3. Ogre Battle (Queen - Live In Brussels: 12/10/1974)

Alright guys! This is the last available show from the 1974 Sheer Heart Attack Tour to upload and it has been a journey in not only rediscovering these shows again, but also to shake all the cobwebs off in order to start uploading Queen shows again. During my “re-uploading everything that’s available” RUclips run, I hope to get back to my old self and fully embrace my love for the band Queen and their live concerts. This Brussels recording is not only incomplete, but the quality is absolutely awful (especially from the 2nd half of “Flick Of The Wrist” to the end of the recording) which doesn’t make this the best listening experience.
While this is a generally a solid show with some great moments, the band seem to hold way back compared to earlier nights on the tour and a combination of technical issues and sloppy playing in places help to drag things down a bit. While the band’s creativity and energy don’t waver, there are several off musical moments throughout the show that even in poor audio quality, can be picked up on. Freddie also sounds a bit more tired and strained compared to shows like The Hague as he pushes and forces his voice more often which causes sporadic vocal issues to pop up. Some of the earlier shows on this tour leg were impacted to varying degrees from technical/monitor issues, so it definitely is possible that this was happening at this show, but a much better audio source could help clear things up.
“Now I’m Here” features some great guitar prowess from Brian along with Roger being very much into the performance with his drum fills with the general liveliness to his playing sounding nice (even in this abysmal quality). While Freddie does a decent vocal performance, he sounds more tired compared to earlier shows with straining and intonation issues creeping up from time to time. “Ogre Battle” has Freddie giving a strong vocal effort, but some sections have more forced vocals compared to earlier in the tour. The rest of the band are in great form with the battle section being full of spirited playing and despite the audio quality, you can tell that the band are clearly giving their best efforts. “Father To Son” has had better performances on the tour as there are a few vocal and guitar hiccups on this rendition, but the overall performance is still a strong one with the creativity of Brian and Roger still being at a high level. “White Queen” features some nice singing from Freddie and despite Brian’s guitar work not being completely clean, there are still some very nice moments during the solo section. “Flick Of The Wrist” is among the better performances of the night with some excellent guitar work from Brian and the band seem to play the song with an additional edge which can be picked up (even on a recording as bad as this). “In The Lap Of The Gods” features some great singing from Freddie, nice musicianship by everybody on stage, and Roger missing all of his falsetto wails to varying degrees. “Killer Queen” has a bum piano chord at the end of the first verse along with Freddie’s “recommended at the price” phrasing sounding a bit awkward. While Brian’s solo is mostly good, a few bits sound a bit erratic and not as melodic as others. “The March Of The Black Queen” contains Freddie pushing his voice for added power and while the effect sounds cool, it causes his voice to break after the “Queen of the night” line. Roger’s drumming sounds fantastic and Brian plays a nice solo (despite the transition into the next performance sounding off). “Bring Back That Leroy Brown” is a pretty solid rendition with great energy being put on display. “Son And Daughter” features some nice harmonies and while Freddie doesn’t sing the song with as much ease or precision as earlier versions, he still sounds enthusiastic in his delivery. The rest of the band deliver some excellent musicianship throughout the performance and despite the poor quality of the tape, can you still hear how great Brian and Roger sound during this performance. “Keep Yourself Alive” is a more straight-forward rendition compared to others from this era, but Roger is right there to make things more interesting as he puts forth a ton of effort into his drumming. While Brian has some great moments, it sounds like he is having guitar problems as his intonation is questionable in places. “Seven Seas Of Rhye” has some great vocal moments from Freddie as most of his singing is strong and assertive throughout. Brian has some continued guitar issues early on, but things seem to settle down by the time his solo section starts. Lastly, “Stone Cold Crazy” is heavily cut, but what’s featured sounds pretty solid with Brian in particular standing out.
ENJOY!!!