Brian May: Back to the Light?

by

Adam Harkus
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Brian May: Back to the Light? Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Brian May has always been my guitar hero. He’s the reason I first picked up the guitar and I admire his work greatly. Any devout Brian May fans, look away NOW!

This is an article I’ve really struggled with. This is, after all, Brian May, one of the most talented, influential, and innovative guitarists that ever lived, Respected by fans and peers worldwide (including me). But this blog has always been about personal thoughts and opinions, so finally, I decided to put pen to paper.

So what’s all this about? I recently saw Brian’s vid of the newly remastered Back to the Light, with the theme of a present-day Brian time-travelling back to 1992 to watch a gig of… himself. And that got me thinking, has he done anything of note since then?

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert 1992

This was the last time John Deacon performed as a member of Queen, and for me, the last time Queen songs were played with anything like the passion, and to the standard, we’d become accustomed to with Freddie. Brian played an absolute blinder on not just Queen songs, but as a Master of Ceremonies to a whole host of other artists and their own hits.

Expo Sevilla 1992

This is when alarm bells starting ringing for me. Of course, nobody in the world would envy getting on stage with Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and the legendary Joe Walsh, and indeed, Brian seemed nervous and out of sorts. But that got me thinking? Did Brian May need Queen to come up with his best work? Maybe Brian himself would agree, but that raised another question: If he’s no longer at that level, why go on? John Deacon retired for the very same reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wir9Ux00wFs

Back to the Light – 1992

Having said that, I really enjoyed the Back to the Light album. Back to the light and Resurrection are great tracks, while Nothing But Blue and Last Horizon satisfied my guitarist’s ear. It book-ends the sad period of Queen and Freddie’s demise and feels like both Brian’s personal therapy and a heartfelt tribute to his friend. It’s for those reasons that, for me at least, that album was beyond criticism. It was timed and delivered tastefully.

I even went to see his band live at Whitley Bay ice rink soon after. He was fantastic!

Queen and Paul Rodgers / Adam Lambert

So this is when things started to turn a little more distasteful, for me. Adam Lambert, and even the great Paul Rodgers could never replace Freddie Mercury, and here was the proof. But maybe there’s more to it than that…

Without John Deacon, how could Roger Taylor and Brian May continue with the name Queen? They, after all, only make up 50% of the original band?

But it’s not only about members. Where is the (decent) original material? , where are the enormous stadium shows? , where is the excitement? , the multi-genre innovation?

Where is the zing?

The answer is, and John Deacon was right.

‘It’s not possible to replace Freddie’.

John Deacon

Something else I noticed. Bijou is one of my favourite Queen tracks, and certainly one of Brian’s best solo performances, but live, he get’s nowhere near it. I won’t flood this article with YouTube footage, so check out some of his attempts for yourself (they’re really bad).

Has he lost his Mojo?

Queen Albums post 1991

I’m going to make an exception with 1995’s Made In Heaven. It was nice to hear original material sang by Freddie one last time, even though the album was essentially a cut and paste operation. But, in my view, everything since (Queen Rocks and various other compilation and live albums) have been shamefully distasteful and disrespectful cash-ins on Queen’s and Freddie’s good name.

Enough said.

Bohemian Rhapsody: The Movie

… Is a pointless, cringeworthy and terrible film. You could, of course, counter my opinion with its success, reception, and awards, but, I’m sorry, this film is dominated and builds towards a recreation of Live Aid. So my question to you is, why not just watch the real Live Aid, with the real Queen? It really is a million times better.

The answer? Because Brian and Roger saw an opportunity to make money out of it, and also possibly to gain new Queen fans.

Can you see where I’m going with this now? More than anything, even though they obviously own the brand, I don’t believe 50% of the original band have the moral right to be claiming Queen even exists anymore.

Back to the Light – Remastered – 2021

And that brings us up to the present. After the dead horse of Queen (sorry Freddie) has, and continues to be royally flogged, Brian May is now flogging the other dead horse of an (albeit decent) solo album he released 30 years ago. I suppose, on the plus side, that’s not bringing Queen into it, but, I don’t know, perhaps I expected more of my guitar hero and true guitar innovator.

Apologies

No that’s off my chest, I just wanted to say sorry if this article has caused offence in any way to anybody, particularly Queen and Brian May fans. At the end of the day, I’m venting. I have a bee in my bonnet about these personal niggling thoughts and opinions. I miss Queen and Freddie. The worlds greatest ever showman, my favourite band of all time, and my favourite guitarist. I also wanted to point out that Brian and Roger probably knew Freddie Mercury better than anyone, so who am I to second-guess people and events I’ve never met or been involved with?

And even more important than that, life goes on for Roger and Brian. They had to do something? Right? And there aren’t many that have built a musical career of this length.

That’s fair, and I’d love to hear your take on it in the comments below.

And, hey, if you’ve never heard Back to the Light, there’s no better version than the new Deluxe one?

Thanks for reading.

Comments

4 responses to “Brian May: Back to the Light?”

  1. Adina avatar
    Adina

    Hi. Look, I agree with the thoughts about Brian having lost his creative juices a long time ago, unfortunately. But he doesn’t necessarily need Queen, what he needs is to come to terms with his own androgynous nature, and stop pretending to be more masculine than he is.

    That being said, I strongly disagree with the Adam Lambert gigs being “distasteful” – there is something magical going on there, and nobody is trying to “replace Freddie” at all. If anything, Adam has opened a big shiny door into the Afterlife, made of gay love. That is, he very openly talked about his belief that Freddie’s spirit is alive in some form. So being onstage with him gives Brian and Roger the opportunity to connect with Freddie’s living spirit, and overcome that draining sadness of the past which lasted years and years.
    That isn’t something the great Paul Rodgers could ever do for them, and I’m glad they understand that now (because to be honest, in the “Don’t Stop Me Now” era their straight privilege was kinda showing – Freddie’s need to immerse himself in gay culture was deemed lost or misguided back then, but it’s really not, and that’s not when he got HIV because we need to look at the overall timeframe).

    I think Bo Rhap is a bit of a hit-and-miss, on the one hand painting the legacy in pink all over, yes, but underneath that there are some suggestions of them being immature at the time. I think it’s important that people also understand Freddie had fears and struggled with his own identity, because his deeply charismatic aura gave the impression he was totally liberated in life, which was not the case. Likewise, the scene when Freddie says he’s the one giving the other members of Queen that mystical aura that allows them to live a fantasy version of themselves… blew me away.
    So yes, you are correct: they need to continue living that version of themselves, because it’s Freddie’s vision you see. I always smile at the levels they’re taking it to now.

    By the way, you forgot about the Musical, “We Will Rock You” — in 2002 it predicted the much later collab with Adam, aka The Dreamer; so now the only question remains, where is the girl Scaramouche? (The “Rhapsody” Tour is a reference to the story in the Musical, not to the success of the film. These tiny details change the whole. Ie. the Rhapsody is the state of ecstasy the Rebels are waiting for, one of whom is in fact their arch-enemy, a Sauron-type figure who is secretly looking for them, etc.)

    All in all, judging by this article I guess you are interested in the art, but don’t relate that much to the esoteric side, or to being part of a psychic, supernatural Family, aka The Kids. *Sigh* We aren’t in this for the money, dude… we’re simply (as Brian and Roger put it) “not Normal”… so we live our dreams, we travel, we try to connect. We’re not perfect by any means, nor are we your Heroes who can do no wrong… but you have to understand that we have as Brian put it, “driving forces” behind it all. I really wish more people understood that, and what the Queen Concept is all about. (And please stop referring to John Deacon’s decision as if implying we should do the same as him or else we have no morals.)

    Lastly, I too apologise for being so blunt about this matter, as I know what it’s like to be overridden by a majority or crowd for whom none of your concerns ever seem valid in the big picture. That’s not what I’m implying here.

    Reply
    1. Adam Harkus avatar
      Adam Harkus

      Really appreciate your take on it Adina.

      There’s a lot for me to unpick here, so please allow me to be a little blunt about the whole ‘We Will Rock You” stage show thing, and everything surrounding it… I omitted it in the article because, for me, it’s yet another mediocre cash-in, and not worthy of mention (in my opinion),

      Looking at the Queen influence from the esoteric angle you mentioned was a bit of an eye-opener, and yeah, although I like to think of myself as a dedicated Queen fan, I’m aware that there is a whole new level of fandom out there taking it to almost biblical levels of worship, and all power to them. It’s not a competition though and I think we all have a valid opinion.

      Personally, I prefer to focus on the music and stand by everything I’ve said. Sam Ryder seems to be knocking on Adam Lambert’s door and seems to have gotten Brian and Roger excited again. I just think they should give someone else a chance, and grow old gracefully. It reminds me of a retired boxer who has a perfect record, stepping back in the ring past their prime and tarnishing their legacy.

      Go out on top for me, otherwise, it’s a little embarrassing and probably bad for your health!

      I’m going to finish with John Deacon again…

      ‘It’s not possible to replace Freddie’.
      ‘

      Reply
  2. Adam Harkus avatar
    Adam Harkus

    Thanks for stopping by Dirk. I didn’t go into much detail about why the movie is so bad (that’s another blog’s worth!), so glad it’s not just me!

    Another thing I didn’t mention was that Back to the Light, even at the time, was a kind of compilation of ideas since Brian’s last album ‘Star Fleet Project’, from way back in 1985, whose headline track was a cover version of the much superior Peter Bliss original.

    So really we are talking 2 original albums in 40 years (if you could even call Starfleet an original album). Not great output when you look at it.

    Reply
  3. Dirk Koppka avatar
    Dirk Koppka

    I’ll come right to the point: thank you. As we say in German “Sie sprechen mir aus dem Herzen”. I thought the Paul Rodgers stint was a decent try and they even created some new music (mediocre at best unfortunately) … so they tried, I’ll give ’em that. I even saw them live once in Basel, which was an OK concert but nothing more. Since then it’s milking the old songs over and over again. Not to mention the over priced merch and remastered CDs. But hey, free market and all … seems enough people willing to shell out the bucks. As for the movie: it’s entertaining and well made … but in contrast to the Elton John biopic I had the feeling that it leans toward the past as Brian/Roger wants us to see it … paint the legacy pink all over. Final thoughts: I have my old Vinyls, CDs, FLAC s and will crank it up whenever I am in need of some good old Freddie and the gang. On a side note: I actually bought the 30 years Back to the Light re-issue as I love this album; mainly because it came out shortly before I was going to study a year abroad in Scotland and it just takes me back to some happy memories.

    Reply

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