Tuesday 1 October 2013

1983 in rock: Brian May's Star Fleet Project

In the spring of 1983, Queen's guitarist Brian May found himself in Los Angeles with some musician friends. Those friends included hotshot guitar hero Eddie van Halen, session players Fred Mandel (a keyboard player who had worked with Queen) and Phil Chen (bass player who had worked with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart), plus REO Speedwagon's drummer Alan Gratzer.

The grouping got together at the Record Plant studios and cut three tracks, the lead-off was a reworking of the theme tune to 'Star Fleet', a children's sci-fi TV show originally from Japan, but had been redubbed using British actors' voices for UK transmission. The theme tune for the UK version of the programme was composed by Paul Bliss, and May had become interested in covering the theme after he had discovered the programme through his young son. The musicians decided to record two more tracks; 'Let Me Out' was a song written by May which had not been used previously, and 'Bluesbreaker' an extended jam. Indeed both 'Let Me Out' and 'Bluesbreaker' were to feature the two guitarists trading extended lead breaks.

Having recorded these tracks, the Queen guitarist considered keeping them privately for his own enjoyment before being persuaded by friends to put the recordings out. According to the sleeve notes on the record, post-production was kept to a minimum (a few backing vocals from Queen drummer Roger Taylor on the 'Star Fleet' theme itself were acknowledged). In his own words, May had not "...messed one scrap with the tracking done on the day".

The record was eventually issued in October 1983 as a 'mini-LP'; for many years it was available only as a vinyl record. It wasn't until almost ten years later that the tracks became available on CD, issued over two versions of May's solo single 'Back To The Light'. The first CD single included 'Star Fleet' and 'Let Me Out', while the second CD included 'Bluesbreaker'.


2023 update: Brian May has announced a re-release of 'Star Fleet Project' as a box set, promising to include both the original issue and a new remix, plus every outtake from the sessions. This will be released summer 2023.
The new for 2023 single version of 'Star Fleet' can be heard here:




Bonus: For anyone who wondered what the original theme sounded like, here is Paul Bliss's version over the end credits to an episode of 'Star Fleet':



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