Brian May Bootlegs

Several Brian May bootlegs have appeared, almost all of them live CD's. I only know of one dedicated compilation, a very limited release called "Life With Brian". This has some recent B-sides, the "Star Fleet" tracks, and only a few genuine oddities (e.g. "Love Token - explicit version").

All the live bootlegs are largely redundant now, thanks to the official "Live At Brixton Academy" CD and video. Existing bootlegs include "Out On His Own", eight tracks in great sound from USA 1993. Nothing particularly different, though it is a good performance. Incidentally, this is also the same concert the live version of "Too Much Love Will Kill You" on the US 3-track promo "pill" picture CD comes from.

Much more interesting is a complete recording of Brian live at Aston Villa, available on a double CD simply called "The Back To The Light Tour 1993", or "England 1993" (two names exist). This uses official-looking artwork in the cover and inlay, similar to the cover of the "Back To The Light" single. It is the entire concert, and features a few things not on "Brixton". Spike Edney's keyboard solo is present, and so is a cover of John Lennon's "God (The Dream Is Over)" (see the Miscellaneous section). There are other performances that have bootlegged, but all contain similar material and a large amount of them are from Brian's US tour dates.

You can also find a rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Spike Edney on tapes of the concert at Plymouth Pavillions in the UK. Also, one of the backing singers was absent that night, so the whole concert sounded slightly different.

There are a few other Brian tracks on compilation bootlegs, most notably the live version of "Last Horizon" on "The Ultimate Collection", taken from the Richard Digance show (see the Back To The Light section for more details). Generally, these have been taken from one of the full concert bootlegs mentioned above. Finally, Brian at "KEWB" can be heard on "Demories Please Majesties", as mentioned in the Miscellaneous section.