Charts:
UK: 35th (4 weeks on chart)
Starfleet Project
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Charts: UK: 35th (4 weeks on chart) |
Recorded April 1983 at Record Plant LA Studios
UK release:
31 October 1983
USA release: 1 November 1983
Produced by Brian
Mixed by Mack
Engineered by Mike Beiriger and Nick Froome
Brian May:
Vocals and Guitar
Edward Van Halen: Guitar
Alan Gratzer: Drums
Phil Chen: Bass
Fred Mandel: Keyboards
Roger Taylor: Backing Vocals on Starfleet
Track listing:
1. Starfleet
[8:06] Paul Bliss, arranged by May
2. Let Me Out [7:14]
May
3. Blues Breaker (Dedicated to E.C.)* [12:50] May, Eddie Van Halen,
Alan Gratzer, Fred Mandel
* E.C. is Eric Clapton
Not on the album:
Son Of The Starfleet [ : ] May
"STOP! What you have just picked up is not your normal kind of album. Not an album which has been "thoughfully pieced together by a coordinated band as a balanced and polished listening experience". Not a Queen album. Not a solo Brian May album. It is a record of a unique event.
On the 21st and 22nd of April 1983, five musicians from different backgrounds, who had previously known each other only as friends, played together for the first time. Purely for fun. In listening to this record, I hope you will share in the excitement we felt.
STAR FLEET is the theme tune for a superb TV sci-fi series broadcast in England for kids of all ages; Japanese visuals and British soundtrack including music by Paul Bliss. The heroes pilot space vehicles which can assemble into a giant robot for land battles. The aliens fly fantastic insect-like craft which spawn smaller fighting machines, all intent on possesion of the secret of F Zero One... Having been introduced to all this by my small boy, I became equally obsessed by it, and formed the idea of making a hard rock version of the title theme.
A few months later, i found myself in LA doing very little. I suddenly realised that four musicians, with whom I'd long wanted to play, were at the end of a local telephone call. To my great surprise they all liked the ideas I had, so I took my courage in both hands, booked a studio, and in we went. None of us had done this kind of thing before - no record company, no plans for release, no back-up organisations - just us. Just for fun.
In STAR FLEET, recorded on the first day, you can hear a kind of nervous exhilaration. The new situation produced a strange and different kind of energy.
In LET ME OUT - an old song of mine which found new life - and in BLUES BREAKER, ehich of course is purely spontaneous, you can hear a much more relaxed set of people, just laying back and enjoying the fresh inspiration of each other's playing.
I could have put these tapes in a bottom draw and kept them as a private record of one of the best experiences of my life. But the few people I've played them for have urged be to "publish", and it will make me very happy if others can enjoy this stuff the way I have.
I've attempted to hone STAR FLEET into something like a "proper record" - my thanks to ROGER for helping me with the chorus vocals. But I haven't messed one scrap with the tracking done on the day. The rest is simply mixed 'naked'.
In BLUES BREAKER you can hear us smiling as we search for answering phrases. In the last solo of LET ME OUT, Edward tortures his top string to it's audible death and winds up quite naturally on the remaining five. I'll leave the rest to imagination. It's not too hard to figure out who did what."