Yet another Bohemian Rhapsody cover.
January 28, 2012 7:36 PM   Subscribe

We've had a lot of posts about Bohemian Rhapsody, but this is worth one more listen. Richie Castellano has put together a one man show, split screen version of Queen's hit, and nails it!
posted by HuronBob (45 comments total) 37 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wow, he really *does* nail it. That was awesome!!!
posted by hincandenza at 7:42 PM on January 28, 2012


Sorry, I should say that was fucking amazing!!!
posted by hincandenza at 7:45 PM on January 28, 2012


for the first 5 seconds i was like "oh, he's a pud, and this is gonna be a spoof-version". wrong! nailed it is right.
posted by facetious at 7:52 PM on January 28, 2012


Boredom is a hell of a drug.

Nice guitar solo face.
posted by XhaustedProphet at 7:52 PM on January 28, 2012


Nestled in the YouTube thread he writes: "Some people were interested in hearing my Bohemian Rhapsody lead vocal track by itself. Here is the lead vocal and double vocal tracks solo'd with all the plugins turned off. "
posted by rh at 7:55 PM on January 28, 2012


more about Richie here.
posted by HuronBob at 7:55 PM on January 28, 2012


Great calling card for a jack-of-all-trades session musician, I should think.
posted by davejay at 7:57 PM on January 28, 2012 [4 favorites]


Nestled in the YouTube thread he writes: "Some people were interested in hearing my Bohemian Rhapsody lead vocal track by itself. Here is the lead vocal and double vocal tracks solo'd with all the plugins turned off. "

Oof.
posted by entropone at 7:58 PM on January 28, 2012


"My Name is Richie Castellano. I was born in Brooklyn on February 7th, 1980."

Goddammit.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:22 PM on January 28, 2012 [2 favorites]


Total metafilter 'twilight zone' moment - I was on a BOC listening kick today and decided to go to their official site to see who was in the band these days besides Ed Bloom/Buck Dharma - and then I read all about Richie via his official site. Come back here in the eve and there's this post! Crazy - but needless to say a talented guy!
posted by mctsonic at 8:49 PM on January 28, 2012


For comparison's sake:
The original
The obligatory Wayne's World version
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:03 PM on January 28, 2012


The arpeggio sounded a little flat.
posted by Flashman at 9:04 PM on January 28, 2012


In the interest of fair and balanced reporting, my video where I show I have no talent playing or singing any of the parts will be up on youtube soon.

(Really, this was pretty great.)
posted by maxwelton at 9:10 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]


Really, really impressive musician.

But boy does it remind me that Freddie Mercury died way too soon.
posted by bpm140 at 9:17 PM on January 28, 2012 [4 favorites]


Dear Richie
Would you be interested in an unpaid internship at my work so I can include you in an otherwise terrible karaoke night?
Thanks
posted by chapps at 9:24 PM on January 28, 2012 [4 favorites]


His blog post on his obsession of the song:

I couldn't handle how awesome it was. I listened to the song non stop. I didn't even bother to listen to any of the other songs on the CD. Then something horrible happened. I realized I was going to have to leave my house at some point and I wouldn't be able to listen to it! I got fresh batteries and put them in my cassette walkman. Then I took a 60 minute cassette tape and recorded Bohemian Rhapsody 10 times in a row on each side.
posted by june made him a gemini at 9:24 PM on January 28, 2012 [6 favorites]


An all-around pro.
posted by Ardiril at 9:27 PM on January 28, 2012


I effing hate super-talented, mega-passionate people like this. Makes me feel so damn inadequate.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:27 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]


You have "polyglot" for language. What is the term for a polyglot-esque musician?
posted by bz at 9:28 PM on January 28, 2012


That was quite good.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:33 PM on January 28, 2012


Nestled in the YouTube thread he writes: "Some people were interested in hearing my Bohemian Rhapsody lead vocal track by itself. Here is the lead vocal and double vocal tracks solo'd with all the plugins turned off. "

Oof.
posted by entropone at 7:58 PM on January 28 [+] [!]


By 'oof' you mean 'that's really good', yes?
posted by Sebmojo at 9:35 PM on January 28, 2012


That might be the best version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Like, the single best one. Ever.

I'm actually not kidding. That's amazing.
posted by Malor at 9:35 PM on January 28, 2012


He missed a note.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:39 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]


I went in prepared to shut it off after a minute or so and stayed for the whole thing. Wow, this guys has some serious talent.
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:44 PM on January 28, 2012


That blog post is one of the most inspiring things I've ever read.
posted by davebush at 9:45 PM on January 28, 2012


Very nice. I like how he wore different shirts for the different parts.
posted by cabingirl at 9:45 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]


Brain. Esplode.

(Now where is that old copy of Protools? I need to get to work).
posted by J.W. at 9:47 PM on January 28, 2012


Pretty impressive indeed... he didn’t even need to use any Muppets.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:40 PM on January 28, 2012 [2 favorites]


The unprocessed version of the vocals is worth listening to.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:06 PM on January 28, 2012


I kept waiting to hear him not hit it perfectly. It never happened. I honestly didn't believe it was possible for one person to be able to nail every single aspect of this song. What an amazing feat of musicianship.

Thanks for the post!
posted by blurker at 11:07 PM on January 28, 2012


This is one of my favourite songs and he does it justice. Holy crap does he ever. Man, listening to his unprocessed version...jeez. This guy is just so good.

Also, thanks to his clear enunciation of "leave you all behind and face the truth," I now know, much to my chagrin, that I have been belting out the lyrics INCORRECTLY all these years as "fade through." Yes I know that makes no sense.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:20 PM on January 28, 2012


Not to derail too much, but I have to also express my approval of P!nk covering this song in concert. Not just because she and her band do a surprisingly great job, but also because what's the point of being a famous pop star if you never do something like gather your band together and say, "Guys? Tonight we're doing ... Bohemian Rhapsody. That's right." It's like Stephen Colbert swinging around a light saber on his show. That's what fame and celebrity is for.
posted by straight at 11:56 PM on January 28, 2012 [3 favorites]


How dare you. How dare you all. A SLYT of some nobody trying to cover one of the great songs by one of the greatest vocalists in Rock?

Oh, he's 'nailing it' you say? Yeah, uh huh, I don't think so. I give it a minute.

(one minute later) Meh. He's not terrible, but these cheesy effects are reason enough to stop... oh, they've stopped. Fine, I'll give it another thirty seconds.

(about 30 seconds later) In fairness he's playing all of these instruments himself, so I guess he deserves some respect for that. And his singing is decent, I guess.

(another minute) Huh, the backup vocals are actually pretty impressive... Wait. Wow, are you kidding me? OMG THIS GUY IS TOTALLY NAILING EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THIS SONG.

Wow!

You know, I owe everybody an apology. Sometimes cynicism can lead you astray. You all were right and I was wrong. This was as impressive as it was enjoyable. Thank you very much for sharing this!
posted by Davenhill at 12:37 AM on January 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


He also does the full symphony of Beethoven's Ninth split screen.
posted by stbalbach at 12:37 AM on January 29, 2012


It's no Biryani Rhapsody though.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:55 AM on January 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


I'm not sure how, but somewhere he manages to turn bohemian rhapsody into a hair-metal song.
posted by charles kaapjes at 2:23 AM on January 29, 2012


I like the 'rocking out' -phase more in Porkka Playboys version.
posted by Free word order! at 3:38 AM on January 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


This vindicates all the BS covers of Bohemian Rhapsody. Bravo!
posted by ersatz at 3:43 AM on January 29, 2012


He even nailed the use of the Clapper for the lights at the beginning!
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 6:13 AM on January 29, 2012


I was on a BOC listening kick today and decided to go to their official site to see who was in the band these days besides Ed Bloom/Buck Dharma

Eric Bloom, sir.
posted by jonmc at 8:08 AM on January 29, 2012


It is "almost-as-good". One of the unexpected consequences of that is it helps quantify "good" - I listened to the original straight after, and I appreciated it more. This is like wine tasting - it's the subtle difference that reveals the depth.

I'm off to write a self help book premised on this insight.
posted by falcon at 8:35 AM on January 29, 2012


If I didn't already think BÖC were geniuses, their bringing this kid into the band would seal the deal.
posted by Scram at 10:24 AM on January 29, 2012


This is incredibly impressive, but then it got me thinking how much more impressive is it to create that song without having an original version to reference for each part. Queen literally recorded a masterpiece. They were quite excellent.
posted by TwoWordReview at 4:59 PM on January 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


The best part of this -- and this is no disrespect to his musicianship -- is his face.
posted by swift at 8:02 PM on January 29, 2012


Fair play that was quite good!!!!
posted by theideasfactory at 7:21 AM on January 30, 2012


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