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Well, the opening of the Queen Studio Experience in Montreux went well, I think. I just got home, and although I had a great walk around the town this morning (3 December), I kinda wish I’d been able to stay longer. I lurch from emotion to emotion in Montreux these days. Maybe I always did … the beauty and freshness of the surroundings seem to bring things to the surface … I could hear Freddie singing “A Winters Tale” in my head as I strolled in the crisp air under a blue sky. And I remember how I carried a recipe in my head for many months as to how to bring the track to fruition, Freddie having left us such a wonderful frame to build around. I could hear the solo in my head long before I finally got to play it back in the UK in my own studio, and I remember feeling that I could close my eyes at that moment and be back in Mountain Studios with Freddie, in his element, relaxed, living in the moment, creating.

So, visiting this time, it was very moving to walk back into the studio, and find it looking, miraculously very much like the way it looked when we all bowled in there on a typical day, to work on new Queen material. It’s worth a visit, I think. A lot of work went into creating the ‘Queen Studio Experience”, and from what I heard while we were there, people are having fun in there. You can remix a Queen track in that studio, where it was created, or you can hear a track in top level 5.1 surround, or you can watch a great film – specially made for the exhibition by Rhys Thomas and Simon Lupton. Justin Shirley-Smith and co have made a fabulous replica of the original giant Neve desk that used to live there. And many of our instruments and acoutrements are there … along with a ton of memorabilia – most of it from my own collection ! I wrote an introduction … maybe we can reproduce it here. But when you’re there, you will see Roger and myself introduce the tracks.

OK … I’ll offer some stereo pics. And don’t forget, if you want tips on how to view in 3-D – press here !!! [Always at TOP LEFT of Soapbox pages.]

Stereo photos can give you unusual perspectives … try these …