Lost recordings from the awkward sessions that resulted in Queen and David Bowie’s 1981 hit Under Pressure may get a release.
Guitarist Brian May has revealed he and his bandmates recorded multiple tracks with Bowie and although the singer and Queen’s Freddie Mercury didn’t get along in the studio, they did create magic behind the microphones.
Promoting his new book, Queen in 3-D, May told Mojo the sessions for Under Pressure weren’t always fun: “It wasn’t easy…,” he said. “(We were) all precocious boys.”
The guitar great recalls Freddie and David “locked horns”, adding, “Those are the things that happen in a studio. That’s when the sparks fly and that’s why it turned out so great. (They locked horns) in subtle ways, like who would arrive last at the studio. So it was sort of wonderful and terrible. But in my mind, I remember the wonderful now, more than the terrible.
“Not all of what we did in those sessions has ever come to light, so there’s a thought…”
Meanwhile, May has added his signature guitar sound to Simon Cowell’s new Grenfell Tower charity track from his U.S. tour.
The rocker hit the studio in between shows and recorded an instrumental which will be added to the all-star cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water.
The Simon & Garfunkel song will be released on Wednesday (June 21) to benefit the families of the victims of last week’s horrific blaze and the survivors.
Geri Horner, Rita Ora, Nile Rodgers, Louis Tomlinson, The Who stars Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, Jessie J, and Robbie Williams will all be part of the Artists For Grenfell recording.
Leaving the studio on Monday (June 19), Williams told The Sun, “It has gone incredibly well, obviously a mental few days for everybody. It is buzzing in there, there’s so much to be done.”
Tomlinson, who also joined the A-listers at Sarm Studios – less than a mile away from the Grenfell Tower block, insists Cowell chose the right song for the benefit single: “It is unbelievable, I have chills, it sounds beautiful, absolutely beautiful,” he says. “What they have done is remarkable, it sounds unbelievable. It is a very respectful tribute.”
