| Stelios 01.04.2014 08:41 |
Do you know what any of Brian , Roger or John have said over the years about Mercury's projects? Have any of them shared opinions? Most importantly Barcelona? (album or spasific track/tracks) Mr Bad Guy? ( the same as above) Or any of the : In my defence Time Love Kills ( i think innitially was a Queen track) The Great Pretender |
| noorie 01.04.2014 09:07 |
Well, Roger participated in the 'In my defence' video... and he seemed to be having a good time doing it. |
| Stelios 01.04.2014 09:33 |
noorie wrote: Well, Roger participated in the 'In my defence' video... and he seemed to be having a good time doing it. You mean to The Great Pretender video. |
| noorie 01.04.2014 09:43 |
Ooops. Sorry. Yes, I meant 'The Great pretender' video. |
| musicland munich 01.04.2014 11:25 |
To the complete Mr.Bad Guy Album - according to Roger, Freddie did it because his american label offers him a bunch of money. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 01.04.2014 12:37 |
Roger told me he likes some things of Barcelona, but not the complete album. And Made in heaven (the song, not the production) A near person, Fred Mandel: I was invited to Thanksgiving at Roger's place in November of 1988. Queen was having a buffet dinner and were kind enough to invite me. I was in the middle of recording an Elton John album at Air Studios in London at the time. All the band members of Queen were present as well as some friends from the road crew. It was great to see everybody again and we had a really nice evening. We didn't do any playing, just eating, drinking, talking and laughing. Freddie asked Ratty and I to stay behind after everyone had left. He wanted to play the new duet album he had done with Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé. I thought it sounded great! Unfortunately, it was the last time I ever saw Freddie. |
| AlbaNo1 01.04.2014 14:52 |
Brian May seemed a bit snidey in one of the recently made documentaries stating the solo stuff hadnt worked out "economically" for Freddie. You would think, but wouldnt exactly be sure, that they must have had some respect for the Mr Bad Guy material they reworked into the Made In Heaven album. |
| The Real Wizard 01.04.2014 15:20 |
musicland munich wrote: To the complete Mr.Bad Guy Album - according to Roger, Freddie did it because his american label offers him a bunch of money.Well, it's pretty normal for a record company to advance money to finance an album... AlbaNo1 wrote: Brian May seemed a bit snidey in one of the recently made documentaries stating the solo stuff hadnt worked out "economically" for Freddie. You would think, but wouldnt exactly be sure, that they must have had some respect for the Mr Bad Guy material they reworked into the Made In Heaven album.a) the rest of the band were pretty miffed that Mercury got a bigger advance for Mr Bad Guy than they got for The Works, and b) despite not wanting to work with Queen, Freddie hired session musicians to sound like them, particularly a guitarist that sounded like a second rate version of Brian. Can't blame him for the slight sour spot. But clearly they liked some of the songs themselves underneath all the cheese. If it wasn't for Live Aid, this amongst other things would've probably torn them apart. |
| Stelios 01.04.2014 17:49 |
@The Real Wizard "a) the rest of the band were pretty miffed that Mercury got a bigger advance for Mr Bad Guy than they got for The Works" You mean Columbia gave Freddie a bigger budget to work on than EMI gave to Queen for The Works? |
| musicland munich 01.04.2014 17:57 |
The Real Wizard wrote:I guess the deeper meaning in Rogers statement was that Freddie's heart wasn't with that particular Album...he did it almost exclusivly for his wallet.musicland munich wrote: To the complete Mr.Bad Guy Album - according to Roger, Freddie did it because his american label offers him a bunch of money.Well, it's pretty normal for a record company to advance money to finance an album... |
| The Real Wizard 02.04.2014 01:39 |
Stelios wrote: @The Real Wizard "a) the rest of the band were pretty miffed that Mercury got a bigger advance for Mr Bad Guy than they got for The Works" You mean Columbia gave Freddie a bigger budget to work on than EMI gave to Queen for The Works?Indeed, yes. |
| The Real Wizard 02.04.2014 01:39 |
musicland munich wrote:Hard to say. The only person who truly knew isn't here to answer.The Real Wizard wrote:I guess the deeper meaning in Rogers statement was that Freddie's heart wasn't with that particular Album...he did it almost exclusivly for his wallet.musicland munich wrote: To the complete Mr.Bad Guy Album - according to Roger, Freddie did it because his american label offers him a bunch of money.Well, it's pretty normal for a record company to advance money to finance an album... That said - it's not like he needed the money. He was pretty wealthy by then. |
| Stelios 02.04.2014 06:03 |
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| Stelios 02.04.2014 06:04 |
musicland munich wrote: To the complete Mr.Bad Guy Album - according to Roger, Freddie did it because his american label offers him a bunch of money.I think it was on " The great Pretender" documentary that it was stated by a producer ( perhaps it was David Richards) that by the time Freddie he presented to him the final mix of Mr Bad Guy, he seemed already out of it. The producer said that in point Freddie was like " ok,enough with this let me put a record of a great opera diva". On other occasions he seemed excited about Mr. Bad Guy. Like "i made the orchestra play every note they had never played in their life" or the famous " so ask me about my solo album- oh its great". So perhaps he started with great enthusiasm but lost it in the process(...too much freedom can be a backlash creativly) , and ALSO becouse he may already been flirting with the idea of a real original and unique project- his collaboration with Caballe- or at least with a project of that calliber rather than "another bunch of songs" album wich Mr. Bad Guy was. |
| Mike G 02.04.2014 09:35 |
Brian was a Fan of Barcelona, I remember an interview of his him saying this...and the song Made In Heaven... |
| Mike G 02.04.2014 09:41 |
Stelios wrote:It's hard to figure out what was going on in his head with Mr. Bad Guy...He could have hired top notch players with the money he had...Cozy powell on drums, jeff beck on guitar, ect, ect...The guy deserved a solo album, Roger had a few already...why not Freddie?musicland munich wrote: To the complete Mr.Bad Guy Album - according to Roger, Freddie did it because his american label offers him a bunch of money.I think it was on " The great Pretender" documentary that it was stated by a producer ( perhaps it was David Richards) that by the time Freddie he presented to him the final mix of Mr Bad Guy, he seemed already out of it. The producer said that in point Freddie was like " ok,enough with this let me put a record of a great opera diva". On other occasions he seemed excited about Mr. Bad Guy. Like "i made the orchestra play every note they had never played in their life" or the famous " so ask me about my solo album- oh its great". So perhaps he started with great enthusiasm but lost it in the process(...too much freedom can be a backlash creativly) , and ALSO becouse he may already been flirting with the idea of a real original and unique project- his collaboration with Caballe- or at least with a project of that calliber rather than "another bunch of songs" album wich Mr. Bad Guy was. |
| Vocal harmony 02.04.2014 10:16 |
The simple fact is that when left to his own devices FM's song writing and performance across the spectrum of a whole album didn't live up to expectations. Columbia were obviously expecting Mr Bad Guy to out sell what Queen were doing. And I'm sure Freddie thought so too. Jim Beach is even on film saying that after Mr Bad Guy FM came back to band with his tail between his legs. Reading between the lines, as it was, could the Jim Beach coment be taken as FM was taking the initial steps to a split from the band, which he didn't go through with because of the way the album stiffed. |
| Mike G 02.04.2014 10:42 |
It really had nothing to do with Freddie couldn't make great music on his own, Even in Queen his music isn't what it was in the 70's...A kind of /magic wasn't the greatest album in the world either...He only wrote one really good song on that album.....The bottom line is every writer goes through dry spells...ups and downs...Barcelona was one of the best albums he ever done IMO, I know other people who feel the same way...Not every album is gonna be on that level. Once he got the prince/Jackson/duran duran influence out of his system the results were there...And course when he stopped the partying...He didn't have a long enough solo career to Judge how he would have done..Remember, Bad Guy was recorded between Queen records and tours...Barcelona he had more time, and had Mike moran to push him....I think Freddie did get a bit lazy in the 80's....In the 70's he didn't need a push to record complex music...Saying all that, I don't think he ever would have become the hit machine he was in the first ten years of Queen career...Once you lose that, it's hard to get it back.... |
| musicland munich 03.04.2014 18:47 |
The Real Wizard wrote:linkStelios wrote: @The Real Wizard "a) the rest of the band were pretty miffed that Mercury got a bigger advance for Mr Bad Guy than they got for The Works" You mean Columbia gave Freddie a bigger budget to work on than EMI gave to Queen for The Works?Indeed, yes. According to this rumour by Mr. Fest - I guess we are talking about a lot of cash...well "if" that is true. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 03.04.2014 19:16 |
Mack said Freddie began with full or energy, but the temptations in Munich....disturbed the right direction of the album. Rudolph Schenker was asked by Freddie to play as guest musician. |
| Pingfah 04.04.2014 10:45 |
The Real Wizard wrote:If I recall correctly it was the biggest advance they had ever given to a solo artist.Stelios wrote: @The Real Wizard "a) the rest of the band were pretty miffed that Mercury got a bigger advance for Mr Bad Guy than they got for The Works" You mean Columbia gave Freddie a bigger budget to work on than EMI gave to Queen for The Works?Indeed, yes. |
| Sebastian 06.04.2014 02:30 |
The bottom line is, they were all quite supportive of Freddie's one and only solo album, as they were of his duet album. Likewise, Freddie wrote to the Fan Club in 1981 that he really liked Roger's début record, and it was he who persuaded Brian to release 'Driven by You', which also implies he thought highly of it. All four band members did a lot of cameos on their bandmates off-Queen projects, and there used to be a lot of crosspollination (e.g., some sessions for 'The Miracle', 'Back to the Light' and 'Barcelona' overlapped, as did 'Innuendo', 'Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know', 'Macbeth' and, again, 'Back to the Light'). |
| cmsdrums 06.04.2014 03:54 |
Sebastian wrote: The bottom line is, they were all quite supportive of Freddie's one and only solo album, as they were of his duet album. Likewise, Freddie wrote to the Fan Club in 1981 that he really liked Roger's début record, and it was he who persuaded Brian to release 'Driven by You', which also implies he thought highly of it..My reading of the Driven By You release was not necessarily that Freddie liked it (though he may well have done), but that Brian was going to delay it due to Freddie's illness and imminent death, but Freddie insisted that he carry on as that shouldn't interfere with the already planned release. |
| Stelios 06.04.2014 05:57 |
cmsdrums wrote:I remember reading a quote implying that Freddie said to Brian that this would be great timing as Driven By You would have an advance due to attention from his death. But even for Freddie's standards i think this is stretching things a bit too much.Sebastian wrote: The bottom line is, they were all quite supportive of Freddie's one and only solo album, as they were of his duet album. Likewise, Freddie wrote to the Fan Club in 1981 that he really liked Roger's début record, and it was he who persuaded Brian to release 'Driven by You', which also implies he thought highly of it..My reading of the Driven By You release was not necessarily that Freddie liked it (though he may well have done), but that Brian was going to delay it due to Freddie's illness and imminent death, but Freddie insisted that he carry on as that shouldn't interfere with the already planned release. |
| Darren_1977 06.04.2014 15:23 |
It seems strange to me that Ford wanted Brian to record a song for them and not the band. |
| Sebastian 07.04.2014 18:09 |
What I read (and there could be a kind of broken telephone or whatever, I'm aware of that) is that Brian at some point asked Freddie to sing it but he (Freddie) said it was absolutely fine with Brian's voice. Then Brian told him he was apprehensive about releasing it when there was so much press about Freddie's health and Fred replied he (Brian) wouldn't be able to get better advertising than that. The fact DBY was released the day after Freddie died was a coincidence: for it to have been released, they most likely planned it ca 6 weeks in advance (at least) and, of course, by then, they didn't know the exact date when Fred was gonna die... they knew it could be any moment, but not necessarily the exact one. |
| Stelios 07.04.2014 19:02 |
Sebastian wrote: The fact DBY was released the day after Freddie died was a coincidence.Oh, i didn't knew that! However according to wikipedia "It was released on 6 November 1991, just 18 days before the death of May's bandmate Freddie Mercury." |
| Sebastian 08.04.2014 02:55 |
Could anyone clarify this? Wiki's not always reliable, but maybe the web or mag where I read it isn't reliable either.... |
| cmsdrums 09.04.2014 06:06 |
I recall it being released on the 25th November 1991, and the fact that 6 November 91 wasn't a Monday (the traditional day of the week for UK releases at that time) makes me think that Wiki is incorrect. |
| cmsdrums 09.04.2014 06:08 |
On a related point to teh band's view on Freddie's material, does anyone have any knowledge of Mike Moran's view on the new edition of Barcelona? I'm intrigued as to why Stuart Morley, and not Moran, reworked it. Perhaps Moran was asked and didn't want to do it, but I'd like to know if there is any extensive reporting of his opinion on it being done in principal and also his thoughts on the (variable) results. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 10.04.2014 11:13 |
Mike Moran doesn't like the new edition and he was not asked for. |
| cmsdrums 10.04.2014 12:05 |
Thanks - any published interviews with Moran confirming this? |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 10.04.2014 17:23 |
Ony my word talking with him, sorry. Will publish it in a next article I'm writting. |
| The Real Wizard 10.04.2014 17:35 |
If that's the case, then maybe he wouldn't want those views made available for public consumption... |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 10.04.2014 18:52 |
It was an interview. |
| cmsdrums 12.04.2014 14:53 |
Cheers - thank you! |
| cmsdrums 12.04.2014 14:55 |
The singer in my last band worked in the studio with Mike Moran, but she was a stupid cow who had no idea of anything and didn't even know who he was, so trying to get her to ask him any interesting questions was a waste of time! |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 12.04.2014 18:51 |
What a shame! Mike is a gentleman. To me, with Mack and Fred Mandel, the most charm persons I ever known from 'Queen's world'. Recently, for a quotes compilation I'm doing for The Mission "best of" art work, I asked him for them, and answer very fast. |