Bohemian Rhapsody by Sixpence 1976
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Sixpence plays "Bohemian Rhapsody" October 3, 1976 at the Bastille in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. Here's the entire setlist of videos they recorded that day: • Sixpence 1976
A few commenters have questioned its authenticity, but I can assure you this video is not fake. I was there and at age 30 and played piano with Inner Light, the other band that recorded the same day. Back in 1976 video cassettes were not yet in wide production, and VHS/Beta standards had not been widely adopted, so the tape could only be played back on the same make/model machine. This machine (Panasonic High Band) was made for only one year. In 1977 I purchased the 1-inch open reel tape for $25, but it took 34 years before I found someone who could convert the obsolete format so it could be viewed once again. During that time it was stored in garages and basements where the tape absorbed moisture, so it was baked in an oven, then the ensuing mold was scraped by hand from each frame. The audio came through pretty good, but the video quality suffers from years of poor storage conditions.
The Washington Post published an article about this video in 2021: www.washington...
people don't realize how good those people are cause they are probably the first HuMANS TO EVER COVER QUEEN BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY! EVER! without internet , without sheet music , without tabs without nothing!!!
Why no sheet music? Thing is, Queen's original was sheet music anyway!
They memorized the song and performed it with nothing but their talent.
@@brianmoulton3093 He means that there were no transcriptions readily available nor written music made publicly available by Queen.
Are you serious?!
Queen had their moments i guess (Now I'm Here, , You're My Best Friend,) but also, crimes againt music (Fat Bottomed Girls/I Want to Ride my Bicycle has got to be the worst 45 released by anybody ever). I know some people have Queen up their amongst the all time greats, but that's just silly. Bohemian Rhapsody is an incredibly pompous, but hilarious in a good way, and theee guys to a very good copy.@RealmoftheBlackShadow
That's my cousin Mark Grant on the keyboard, way over on the right side of the frame. I'm happy to report that he's alive and well in Baltimore, with a grand piano in his apartment that he still plays beautifully.
Tell Mark hi from me. Sixpence was a killer band - nobody but them would attempt Bohemian Rhapsody. I played piano with Inner Light, which also recorded videos the same day. Back in the day bands rarely saw one another, because the agency kept us so busy, and most of our gigs were private parties, weddings, etc.
I'm still playing professionally in Nashville, where I moved in 1998. I still have the 1937 Wurlitzer upright that I learned to play on. These days I play a Yamaha MX88, which weighs just 30 lbs. The amp weighs twice as much but thankfully I can still lift it.
Here's the rest of Sixpence's set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am
and here's Inner Light's video set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
Here's a sample of my work from 2010: ruclips.net/video/qEVWHAciLkQ/видео.html
and 2019: ruclips.net/video/MGXfkjp-HBk/видео.html
l hope you will subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and discover more hidden gems among more than 1,800 videos of live band shows that I've uploaded over the years.
Cheers!
QUIEN EDITO ESTA CANCION ANTES?? ESTOY FLIPANDO
Debido a que varios comentaristas han hecho preguntas sobre el proceso de grabación, hice una breve presentación de diapositivas de video que documenta la filmación del video (en color), cómo se veía la cinta y mis numerosos intentos de 1985 a 2010 para recuperar el contenido de la cinta. La segunda a la última diapositiva es la primera parte de un hilo de correo electrónico de 13 páginas entre David Crosthwait y yo mientras trabajaba en la restauración. ruclips.net/video/yYqW3OQrygw/видео.html
Espero que esto responda tu pregunta.
Mientras tanto, espero que se suscriban a mi canal (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) y disfruten de más de 1.800 videos más de presentaciones de bandas en vivo que he subido a lo largo de los años.
¡Salud!
@@ArnieReed Yo lo haré. Me pareció extraordinario este vídeo. Muchas gracias. Soy fan de Queen y todo estilo de música de los 70s. Para mí, la mejor música y también los mejores tiempos.... Bendiciones
No cualquiera hubiera hecho un cover así en esos tiempos incluso. Me gustaría saber más de ellos. Saludos desde Argentina!
Impresive. In those days, Queen themselves played a tape during the middle of the song rather than attempt to play it live.
They didn't use a tape at Live Aid.
@@willdwyer6782 Maybe, but Live Aid was about ten years later. He said "those days" meaning probably 1975 or 1976, when Queen had just released the song.
Well, considering that Brian and Roger couldn't perform the harmonies in a live situation, it makes perfect sense. Even this quartet doesn't perform it fully.
@@willdwyer6782 what's the meaning of your observation. the commentator said that even Queen didn't try to sing that part live. Queen didn't try to sing that part live at Live Aid either.
@@willdwyer6782your memory is failing you.
They played a little over two minutes of the song, before a segue into Radio Ga Ga. They never even tried the middle harmony section.
They actually played without Guitar! Just a bass and a distorted hammond organ. I love to find footage which was decades in the basement and for no one available. Thanks for that!
Indeed, the 1" open reel the tape spent 34 years in basements and garages before I finally found someone who could transfer it from its obsolete format. If you like this kind of thing, subscribe to my channel and browse the many playlists of live band performances from the decades I've been playing keyboards (since 1962).
@@ArnieReed Will do!
No Hammond. We used Fender Rhodes and string ensemble with pedal effects.
There’s no B3 Organ in there…
Looks like a fender roads and a Wurlitzer …..!
I love when youtube algorithm has its Delorean mode on. Thank you for uploading it!
Glad you enjoy it! I'm astounded at how this thing has taken off so fast after sitting idle on my channel for almost a decade. The band's whole set is at ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am. I was the piano player in the other band that recorded that day, Inner Light: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz
No shit lol
Subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) if you enjoy videos of live band performances that you've never seen before. Here's one I shot over my shoulder in 2010: ruclips.net/video/qEVWHAciLkQ/видео.html, and here's one The Beatles never played live: ruclips.net/video/z1VrfbcOXaw/видео.html
Wait! …
Delorean mode is good? Okay thanks man!!! All these alga choices “keep-em in ryhthm”
we have to switch em but I don't know the difference too much, so Delorean mode ill try to lay heavy on 👍
This is a piece by this group that is Highly commendable. First of all, they had to figure out the song by listening to it. The music notation for this wasnt readily available yet. They transcribed the keyboards for the guitar parts and sang it Beautifully. Thank you for sharing this piece of history with us .
Man, this rocked my morning - Headbanging with my Rocky Horror Riff Raff skullet! Thank you so much for uploading this Mr. Reed. Have a rockin' weekend.
A respectable cover. Even queen themselves rarely sing the full song this cleanly during their concert, shows the difficulty to perform this song live.
Queen perform in improvisation, they make it only for tour promotion, so it doesnt feel the same when you go to its to concert, as well they sometime terrible to perform their hits song but mostly they are succes
The Audio is surprisingly clean given how the video looks
@@PenyembahPS-nq8rxIn fact, it seems they chose not to do it that way. Brian said they preferred to play the tape rather than do it live, since with only 3 singers who would still have to play the instruments, it wouldn't be possible to do it live.
I became a fan when I first heard this song on the radio in late 1975. I was only 12 years old and I'd never heard anything like it. I was mesmerized by Freddie's voice...and that first listen was only the last 45 seconds or so, after the rock part. The DJ didn't identify the band, so I went home and stayed glued to the radio until I heard it again...might have been the next day. "Anyway the wind blows" at the opening...as soon as I heard that, I knew it was the same song. This song changed my life at that time musically. Super Queen fan here and let me tell you...from 1976-1980 if you were a fan of Queen openly, you got a lot of grief...it was all about Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Skynard, etc. This version by these guys is just fantastic.
That's an incredible story of what we endured pre-communications explosion. I will doubt the list of must-only-like bands, though. Surely in some places you could openly admit liking something other than The Commandments of Listening. I listened to Prince in a time when it was basically akin to saying you were queer. Authenticity is key and music is a very diffuse genre
It’s amazing that they had less than a year since the song was released to replicate it like this.
@@CatMowpurr
Truly extraordinary
Only in North America did you get grief. Queen was always loved worldwide.
@@mortimore4030
In 1974 at a festival in Melbourne, they were booed off the stage
I just read the article in the Washington Post. Thanks for salvaging these videos. Quite amazing.
Me too!
P
It s impressive how accurate it s this cover. The album was released just few months ago and they did a great job. At that period there was no guitar pro, no ultimate guitar. Moreover, I m impressed by the musicians, they can play their own instrument and sing... Well good job! :)
real musicians play from the ear and the heart. that's almost nonexistent in commercial music today. they're still out there they're just not known as talented.
@truescotsman4103 Yeah, now there's quite a lot of AI deep fake too.
Now, THIS is a masterpiece
Thank you for your gracious comment. Subscribe to my channel and browse through more than 2,500 videos of live band performances from the 70s to the present. www.RUclips.com/c/ArnieReed
Thank you Arnie ! That’s my Dad, Robert Kornhauser singing and playing the keyboard. This video is amazing !
That's awesome that your dad was in the band! I hope he is doing well. Is he still playing?
I played piano with Inner Light, who also recorded videos the same day. We went on first, and then I had to leave to catch a plane so never got to see even my own performance until 2010 when I found someone who could restore the tape & found the one remaining machine (of 124 originally made) that could play it.
I'm sure you will enjoy the rest of Sixpence's set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am
...and hopefully my band too: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
I have remained active all these years and currently working with 2 Nashville bands doing original music.
Here's a sample of my work from 2010: ruclips.net/video/qEVWHAciLkQ/видео.html
and ruclips.net/video/z1VrfbcOXaw/видео.html
and from 2019: ruclips.net/video/MGXfkjp-HBk/видео.html
I hope you will subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and browse over 1,800 videos of live band shows, most of which have me on keyboards.
Cheers, and say hi to your dad for me!
Thank you Sixpence. This brought tears to my eyes. Both the superb song performance and the clothes took me back to time when singing ability really mattered and how we were so optimistic about our lives in the 70s.
I remember going to clubs and dancing to cover bands. It was exciting and more interactive than listening to DJ play pre-recorded tracks. Thanks for capturing a gilded moment in time.
As I am quoted in the Washington Post, "...you never know you're living in a golden age until it's over." Shortly after these videos were recorded, DJs took over the market for weddings & bar mitzvahs, and disco took over the club scene. Agency bands made good money, too. I played 353 gigs with Inner Light, the other agency band that recorded videos the same day. If I adjust for inflation, I made over $200 per gig. Today in Nashville where I now live, a musician is lucky to make $50. So the audience as well as the musicians got short-changed.
Here's the rest of Sixpence's video set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am
I played piano with Inner Light. Here's our set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
I am 75 now and still playing professionally. Here's a sample from 2010: ruclips.net/video/qEVWHAciLkQ/видео.html
and 2019: ruclips.net/video/MGXfkjp-HBk/видео.html
I hope you will subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and discover more hidden gems that will make you smile among more than 1,800 videos I have uploaded over the years.
Cheers!
2:17 "Sense shivers down my spine" epic arrengement there
I agree with you
"sends"
that bass is epic
Haha he is badass
@@lightignite6097 Yeah, so are the rest. Such a raw performance, yet totally faithful to the original. I bet not many bands that soon after the song was released would attempt this cover, never mind pull it off.
Muted Bass
Agree
Sii en la cagó el bajo suena la raja y el bajista es un crack
So 1976. Leisure suits, a Freeman String Machine, and a toy Fender Rhodes piano. Very good vocals. I guess they gave up on the guitar, so the keyboards do it all.
Damn, were all musicians just good back then? This far exceeded what I was expecting.
Why have I only come across this “gem” after 9 years on YT?
Full credit to this group, covering the song, soon after its original release.
😁
Indeed, that was epic and just randomly came across it just now too. What a talented bunch they were. :)
Same here : )
The songs has been on RUclips for years but in the past week or so has taken off. As of 5/19 it had 50,000 views in 73 countries.
@@ArnieReed This is truly unbelievable!
Same
I admit, as a big fan of Queen, I was very skeptical when I saw the title, but this is for me the only approved cover version of the song I've heard. ❣
Did this just get recommended to a bunch of people!? Great and amazing cover!!!!
It's a shame that great and amazing bands like this one flew under the radar for so many years and I assume there are many psychedelic, progressive and alternative bands from back then whom never got the attention, recognition or respect they deserved!!! Very nice version, again amazing cover!!!
Back in the 1970s before DJs took over the business, bands like Sixpence were hired to entertain for weddings, bar mitzvahs & country club parties. You may enjoy watching their entire set list: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am and you may also enjoy the band I played piano with, Inner Light: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz
It's a little perfect that they were Sixpence and Brian May of Queen used a sixpence as a pick.
Still does, with the guitar he mad from a fireplace.
@alanbourke4069 I like the crazy creaky organ solos, for a one off change.
I've hear quite a few covers of this amazing song - and this is definitely amongst the best. Great work!
These guys did it without any help from technology - just 6 voices, and no guitar! You may also like the rest of their set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am
I played piano with Inner Light, which also recorded videos the same day: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
I have continued to play professionally and have uploaded more than 1,800 videos of live band performances, all in playlists so you can start one up and hear a great variety of music one song after another. Here's a sample from 2010 with my band Two-Bit Eddie on the floating stage of Elm Hill Marina in Nashville: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCYLjWQkVDFhGXTApsN2ueOL
I hope you will subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and discover more hidden gems.
Cheers!
Arnie
@@ArnieReedright, great, but the original with the intention of the creators has a certain feel to it because of queen as one of the greatest live bands did it a certain way. let‘s not forget that. back in the seventies they had no technology like autotune or protools like today so what you hear with queen’s bohemian rhapsody is also only queen with track recordings of their unaltered voices. in an interview brian may said that they did want to bring the choir part only with recordings in live shows because the recording was so perfect that it made no sense to them and their perfectionist attitude to make that specifically ever slightly different on stage than on the record like they‘ve done it with many other stuff deliberately. and as you can hear it’s ever different when someone covers that. it’s a matter of taste whether you like those many versions. queen wanted only this part exactly like on the record as a trademark. and there’s no doubt that queen could do anything. i personally like the guitar of brian may much more but i‘ve got to admit that this is a great cover with its own atmosphere.
Oh my ... This is fucking great.. the fact that This suddenly got recommended to me today
Amazing - from someone who saw and met Queen back in the early 70's and saw them perform this live.Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks for your compliment! I'm sure the former members of Sixpence are enjoying all the publicity. The Washington Post published this article last week about the phenomenon of the song and the tape: www.washingtonpost.com/local/bohemian-rhapsody-sixpence/2021/06/23/28d3fa0c-d436-11eb-9f29-e9e6c9e843c6_story.html?fbclid=IwAR3z8h6dK9bQJezE_94auDVRx8oiR0jlhRF267yYbDwzo8j05UpN3OohCqM
I played piano with Inner Light, which also recorded videos the same day: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
I hope you will subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and discover more than 1,800 videos of live band performances that I have uploaded over the years.
Cheers!
Did you know them from Roger and Freddie's stall at the Kensington Market? (I just wondered, because your YT name is the name they gave their stall - The Casbah - and spelt the same too, IIRC. Or is it just a coincidence?)
No autotune nor effects just a real tallent❤️❤️ loving already
Yes
Badbuny gay
I give major credit to anyone who can come close to singing like Freddie, aka Farrokh Bulsara. Peace!
@@tenbroeck1958😅😅😅😅😅😅
I think it is nothing short of miraculous that this band produced such a fantastic interpretation of the greatest and best loved rock song of all time, to such a level WITHOUT a lead guitar. A wonderful respectful performance gentlemen, thank you
This is absolutely amazing and they do such a great job showing how keyboards can credibly play what it did and take on so much of it without it being sampled!
This might be the very first cover of bohemian rhapsody. ❤️
❤️❤️
Agree✊🏻
The first cover was on k.tel records./ top of the pops.
@@karlarmstrong Please tell more! Don't leave us hanging! What year?! Can it be found somewhere?!
@@alexkx8599 k.tel and top of the pops albums were LPs that covered the bands of the time very cheap to bye Pickwick international check out the album T.REX greatest hits SHM 819 Hallmark records.
It definitely was one of the first video demos ever recorded. Turned out to be "Panasonic High Band" format, which the manufacturer discontinued after one year. Luckily my video rescuer Bob Crosthwaithe found the one remaining working model so he could recover the video for me.
Cool, was the audio remastered?
The audio track was part of the video, so there was no way to remix or remaster it. However, the archivist who transferred it discovered what machine it was recorded on by determining the physical location of the audio track on the tape. The only reason the video isn't perfect is that the 1" open reel tape sat in my basement for 34 years gathering mold. It had to be baked in an oven, and the mold was scraped from each frame by hand. So the audio comes out clearly, but the video has lost its color and is degraded. It's a miracle these videos ever saw the light of day!
@@ArnieReed with tech these days, I'm sure someone professional with the adequate tools can bring the color back to life.
@@fawful94 That's just the point @fawful94, the person who got the tape to work IS THE professional, one of the best in the business. I say that because I had done business with him before with excellent results. So I can guarantee you that this is as good as they were able to get.
@@deepfreezevideo yes, but I mean that through AI software and colorization tools, someone that is an expert in that area of digital colorization could theoretically re-color this footage. I'm not talking about saving the original footage through its tape, I'm talking about downloading this video and feeding it through an algorithm and later retouching any imperfections.
This is amazing. The rebuttal of the faking aspersions in the video's blurb got me thinking: maybe this must be fake, given that it is so brilliant, conceptually and in execution, just as much as the Queen arrangement, which to be sure had the added charm of being keyed and sung by the genius who thought most of it up. Anyone playing on that video who's still around, I salute you!
Thanks yt for recommending this. Thank you Sixpence for this cover. R.I.P. Freddie
It’s like watching a Las Vegas lounge play one of the songs that made me become a huge Queen fan and eventually see them live in concert in Vegas at the Aladdin Theatre for the performing arts on December 18, 1977. I will never forget it.
Balls of steel to cover this in full, amazing !!!
Especially considering it was less than one year after Queen even released the song, how did they find all the scores, etc to recreate this in the 70s
My sincere thanks for making this jewel possible. I was in high school when "Bohemian Rhapsody" came out and it instantly became one of my favorite songs. I was lucky enough to see Queen perform and during their set break they played "Bohemian Rhapsody" on tape. Kudos to you for pulling it off, truly wonderful!!!
I knew I had time in a bottle when I bought the tape for $25 a year after it was shot. The agency would have thrown it away. But it took 34 years to find someone who could restore it. I posted it in 2012 and in just the past few weeks its gone viral worldwide. Everyone seems to love the song and are knocked out by how this group pulled it off with no assistance from technology.
Here's the rest of Sixpence's set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am
I played piano in the other band that recorded videos the same day, Inner Light: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
I have continued to play keyboards professionally. Here's what I was doing in 2010 that was also rarely attempted by cover bands and never played by The Beatles live: ruclips.net/video/z1VrfbcOXaw/видео.html
I hope you will subscribe (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and enjoy more than 1,800 videos of live band performances.
Cheers!
Technically the first full version of the song! Though Queen never played the opening before the first ballad section, the opera section was played on tape. The band had brought out the song on tour on the first show of the A Night At The Opera Tour in late 1975. But it wasn’t until 1977 when the band played the song the way it was meant to be played.
Wow, I never knew that! I'm still amazed every time I watch this video, and now I have another reason to be amazed. Thanks for the information!
I saw Queen in late 1978 in Nashville. They sang this song live until the opera part, which was recorded. Afterward, the lights came back on and they finished the song live. It was great and I will never forget it. By the way, I was 17 and only my 3rd concert.
@@stevendenton4965 That’s awesome!
Queen , Bohemian Rhapsody , 1975.
@@ArnieReed This is completely nuts! With all due respect I can't believe you all did not know that until now almost half a century later!
RUclips give me a golden ticket to watch this. Amazing!
Kudos to The Sound Guy. It's amazing how well mixed and recorded it was for a relatively small gig in 1976. Drums sound so balanced. Bass player being really tight helps, also.
The video was recorded by Washington Talent Agency, which purchased a commercial video rig so potential clients could preview bands they might want to hire without going out to see them in person. They rented out a vacant night club that had a big stage and room for the cameramen to get different shots. So the only audience was the camera crew and members of the other band, Inner Light in which I played piano. The video was originally recorded in color, but it took 34 years for me to find someone who could transfer it to a format we could view. The archivist used the location of the sound track to determine that it was recorded on a Panasonic High Band machine, which was made for only one year. He was fortunate to locate possibly the only remaining working model so the tape could be played and transferred. I apparently own one of the few tapes known to exist that was recorded on that machine. The sound track came out really well, but the video was degraded by 34 years of sitting in my basement. You may enjoy Sixpence's entire set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am. Here's a playlist I put together for Inner Light that also includes some studio audio we recorded, set to a slideshow of the band: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz. I hope you will subscribe to my channel and browse the more than 1,800 videos I have uploaded over the years to document my life in bands. Here's a sample demo that I produced from a 2010 gig I played with my Nashville band, Two-Bit Eddie: ruclips.net/video/icFIgXoD7LM/видео.html Cheers!
@@ArnieReed Thanks for the info. I was wondering why there wasn't more crowd response at the end...
@@goodtunes2 if they rented the house on for recording purpose and no place for crowd, just techs, then they wouldn't any applause nor noises that could mess the record. Hard to believe. Live sessions like these on that year woulnd't sound so clean, specialy en high freqs
this made me realise how old bohemian rhapsody actually is. Amazing.
Sixpence played this cover the year after Queen released it, in 1975. Back then bands would joke about playing this live - it was considered nearly unplayable, but these guys were up to the challenge!
And it made me realize how fresh it sounds for a almost 50 years old song!
Yes 😄
@@ArnieReed Obviously!
Very impressive.
This tape would never have seen the light of day without your help! I'll never be able to thank you enough!
Thanks RUclips algorithm and thank you Sixpence wherever you are now.
They became Sixpence Non Richer and later the guutarist's stock rises to 50 cent😜
Eso es un tesoro!! El video mítico hasta hoy pensé que era solo una leyenda 😎😮😮😮😮👍
Thank you Arnie for posting these load of jewels, specially Queen's eternal diamondsize rhapsody. Extraordinary cover from extraordinary monument of 70s, a masterpiece, it is so touching to hear and see the level of integrity, joy, pure energy and academic talent from sixpence in bar or cabaret at that time. Thank you one more time for tears of joy spilling from closed eyes. Analogic sound and 70s rock above anything in pop rock music. Unparalleled today.
That was very impressive for a live performance just after Queen first released the song. The guitar solo was missing but what a great performance. Very impressed how good they were vocally
For the album to have been just released, this is fantastic!!! I was 17 in ‘76 and was amazed by Bohemian Rhapsody then and obviously these guys were too!! Thanks for a blast from the past!!!
I never thought I’d see the day that I’d hear Bohemian Rhapsody played on a Rhodes! Brilliantly well done cover!!
How can I be 44 and never heard of this before. This really is up there.
Same here!!!
Me too!
I'm 62 and I've never heard it either.
Listen to Freddie do it if you want to be wowed.
That was amazing...it seems the guitar parts were played with a distortion pedal on an electric piano...maybe I am wrong...but it was certainly a creative solution ...what great lead singers...they did not copy Freddy..they interpreted the peice and made it thir own...and it was ok n good taste and refreshing at the same time...and this was in 1976....no gimmicks true musicianship Bravi!!!
Tim Harris was one of the lead singers and is still active in the DC area. Both our bands worked constantly, so we rarely saw one another except at agency promotions like this one. I am going to post some other songs from this recording session that include introductions of the band members.
Wowwww! Super cool! And you played in this band? Awesome! Greetings from Finland.
Please do!
Hello back from Music City USA! I played piano in the other band, Inner Light, that recorded the same day. Here's our set (plus more): ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz, and here's Sixpence's complete video set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am. If you live unique live band performance videos, subscribe to my channel and browse hundreds more. You may enjoy Two-Bit Eddie, a classic rock band I played with from 2008-14 and perhaps Ashley & Alexia, the country rock sister act I toured with in 1999. They're all on my channel awaiting your enjoyment! I've visited friends in Norway (Amot-Modum) and love the Scandinavian people I've met.
Here is Sixpence's complete set, which starts with introductions: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am, and here's the set of Inner Light, in which I played piano: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz. I hope you will subscribe to my channel and browse hundreds more live band performance videos, which cover much of my musical career from 1965 to the present.
Fabulous Arnie !! If I walked into this night club in 1976 and heard this...I'd be blown away ! I'm blown away in 2021 !
Thank you Phil! Imagine yourself in the same club in October 1976 and hearing Sixpence's entire video set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am.
I played piano with the other band that recorded videos the same day, Inner Light: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz.
I'm glad you found me, because if you enjoy videos of live band performances, you've come to the right place! I have uploaded more than 1,800 videos of bands I've played with since 1962. Now imagine yourself perched over my left shoulder so you can see what I'm doing on this Joe Text classic: ruclips.net/video/SxcHLfW-b48/видео.html.
Subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and enjoy exploring the unique content you won't find anywhere else! Cheers!
Even Queen itself cant do this song live, just in studio...Super wow!
You may enjoy Sixpence's entire set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am, and here's the set of Inner Light, with whom I played piano the same day: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz. Subscribe to my channel if you like life band performances, and cheers!
are you joking? don’t claim such stuff regarding one of the greatest live-bands ever. it’s a difference between „cannot“ and „don’t want for a good reason“. in an interview brian may said that they did want to bring the choir part only with recordings in live shows because the recording was so perfect that it made no sense to them and their perfectionist attitude to make that specifically ever slightly different on stage than on the record like they‘ve done it with many other stuff deliberately. and as you can hear it’s ever different when someone covers that. it’s a matter of taste whether you like those many versions. queen wanted only this part exactly like on the record as a trademark. and there’s no doubt that queen could do anything. i personally like the guitar of brian may much more but i‘ve got to admit that this is a great cover with its own atmosphere.
That was ridiculously and surprisingly great for a live version!
What makes this even more amazing is that not even Queen would do the operatic part live, playing the studio recording for that. As for this band, one wonders if John Belushi & Dan Akroyd had seen this band, giving them the idea for "Murph & The Magictones".
The Washington Post wrote a recent article about the song, the band and the tape I bought and kept for 34 years that preserved it all. www.washingtonpost.com/local/bohemian-rhapsody-sixpence/2021/06/23/28d3fa0c-d436-11eb-9f29-e9e6c9e843c6_story.html?fbclid=IwAR3z8h6dK9bQJezE_94auDVRx8oiR0jlhRF267yYbDwzo8j05UpN3OohCqM
I played piano with Inner Light, which also recorded videos the same day: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
I hope you will subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and discover more than 1,800 videos of live band performances that I have uploaded over the years.
Cheers!
As one of the musicians and singers, I can tell you that this took nearly 2 months of rehearsals to get close to how we wanted this to sound live.
in an interview brian may said that they did want to bring exactly this choir part only with a recording in live shows because the recording was so perfect that it made no sense to them and their perfectionist attitude to make that specifically ever slightly different on stage than on the record like it always is with live-shows and they‘ve done many interpretations deliberately with other stuff. and as you can hear it’s also ever different when someone covers that. it’s a matter of taste whether you like those many versions. queen wanted only this part exactly like on the record as a trademark. and there’s no doubt that queen could do anything. i personally like the guitar of brian may much more but i‘ve got to admit that this is a great cover with its own atmosphere.
@@greenogre22 If Queen had 4 vocalists (or perhaps hired session vocalists for gigs) then they may have been able to pull off all the operatic parts live but sadly John Deacon did not sing. Freddie, Brian and Roger (who has a four octave range) are very capable vocalists but the vocals are so layered in the studio that I can understand their choice of using tapes.
Could somebody upload a "remastered" version of this? Someone has the original tape! Send it to Obsolete Video Services and he'll clean it up and make it better quality!
Incredible! Phenomenal! I've never heard such an early cover version before and on top of that one FILMED!!! Absolutely amazing! No guitar too! Thank you for showing how it can not only be done live but with just the keyboards with bass and drums! SO amazing! How has this not been seen before now?! Yet as I type and post this I see it was posted itself almost a decade before now! I wish Freddie could/would have seen this in his life time!
This video sat on my channel since 2012 with only a few views, then for some reason I don't understand it's blown up worldwide (73 countries, 50K views) in the past week. The band's entire set is at ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am. I was the piano player in the other band that recorded that day, Inner Light: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz
Don't you find that fascinating?! This A.I. thing seems to have really taken off in the last few weeks/months/year it seems. I guess you could never imagine this happening, huh?
It caught me completely off guard! I've been uploading videos of my bands since 2007 when I first joined RUclips, solely for my own purposes to document my long career playing in bands from 1962 to the present. Last year I had 1,745 views and 115 subscribers. I only got up to 100 subs by uploading hundreds of videos during the quarantine. So far over the past year I've gotten 220,586 views and am up to 709 subscribers from 90 countries. Go figure!
@@ArnieReed ROCK N' ROOLLLLL‼ 🤪
Incredible job. Glad it was saved for posterity.
I thought It wasn’t possible but this coverversion is better then the one by Bad News… 😮
Entirely amazing! Not even Queen themselves played the operatic part live. Never had heard of Sixpence but no doubt they were good!
Wow. This wasn’t too
Long after Queen released it. Amazing
Queen released it on A Night at The Opera in November 1975. Sixpence recorded this video in October 1976. Please subscribe if you like live band performance videos.
Just found this. This is great! Kudos to the musicians. Must be a hell of work to grasp this song without internet.
That's the first time I've ever heard Bohemian Rhapsody on a rhodes. That last part was amazing
Also the first time I've heard a guitar solo on a distorted rhodes
@@keymbord did the pianist put it through a ring modulator?
@@markthomas1668 I assumed he just ran it though a fuzz pedal
me too
One of the most amazing rocking performances I've ever seen and heard!
This has to be one of the most accurate covers ever!
It certainly blew my mind the first time I saw it! You will probably enjoy Here are the rest of Sixpence's videos recorded that day: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am.
I played piano in the other band, Inner Light, that recorded videos the same day: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz.
If you enjoy videos of live band performances, please subscribe to. my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and browse more than 1,800 of them!
Cheers!
it‘s not really an accurate cover because it obviously has one totally different atmosphere without brian may‘s guitar and freddie‘s voice but it‘s a great cover. it‘s not that the choir-part wasn‘t ever sung by queen because you can hear their real voices on the record as back then were no digital protools in studios like today.
it was just them with recording machines so all you can hear with queen is their real voices. as one of the greatest live bands they were capable of doing nearly everything. freddie sang real opera with montserrat caballé, a famous spanish opera singer. and brian may with his guitar produced always an atmospere on different levels so if you like the many versions of that song that are out there then it‘s a matter of taste but it‘s clear that queen did everything for a good reason and not because of them having problems skillwise. it’s their creation with certain intentions. in an interview brian may said that they did want to bring exactly this choir part only with a recording in live shows because the recording was so perfect that it made no sense to them and their perfectionist attitude to make that specifically ever slightly different on stage than on the record like it always is with live-shows and they‘ve done many interpretations deliberately with other stuff. and as you can hear it’s also ever different when someone covers that. it’s a matter of taste whether you like those many versions. queen wanted only this part exactly like on the record as a trademark. and there’s no doubt that queen could do anything. i personally like the guitar of brian may much more but i‘ve got to admit that this is a great cover with its own atmosphere.
Are they still available for weddings?
wow🥰 they sing full version of it. Love this♥
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing Arnie. Wow. All of this makes me so emotional. The era, the costumes, the polished talent, the chops, the lambchop sideburns, the sweat and grind of a old fashioned gig. Truly one for the archives.
This is an anthem!
It is impossible to spoil this ... so wonderful ..
Dear Freddie, he was a huge talent !!
Thanks!
Vivat Freddie! Forever!!
Freddie got fat here.
and roger, brian, exception john
Takes me back to the working men’s clubs in Sheffield, mid 70’s
There where some brilliant bands around back in the day. Bitter suite comes to mind. Great times indeed.
I'm glad you enjoyed this historical gem. I was the piano player in the other band that recorded video demos the same day as Sixpence. Here is the entire playlist for Sixpence: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am and my band Inner Light: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz
Didn’t know Jay Leno was a singer in a band!
LOL!
I thought that's who that was when I came across the thumbnail for this video!
Considering there is no lead guitar player, this is actually a very respectable cover version, great harmonies.
Great job. All of queens earlier albums cover sleeves stated that "No synthesizers were used on this album" becaise Brian May was able to make all kinds of sounds in the guitar.....and here's a great cover with synthesizer and no guitar.
Hay que tener cojones para hacer un cover de este clasico, aun mas cojones en ese tiempo, con limites tecnicos y a puro pulso, encantadora version!!!
y sin guitarra!
@@rgonzalez1233 exactamente
Sin miedo a equivocarme este debe ser de los mejores covers que he visto alguna vez, ni siquiera los covers actuales con tanta tecnología para replicar el sonido me convencen.
brutal .Como se lo curraron
Ufff excelente, catedra de aprovechar todo tu potencial.
Simply awesome. I didn't know this great band. Thanks for sharing this video.
I thought the bass player was going to break his guitar.
It's surreal how AWESOME this is. Great job!
I Can´t Believe it. they did the operatic part LIVE, Even Queen did´t do that part live
No me lo puedo creer - Hicieron la parte de opera en vivo, Ni si quiera Queen hizo esa parte en vivo..
el grupo argentino tributo a Queen, Dios salve a la Reina, siempre ha hecho la intro y la parte operática y si no me equivoco el grupo en donde canta Marc Martel, también.
in an interview brian may said that they did want to bring exactly this choir part only with a recording in live shows because the recording was so perfect that it made no sense to them and their perfectionist attitude to make that specifically ever slightly different on stage than on the record like it always is with live-shows and they‘ve done many interpretations deliberately with other stuff. and as you can hear it’s also ever different when someone covers that. it’s a matter of taste whether you like those many versions. queen wanted only this part exactly like on the record as a trademark. and there’s no doubt that queen could do anything. i personally like the guitar of brian may much more but i‘ve got to admit that this is a great cover with its own atmosphere.
This has to be a sort of joke... They're AMAZING!! This is HOW A COVER it's done!!
No jokes here, just great musicianship in the very early stage of live videos - no overdubs, no retakes.
Exactly!! They kept the complete structure of the song with their own resources and capabilities=being originals!! I love it!!
@@ArnieReed это как в прошлом месяце я уже писал что у нас
I'm a bit sus this is from 1976 !
im in a cover band. we do new songs like driving rain by miles kennedy and slash. its no joke its a passion. real shit.
Where did you get a camera that shot in 16:9 frame in 1976? I just didn't know any were available. Great job though!
It was shot with a Panasonic High Band rig, which used a 1" open reel tape. The made this machine for only one year, so it took 34 years to find someone who could transfer it. But first the mold had to be scraped by hand from each frame, then the tape was baked. Finally a working machine had to be located, which required a lot of archival detective work. My tape turns out to be one of the few known to exist that was recorded on this machine. The video suffered from years of improper storage but the audio track came out pretty good. But now that you mention it, it might have been re-sized to 16:9 when it was uploaded. I'll check on it and if possible upload the original size as a separate playlist.
@@ArnieReed Looks like it was cropped to 16:9.
My Dad graduated high school June 1976. His prom outfit looks like what they are wearing! What a find here. Thanks for uploading.
Interesting! This is the first time I have seen a cover of this song so early this is probably just 1 year after the song came out
Sixpence was an amazing band, one of the top bands on the Washington Talent roster, along with my band Inner Light.
Totalmente de acuerdo contigo
Excellent performance! The recording is super clear too.
YOU MADE MY DAY!!!!! I am still smiling
THANKS
This is wonderful!
Dang! All I need is a cigarette case packed with Virginia Slims and a 7&7 and I can imagine I am there!
Even Queen never attempted to perform the Coral (Mama Mia) section live. Imagine how big Queen would have been if they had worn those Sixpence suits?!
This video has been on here for 9 years…. People just now showing up to watch ;-)
Thank you for bringing this amazing performance back to life! Uplifting and fun to see and hear.
It really is something of a miracle that anyone ever saw this performance or any of the others that were recorded that day in 1976. The agency bought a new video rig the following year and sold me the tape for $25. I knew I had time in a bottle, but it took 34 years to find someone who could restore the tape. It was recorded on a very early Panasonic commercial rig, of which only 124 were ever made. The archivist had by chance just met someone who owned the last working model of its type. But first heavy mold infestation had to be scraped frame by frame in a hazmat condition, then the tape was baked in an oven to reattach the binding to the oxide strip. I posted the videos in 2012, but they didn't get much attention until a few weeks ago when it blew up worldwide with over 350K views from 90 countries.
Here's the rest of Sixpence's set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am
I played piano with the other band that recorded videos the same day, Inner Light: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCbkX_QfkPaSfInL8lYot11h
I've stayed active in music and have uploaded over 1,800 videos of live band shows and jams. Please subscribe to my channel (ruclips.net/user/ArnieReed) and discover more gems!
I love this so brave queen didn't sing the opera section live that's when they went back stage and got up to all kinds of mischief 😊❤️
That had to be some real quick mischief since the opera section is only one minute and five seconds long
Paul Thomas okay don't blow a blood vessel Jerez lighten up your life 🙄
@Paul Thomas yeah but they could have engaged a choir for the concert. With all the money I never understood why they didn't.
@@Alkadondon sorry, but queen had no technologies like autotune or protools back then. it was just them with recording machines so all you can hear with queen is their real voices. as one of the greatest live bands they were capable of doing nearly everything. freddie sang real opera with montserrat caballé, a famous spanish opera singer. and brian may with his guitar produced always an atmospere on different levels so if you like the many versions of that song that are out there then it‘s a matter of taste but it‘s clear that queen did everything for a good reason and not because of them having problems skillwise. it’s their creation with certain intentions. in an interview brian may said that they did want to bring exactly this choir part only with a recording in live shows because the recording was so perfect that it made no sense to them and their perfectionist attitude to make that specifically ever slightly different on stage than on the record like it always is with live-shows and they‘ve done many interpretations deliberately with other stuff. and as you can hear it’s also ever different when someone covers that. it’s a matter of taste whether you like those many versions. queen wanted only this part exactly like on the record as a trademark. and there’s no doubt that queen could do anything. i personally like the guitar of brian may much more but i‘ve got to admit that this is a great cover with its own atmosphere.
@@greenogre22 But Freddy said in a interview that a live show is different than an album that you listen at home. It makes no sens to go to a live show to hear exactly what you already know.
It's not because they are great musicians that they always chose the better ideas, they are human. For the reason that you have mentionned, I'm still not conviced that it was a good idea.
La versión original salio un año antes y estos tipos al año se aventaron el cover, magníficos músicos.
Debieron haber sido necesarias muchas horas de ensayo para alcanzar ese nivel de perfección. Toqué el piano en la otra banda que grabó ese día, "Inner Light". La agencia de talentos mantuvo a ambas bandas muy ocupadas tocando en bodas de alto nivel, bar mitzvahs y clubes de campo. Las bandas se pusieron muy juntas tocando con regularidad. Entonces no sabíamos que vivíamos al final de la Edad de Oro para las bandas de fin de semana. Gracias por mirar y comentar. Suscríbete a mi canal si te gustan los videos de presentaciones de bandas en vivo.
@@ArnieReed ¿usted en que banda tocó ?
Toqué el piano en Inner Light, que también grabó videos el mismo día: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz. Aquí hay una canción de 2010 en la que toco la sección de piano y saxo en el teclado: ruclips.net/video/qEVWHAciLkQ/видео.html. Si disfrutas de videos de presentaciones de bandas en vivo, suscríbete a mi canal y disfruta de cientos más.
Wow.
Wow.
They have a Roger!
They prove that you need at least two people to do Freddie!
Electric keyboard 'guitar' solo!
Wow.
1976?
Wow.
Brilliant.
It really was taped in 1976. The poor video quality is due to decades of improper storage. It's amazing the thing ever saw the light of day.
@@ArnieReed hmmm.
I wasn't sure if it was actually that old while watching.
Your first response to my - non challenging - comment was to say 'its real'...
Feels a bit like when Tubbs says 'We didn't burn him...' in The League of Gentlemen (British TV dark comedy series from 1999).
So I just looked at Google and could literally only find reference to this one performance by 'Sixpence' and zero other information.
I'm not sold.
@@grandtheftmanualv945 I'm sorry if I came off defensive - it's just that so many people have asked that question that I came up with a copy & paste answer. Sixpence came and went decades before the Internet existed, so you won't find anything about them online. (btw here's their entire set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am)They worked for Washington Talent, which booked them for weddings, bar mitzvahs & private parties. I was in another band that recorded the same day, Inner Light. We played an average of 110 gigs per year from 1974-77 when I left. You may not find much about us either, but if you'd like to hear our material, it's here: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz Cheers!
@@ArnieReed hey man, it's 2021 and the world is run by the internet, which as you know cannot be trusted and is very good at misleading.
I am just being healthily sceptical!
Either way it's a pretty remarkable performance by a semi-pro outfit!
I will check out your music when I get the time bro.
Excelentes músicos, y sobre todo ¡Qué Valentía! al interpretar esta obra tan difícil de hacer sonar en vivo, y en aquellos tiempos que no existían los tutoriales ni nada así.
¡Aplausos!
It's a band with a very beautiful chorus harmony.
It was interesting to play harmony, which is not in the original song.
ありがとうございました！
I (Stevie) wonder why Wikipedia has no info on the band. Not.
Imagine how many vinyl albums of Night at the Opera they bought and how many record needles they had to replace from replaying each section over and over again to learn it.
I can only imagine the work that the band had to put into learning this song. Here's their entire video set: ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZx9kOINA0WKBJGpIvZi-Am. I played piano in the other band (Inner Light) that recorded a video that day. ruclips.net/p/PL1O5w_w6TcCZFJ2avhwb-H2NnBAX20kNz
As one of the keyboard players and singers, I can tell you that BH was absolutely the MOST complex and difficult song to chart, learn and perform.
This is GREAT!!!! Thanks for sharing!
This song reminds me of the Beatles in their late period, mixture of rock, orchestra, and silliness. It worked for Queen....
I love the fact that this was in the DMV, given I'm a DC native!!!
That is awesome! It's amazing that they did all of the song live. Cover bands have to be really talented to be good without studio help.
Excellent.
Reminds me of Jimi playing Sgt. Pepper a day or two after it came out in front of Paul McCartney.
That's some pretty creative use of the organ. I like the distortion.
Another thing I have to say is that Sixpence accomplished something that Queen himself did not, play Bohemian Rhapsody live and complete.
I have learned a lot about this song including that Queen always used some kind of technology to perform it and apparently never played and sung all the parts live. But Sixpence surely managed to pull it off!
Something to know about these recording sessions is that the agency purchased only one 1" open reel of tape, and they started it rolling as soon as each band started their first song and kept it rolling until each band's last song. That meant we had know the songs perfectly and play one right after the other. There was no time for mistakes and not enough tape for do-overs.
I edited the long video into individual songs so viewers could pick & choose which song to watch.
@@ArnieReed
They did quite well
sorry guys, but queen had no technologies like autotune or protools back then. it was just them with recording machines so all you can hear with queen is their real voices. as one of the greatest live bands they were capable of doing nearly everything. freddie sang real opera with montserrat caballé, a famous spanish opera singer. and brian may with his guitar produced always an atmospere on different levels so if you like the many versions of that song that are out there then it‘s a matter of taste but it‘s clear that queen did everything for a good reason and not because of them having problems skillwise. it’s their creation with certain intentions. in an interview brian may said that they did want to bring exactly this choir part only with a recording in live shows because the recording was so perfect that it made no sense to them and their perfectionist attitude to make that specifically ever slightly different on stage than on the record like it always is with live-shows and they‘ve done many interpretations deliberately with other stuff. and as you can hear it’s also ever different when someone covers that. it’s a matter of taste whether you like those many versions. queen wanted only this part exactly like on the record as a trademark. and there’s no doubt that queen could do anything. i personally like the guitar of brian may much more but i‘ve got to admit that this is a great cover with its own atmosphere.
AMAZING GUITAR EFECT OF DISTORTION IN THE PA!!!! THANK YOU FOR THIS GIFT!!!!
One of the greatest songs ever written.
wol the voices are crazy. They sing a lot.