Michele · @SepiasSecret
9th Feb 2015 from TwitLonger
Peter Freestone (Freddie's Personal Manager)-what he says about Queen+
A Conversation With Peter Freestone (1/27/2015) by Gregsynthbootlegs
From 1:18 he was asked about Queen+ ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB7r2I4UBS8 "I think Queen+ has every right to do what it does. ...Brian and Roger are musicians, they had, you know, music going through them all the time. Freddie didn't expect them to just wind up and finish, and not do anything else when he died. Otherwise he would not have spent that time doing whatever work he could before he died. He did not think everything would just shut down. ...Seeing these photographs of Brian and Roger on the internet now, I have never seen them looking so happy. You know? It just seems to work. And it's also got them a huge load of new fans."..."I'm not going to get into this whole debate, who's good, who's better, you know, every single voice is different. You know, I'm looking from the opera side of it as well, I don't know any opera singers that sound the same. And in contemporary music, I think the worst, except if you want to be a 'cover band singer,' the worst compliment ANYBODY could have is "Oh, you sound just like _____(the singer).... As a performer, as a singer, you have to be an individual. You bring YOUR voice to the party..There are certain voice types that I like, certain voice types that I don't like. But that doesn't stop whoever's doing it from actually putting their stamp on a song. It's like art. Nobody can, the original artist will always create how the song should have been when they create it. You know Freddie hated, absolutely hated it in the 80's when DJs became huge. DJs remixed classic songs. And it really annoyed Freddie because he said 'How can anybody dare to think that they know better than the original composer?' Than the original writer of the piece of music. So fine. The original was, of any song, is how it was originally seen. That's what it was supposed to be. But that does not mean that someone else can't sing it and bring something else to the song. [1:22:25] Adam Lambert is very successful at this. He is bringing his own interpretation to the song. Of course there are people who are going to hate him. But people are going to love him. You've just got to look at these pages on Facebook. And I think it's horrendous what's happening on there. It's just now, nobody is allowed to give an opinion either way. Because if they don't like it, then you have those people jumping on you telling you you're stuck in the past, you should stay at home, blah blah blah blah. And if then someone says you do like it, oh then they're not being faithful to Freddie. blah blah It's incredible what is going on. The original songs are available for anybody and everybody to listen to on youtube, on everything. You can get as much of the original recordings as you like. But that doesn't stop anybody putting a different slant on it. And if the original writers, like Brian and Roger, are happy with someone else giving their interpretation of one of their songs, then who is to say what's right or wrong? Nothing is ever, ever going to erase what Freddie has done. It will always exist. But good music deserves to be heard, with different stamps on it. I look at it again from the opera point of view. If the original performers of the operas were created for specific performers, if they stopped when the performers died, we would not have opera today. It just wouldn't exist. So are we supposed to actually stop all of this, every performance of a Queen song with Freddie's voice on it?"
Greg talks how he didn't used to like Adam, got caught up in all the internet discussions/fights - then how he went to see him with Queen in 2014, and was surprised how good he was, then went to buy a ticket to the next show, and then again another show & how each show was better.
1:27:30 Peter talks about seeing Adam in 2012, and how he's come along (improved) ... and how he's been taught, Freddie wasn't. Says "he's doing himself proud."
Greg says how he went from being skeptical to "I can't wait to hear what he does on the next show!" and downloading Queen & Adam Lambert shows.
(there's more before & after this section)
Hope Greg &/or Peter don't mind me posting this transcript from their interview. I appreciate the interview and love it.