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Review
by Collectors
music reviews
Queen's little visit to Japan in February 1981 was unusual for
several reasons. They gave five concerts, all in the capital Tokyo
with no visits to the provincial cities. There is also confusion
about what exactly they were promoting on this tour. Their latest LP
was The Game, but Flash Gordon was released the previous
December as a Queen album and not simply as a soundtrack for the
film. All of the newer numbers came from these two ("Save
Me" is introduced as "the next single"). This was
also a year when Queen played no major tours but only three small
ones. This, the South America Bites The Dust tour in Argentina
and Brazil in early March, the Gluttons For Punishment tour of Venezuela
and Mexico in late September and early October and the two Montréal
concerts in November for their We Will Rock You film is the
sum total of their live appearances.
What
makes these concerts highly collectable is the expansion of the
"instrumental inferno" to include an expanded Flash
Gordon suite including "Vultan's Theme" along with the
"Battle" theme, "Flash" theme and "The
Hero". This arrangement was introduced in the February 13th
show (documented on Need You Loving Rock on Gypsy Eye
(GE-206/207)) and played again on February 16th. Also these
shows are the live introduction for "Rock It (Prime
Jive)" which had a limited stage life, being included in South
America and served as the sometimes opener for the nebulous Hot
Space set lists in 1982.
The
first two discs covering the February 16th show come from a new tape
source the has never circulated. The older source is fair to
good with a big cut in the drum solo. This source is very good and
clear although slightly distant with some crowd noise over the music.
The only cut in the tape is a tape flip at the beginning of "Keep
Yourself Alive". The "instrumental inferno" begins
with this track and goes all the way to "The Hero" in one long
medley. Right where the "Brighton Rock" guitar solo ends
the keyboards come in for the fantastic high energy "Vultan's
Theme" and makes me question why this wasn't a regular part of
the set! It adds another dimension to a Queen concert (this is
the closest they ever came to having a keyboard solo) and judging by
the audience reaction it was very exciting.
The
following evening's show on February 17th covers discs three and four of
this collection and surfaced incomplete before on Zoom Up on
Rag Doll (RDM 942019) and complete as Freddie Was Here
on Masterport (MP-013). This tape is clearer than the previous
evening being very bright, loud and enjoyable. About ten
seconds is cut from "Flash" but otherwise it is musically
complete. The band drop "Jailhouse Rock" that served as
the opener since the US tour the previous year and begin
straight away with "We Will Rock You (fast)". Freddie
sings "Perfume comes naturally from Tokyo, cars she couldn't care
less..." in "Killer Queen" to the delight of everyone.
"Rock It (Prime Jive)" is again. The set list
says that "Vultan's Theme" was dropped from the Flash
Gordon suite, but it is here segued into the "Battle" theme
just like the LP. The girls close to the taper are very vocal
by the end (even singing along to "Another One Bites The Dust"
and "Teo Torriatte") and their screaming is very loud
during "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the encores. Wardour
have set the standard with stellar Queen releases and Prime Jive
is yet another one. They did a great service by finding and
releasing the tape from the February 16th show and remastering the
following evening to produce the definitive release of these essential
concerts. Like all of their releases this is limited to
only three hundred copies worldwide. (GS) |
