BRIAN MAY & FRIENDS

Star Fleet Project 40th Anniversary Edition (UME)

Brilliantly remastered for its 40th birthday, Queen guitarist Brian May’s take on the theme tune to Star Fleet – the Japanese lovechild of Thunderbirds and Star Trek – is irresistibly infectious in the levels of sheer joy and energy on these recordings. Born out of a rare period of downtime in 1983, when Queen just needed a break from each other after years of touring and recording, Brian took the chance to assemble a group of friends for a mini album of creative curios.

The playing is pretty fantastic from the whole band, and Brian’s vocals, which could often sound a little light and underpowered in Queen up against Freddie and Roger, sound as strong as ever here. But what is really thrilling is to hear Brian playing alongside his friend, guitar god Eddie Van Halen – who puts on his usual display of fretboard pyrotechnics.

The box set version is full of outtakes of the original three songs: Star Fleet itself, Let Me Out (a mid-tempo blues with a real tune) and Bluesbreaker, a tribute to Eric Clapton. Supposedly Clapton didn’t appreciate the ragtag efforts of this scratch band and the warts-and-all playing may not be to everyone’s taste. But if you want to know what out-of-this-world players do with their downtime, this will get you a closer look at the stars.

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES