Brian May And Friends

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Star Fleet Project is a solo project by Brian May, most famous as the guitarist from Queen, which resulted on an album with the same name. The project was not entirely the work of May, and was officially released under "Brian May + Friends", the friends being guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alan Gratzer (of REO Speedwagon), Phil Chen (session bassist who played with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart) and Fred Mandel (session keyboardist who also played on The Works). Roger Taylor, drummer with Queen, provided backing vocals for the title song. It was not meant for the tapes to be released and they had minimal mixing before release. "I could have put away these tapes in a bottom drawer and kept them as a private record of one of the best experiences of my life. But the few people I've played them for have urged me to 'publish'...I haven't messed one scrap with the tracking done on the day. The rest is simply mixed 'naked'."

Recorded on the 21st and 22 April 1983 at the Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles, it was released in October of the same year as a "Mini LP", a "Challenge to the established principle that a piece of rock music must fit into either a 2x4 minute single, or a 2x20 minute LP format". The LP consisted of three songs, "Star Fleet", "Let Me Out" and "Blues Breaker".
"Star Fleet is the theme tune for a superb TV sci-fi series broadcast in England for kids of all ages; Japanese visuals and British soundtrack including music by Paul Bliss. The heroes pilot space vehicles which can assemble into a giant robot for land battles. The aliens fly fantastic insect-like craft which spawn smaller fighting machines; all intent on possession of the secret of F Zero One.

01."Star Fleet" - (Bliss/Arr. May) – 8:05
02."Let Me Out" - (Brian May) – 7:13
03."Blues Breaker" (Dedicated to Eric Clapton) - (May/Van Halen/Gratzer/Chen/Mandel) – 12:51

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Brian May - guitar, vocals, production
Eddie Van Halen - guitar, backing vocals
Alan Gratzer - drums
Phil Chen - bass guitar
Fred Mandel - keyboards
Roger Taylor - backing vocals on "Star Fleet"