“I never understand how I was able to take no drugs and not drink that much and yet become totally unstable. I was needy beyond belief. A certain amount of your neediness is satisfied by the party lifestyle. But you have a terrible hole inside you which needs to be one-to-one with everyone. And that’s a need which can never be fulfilled. You destroy everyone who ever comes close to you. To be truthful, I was always screwed up about sex because I got married at totally the wrong time, at the beginning of all this. In the midst of all this I’m trying to be a husband and a good father to my kids, which was the number one priority for me. So that really excluded me from becoming wildly promiscuous. But emotionally I became utterly out of control, needy for that one-to-one reinforcement, feelings of love and discovery, and that’s what I became addicted to, I think.”
For this occasion I'd like to present (again) the passion project I've been a part of which started about 9 months ago to celebrate the latest tour in Roger's solo career - The Outsider Tour.
Together we spent months hunting audio and video sources from the entire tour, sorting through the huge collection, and to our best ability putting them all together to create a single merge for each show, as complete as we possibly can make them.
This was a huge labor of love for all of us and I am so happy to be able to share this experience with everyone. Thank you to all who have been part of the journey to put this together. They are by no means perfect, but they are our humble effort to celebrate Roger's underrated solo work for everyone to enjoy!
If you haven't checked it out before, please do so and click on the playlist below! And if you have anything you'd like to share to fill in any of the incomplete shows, please get in touch!
Love to lovely teammates: Ellie, Seb, Lurex B., @lonelyasawhisper.
Thanks for reading all the way here! Likes and reblogs would be much appreciated! 🥁❤
Outsider Tour source merge project by Ellie, Seb, Lurex B., Clarissa, and me. (London show not uploaded due to copyright issues).
It was 30 years ago today! I was there, it was sad, joyful, surprising, life affirming. My gran loved Metallica…So happy to have shared in this celebration of (a) life. #freddiemercurytribute #freddiemercurytributeconcert #wembleystadium #mercuryphoenixtrust #queen #30yearsagotoday
A chronological account of Music Life's visit to Queen at Ridge Farm, 14/07/1975 (accompanied by photos)
Written in Chinese by 走路带风的Mia, then translated to English by the very amateur yours truly
Music Life’s visit to Ridge Farm
Date: 14/07/1975
Writers: Kaoruko Togo, Keiko Miyasaka
Photographer: Watal Asanuma
The following piece of writing is a first-person compendium of Kaoruko Togo’s reports in the September 1975 issue of Music Life. The author’s notes will be indicated in the bracketed, italicized text.
Queen was rehearsing their new album A Night At The Opera at Ridge Farm, which is in Dorking, a town that's two hours drive away from London. We arrived at around 2pm. Surrounded by trees, the beautiful farm has a main building, a swimming pool, a tennis court, a small storage unit, a soundproofed rehearsal hall, and a lawn with well-maintained roses. Into the main house, we were led to a dining hall, with a huge dining table and dignified paintings on the walls. It was easy to spot the band amongst the seven or eight people in the house. Freddie first came forward and shook our hands, then the other three also greeted us.
(This photo illustrates the band’s outfits on this day.) When we saw Brian in Tokyo (a few months ago when Queen first toured Japan), he tanned to a light brown colour. He was shockingly pale on this day.
We then gave the band our June issue with Queen on the cover. Everyone gathered around and started talking about their visit to Japan.
At this point, Freddie took out a jacket embroidered with gold and silver threads. He told us he received it as a gift in Japan.
Roger made us cups of tea. With his back to us, the perverse Miss Kaoruko (Kaoruko Togo referring to herself) saw a 15cm tear in Roger’s jeans near his bottom. (The split trousers can be seen in the photo of Roger sitting on the diving board by the swimming pool.)
The band was staying at Ridge Farm together, preparing to record the next album. A maid at the farm and producer Roy Thomas Baker’s wife Barbara cooked for them. We were treated to a late lunch, and Brian was kind enough to serve us soup.
Next, everyone walked to the tennis court. Freddie was the most energetic and adept at tennis. He looked particularly impressive and striking serving shots left and right with agility. Concerned with his appearance, he naturally tidied his hair whenever it got unkempt.
John chuckled as he chased after shots. To everyone’s surprise, he made a stunning stroke which earned him a round of applause and cheers.
(The clogs Freddie was wearing were technically sandals + heels, the heels on John’s boots were quite high. I’m honestly shocked at the fact that they could still play tennis.)
Roger was very energetic as usual, he seemed to have well-developed motor skills. In the match where Roger and Freddie were playing opposite each other, Freddie seemed to take it much more seriously, he insisted the ball Roger served was out. Roger stood firm: “It’s definitely not out this time.” John just delightfully looked on with a blasé attitude.
What about Brian? He’s taking everyone’s pictures with the camera he bought in Japan. When Freddie noticed, he shouted: “Brian! Why aren’t you playing?”
After a stretch of hand-wringing, Brian awkwardly walked onto the tennis court with a racquet in hand. He looked on and prepared to receive with hesitation as Freddie made a stroke, but ended up missing multiple serves. We cheered him on from the sidelines, but producer Roy Thomas Baker did not hesitate to cackle every time Brian missed. Brian tried to defend himself: “This racquet is strange, and I’m wearing a scoop neck top, I’m worried.” All in all, it was a loud animated scene.
After a few intense tennis matches, we came to a spacious courtyard and conducted our interview on chairs. Before the interview, we gave the band traditional Japanese masks on behalf of Music Life.
Brian, Roger, Freddie and John respectively received the masks of Hyottoko, Hannya, Tengu and Okame.
Each of their personalities are evident at a glance. Roger has a clear idea of right and wrong. He is frank and straightforward, talkative, a mischievous prankster with a lot of charisma. Freddie is tidy and organized, he tends to do a bit posturing and is extremely meticulous about his appearance. Although John is quiet, he speaks with earnestness on important topics when necessary. Brian is sensitive, considerate and attentive.
After the interview, we went back to the dining hall to play billiards. We used the dining hall, because the dining table was so big that it could serve as a pool table. Freddie, John and Roy Thomas Baker first started playing; Freddie was very good at it, Brian and Roger soon joined the game.
After billiards, they finally started rehearsing.
A smaller house with a complete set of soundproofing equipment is just a short distance away from the main building. The band and the producer started rehearsing new songs here. Their innocent ingenuousness gave way for a sober working attitude.
Freddie stepped into the leadership role. He sat at the white piano, intensively listening to the band’s playing, seeming poles apart from himself moments ago.
After the rehearsal, we came to a vast lawn. The band sat down and started talking about new ideas and concepts for the new album and their memories in Japan.
(The first photo of them sitting on the grass looks like it was taken either before or after the tennis playing, so I think what Kaoruko was referring to is the photo on the bottom.)
(According to the report, Kaoruko and her fellow reporters left after 7pm. The photos used here more or less describe the itinerary of that day. The placement of the rest of the photos in the timeline could be deduced from the band’s outfits. Finally, I’ll conclude with a group photo of everyone at the tennis court.)
ellievsbear
