26 July 1989 – Queen filmed the video for ‘The Invisible Man’ at Pinewood Studios, London

It was directed by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher (Torpedo Twins).

The third single from The Miracle was ‘The Invisible Man’, and the Torpedo Twins were given the task of bringing the imaginative video concept to life. Filmed in Pinewood Studios, home of many a Bond movie, the video depicts a typical British household: mother, father, teenage daughter and young son, who just happens to play The Invisible Man computer game containing the band, who then break out of the game and perform in the boy’s bedroom.

The video was shot on 26th July 1989: Roger’s 40th birthday, and, to celebrate, a huge cake was wheeled in midway through filming and a large amount of champagne helped make the remainder of the shoot more enjoyable.

Once again, here Queen were proving their worth as innovators: the video used computer animation, most notably during Brian’s guitar solo, when a legion of Brians effectively become the Red Special orchestra, who are capable of firing laser beams from their guitars

“This was very ahead of its time at the time, and I think it goes very well with the song. I think it was a good inventive single. I love Brian’s guitar solo in the middle, and the way that was done, I think it’s very clever and I think it’s a neat little video.” – Roger Taylor

“I think this is one of our better efforts again, I think it’s a really good one. Lots of innovation, some very clever effects, and the shooting. Telling the story of how this little boy is playing his video games and the characters come to life and become part of his life. Again, I think the idea’s been done quite a bit since, it doesn’t seem so original now, but it was pretty original in those days.” – Brian May

The video, which certainly received a modicum of airplay in the UK (the single was a Top 20 hit there), has since become a firm favourite amongst Queen fans, appearing on both The Miracle EP and Greatest Flix II VHS releases. It was also included on the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD in 2003.

“We were in Montreux Switzerland, back in 1978, working on new material, it was my birthday and a very jolly happening. Especially Freddie Mercury was feeling good. Early in the evening he was drinking, something he rarely did by then, he was all ‘work work work’.

So he got drunk very fast. At one moment, we were partying in an old castle, he climbed up on the balcony and from there he jumped to the chandelier and swung there for a few minutes in a way it would make Errol Flynn blush. After the swing he landed on a table filled with drinks and food. It’s a miracle he didn’t hurt himself. The day after this, he couldn’t stop laughing about it.”

Roger Taylor

Freddie later said, “I have always wanted to swing from a chandelier. And when I saw this exquisite cut-crystal thing dangling there, I just could not resist it!“

A Beautiful picture of Freddie and Roger snapped by Neal Preston during Queen’s North American ‘Jazz’ Tour 1978

26 July 2019 – Freddie Mercury’s ‘Time Waits For No One’ is released for purchase on CD and a picture disk 7″

The original recording of the song ‘Time’, which Dave Clark co-wrote with John Christie, came out on the soundtrack for the musical of the same name, it was produced with layers of backing vocals and heavy drums.

Dave was warned about working with Freddie, he would be difficult , he was a perfectionist, but it was actually quite a marvelous experience for him. Freddie’s humour was one of the things that made working with him such a delight for Clark.

“When Freddie came into the studio and it was just Mike Moran on the piano and him,” says Clark, “it really was fantastic. Then we got into the track and we did 48 tracks of backing vocals, which had never been done in Abbey Road before. The final version was a 96-track production. Freddie plunged in full force creating a timeless epic. I loved it, Freddie loved it. It was a joint idea to make it different that way. Freddie, at that stage, liked innovative things, so that’s what we aimed to do.

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