| gabriel79 14.10.2004 12:33 |
i 've bougth it it 4 years ago and i'm quite disappointed 'cause the "new" stuff is shit(except new york and few others).i thought there were more finished songs and not this crap that freddie would have never put on a record(at least in these versions) |
| gabriel79 14.10.2004 12:51 |
maybe this topic had already been made. if it's so,sorry |
| Penis - Vagina 14.10.2004 12:59 |
Took you long enough to tell us you don't like it :-P Having just gotten it myself, I know where you're coming from. I think a lot of the stuff was better off unheard :-P But there's enough good stuff to keep me happy, and the book itself is much nicer than I expected. Perhaps a little too large for comfortable viewing, but lots of interesting reading (or as the book itself might say "lot's") and amazing high quality photos. Yeah, there's lots of pluses and minuses. It's nice to have as an archive if someone mentions a track, for reference.. but I'll probably end up making just a single disc of highlights for actual repeated listenings :) |
| gabriel79 14.10.2004 13:03 |
i paid it 200euro.and 200 euro for an highlight cd,a well made book and two dvds are enough. yellow bbreezes and other songs suck.i am a great freddie fan but this release disappointed me(and freddie,of course,is not to blame) |
| Daburcor? 14.10.2004 13:09 |
gabriel79 wrote: i am a great freddie fan but this release disappointed me(and freddie,of course,is not to blame)I dunno... He DID write them. ;) |
| Penis - Vagina 14.10.2004 13:14 |
I just noticed they used the 1992 Hollywood masters of Barcelona & Great Pretender.. didn't remaster them at all. Interesting :-P Hi Dan! |
| PabloArg 14.10.2004 14:04 |
gabriel79 wrote: i paid it 200euro.and 200 euro for an highlight cd,a well made book and two dvds are enough. yellow bbreezes and other songs suck.i am a great freddie fan but this release disappointed me(and freddie,of course,is not to blame)I think, we all knew what we were buying. And if not, we'd have taken look at the tracklist in the Internet. It was not a common release for common people, just some of us would enjoy it. If Freddie would have recorded more tracks like New York and Love makin' love, it could have been released as a new album. But if you knew the set included 10 cds, is to expect that it would be filled with alternative versions, single versions, crappy demos.... Musically, I think the average quality is 5 or 6. But I wasn't expecting more, I don't regret buying it, I would recommend it to other Queen fan, and I would run to buy it if I wouldn't have it now. |
| sexmachine 14.10.2004 18:58 |
it is one of the most beautiful item i have in my collection.don´t want to miss it. |
| Whisperer 15.10.2004 03:08 |
I can't believe what I'm reading! The Solo Collection is awesome!!!!!! I payed 200€ for mine and am completely satisfied. The only thing I'm dissapointed about are those tracks that remained unreleased (Ibex, Wreckage, Time live, Jackson...). Two more discs and the Collection would have been perfect. For me the best demos are definitely Money Can't Buy Me Happiness, Love Makin' Love and Holding On. It's also great to get early versions of released songs such as Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow (love the intro on the demos). The book is very good and it's great that it also has high-quality photos. |
| The Mir@cle 15.10.2004 04:20 |
I think it's the masterpiece of my collection too... The Rareties, the Untold Story, the Book and all the great music. What do you expect more??? |
| Oberon 15.10.2004 04:57 |
Part of the point of it was to see some of the raw talent/work of Freddie Mercury, and that's where the rarities and demos come in. As a representation of what his solo output encompassed, I think it's an excellent collection, notwithstanding the omissions already mentioned. The presentation marks it out as distinguished and is where a fair bit of cost comes in. Face it, they could have bundled 10 CD cases in a cardboard box with a crap booklet and sent that out (and they would've charged a not dissimilar amount probably). But this way, you get a lot of interesting material, both finished and unfinished, in a stylish package. Worth it in my opinion. |
| gabriel79 15.10.2004 05:11 |
ok,i dont regret my euro,i don't want my money back.i just wanted to say that maybe a lot of songs are "crap".the cds i like most are demos 1&2.freddie does amazing things with his voice |
| Mr. Scully 15.10.2004 06:43 |
The truth is that whoever has chosen the demos for the box set, he was probably deaf. There are heaps of demos in the archives and those from the box set are among the worst, I'm sure. Apart from that, the box set is perfect. |
| [ Wybren™ ] 15.10.2004 06:47 |
Whisperer wrote: I can't believe what I'm reading! The Solo Collection is awesome!!!!!! I payed 200€ for mine and am completely satisfied. The only thing I'm dissapointed about are those tracks that remained unreleased (Ibex, Wreckage, Time live, Jackson...). Two more discs and the Collection would have been perfect. For me the best demos are definitely Money Can't Buy Me Happiness, Love Makin' Love and Holding On. It's also great to get early versions of released songs such as Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow (love the intro on the demos). The book is very good and it's great that it also has high-quality photos.You're right. The FM Solo Collection is excellent! (I only miss some songs e.g. Freddie's Last performance and the Michael Jackson demos) |
| Oberon 15.10.2004 09:26 |
Mr. Scully wrote: The truth is that whoever has chosen the demos for the box set, he was probably deaf. There are heaps of demos in the archives and those from the box set are among the worst, I'm sure. Apart from that, the box set is perfect.Heaps of FM solo archive material or queen archive material? |
| Adam Baboolal 15.10.2004 15:30 |
Btw, is there a list of things left off the FM set that could've been included? I've only ever heard about alternate mixes/FM and MJ tracks and of course the Time performances. What else is missing? Peace, Adam. |
| FriedChicken 15.10.2004 16:30 |
Why the hell did they even release a FM boxset, and why didn't they start off with a Queen box right away. Freddie's solo songs already sound very thin and empty on Mr Bad Guy, and it's even worse on demos. Some of the unreleased stuff is very nice. For example the Barcelona stuff, and some songs from Mr Bad Guy (Love makin' Love and Mr Bad Guy) But as for the other 'new' songs...no wonder he didn't finish them. I'm not a fan of Freddie's solo stuff or sound at all. I'm a fan of the Queen sound. But i'm not dissappointed with the boxset. The great package and book alone are worth buying |
| brENsKi 15.10.2004 17:16 |
tell you what gabriel79, tell me how much you want and i'll buy your FM boxset i can't find one anywhere |
| Serry... 15.10.2004 17:36 |
I paid 200 USD and have no regret. It's worth to buy if you're a real fan or a die-hard collector, maybe for an ordinary audience that's not so interesting. By the way, there are still a lot of stuff that is not included anywhere: Exercises In Free Love by Montserrat (well, no Freddie on it, but how about Horns of Doom? Besides Freddie wrote EIFL), I Was born to love you (very early demo) etc. |
| onevsion 16.10.2004 01:23 |
Whisperer wrote: I can't believe what I'm reading! The Solo Collection is awesome!!!!!! I payed 200€ for mine and am completely satisfied. The only thing I'm dissapointed about are those tracks that remained unreleased (Ibex, Wreckage, Time live, Jackson...). Two more discs and the Collection would have been perfect. For me the best demos are definitely Money Can't Buy Me Happiness, Love Makin' Love and Holding On. It's also great to get early versions of released songs such as Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow (love the intro on the demos). The book is very good and it's great that it also has high-quality photos.I fully agree! |
| Penis - Vagina 16.10.2004 07:58 |
I've only got one more disc to go (Rarities 2) whilst making my listening copies and then listening to them. So far I've enjoyed the Mr. Bad Guy sessions the most I think, though I could do without hearing the same song 3-4 times in a row.
I probably would have put it together a bit differently. The instrumentals would all fit on one disc for example. Maybe put all the 12" versions together too, demos for unreleased songs on one disc.. just little things to make it seem like each disc was a sort of full album of different tracks.
I paid only $156 including shipping for the PAL version through Amazon.co.uk. and think that's a pretty good deal :)
In a stroke of good fortune, it arrived slightly damaged (one corner crushed and half the discs loose) so they're sending a replacement in advance of me returning it.. so I get to enjoy it and make my copies whilst awaiting a brand new, sealed copy which I might not even open :)
Amazon.co.uk wrote: Greetings from Amazon.co.uk, We thought you would like to know that the following item has been sent to: Jeffrey Doe 123 W. Anywhere Rd. Wichita KS 67201 United States using International Mail. For more information about delivery estimates and any open orders, please visit: link Your order #00000000000000000000 (received 14 October 2004, 10:23 BST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ordered Title Price Dispatched Subtotal ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Freddie Mercury / Solo (10-CD 0.00 GBP 1 0.00 GBP Sold by Amazon.com Int'l Sales, Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Subtotal: 0.00 GBP Delivery Charge: no charge Total: 0.00 GBP This completes your order. |
| Giacco 73 16.10.2004 09:16 |
Is my music bible,my favourite item ever. Pure Freddie. |
| Penis - Vagina 20.10.2004 17:09 |
In the continuing but now somewhat completed saga of my damaged Freddie box, yesterday the 2nd copy arrived, also damaged. This time 3 of the four corners crushed in slightly. The good news is that the book didn't suffer too much this time, just the slipcase. And the discs weren't loose. So I decided I'd keep it but ask for a discount for the marred slipcase.. after all, I paid for a brand new, perfect copy and this is far from it. Being an expensive and collectible item it would have been nice to have a perfect one. So anyway, that plus I got the estimate for returning the first copy.. $38 by airmail. So I wrote Amazon (UK) and asked for a credit, plus advance pay of the shipping charges because that's a bit much for me after I've already gone broke to buy this damn thing! They agreed, basically.. said to write back after shipping with the exact amount and they'd credit me. And today they have already credited my card 16 pounds (roughly $30) for the damage which means I only paid about $120 U.S. for the thing.. not bad. It's about $230 from the Queen shop. So I just shipped it awhile ago and hopefully they'll credit me that $38 soon. I must say Amazon.co.uk are very nice and trusting people to deal with (they sent me a replacement in advance of me returning the first). Their major problem is improper packing. Both times.. even the 2nd, after I told them exactly why the 1st got damaged.. they ship it in a box which fits the thing perfectly, when flat.. so there's absolutely no protection for the sides and corners.. they're right up against the box. This is a rather large and unusual item, but that's no excuse.. it's also very expensive and they should make darn sure they pack it safely. But they're paying the price. |
| Bohardy 20.10.2004 18:54 |
I remember the day I got my copy from Amazon (the day of release). It was easily the biggest package I've ever had delivered to me, and was packaged nothing like yours. The height of the box was about twice the height of the book itself, and the shape of the box was almost cuboid. Simply, the volume of the box easily was at least 10 times that of the book, and after unpacking it all my room was filled with a mountain of those little polystyrene thingys that padded it all out. We'll never see the likes of those days again. And the only time I ever had to return something to them was when they sent me an Elvis CD instead of the Captain Beefheart I wanted. And they promptly rectified that mistake, no questions. I'd imagine I could have just completely lied upon receipt of the correct disc, and just sent them back some shitty CD I didn't want any more, and got another copy of the original CD, although why I'd want two copies of whatever it might be I don't know. Still, good idea though, if you ask me. |