''Star Fleet Project'' is a solo project of

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's guitarist, and a mini-album of the same name. Released as the work of Brian May + Friends, the album consisted of May, guitarist

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

, drummer Alan Gratzer (then of

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. The ...

Phil Chen Phillip David Chen (21 October 1946 – 14 December 2021) was a Jamaican bassist. He was one of England's most utilized session bassists during the 1970s and 1980s, including Jeff Beck, and the Rod Stewart band from 1977 to 1980, but is prob ...

(session bassist who played with

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

and

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

), and

Fred Mandel Frederick Lawrence Mandel (born 1953) is a Canadian session musician, keyboard player and guitarist. Career Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Mandel became involved in music from an early age. He started playing the piano at four and picked up t ...

(keyboard player for

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

and additional keyboard player on Queen's

Hot Space Tour The Hot Space Tour was the ninth headlining concert tour by the British rock band Queen in support of their 1982 album ''Hot Space''. The tour started on the 9th of April in Gothenburg, Sweden and ended, after sixty-nine concerts, in Tokorozaw ...

and '' The Works''). " e result is high-octane instrumentals, instantly Queenish, and not unlike ''

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'' with added fretboard pyrotechnics". The tapes were not intended to be released and received minimal mixing. "''Star Fleet Project'' was called a 'mini-album' by aybecause he thought it...too short to be a proper album, but too long to be even an EP single".

Production

The idea for the album came from May's son Jimmy, a fan of ''Star Fleet'', the English title of Japanese sci-fi puppet TV show '' X-Bomber''. " little boy had been watching this science fiction series and I always thought that the theme tune for it would be a great vehicle for all-out guitar playing". "And imsaid, 'Daddy, you should play that!', and I thought, 'Actually, that's a rather good piece of music!'" There was a seven-month period between May watching the show with his son and the mini-LP's recording. "We were all in a little bit of downtime in our own projects. Queen was in a bit of a hiatus, and I think Van Halen weren't doing too much and my neighbour

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Alan Gratzer from R.E.O. peedwagonwasn't doing much and we got together". Recorded on 21 and 22 April 1983 at the

Record Plant Studios The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

, Los Angeles, California, the mini-album was released in October that same year. The record consists of three songs: "Star Fleet", "Let Me Out", and "Blues Breaker". The album name apparently comes from the title track: "Because one song was called 'Star Fleet', aydubbed the jam session...Star Fleet Project". " Star Fleet", May's hard-rock arrangement of the ''Star Fleet'' theme tune, "soars on more sheer guitar power as the piece is translated into interstellar heavy metal", with heavy emphasis on May's and Van Halen's guitar work, as May "intended to provide a platform for Van Halen's soloing skills with...''Star Fleet''". The "strongest" track, the song " arriesboth the energy and full flavor of an early Queen work". "Van Halen's and May's guitar solos bounce off one another like playful lions". This " ouncingoff one another" is intended, as May explained: "I wanted to play in a sympathetic way to him, to supply the great rhythms that he could play to. I wanted to be the perfect rhythm guitarist, and I grew up as a rhythm guitarist, so that's natural to me. But when we were trading solos... we were feeding off each other.... We'd never played together before, and yet the chemistry is there. It was as spontaneous as anything could be". "Edward played the solo on 'Star Fleet' three times. Each time it was incredible. Each time it was different". Prior to beginning work on the project, May "attempted to get in touch with the song's writer, British keyboardist Phil Bliss, but was unsuccessful until after the ''Star Fleet Project'' was completed". Of this attempted contact, May said, "I tried to get in touch with the guy who had written the song, Paul Bliss, and couldn't at the time. So I pressed on and did some arrangement around a couple of verses and wrote extra middle bit for it. Later I got in touch with him, and he said it was a pity that I couldn't find him in the early days because he's got some more verse in the middle – which I'm dying to hear – but it was too late for the project. My song does follow his musical theme, and I used the verse he wrote". Apparently "Brian sent a signed copy of the finished ini-albumto... Bliss, with a message thanking him for his composition". "Let Me Out", "an old song of ay'swhich found new life", "turns into a blues jam, with Brian and Van Halen trading licks". " ot asstructured", the song "does carry a nice, bluesy swagger". During this song, "Edward tortures his top string to its audible death and winds up quite naturally on the remaining five". The song "received its first live performance on 7 December 1990 at the Astoria Theatre, when Brian guest-starred on guitar for the last four minutes of

The Cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars. Cross or The Cross may also refer to: Religion * Christian cross, the basic symbol of Christianity * Cross necklace, a necklace worn by adherents of the Christian r ...

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Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

), with Brian on guitars and vocals, Jon Clearly on piano,

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his st ...

on guitar, John Hatton on bass,

Bernie Dresel Bernard John Dresel Jr. (born November 12, 1961) is an American studio drummer and percussionist. He has been with multi-Grammy award-winning artists and recordings; most notably having performed and recorded extensively with The Brian Setzer Orc ...

on drums, and Emily ay im May and Anita obsonproviding backing vocals". "Queen fans may enjoy the piano blues "Let Me Out" best, as it sounds like it would have fit right in on ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...

''. I can imagine Freddie putting his spin on it quite easily. Brian takes the first solo, but next time he says "Help me, Edward!" and it's Van Halen playing the blues....Brian and dwardalternate, and then dwardblazes the fretboard shredder style". "Blues Breaker", "a 13-minute piece of improvisation highlighted by the attacks and counter-attacks of May and Van Halen", "a masterpiece...for its pure spontaneity", is a "long blues jam (edited together from several recorded that day), with no lyrics or vocals.... The liner notes dedicate this piece to E. C. (

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

), and that's where the name comes from". " en we started... the Blues Breaker track, I think we kind of had Eric Clapton in our minds and the people that Clapton would revere like .B.King,

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

; it was the power of the blues which made us gel. I remember dwardsaying, 'You know, you got me to play today in a way that I haven't played for years.' Just simple and from the heart and with that kind of feeling". Heavy metal magazine ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' said of the song, "It has something epic, as if every one of the players touched deep into hecollective music lexicon, and promptly replied to his previous speaker". This song and "Let Me Out" were more spontaneous than "Star Fleet", with May showing off his signature sound and Van Halen using his uniqe tapping technique to great effect. "May sent... 'Blues Breaker' to Eric Clapton, who reportedly found the song to not be terribly bluesy. dward Van Halenwas greatly disappointed". More than finding the song "not...terribly bluesy", Clapton took insult from the song, finding it horrible. "May was on the defensive when he talked about "Bluesbreaker" 'sic'' a lengthy jam dedicated to Eric Clapton, which took up all of side two: 'It seemed very indulgent putting out a long jam, but having listened to it, I think it's worthwhile...it's rock blues with all the mistakes left in'". On the mini-album as a whole, Van Halen said:

That was just a get-together jam. ayinvited me down to... Record Plant and we played.... After we played, he called me up about four months later and asked what I thought about putting the stuff out. And I said, "Send me the tape, let me hear it first," because I didn't remember how it went. He did and said, "Sure, what the hell." It reeks of fun.

Releases

The project was originally released on 31 October 1983, and was later re-released in November of that year. Capitol released " shorter edit of 'Starfleet'.... move

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proved to be a disaster...". "Star Fleet Project" was released on two CD formats. It was first re-issued as part of May's "

Back to the Light ''Back to the Light'' is the debut solo studio album of Queen guitarist's Brian May, released on 28 September 1992 by Parlophone Records in the UK, and on 2 February 1993 by Hollywood Records in the US and Canada. May's second solo release foll ...

" single, in two CDs: the first featured "Star Fleet" and "Let Me Out", the second "Blues Breaker". In 1993, the songs were re-issued as tracks 6–8 of the Japanese mini-album ''

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.''

Reception

Although the album did not do well initially—by the end of the year it reached No. 35 in the UK and No. 125 in the US, with the "Star Fleet" single being counted as "a non-starter at 65" that "received no daytime radio airplay", individuals took a liking to the mini-LP—so much so that by 1984, it was reported that the album was "already a cult guitar favorite. Where solo efforts often tend to be politely applauded and then forgotten as an artist's 'indulgence', the raw power of this album has given it instant, unanticipated acceptance.... ay admitted:'I must contest I still enjoy it—I still put it on the record player and like what I hear'". " this album May is able to let loose and allow his blues influences to show through.... e expert musicianship shows through in such a way that makes

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worth purchasing". " ere is so much spirited byplay among...May and...Van Halen...Alan Gratzer...Phil Chen and...Fred Mandel that he mini-albumwas just too good to be left sitting in the can". ''Star Fleet Project'' was voted Best Spontaneous Recording by

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in 1984. " lived on – at the conclusion of '

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'". This occurred at Råsundastadion and

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. By 1993, general perception of the mini-album was favorable, as Joe Kleon wrote in Scene magazine: " ayhas appeared in many projects, including the highly-acclaimed "Star Fleet Project" released in 1983 with dwardVan Halen". In comparing ''Star Fleet Project'' to the Ultima Thule Mix of May's song ''New Horizons'', Rolling Stone journalist Kory Grow wrote that "May's first-ever solo recording was also a tribute to space travel".

Re-release

In late 2021, May stated that ''Star Fleet Project'' would be re-released following the re-releases of ''

'' and '' Another World'', "I'm going to do ''Star Fleet'', which is the one with Eddie Van Halen, after that". Following Van Halen's death on 6 October 2020, May stated that " some point it would be lovely to revisit 'Star Fleet Project''in depth, but at the moment I'm not. It doesn't feel right now". May explained "I didn't want to do 'Star Fleet''first, because I wanted to put my proper solo album out first... I'll do 'Back to the Light''first, ''Another World'' and then the third one will be ''Star Fleet''". ''Another World'' was re-released on 22 April 2022, As of late 2022, the remastering process for Star Fleet was in progress.

Track listing

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, vocals,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, keyboards *

Edward Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

–

* Alan Gratzer – drums *

– bass guitar *

– keyboards *

Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...

– backing vocals on "Star Fleet", added and mixed at SARM Studios * Mack – mixing * Mike Beiriger – engineering * Nicholas Froome – additional engineering

References

External links

Star Fleet Project music video
{{Authority control 1983 debut EPs Brian May albums