Roy Thomas Baker, RIP

Roy Thomas Baker, the record producer, who has died aged 78, was the architect of much of Queen’s lavish early sound, an innovative mixture of theatricality and technique that reached its epic peak with the No 1 single Bohemian Rhapsody. (Telegraph obituary, April 25, 2025)

I was going to write about this last week but didn’t have time.

However, after watching Justin Hawkins’ tribute on YouTube last night (Remembering Roy Thomas Baker), I thought I may as well add my tuppence halfpenny.

You see, at the same time Baker was producing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and A Night at the Opera (one of five Queen albums he produced, the best – in my opinion – being Sheer Heart Attack), he was also working on Futurama by Be Bop Deluxe.

Released in July 1975, it’s still one of my favourite albums from that period.

The first Be Bop Deluxe records I bought were actually the two subsequent albums - Sunburst Finish, released in February 1976, and Modern Music (September 1976) - which the band produced themselves.

Modern Music was lacking an obvious hit single so in October 1976 EMI released Hot Valves, a four-track EP that featured one song from each of the band’s four albums at that time.

Hot Valves introduced me to ‘Maid in Heaven’ from Futurama, and I loved it so much I bought the album.

Production wise the record has Roy Thomas Baker’s finger prints all over it. It’s melodic but bombastic (sound familiar?), as if everything bar the kitchen sink has been thrown into the mix.

Hot Valves featuring ‘Made In Heaven’ was a very minor hit, but you may be familiar with the track because Johnny Walker sometimes played it on Sounds of the Seventies.

At two minutes 26 seconds it's a blast of pure pop perfection (!) so I never understood why it didn't do better.

Futurama songs you will rarely if ever hear on the radio (but are worth listening to) include the opening and closing tracks, ‘Stage Whispers’ and ‘Between The Worlds’, both of which have that signature Roy Thomas Baker sound.

Best of all perhaps is ‘Love With The Madman’, a track that features soaring vocals and guitars that build slowly to a climax.

To get the full effect of Baker’s production on Futurama you really need to listen to the whole album from beginning to end, as intended. At times it sounds like a runaway train, quite different to the more controlled Be Bop Deluxe albums that were to follow.

Remarkably, given the overall sound, the band was just a three-piece when they recorded Futurama at Rockfield Studios in Wales.

Bill Nelson, who founded the band, had this to say following the release of a remastered version in 2019:

“There were a lot of japes going on, and games and jokes being played on people, and I was into my second album with a new line-up … I was so intensely serious about getting this one right. It was a big thing for me …

“Roy had set the mixing desk on fire at one point … We ended being friends but I think he got the impression that I was too intense and I got the impression that he was too silly.”

Click here for the full interview. Bill’s comments on Baker begin at 11:20.

Talking of bombast, a less successful example of Roy Thomas Baker at full throttle was Overnight Angels, the 1977 album he (over) produced for Ian Hunter (formerly of Mott the Hoople).

Apart from the pulsating title track and the singles ‘England Rocks’ and ‘Justice of the Peace’, it’s a hard record to like, and I say that as someone who has every Mott album (from 1969) and most of Ian Hunter’s solo records. (He’s still recording and releasing albums, even at the age of 84.)

Anyway, I'll finish by posting a link to my favourite Queen song produced by Roy Thomas Baker and while it could be 'Bohemian Rhapsody' it's not.

Click here to find out.

See also: Roy Thomas Baker, Producer of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ the Cars, Foreigner and More, Dies at 78 (Variety)