Before that, however, May was playing in 1984, a band made up of May on guitar, Dave Dilloway on bass, John Garnham on guitar/vocals, Richard Thompson on drums, John Sanger on piano, and future Smile lead vocalist Tim Staffell on vocals and harmonica. After some success as a support act for artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, T-Rex, and Pink Floyd, 1984 had a chance to record a professional demo. On 31st March 1967 the six members of 1984 recorded 12 tracks at Thames Television's Broom Lane Studios in Teddington. The group was allowed to test new recording equipment that the studio had just purchased, and all tracks were done in one take and mixed in mono. By 1968, though, May had left the band and was shortly followed by Staffell, who soon reconvened with May to form Smile.
While this was going on, Brian May's old friend Bill Richards had formed a folk-rock band called the Left-Handed Marriage, named after an archaic form of marrying beneath oneself. By January 1967, the quintet had progressed to the point where they had issued their own privately pressed album 'On The Right Side Of The Left Handed Marriage', which ran to just fifty copies. In March 1967, after Richards had signed a twelve-month contract with EMI's music publishing company Ardmore & Beechwood, he approached May to help him create a "fuller" sound for the Left Handed Marriage, with a request to provide guitar and backing vocals on some recording sessions. On the understanding that the project wouldn't interfere with his commitment to 1984, May agreed, and on 4th April 1967 the band recorded four songs: 'Give Me Time' (later changed to 'I Need Time'), 'She Was Once My Friend', 'Sugar Lump Girl' and 'Yours Sincerely' (which was basically 'Give Me Time' backwards). The idea had been to release the songs as a commercial EP, but instead the set became the Left Handed Marriage's first demo for their publishers, and it led to the offer to record a more professional session at EMI's prestigious Abbey Road studios. Another take of 'I Need Time', and a new song called 'Appointment' were taped, with talk of issuing a record, but this never materialised and 7" acetates are all that remain. Although Ardmore & Beechwood were pleased with the results, they still thought the Left Handed Marriage could improve their sound even further, and so on 31st July 1967 they booked the band into Regent Sound in central London, and this session resulted in new versions of 'I Need Time', 'She Was Once My Friend' and 'Appointment'. Despite the studio quality of the tape, Ardmore & Beechwood failed to place the songs with a record label, and like so many groups before and since, the Left Handed Marriage quietly disappeared from view, leaving May free to move on.
After May and Staffell left 1984 in 1968, they decided that they wanted to continue to work together in a band, and so formed Smile. All they needed was a drummer, and so May posted a note on the Student Union notice board at Imperial College in London, stating that they were looking for a "Ginger Baker/Mitch Mitchell style drummer". Roger Taylor responded, and Smile soon became a 'semi-pro outfit', building up a popular live reputation locally, and playing support gigs for Free, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and Yes. Smile signed a recording contract with Mercury Records and went on to record six tracks over the course of two sets of studio sessions. The first was recorded in June 1969, and consisted of 'Earth', 'Step On Me', and 'Doin' Allright', while the second session was recorded three months later, and included 'April Lady', 'Blag', and 'Polar Bear'. The first session produced their only proper single, 'Earth', but after little success, singer Tim Staffell left the band, leaving May and Taylor without a singer. They eventually joined forces with a college classmate and friend of Tim Staffell's at Ealing Art College, Farrokh 'Freddie' Bulsara.
Bulsara had already been the lead singer for various bands, including Ibex, Wreckage, and Sour Milk Sea. Ibex consisted of 'Freddie' Bulsara on vocals, Mike Bersin on guitar, John Taylor on bass, and Mick Smith on drums, and although the band never made it into a recording studio, there was a single live show recorded by roadie Geoff Higgins at the Sink Club in Liverpool in 1969. The performance was recorded on a Grundig TK14 reel-to-reel tape machine and later sold to Queen collector John S. Stuart, who allowed it to be used by Queen Productions, so that 'Rain' could be included on the Freddie Mercury Solo Collection box set. However, the tape was leaked to the bootleg market, most likely by someone at either EMI or Queen Productions, and bootlegs of it are now freely available. This concert is notable because Brian May and Roger Taylor joined Ibex for the encore, marking the first known appearance of Freddie, Roger, and Brian live together, but unfortunately the tape ran out after 30 minutes, so it misses this encore. It does also include one Freddie original composition in 'Vagabond Outcast', although ti's not a great recording. Ibex later became Wreckage, and soon after that Bulsara joined Smile to form a new band. All they needed now was someone to play bass.
In 1970 The Opposition, then known as Art, recorded three tracks at Beck Studio in Wellingborough. The band at this time was made up of Dave Williams (guitars), Richard Young (keyboards), Nigel Bullen (drums), Alan Brown (vocals), and John Deacon (bass). Engineer Derek Tomkins told the group they could record three songs in the time scheduled, but the group had only prepared two tracks, 'Sunny' and 'Vehicle', and so a third song was quickly improvised, an instrumental called 'Transit 3' (named after the band's new van). A few acetates were cut, and a tape was run off from Nigel Bullen's copy. Later that year Deacon left for London to study at the Chelsea College Of Technology, and while there he formed another band, called Deacon. In 1971, Deacon joined Smile, who then changed their name to Queen, and demos were recorded of 'Keep Yourself Alive', 'The Night Comes Down', 'Great King Rat', 'Jesus', and 'Liar', leading to the band being signed to EMI. At the same time as Queen were recording their debut album, Trident Studios' house engineer Robin Geoffrey Cable was working on a musical project, and he enlisted Mercury to perform lead vocals on the songs 'I Can Hear Music' and 'Goin' Back', with both songs being released together as a single in 1973.
One last oddity is the song 'Silver Salmon', which was written by Tim Staffell but recorded by Queen, either during the first album sessions in 1971/72, or later in 1977, depending on who you believe (I tend to favour the former). It's never appeared on a Queen album, and the Staffell/Queen connection makes it a fitting end to this album, which I've called 'The Princess Diaries' - because what are you before you become a Queen?
Track listing
The Reaction (Roger Taylor, 1966)
01 I Got You (I Feel Good)
02 In The Midnight Hour
1984 (Brian May, 1967)
03 Our Love Is Drifting
04 Purple Haze
05 How Can It Be
06 Sweet Wine
The Left Handed Marriage (Brian May, 1967)
07 Appointment
08 She Was Once My Friend
09 I Need Time
Smile (Brian May, Roger Taylor, 1969)
10 Earth
11 Step On Me
12 April Lady
13 Polar Bear
14 Blag
15 Doing Allright
Ibex (Freddie Mercury, 1969)
16 Vagabond Outcast
17 We're Going Wrong
Wreckage (Freddie Mercury, 1969)
18 Green
The Opposition (John Deacon, 1970)
19 Vehicle
20 Sunny
21 Transit 3
Larry Lurex (Freddie Mercury, 1973)
22 I Can Hear Music
23 Goin' Back
Queen (1972)
24 Silver Salmon
