I've been giving some more thought to the idea of Queen with Paul Rodgers and I have decided that if Brian May and Roger Taylor really want to tour, they don't have to tour as Queen. They don't even have to take LCG's suggestion and join up with Ringo. There is a third and most excellent choice available. They can re-form Smile.
Before there was Queen, before Brian and Roger were in a band with Freddie Mercury and John Deacon, they were in a band called Smile. The third member of Smile was a singing bass player named Tim Staffell and I'm pretty sure Tim Staffell is available. Maybe. He took a thirty year break from music and put his art training to other use, but his web site tells me that he is back playing in a band. Excellent.
I don't think Brian and Roger will ever get John Deacon on the road, but maybe they could have an easier time convincing Tim Staffell. I would go see that tour without hesitation. I would go see multiple dates on that tour because I am crazy about Smile. They are either underrated or underexposed, I'm not sure which. I think that every single Queen fan needs to own some Smile. Even though I haven't listened to Queen in some time, I never did stop listening to Smile. For what they were, they were very impressive.
Technically, they were just a college band. However, they are also the greatest band that ever formed at university. Ever. Their sound is the charming early groundwork for Queen. I am lucky enough to own a CD (and the 10" EP) of a mysterious import release that contains five Smile tracks and it is my favorite. It's also got a B-side (Mad The Swine) from the first Queen album and two tracks recorded as Larry Lurex but the Smile songs are the real treasure.
The release is apparently from 1995, according to the price tag on the CD case I got my copy in 1998. I vividly remember being at the record store, flipping through some recently arrived used CDs when I spotted this item. There is a picture of early era Queen on the cover and I was so thrilled to find something Queen that I didn't own! When I looked at the back cover I knew it had to be mine. I had always wanted to hear Smile but I suspect I was actually more excited about Mad The Swine. Sure, I could have gotten that song on the Queen reissue, but I didn't need that CD. I have it on LP. Twice.
After I heard Smile I wanted to hear more. One track in particular, Earth, is possibly in my top ten songs of all time. If I had a list. Which I don't. But if I did, Earth would be a mighty contender. Written by Tim Staffell, it's a real astronaut-y, space-is-so-lonely kind of tune. It's better than Space Oddity and Rocket Man combined. Earth could be released as a double-A side with '39 and be the greatest space travel single ever.
Earth was in fact released as a single in the United States when it was newly recorded, and according to all accounts it went nowhere. Now, I'm not into spending huge amounts of money on individual LPs or 45s. I'd rather take the five-for-fifteen dollars route, but I have always said that if I could find a copy of that Smile single I would make a checkbook-breaking exception. Many times I have claimed that I would spend up to seventy-five dollars on that 45 although I'm guessing I wouldn't pay more than twenty.
I even looked it up in a price guide once and I can't for the life of me remember how much it is allegedly worth. It was either listed as a two hundred dollar item and I blocked out the horror, or it was valued closer to thirty and I realized that someday I would be a total chumpette and pay too much. I don't really need to worry about it because I don't expect to ever run into that single.
Since I won't ever find that record, Smile should just tour so I can hear it live. They recorded five tracks that I know about, and I'm willing to guess they filled out their sets with songs by Cream (I think they really liked Cream) or the Beatles or maybe...songs they never recorded. Unreleased Smile tracks! Yes! I need more Smile tunes! I wouldn't mind if they re-recorded the old Smile tunes either.
The one drawback to Smile is that the production sounds a little tinny. That's not usually something I complain about but it's really strange to hear Brian May and Roger Taylor playing with less than stellar sound. Their musical skill was already there but the sound quality on the recordings is poor. It's not horrible, but compared to Queen it is very poor.
If they didn't want to re-record I would understand, but I sure would like to see them tour. The best thing about a Smile tour would be the fact that it was a Smile tour and therefore they would not play Queen tunes. Okay, they could play one. Tim Staffell has a songwriting credit with Brian May on the first record. Tim co-wrote Doing All Right so they could legitimately place that in the set, especially if they played it as Smile when the song was in its early stages.
I know they still talk to Tim Staffell, I read something a couple of years ago about a Smile gig. I don't know if it was for charity or for fun or to mark some anniversary or what, but Smile did play somewhere in London. If they re-formed for one night they sure can re-form for a tour. CEB claims that a Smile tour would be of interest to maybe three people (and he was including me in the grand total) but I disagree. It is possible that I would be the only person that excited to hear Earth. However, I think that Queen fans everywhere would be thrilled to see Brian May and Roger Taylor play live, and would be even more thrilled that they were taking a break from diluting Queen.