| Review
by Collectors
music reviews
Several years ago the final undocumented show on
Queen’s Killer’s tour in Japan surfaced when a poor but listenable
tape surface for the April 28th Nagoya show and was booted on Mr.
Fahrenheit (Wardour-060). Several weeks ago another
audience recording surfaced and pressed by Wardour on The Pleasure Chest.
This one, unlike the first, is closer to the stage and much more dynamic.
There is still some distance, meaning it’s at best very good, but it is
a considerable improvement.
The tour was uneven because of Freddie’s tired
vocals. The nadir came on the April 25th show in Tokyo which is
almost unlistenable. But after taking two days off, he returns in
this show with more strength, but he still conserves his voice by not
hitting the high notes and voiding the vocal gymnastics.
The beginning of the Jazz shows is a bit
strange with the slow arrangement of “We Will Rock You” segueing into
the fast arrangement followed in turn by “Let Me Entertain You” from
the new album. It is almost as if there are three openers.
“If You Can’t Beat Them,” which alternated with “Fat Bottom
Girls” in the set list, makes a return on this night.
Freddie narrates the lyrics to “Death On Two Legs,”
the opening song in the medley. One of the virtues of tapes
from this tour is to hear the brilliant “Bicycle Race” in the live
setting. It was only played in the Jazz and Killers
tours and only in medley. It is amazing how Mercury could fit all of
the highlights of the complex song into a ninety second clip. The
middle section of “Get Down, Make Love” has bird chirps thrown in for
good measure over the orgasmic moans.
“Teo Torriatte” is played at all of the Japan shows
and is played a bit earlier in the set than on other nights. The
audience sing along in their native tongue to offer a touching moment.
“Dreamers Ball” starts off the three song acoustic set. “I
used to be a baby / I used to be a proud and joy…I sure was” Freddie
ad-libs.
After “Love Of My Life,” Brian May mentions that Freddie
is “skulking in the background.” ”‘39″ is the
final acoustic song and Freddie says, “that finishes the so-called
acoustic set. We’re gonna do something a bit heavier - with this
dreadful voice. This is from an album called News Of The World,
and the song is called It’s Late.”
“Brighton Rock” is thirteen minutes and includes
spooky shouts at the beginning. The tape has a hard time
picking up the echo bouncing around the arena, but Taylor’s tympani solo
is very well recorded and sound massive. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is
the final song of the night and “Sheer Heart Attack” sounds like a
testosterone driven attempt to assert their dominance.
The sight of Freddie on the shoulders of Superman at
the beginning of “We Will Rock You” (making its third appearance in
the set) sends the audience into a shout, and they sing along to “We Are
The Champions.” The latter songs on the tape, especially the
encores, sound a bit more distant the rest. Perhaps the taper moved?
The Pleasure Chest is packaged in a
double slimline jewel case with several photos from the tour on the
artwork. It joins Dreamer’s
Ball (Wardour-006), Pride
And Joy (Wardour-047) and Ultimate
Dreamer (Wardour-020) as great silver pressed titles from Queen’s
longest tour of Japan.
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