By Brad Gallagher:
It all began in 2999. The earth is at peace once again since the space wars are finally over. The earth is now being protected by the “Earth Defense Force” and all is good. Until… One day when an alien battle cruiser appears, commanded by Makara, whose goal is to steel the “F-Zero-One” from the earth’s possession and deliver it to her boss, “The Imperial Master”. However, nobody on the earth is completely sure what the F-Zero-One is, or where it can be found. And I am not going to tell you because that might spoil the ending for those of you who want to watch it for yourself.
This was the premise of a television series that aired in October of 1982 in Great Brittan. The name of the series was “Star Fleet”, and a little 4 year old boy and his father watched it every Sunday morning. The show ran for 24 weeks in the UK with each episode lasting 30 minutes. So, why am I telling you this? Well..
As The Story Goes:
The little 4 year old boy was a lad named Jimmy May. He was the son of Brian May, the lead guitarist for a band who went by the name “Queen”. Of course now that I said that, you probably have one of his guitar riffs running through your head. I know I do. Maybe something from “Bohemian Rhapsody”, or “Killer Queen”? Well, as I said, Brian and Jimmy May watched the Star Fleet television show every Sunday morning. At the beginning and at the end of each episode there was a theme song that was played. And one morning Jimmy turned to his dad and asked him if he could play that song.
At that request, the wheels in Brian May’s head began turning and he got an idea. As it turns out, Queen had been on a long stretch of endless work. They had been doing tours for nine months at a time with three months of studio time in between tours. It had been a few year since they had had any down time. So they had decided to take a break, not only from their work, but also from each other.
May’s idea, which was seeded by his son’s comment, was to take the theme from the Star Fleet television show and record it in his own style. He did not want to do this with the rest of the members of Queen though, so he called his friend Edward Van Halen and asked him if he would be interested in joining him in the endeavor. Ironically, Van Halen was also taking a break during that time and Eddie agreed to join in. Also joining them were REO Speedwagon drummer Alan Gratzer, Phil Chen who frequently played bass for Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck, and Fred Mandel who played keyboard for Alice Cooper. Together they formed the “Star Fleet Project”.
They went into “Record Plant Studios” in LA on April 21 and 22 of 1983 and recorded three songs. The first, of course, was “Star Fleet”, May’s take on the show’s theme song. The second song was called “Let Me Out”. This was a song written by May years earlier but never released on a Queen album. In this song, May and Van Halen go back and forth trading off playing guitar as compliments to each other throughout the song. And apparently it was quite high octane because Eddie played with such intent that he snapped his top guitar string during the recording. And the third song, “Blues Breaker”, was a 13 minute totally instrumental improvisation on the parts of May and Van Halen. They dedicated this song to Eric Clapton, who in 1966 had released an album with “John Mayall and the Blues Breakers” and has ever since been know as one of the Blues Breakers.
The Star Fleet Project was the one and only recording released by this group of musicians, and was dubbed by May as a mini-album. It was too short to be considered a regular album, but too long to be releases as a single. For the guitar enthusiast it was a masterpiece, and for the fan of improvisational music it was a dream come true. The album didn’t get recognized at first, but by the end of 1983 it had become the #35 album on the UK charts, and the #125 album on the US charts. The single, “Star Fleet”, topped out at #65 in the US for a brief time and then faded away.
Fast forward 40 years to 2023. On June 1, May re-released the Star Fleet Project on digital media as “The Star Fleet Sessions”, and released the CD worldwide on July 14, 2023. This release included the original three songs along with 20 other never before released songs. The 2023 release soared up the charts in Germany, Japan, Scotland, Switzerland, and the UK. So, if you missed the 1983 release, check out the 2023 version. Available worldwide.
So now you know. Please come back and see me real soon on As The Story Goes. And check out the Brian May’s video on the next line. It’s pretty cool.
Click here to see Brian May’s Star Fleet video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lC54X5Gc1Q
Click here to watch the first of the 24 episodes of the original tv show Star Fleet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7QrlLLtLI
Did you know that you can have my blogs delivered straight to your inbox? Just visit my home page and sign up. https://as-the-story-goes.com/home/
AS THE STORY GOES 