| City: | London, UK |
| Venue: | Golders Green Hippodrome |
| Date: | September 13, 1973 |
| Setlist: | Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, See What A Fool I've Been, Ogre Battle, Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Big Spender, Bama Lama Bama Loo |
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Queen perform this show for radio in front of a small studio audience. DJ Alan Black adds some commentary between songs. This radio broadcast (and others that followed) would lead to dozens of bootlegs. It was first broadcast on October 20, 1973 (a date which many recordings of the show has since been falsely attributed to; Queen were slated to perform at London's Paris Theatre that night and be recorded by BBC radio 1, but the date was cancelled altogether). Brian May put together a version of Procession to be used as the opening music leading into the band's entrance. At this point the work is incomplete, as the first half sounds a bit primitive compared to the version that would be heard on Queen II. This is possibly the first performance of Father To Son. Many of the lyrics are different to what would end up on Queen II (contrary to the album liner notes saying the album was recorded in August 1973, the sessions actually went into February 1974). The rocker would never be performed in its entirety, as the band would always leave out the repeating vocals at the end. Ogre Battle is in its infancy as well. The lyrics of the chorus aren't yet polished, and this is the one and only time they don't jump into the faster tempo during the battle section. Brian inserts a guitar solo into Son And Daughter, where he is heard with an analog delay in stereo (using an Echoplex, as it was in those days - although it keeps cutting out tonight). The delay is heard in another amplifier 800 milliseconds later than what he initially plays, allowing him to create harmonies on the fly. This style of guitar solo would be heard in Brighton Rock on the Sheer Heart Attack album the following year. When touring to support that album, he would add a second tape delay to create three-part harmony, something that has been a showcase for Brian live ever since. The embryo of Brian's solo dates back to Blag, a Smile track from 1969. It's unknown precisely when he began to play it on stage with Queen. He remarked in a 1982 interview that its life on stage began during the band's first tour supporting Mott The Hoople, in November 1973. But it is possible that he played the solo live even earlier than this radio show, as he inserted it into Son And Daughter at the band's second BBC session on July 25, 1973. The band play See What A Fool I've Been at this show, a song they would occasionally perform until 1977. The bluesy song would never be released on an album - only as the B-side to Seven Seas Of Rhye the following year. Freddie gives it a more rock-oriented treatment on stage, a stark contrast to his campy delivery on the recorded version. Before Liar, Black introduces John Deacon as "Deacon John" as he's credited on Queen's debut album, and in the background Freddie is heard saying, "No, it's not." The band do a one-two punch of Stupid Cupid and Be Bop A Lula during Jailhouse Rock, something they would often do through 1977. Freddie throws a few lyrics of Tutti Frutti into Bama Lama Bama Loo (both by Little Richard), something which he'd often do during this period. The former would be given the full Queen treatment in 1986. The first US broadcast of this show was on WMMS radio in Cleveland on March 2, 1975, in quadraphonic sound (according to this excellent source). A Queen concert broadcast was advertised in the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper (on February 28 and on March 2). Only a few tracks were broadcast, as it was a half and half program with a Randy Newman concert, presented by stateside BBC correspondent Brian Saxton. Here is a cue sheet of a similar (or maybe even identical) program aired by the BBC in 2001 (the erroneous mention of Paris Theatre may well be why bootleg cassettes of this material dating back to the 70s were labelled as such; furthermore, this lack of quality control implies that the band may not even have been aware of the broadcast, which wouldn't be at all surprising in the early days of risk-taking FM radio). Transcription LPs and CDs used for the broadcasts exist in the hands of collectors, and they all seem to contain the same portion of material from the master that the BBC handed out to various radio stations for broadcasts through the years. Roger Taylor recalled the show in a 2016 interview, saying how it was a bit weird because the audience were in the balconies and only the techs were on the floor. The interview was for promoting the "On Air" box set release, containing Queen's complete BBC sessions for the first time as well as live material and interviews. Much of this 1973 concert was included, omitting See What A Fool I've Been (likely for quality reasons) and most of the encores (Jailhouse Rock fades out after less than a minute). Its sound quality is no improvement over the best existing bootlegs, but there is one slight difference in the form of the Alan Black saying "Good evening and welcome to another Radio One concert program," as "Radio One" was edited out of all previous bootleg versions. |
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| Recording length: | 1 LP, incomplete |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Radio |
| Lineage: | "Rogues And Scandals" LP |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son [cut], Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Liar |
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Released in 1976 or 1977, this was the first bootleg containing the Golders Green radio material, and it's an excellent (although quite incomplete) copy. The second instrumental section of Father To Son is seamlessly edited out, and the Alan Black commentary is not heard here. The lead vocal is slightly buried in the mix, like on all other versions. This LP also contains some Rainbow '74 (just Keep Yourself Alive) and Hammersmith Odeon '75 material. |
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| Recording length: | 28 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | B+ |
| Source: | Radio |
| Lineage: | "The Ultimate Collection Volume 3" (Royalty Music) silver |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, See What A Fool I've Been, Ogre Battle, Liar [cut] |
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This 1995 German compilation bootleg contains a somewhat generated copy of the Golders Green radio broadcast. The between-song segments are edited out, and Liar fades out (some of the drum intro is missing as well). While Procession and Father To Son are worse quality than the rest of the show, this was the first time the complete Father To Son was heard on bootleg. See What A Fool I've Been is especially valuable here because it isn't distorted (unlike the alleged BBC master copy). This likely means this copy was recorded from the airwaves in the 70s, as the show was broadcast numerous times. |
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| Recording length: | 24 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | B+ |
| Source: | Radio |
| Lineage: | Radio > ? > Cassette (x) > CDR (x) |
| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, See What A Fool I've Been, Ogre Battle |
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This alternate radio broadcast sourced from an old cassette has the complete Father To Son and non-distorted See What A Fool I've Been. It also has a slightly different opening speech by Alan Black edited out of most versions: "they sound rather different to please you, but you're going to enjoy them anyway, I'm sure. Would you give a welcoming hand, please, to Queen." |
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| Recording length: | 1 CD, incomplete |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Soundboard |
| Lineage: | "Master Of Sheetkeeckers" silver |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son [cut], Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Liar |
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This is another obsolete copy of the Golders Green broadcast, along with Rainbow Theatre material from the Sheetkeeckers LP. |
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| Recording length: | 1 CD, incomplete |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Radio |
| Lineage: | "Rogues And Scandals" (Kings Road) silver |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son [cut], Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Liar |
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This bootleg from the late 90s is a direct copy of the LP of the same name. The CD tracks are divided weirdly, as some of them begin during songs. And, like the LP, Ogre Battle and Liar are swapped in the track listing. |
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These 90s bootlegs contain inferior copies of the show. |
| Recording length: | 26 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A- / B+ |
| Source: | Soundboard |
| Lineage: | "First Procession" (Gypsy Eye) silver |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son [cut], Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Liar, Father To Son, See What A Fool I've Been |
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This 2002 bootleg was an attempt to release all [then] existing material from this show on a single disc. The last two tracks are taken from an alternate broadcast, and are digitally processed in a horrible way that only bootleg labels can. The tape also runs a tad fast. A recording from the Birmingham '73 show is tagged onto the end. |
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| Recording length: | 38 minutes (1 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Radio |
| Lineage: | "Queen Will Be Crowned" (Digital Queen Archives) silver |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, See What A Fool I've Been, Ogre Battle, Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Big Spender, Bama Lama Bama Loo |
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This 2004 release from "Digital Queen Archives" marks the first time the complete show was released on bootleg. While the last three tracks were previously unheard at the time, See What A Fool I've Been becomes distorted in one channel part way through the song, a flaw allegedly on the supposed BBC master tape (which may explain why it was omitted from later radio broadcasts and even the 2016 "On Air" release). However, the claim that this is the master is dubious, as a clean copy had to have existed for earlier broadcasts that resulted in non-distorted copies of the song. In reality, the BBC master was likely wiped not long after the initial broadcast, which was standard fare at the BBC at the time. The two bonus tracks on the disc offer nothing new - Doing All Right is the studio version with added tape hiss, and Ogre Battle is a highly generated copy of the BBC session 3 version of the song with the complete guitar feedback intro previously heard on the Absolutely Rare compilation bootleg in the early 90s (it is actually two takes recorded one after the other, the second of which eventually appeared on "On Air" in 2016). Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com |
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| Recording length: | 38 minutes (1 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Radio |
| Lineage: | "Complete BBC Sessions 1973-1977" (Digital Queen Archives) silvers |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, See What A Fool I've Been, Ogre Battle, Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Big Spender, Bama Lama Bama Loo |
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In 2004, Digital Queen Archives released another bootleg with the Golders Green tracks, but here they were tagged onto the end of the six BBC sessions. Somehow this bootleg label managed to spell their own name wrong on the back cover. |
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| Recording length: | 26 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A+ |
| Source: | Soundboard |
| Lineage: | "Pop Spectacular" (Wardour) silver |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son [cut], Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Liar |
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This 2005 release is sourced from a BBC transcription disc (i.e. a pre-FM), offering better sound quality than ever before. Also on the disc is the Liverpool '73 recording, and a bonus disc of the Milwaukee '75 audience recording is included as well. Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com |
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| Recording length: | 1 CD |
| Quality: | A+ |
| Source: | Soundboard |
| Lineage: | "As It Began" (Godfather) silvers |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, See What A Fool I've Been, Ogre Battle, Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Big Spender, Bama Lama Bama Loo |
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The Golders Green recording ended up on this 2008 compilation bootleg as well. |
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| Recording length: | 1 CD |
| Quality: | A+ |
| Source: | Radio / Soundboard |
| Lineage: | "In The Mirror Again" silver |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, See What A Fool I've Been, Ogre Battle, Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Big Spender, Bama Lama Bama Loo |
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The packaging makes it appear to be like the 2001 Japanese mini-LP re-releases of the studio albums, but this is actually a bootleg made in Russia. It is yet another version of the Golders Green and Rainbow material, most likely straight copies of the Godfather and Wardour bootlegs respectively. |
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| Recording length: | 4 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | ? |
| Source: | Soundboard |
| Lineage: | "Demos Bits And Pieces" (Fat Queen Productions) silver |
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| Track listing: | Jailhouse Rock medley |
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One track from Golders Green was tagged onto the end of this 2004 Mexican bootleg otherwise consisting of studio demos. |
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