Queen - Get Your Knickers Off (1976-03-22) FLAC

GENRE: Hard Rock | Rock
FORMAT: Lossless (Flac) 
SIZE: 719 mb (3% Recovery) 

Recorded Live at Budokan, Tokyo, Japan - March 22, 1976.
Excellent Audience Recording.
Label: Tarantura - TCDQ-7-1,2
Released: 2011

TRACKLIST:

Disc 1
01. Opening
02. Introduction
03. Bohemian Rhapsody
04. Ogre Battle
05. MC
06. Sweet Lady
07. MC
08. White Queen
09. MC
10. Flick Of The Wrist
11. MC
12. Bohemian Rhapsody
13. Killer Queen
14. The March Of The Black Queen
15. Bohemian Rhapsody
16. Bring Back That Leroy Brown
17. MC
18. Brighton Rock
19. Guitar Solo
20. Brighton Rock
21. Son And Daughter

Disc 2
01. Band Introduction
02. The Prophet's Song
03. Stone Cold Crazy
04. MC
05. Doing All Right
06. Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon
07. Keep Yourself Alive
08. Drum Solo
09. Keep Yourself Alive
10. Liar
11. In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited
12. Now I'm Here
13. Big Spender
14. Jailhouse Rock
15. God Save The Queen

Total time: 01:35:37


NOTES:

Queen second tour of Japan, after they scored their biggest worldwide hit with single “Bohemian Rhapsody” and LP A Night At The Opera, began on March 22nd in Tokyo and covered ten shows in six cities.  Nine of the shows were taped and in circulation and were the source for many titles on both vinyl and silver pressed disc with the second night of the tour in Nagoya on March 23rd the earliest.  The opening night in Tokyo was the missing link. 

Get Your Knickers Off on Tarantura is the first time the opening night has been made available.  It is a Mr. Peach recording of the entire show, including the long audience-cheering encore interludes.  Compared to other Peach recordings it is slightly distant from the stage but still very clear and detailed.

Eleven days followed the final show of their US tour in San Diego on March 12th and the band sound, during the initial numbers, well rehearsed and enthusiastic to be in Japan again.  The Kenny Everett opening tape leads into the already famous operatic middle of “Bohemian Rhapsody” before the band come on stage for the hard rock final verse. 

Queen give the audience a heavy metal attack.  The new song “Sweet Lady” is very powerful, quickly inciting the audience into a frenzy.  Afterwards Freddie laughs, thanks the audience for the warm welcome, and drinks a toast to Tokyo before introducing the next number “White Queen.”

Brian May breaks a string during “White Queen” and has to switch to a spare guitar in the middle of the song.  It comes close to ruining what is an otherwise excellent performance.  Afterwards May tells Tokyo “it’s good to back. It’s been too long. We’ve been away too long” before introducing “Flick Of The Wrist” from Sheer Heart Attack.

The medley is fraught with problems.  May botches the guitar part in the “Bohemian Rhapsody,” playing a strange out-of-tune melody, and Roger Taylor’s mic cuts out (or he misses a cue) in “The March Of The Black Queen” (the “my love is in your hand” part).

Things improve afterwards.  “Brighton Rock,” which Freddie introduces by saying “is a song that we didn’t  do last time, but we’re gonna do it now,” is extremely heavy and powerful.  The guitar solo segues into the well-worn “Son And Daughter” riff and that song’s climax.

“The Prophet’s Song” is May’s second epic played in a row.  Freddie duplicates his vocal gymnastics effectively before the song segues into “Stone Cold Crazy.”  The contrast between the finesse of the former and heavy metal crunch of the latter is startling.

“Liar” is notable for the utter enthusiasm of the Tokyo audience, clapping along and responding to Freddie’s “I’m gonna be your slave…” with “ALL NIGHT LONG.”  It is a very big, long and loud sing-along.  May’s introduction to “In The Lap Of The Gods…Revisited” is cut.  “Now I’m Here” and the oldies medley close the show.

Tarantura package Get Your Knickers Off in a gatefold cardboard sleeve with several rare photographs from the 1976 tour of Japan.  It’s a very nice release, a true gem, that is highly recommended for Queen collectors. 

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