with their breakout LP A Night At The Opera. It
is an album filled with speculative lyrics with music tinged
with the giddiness of a newly discovered talent for experimentation.
The follow up A Day At The Races continued the
experiments but the music drips in melancholy and the lyrics have a
focused nihilism absent in Queen’s earlier music. The
ensuing set list for the world tour is a schizophrenic
roller-coaster ride through an entire range of emotions.
The May 12th show was their first in Copenhagen and they would only
ever play there again at the Falkoner Theater on the News Of The
World tour the following year.
The show begins with the A Day At The Races
taped introduction before they play two heavier numbers, ”Tie Your
Mother Down” and the excellent “Ogre Battle.” Afterwards Freddie
says, “Good evening. Welcome to the show Copenhagen.
You load of tarts! It’s nice to be here after such a long
time…Tonight we’re gonna play you some mean old rock and roll as
well as the quieter stuff. My God it’s loud tonight.”
Ironically, he encourages the audience to clap and dance around
before the quieter song ”White Queen (As It Began).”
May’s solo sounds majestic in this recording. “Somebody To
Love” is introduced as their latest single. May
discusses their medley of older songs beginning with “Killer
Queen.” His comment is curious since most of the medley
comes from the new album!
“Killer Queen” lacks the final verse and
is segued with “Good Old Fashioned Loverboy” right from the
guitar solo. This performance of the new track is
probably the only time Freddie actually sings the “Set my
alarm, turn on my charm” line. Most shows he just
mumbled through it. The medley ends with “Bring Back That
Leroy Brown” from Sheer Heart Attack. This would be
the last tour to include this song. “Death On Two
Legs” is introduced as a new song that has only recently been
added to the set. This wasn’t played on the US leg of
the tour earlier in the year which would make this only the
third time it was played live. They play the entire song
but Freddie loses his place in the lyrics and brings
it to the brink of disaster only to be rescued by Roger Taylor.
“Queen would like to drink a special toast to
everybody here. Cheers Copenhagen. Skool. May
you all have campaign for breakfast tomorrow” Freddie says before
introducing May for his set piece “Brighton Rock.” “‘39″
brings the band out to the front of the stage “which is unusual
for us” May claims. This tour is their first attempt to
include acoustic number and would be expanded greatly in the future.
The ”White Man” and “The Prophet’s Song” is May’s
second showpiece with Freddie doing vocal gymnastics with the
vocal harmonizer. The set closer is the magnificent “In The
Lap Of The Gods…Revisited” and would be dropped after this tour to
reappear a decade later in the medley. They two encores
are ”Now I’m Here” and an eight minute version of
“Liar.” Wardour pay tribute to the vinyl by reproducing
the cover and by using a four fold insert for the first time.
The inside contains all of the information including the producer.
Apparently they used their real names so it’s no wonder the Stoned
label got busted. This is one of the best documents from the
era and Wardour did a tremendous service by pressing it onto silver.
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