I avoided Queen for many years, heard Bohemian Rhapsody and some of the 80s hits just too many times. But in recent years I've really been enjoying the 70s albums and Brian May's guitar playing. Brighton Rock, brilliant.
Both in song writing and guitar playing, I believe "Long Away" from A Day At The Races is at least as good as anything Brian ever did. It's my all time favorite Queen song at any rate.
In general, yes, Brian's main electric tone is Red Special through a treble booster pedal into an absolutely cranked AC30*. It's a throaty, heavy, loud electric rock guitar sound. But because of the phase switches on the pickups, plus the ability to switch pickups off and on one at a time instead of more typical configurations, there are a few more tonal options. The Brian May Guitars site has some demos of the different sounds the guitars can make: Brian May Guitars Sound Settings None of the sounds are as varied as it would be actually switching between different guitars and amps, but the old lady has a few tricks that Brian can wring out. *supposedly Brian's amps even have extraneous circuitry removed so all the power can be pushed through the main channel on the amp.
Man, I wish Brian had made more than two proper solo albums in the 31 years since Innuendo. I think both LP's are great, and certainly don't indicate to me that he'd run out of creativity.
Really admire Brian as a guitarist... and an Astrophysicist. He was a part of the New Horizons team that sent a probe to Pluto several years ago. I especially like his cover of "Since You've Been Gone", better than the original, IMO.
I like the pre-Queen (1984, Smile) I've heard. He was a real listener to classic recordings back to Buddy Holly, and an informed player is likely to be the most interesting. I still love Dragon Attack!
If this was cricket that'd be a wide. Just thinking of all the music Page has produced since he left LZ. Not a lot. In fact all I can think of is his LP with The Black Crowes where he just played old LZ tunes. I don't recall BM being accused of ripping off other musicians and not giving them due credit. Perhaps you just want another LZ clone.
Love Brian May! One of the pioneer guitarists to use whatever equipment he could find (or many cases build himself or with family/bandmates) and create a sonic signature sound that everyone recognizes. Also an amazing songwriter, White Queen (As It Began) is up there at the top of Queen's discography. Everyone has noted the Red Special guitar, the treble booster and the Vox Amp for Brian's tone. But another key part was the Deacy Amp used a lot in the studio and built by John Deacon. That produced more signature tones than the Vox in a lot of cases.
Brian May is not an excellent songwriter (though he is an excellent guitar player, both in terms of lead and rhythm). If he'd continued writing songs like Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here and Brighton Rock his stature as a songwriter (and as a guitar player) would have been much higher. But what he did instead is that he gave too much leeway to other members of the band (especially Mercury), which does hurt his stature. Death Wish II The Firm Mean Business Outrider Walking into Clarksdale I take you've never heard of these albums? By the way, my point is not that Brian should've copied Jimmy in any way. It's just that when somebody is capable of writing songs as good as Keep Yourself Alive, Now I'm Here and Brighton Rock, that person should have a little more say about what songs end up on an album.
I’m a big fan. Not sure he has ever gotten enough credit for the “live multitracking” or orchestration he has always done, even back in the day where it was just his home brew guitar, a wall of vox AC-30, and an echoplex. Well before the era of digital perfection. The officially released 74 and 75 live shows are pretty compelling evidence. I saw them a couple times in that era and it was pretty amazing what those guys could pull off live, thanks in no small part to the fact that Brian could cover two or three parts live. An amazing talent not just as a guitarist, but singer and songwriter also.
Yeah, this is probably my favorite May song with Queen. I wish he'd done more stuff in this vein as a solo artist.
The following excellent songs, written by Brian May, would like a word with you: The Prophet’s Song Stone Cold Crazy Hammer To Fall Tie Your Mother Down Save Me The Show Must Go On
There are days I don't want to hear Bohemian Rhapsody again for a while. There will never be a day I don't want to listen to this. It's an overlooked gem. It's epic, it kicks ass, and it's just plain fun to listen to.
