THERE’S SUPPOSED TO BE A GUITAR SOLO HERE …

[def_fr0g_42]

I know concert guitar solos are supposed to be uncool, indulgent and pretentious - and sometimes they are - but sometimes they’re thrilling.

This is one of those.

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As a teenager I listened to Live Killers a lot, and the stuff Brian May was doing with his guitar and his amps onstage sounded alien and dangerous to me. (The psychedelic breakdown during "Get Down Make Love" alone gave me the most amazing nightmares.)

But this - THIS - was just insanely amazing to listen to, not just for the music but the craftsmanship of taking two modified Echoplex tape-delay boxes and running them through separate amps, resulting in a triple-echo that enabled May to harmonize with the echoed notes and recreate that layered guitar harmony sound he does in the studio. It’s hard to understate how tricky this is to get right in terms of timing and the structure of the riffs, etc.

This is probably the only live guitar solo I’ve committed to memory, and it haunts me to this day. Which is partly my own fault because I listened to it on Spotify the other day and it’s still ringing in my head. Glory be.

Also, Roger Taylor's timpani solo is a surprisingly nice touch.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

ADDENDUM: For what it's worth, this is for me the definitive version of "Brighton Rock", most likely because I listened to Live Killers for several years before I managed to get a copy of Sheer Heart Attack and hear the original.

A little magic in the air,

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