Live at the Brixton Academy (Brian May album)

Infobox Album|

Name = Live at the Brixton Academy
Released = February 7, 1994
Type = Live album
Recorded = June 15, 1993, at the Brixton Academy, London
Genre = Rock
Length = 76:51
Label = Parlophone
Producer = Brian May, Justin Shirley-Smith
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3|5 – [http://wc01.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:diftxqwhldfe link]
Artist = The Brian May Band
Last album = "Back to the Light"
(1992)
This album = "Live at the Brixton Academy"
(1994)
Next album = "Another World"
(1998):"For other albums with the same name see Live at Brixton Academy.Live at the Brixton Academy is a recording of The Brian May Band's first show in London on June 15 1993. The album was released on CD, LP and VHS in 1994, and remains the group's only release as a collective.

The album is an almost complete and unedited version of the concert. Their performance of John Lennon's God (The Dream Is Over) was not included on the album due to copyright issues. Keyboard player Spike Edney had to play a second solo (neither are on the CD, the first being on the video) after May had technical problems before playing Last Horizon. Also, Back To The Light, Tie Your Mother Down, Love Token, Headlong, Let Your Heart Rule Your Head, Resurrection (in particular, Cozy Powell's drum solo), We Will Rock You and Hammer To Fall are all slightly shortened on the CD, but appear in full on the 90-minute video of the same event.

The show includes live renditions of the top ten singles Driven By You and Too Much Love Will Kill You.

Track listing

All tracks by Brian May; except where indicated

# "The Dark" / "Back To The Light"
# "Driven by You"
# "Tie Your Mother Down"
# "Love Token"
# "Headlong"
# "Love of My Life" (Freddie Mercury)
# "'39" / "Let Your Heart Rule Your Head"
# "Too Much Love Will Kill You" (May/Musker/Lamers)
# "Since You've Been Gone" (Russ Ballard)
# "Now I'm Here"
# "Guitar Extravagance"
# "Resurrection" (May/Powell/Page)
# "Last Horizon"
# "We Will Rock You"
# "Hammer to Fall"

Personnel

*Brian May - Vocals/Guitar
*Cozy Powell - Drums
*Neil Murray - Bass
*Spike Edney - Keyboards/Vocals
*Jamie Moses - Guitar/Vocals
* Cathy Porter - Vocals
*Shelley Preston - Vocals

Brian May's words

"We made an eleventh hour decision to record our first London show, Brixton Academy, and this is it. There's no knowing what the gig would have been life if we HADN'T been filming, but in the circumstances we think it came out not too bad. This is how it was on the night, edited down a little for various reasons, those being."

"a) There's only so much running time you can put on a CD or a commercial video. b) We lost one song for copyright reasons. c) You didn't REALLY want to hear all that crappy stuff where we couldn't get the guitars to work, did you?....."

"The Brian May Band worked its ass off touring in 1993, and came of age. We kicked ourselves into shape the only way you ultimately can; by doing it. We took chances. Sometimes it was dazzling, sometimes it was dodgy. It was challenging; sometimes it was tough. But it was FUN. This recording shows us at a mid-way stage, making our first appearance in our home city."

"Enjoy, and come with us to the future. Cheers Brian."

"PS: By the way, if you were there, THANKS! You're on this record, and without you, folks, there's no show."