Queen guitarist Brian May has released a video for Otro Lugar, a Spanish language version of the title track of his 1998 album Another World. May describes the song as "A special gift for the Spanish world who have always been incredibly kind to Queen and I."
Another World was reissued last month, and feature a cast of musicians that include Cozy Powell, Jeff Beck, Ian Hunter and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. It's the latest in May's Gold Series reissue programme, which kicked off with the rerelease of 1992's Back To The Light last August.
Otro Lugar appears on the disc of bonus material that accompanies the new release of Another World, and the video features May performing the song in a variety of Canary Island locations.
Tenerife was chosen for the shoot because May completed his Physics PhD at the Teide Observatory on the island, while other locations include the north-westerly island of La Palma, and a "much loved" tree on the island of El Hierro.
"The tree is a great symbol for Another World for me," says May. "And we revisited it. It’s a really ancient tree. It's a kind of juniper. It's a Sabina, as they call it here. But its form is extraordinary - it’s grown in a very harsh environment with constant high winds. So the only way it has survived is by bending - in a long sweeping curve, the tree resembles a beautiful woman with her head thrown back in the wind.
"So we had an amazing trip with these three islands and the gods have been with us. I don't know if someone's looking after us because everywhere we've been, we've had the perfect weather for the shots, and this video should be stupendous."
“So this has been a dream for me, to revisit the places which fuelled my life and also fuelled the creation of this album Another World, particularly the pine forest which encircles the central volcano, El Teide. And that forest is a very special place for me, for many reasons. And that's the place I want to be when I leave this planet, because to me, it's the closest place to Heaven."
May adds, “We filmed two versions of Another World in the Canaries. In fact, we went out mainly to do the Spanish one at the beginning. So it’s kind of fitting that the Spanish one turned out better than the English one! We managed to shoot a lot more in Spanish than in English strangely enough and maybe I worked harder on it, I don’t know. But the shots just seem to come nicely together.”
“When you’re watching this (and you’re English speaking), bear in mind that the Spanish words mean almost exactly the same as the English words. They’re about a parallel universe and what could have happened in Another World."
Otro Lugar originally appeared on the Spanish compilation album Baladas 99, which featured contributions from the likes of Robbie Williams, Nat King Cole, Joe Cocker, The Waterboys and Dr. Hook alongside a host of Spanish artists.
