This tape is the only known recording of 1984's debut performance at Imperial College and gives an interesting insight into the early influences on Brian May in particular. This group of Hampton Grammer School classmates called themselves 1984 after George Orwell's novel, and rehearsed regularly in 1964 and 1965 performing at local church halls and rowing clubs. Having left school with four 'A' levels in the summer of 1965, Brian May enroled at Imperial College, Kensington that autumn to read physics and infa-red astronomy. The recording on this tape was made during May's first term at Imperial College and represents the first of a series of 1984's performances at the college ... a tradition [May] continued later with Smile, and in their formative days, with Queen...The set was a typical one, comprising the group's broad blend of pop, R&B and soul covers... according to Tim Staffell, 1984's repertoire ...was too eclectic to have developed into any particular style... he admits that the Small Faces were fairly influential, Staffell and Richard Thompson liked rhythm and blues, whereas Brian May and Dave Dilloway were fans of The Beatles. Staffell recounts that as a result of the nature of the material that 1984 covered ...our approach to gigs was almost schoolboy cabaret. 1984 was not a dangerous moody rock band! Which may have something to do with the way Queen evolved...