Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Few rock guitarists possess a playing style as instantly recognizable as Queen's Brian May. With his orchestrated guitar armies (multi-tracked guitar lines overdubbed on top of each other) and instantly memorable, well-constructed melodic leads, May is in a class all by himself. Born in Hampton, Middlesex, in July 1947, May showed an interest in music at a very early age – learning to play the ukulele and piano before receiving his first guitar as a present on his seventh birthday. Shortly thereafter, May and his father began to build a custom guitar from scratch. Completed two years later, the one-of-a-kind instrument would become known as the Red Special, a guitar that would later become May's sonic and visual trademark throughout his career.

It wasn't long until May began to pick up a thing or two from such popular rock guitarists as the Shadows' Hank Marvin, Elvis Presley's sideman Scotty Moore, and Buddy Holly. As a student at secondary school, May formed his first group, the instrumental band 1984, playing around London and even opening a 1967 show at the Olympia Theatre for such soon-to-be big names as Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Pink Floyd, and Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T. Rex). After beginning studies at Imperial College (in the physics/infrared astronomy field) and growing weary of their musical direction, May left 1984 in the spring of 1968.

During his college career, May hooked up with drummer Roger Taylor (via an ad placed on a college noteboard) and a fellow ex-1984 member, bassist/vocalist Tim Staffell, forming the rock trio Smile. Shortly after graduating from college with an honors degree in physics and math, May focused full-time on music when Smile signed to Mercury Records. Despite great promise, Smile only managed to issue one single (titled "Earth") and a few unreleased tracks before Staffell left the group. But it was a friend of Staffell's who would offer his services as the group's new singer – Freddie Mercury. With the line-up change came a new name, Queen, and a new musical direction – heavy rock mixed with grand ballads and a flamboyantly glam look.

After going through numerous bassists, Queen found a permanent member in John Deacon – resulting in a recording contract with EMI/Elektra and a self-titled debut following in 1973. With each successive release (1974's Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack), Queen's musical direction and stage show grew stronger and more popular, until they were one of the world's biggest acts by the mid- to late '70s, due to such mega-hit albums as Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, News of the World, and Jazz. Unlike other groups where a single member supplied all the songwriting, all four of Queen's members had their own songwriting credits equally, with May writing some of the group's most identifiable hits – "We Will Rock You," "Fat Bottomed Girls," "Now I'm Here," and "Tie Your Mother Down," among others.

During a short break in 1983, May issued his first solo release, the four-track EP Star Fleet Project (which featured an all-star cast backing him – Eddie Van Halen, REO Speedwagon drummer Alan Gratzer, and session bassist Phil Chen), and co-produced the debut recording from the obscure heavy metal outfit Heavy Pettin, titled Lettin Loose. Around the same time, an exact duplicate of May's Red Special guitar was issued to the public via the Guild guitar company, and May recorded a video guitar lesson as part of the Star Licks series.

Queen would continue issuing hit albums and sold-out tours throughout the late '80s (as they experimented with a wide range of musical styles), until they became solely a "studio band" during their latter years, 1989's The Miracle and 1991's Innuendo (the reason for this was kept under wraps at the time, but it later became known that it was due to health reasons – Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS). With Mercury's death in 1991, Queen went their separate ways, with May focusing on a solo career and other projects (including hosting and playing at a 1991 Guitar Legends concert alongside Steve Vai and Joe Satriani).

May's first full-length solo album was preceded by the single "Driven by You," which reached the Top Ten in England and was featured in a Ford car commercial – winning an Ivor Novello Award for Best Theme from a TV/Radio Commercial. 1993 finally saw the release of Back to the Light, an album that was a sizeable hit in Europe, and led to May's first solo tour (which included members Cozy Powell on drums, Neil Murray on bass, longtime Queen sideman Spike Edney on keyboards, Jamie Moses on guitar, plus backing vocalists Shelley Preston and Cathy Porter). A year later, a live document of the tour, Live at the Brixton Academy, was issued, mixing new solo material with Queen classics. It wasn't until 1998 that May would issue a proper studio follow-up, Another World.

In addition to rock music, May has retained his interest in astronomy, and in 2006 he returned to his studies in astrophysics, completing his doctoral thesis and earning his PhD from Imperial College London in 2007. May also has a keen interest in 3-D photography, and wrote a A Village Lost and Found, a study of T.R. Williams, a famous stereo photographer of the 1850s, as well as a book on French Diableries.

May has also tried his hand at penning original music for movies (the 1996 version of The Adventures of Pinnochio) and a radio series (a BBC radio special on the Amazing Spiderman), as well as recording the soundtrack for the Red and Gold Theatre Company's production of Macbeth, which was staged at London's Riverside Theatre in the late '90s.

May's contribution to rock guitar remains great as his playing has proven to be a huge influence on other renowned rock guitarists past and present, including Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Ty Tabor (King's X), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), and Phil Collen (Def Leppard), to name but a few.

Greg Prato, Allmusic.com

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Queen guitarist Brian May's first complete attempt at a solo album, Back to the Light, focuses on the hard rock sound that Queen often abandoned in the 1980s. While obviously sounding similar to some of the work by his former band, May's path is far more hard-edged and emotionally punched than the majority of Queen's work. His vocals are sometimes weak for a singer, but they also add a certain tenderness that most hard rock frontmen seem to lack. The album succeeds best on its heaviest tracks such as the cover of "Rollin' Over" or "Resurrection," which features pounding drums courtesy of Cozy Powell and thundering guitar riffs with Queen-like multi-tracked vocals. References to Queen can also be heard in the eccentric humor of such numbers as "Love Token," which includes a back-and-forth dialogue in the middle of the song. Likewise, the low-key country song, "Let Your Heart Rule Your Head," is reminiscent of "'39" off Queen's A Night at the Opera. The ballads are not as strong or as interesting and are not helped by well-meaning but overly sentimental lyrics and light rock arrangements. Unfortunately, the instrumental, "Last Horizon," ends up sounding like Muzak. "Driven By You," the album's biggest hit, was originally written for a Ford commercial, and it shows. That said, it is great to hear May finally get a chance to rock out and while the over-the-top and eccentric stylings of the album might put off some, it is those same traits that will also attract many to this work.

Geoff Orens, Allmusic.com

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Japanese Resurrection mini-album gets a mention because it contains all of the Starfleet Project tracks on an official CD release, as well as some bonus live tracks. This was released during Brian's Back to the Light tour.

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Live at the Brixton Academy finds former Queen guitarist Brian May playing almost the entirety of his previous solo album, Back to the Light, and an assortment of material from various eras of Queen. The material culled from Back to the Light sounds much more alive in concert than on record, freed up as it is from the album's heavy production. Even "Last Horizon," which sounded quite sappy on the album version, works well here, especially coming after the intense "Resurrection." However, even a live setting can't help the clunker "Too Much Love Will Kill You." The Queen tracks are a mixed bag. May just doesn't have the voice to tackle the harder-edged "Headlong" and "Tie Your Mother Down." These tracks and a quite lifeless "We Will Rock You" sorely miss Freddie Mercury's commanding vocals. However, the medley of the old Queen track "'39" with May's "Let Your Heart Rule Your Head" works quite well, in part because May sung the original version. For old Queen fans, it's also hard not to get emotional on the old sing-along "Love of My Life," played here as a tribute to Mercury While the cover of Hank Ballard's "Since You've Been Gone" doesn't come off as impressive with May's weak voice, the rousing version of Queen's "Hammer to Fall" ends the album on a fine note.

Geoff Orens, Allmusic.com

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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Much like the Resurrection EP before, this Japanese EP collects together some of the various B-sides and non-LP tracks, this time, revolving around the Another World LP. It includes Maybe Baby and Only Make Believe, two outtakes from his aborted all-covers album project. Light on guitar, but great vocals, and they show his influences. The highlight of the disc are two live tracks recorded in Paris in 6/98: a light-hearted jaunt thru 'On My Way Up' (preceded by a few minutes of jamming), and a lengthy, slowed-down arrangement of 'Hammer To Fall', which I dare say equals the original in quality (the climactic reprise features the original rocking riff). His tone on this one is reminiscent of 'It's Late'. So until Brian tours the States in support of AW, this 17 minutes of live music should tide you over. The only dissapointment is the inclusion of two regular LP tracks: Another World, and Business, which is erroneously listed as 'USA radio mix uncut' - but is really just the full LP version with out the intrusion of Space or China Belle at the beginning or end. You'd think they'd have put the 'Rock On Cozy mix', but no dice. Then one could have avoided purchasing the 'Business' single, save for the interactive stuff. But, as with nearly all Japanese discs, the lyrics to all songs are included. And the cool title ('bout time he named a record after his legendary axe) and cover (red-and-black silhouette version of the AW cover) are almost worth the price alone. Again, anyone calling themselves a fan must own this disc.

Amazon Customer

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Brian May - Albums & EPs Collection 1992-2000 (5CD) [Japanese Editions]

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First thing that needs to be said, this is the first movie score Brian has ever written solo. This is not to be confused with other film scores such as "Dr. Giggles" or "The Road Warrior". Those were written by an Australian composer who's name was also "Brian May". "Furia" is the only score done by QUEEN's Brian May.Now Brian was always the best at writing the *music* from Queen and I've been looking forward to hearing him work with an orchestra. He does NOT let you down.I know very little about the French film is was made for, other than it is a rather dark and violent piece. Brian's score evokes the right emotions then as it is both sad, moody, dark and haunting. I say haunting and mean it. It stays with you, the music follows you down into the core of your soul. It's the kind of beauty that could've been used to have tamed Frankenstein's monster.The theme is used throughout the music, just differently and in a subtle way. The flute solo evokes memories of tragic love stories and would be perfect for "Romeo and Juliet".Bits of the film's dialogue are used through the album to great effect."Apparition" features Emily May (Brian's daughter) on vocals and I cannot begin to describe the utter beauty of her voice…filled with such a sadness and longing it has made me cry on several listens. "Continuer" uses the same vocals again but accompanied by a full orchestra….a movie score masterpiece!"Dream of Thee" is the only track where proper singing takes place and Brian himself provides the vocals. Simply poetic and not overproduced. It's perfect. Nothing more needs to be said.Brian has shown his talent over and over again but he has outdone himself here. Magnificent and haunting, that is the key word…haunting….it will burn itself on your soul.

Michael Allred, Amazon.com