By Steve Newton
One of my favourite prog-metal albums of all time is Operation: Mindcrime, released by Seattle-based Queensrÿche in the Year of Our Metal Lord, 1988.
It was a concept album about a drug addict who becomes disillusioned with the corrupt society of his time and reluctantly becomes an assassin for a revolutionary group.
Operation: Mindcrime went platinum in the States, and was so great that it spawned a sequel, Operation: Mindcrime II in 2006.
Although the immense vocal talents of singer and co-songwriter Geoff Tate had an awful lot to do with the success of Queensrÿche in the ’80s and ’90s, he was fired from the band in 2012. But Tate’s fondness for the musical ideals set forth in Operation: Mindcrime remains intact, as he is scheduled to release Operation: Mindcrime III under his own name in early May.
He recently released the first single from the upcoming disc, “Power”, and from the sound of things his vocals are still in great shape–and his current guitar players ain’t too shabby, either.
The best news for fans of the original album, though, is today’s announcement that Tate will be performing it in its entirety when he plays the Great Canadian Casino Vancouver on October 10. And that’s a Saturday, to boot!
Back in the day I loved Operation: Mindcrime from start to finish, but felt that the biggest highlight was “Spreading the Disease”, a harsh track about a teenage prostitute-turned-nun who falls under the spell of a corrupt priest. The entire band is smokin’ on that track, but what really stands out for me is Tate‘s dynamic vocals.
When I interviewed Tate for the first time, back in 1991, he explained that the ambitious Mindcrime wasn’t an easy project to tackle.
“It really took up a good portion of our lives,” he said, “but it was one of those experiences that you look back on and think, ‘God, are we ever gonna experience something like that again?’ It was a very magical time. Everyone in the band was really into the record, and we were all very much in sync. And then when [producer] Peter Collins got involved, it all really fell together from a sonic standpoint.
“It did get a bit excessive,” admitted Tate. “Like in the opening sequence, where the nurse is walking down the hall into [protagonist] Nicky’s room. We were figuring out the dimensions of the room, and entering these into a computer, and trying to decide what speed the reverb should be on her footsteps as she walked across the room to turn off the TV set. But looking back on it, it was important to try to create some realism. At least it was important to us.”
When I interviewed Tate for the third time, in 2004, he suggested that it was the intriguing storyline of Mindcrime that causes fans to continually clamour for its live performance.
“It’s the classic story of the strong manipulating the weak,” he related. “It was written in a kind of tumultuous time, in the late ’80s with the Reagan/Bush administration–building empires, you know–and part of that was definitely an inspiration for the album. So there’s songs about revolution and changing the way things are. And it’s a love story, too.”
“I have a lot of good memories of making the record,” he added. “It was very much a creative high for the band, and quite an undertaking to tackle an album like that. But we like to work with themes and concepts and stories, you know. It kind of opens up some musical ground, and pushes you in a different direction.”
And, holy crap–talk about lyrics that are as relevant today as they were back in ’88, maybe even more so. The two choruses from “Revolution Calling” alone sound like they could be ripped from today’s headlines (if you could even believe today’s headlines):
I used to trust the media to tell me the truth, tell us the truthBut now I’ve seen the payoffs everywhere I lookWho do you trust when everyone’s a crook?
I used to think that only America’s way, way was rightBut now the holy dollar rules everybody’s livesGotta make a million–doesn’t matter who dies!
Presale for Geoff Tate’s October 10 Vancouver show is on now, and you can find tickets here. Password is MINDCRIME.
To hear the full audio of my interviews with Geoff Tate from 1991 and 2000 subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 600 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.
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