In my opinion it was the era between 1988 and 1989. Freddie's voice isn't that aggressive
anymore like in 1986 but still powerful what makes
it almost flying over the instruments.
I really love it and wish the Miracle Album would
have been a bit better (except Breakthru or Scandal, but it's still a great album anyway.
cheers
Well being honest all the later stuff (Miracle, Innuendo, some stuff on Made In Heaven) should really be counted as his best. Given his illness yet his trademark vocal is stamped all over the albums.
to be honest i've always prefered his husky 80's voice, its why he smoked & the most of the miracle sessions were recorded in 1988 & the outtakes from barcelona on his box set which covered similiar period 87-88 which continued as far as march 1988, most likely when freddie was gearing up for what would be The Miracle, are wonderful esepcially the demos with just Freddie's voice on them "the fallen priest" "guide me home" etc..
the 70's era where their funniest songs..
the Magic Tour was their best tour
I've the biggest respect for Freddie for the last three albums .. especially Innuendo
But live .. then the beginning 80's was Freddie's voice at his best; rough, but with a range that was better than during the Magic Tour
Does anybody know why Freddie's voice had changed so much live in the 84-85-86 years ? The first live Queen album I ever heard was Live at Wembley back in 1992 and though the show was powerful, I was very disappointed by Freddie's voice, which was very weak in comparison with that of the albums...at some time in this concert, I wouldn't have guessed it was Freddie singing if I hadn't known it ! A friend of mine told me at that time that she couldn't recognize Freddie's voice as it was so different (and definitely worse) than in the studio...
And this is not only in Wembley but actually it seems that his voice had really deepened in the Works tour and in the Magic tour...I noticed this in the videotape "The magic years vol. 2" where the concert excerpts from Rock in Rio (1985) and concerts in Australia show a Freddie with exactly the same voice than in Wembley 86, that's to say horrible when one thinks of what he was able to do a few years before.
There is however a very noticeable exception in this period : during Live Aid 85, his voice sounds almost like his 80-82 live voice, and this is probably one of the most reasons this show has been so successful.
It's only when I bought and heard "Live Killers" that I felt relieved : Freddie was really able to sing live like in the studio in 1979, his performance on "don't stop me now" is astounding as his voice is exactly the same than in the studio version and he reaches all the high notes...
By the way, his best live performances are :
- Houston 1977 ("my melancholy blues", absolutely wonderfully sung)
- Montreal 1981 ("we will rock you" DVD)
- Sao Paulo 1981 ("somebody to love", even better than in Milton Keynes)
His voice is also very good and impressive at Milton Keynes, and I agree that Freddie's vocal masterpiece this night is "play the game" which is indeed better sung than in the "the game" record.
cloud9 wrote: I think the 'Innuendo' and 'Made in heaven' albums show his true talent. He really gives his all and the albums are amazing to listen to. Even though he was very ill it's uplifting.
but as you say in your profile - you don't have that many albums of queen yet
come back and say that innuendo and made in heaven are freddie's voice at it's best AFTER you have listened to Sheer Heart Attack, Queen I and Queen II
these albums blow everything else away - vocally
Frenchfroggy wrote: Does anybody know why Freddie's voice had changed so much live in the 84-85-86 years ? The first live Queen album I ever heard was Live at Wembley back in 1992 and though the show was powerful, I was very disappointed by Freddie's voice, which was very weak in comparison with that of the albums...at some time in this concert, I wouldn't have guessed it was Freddie singing if I hadn't known it ! A friend of mine told me at that time that she couldn't recognize Freddie's voice as it was so different (and definitely worse) than in the studio...
And this is not only in Wembley but actually it seems that his voice had really deepened in the Works tour and in the Magic tour...I noticed this in the videotape "The magic years vol. 2" where the concert excerpts from Rock in Rio (1985) and concerts in Australia show a Freddie with exactly the same voice than in Wembley 86, that's to say horrible when one thinks of what he was able to do a few years before.
There is however a very noticeable exception in this period : during Live Aid 85, his voice sounds almost like his 80-82 live voice, and this is probably one of the most reasons this show has been so successful.
It's only when I bought and heard "Live Killers" that I felt relieved : Freddie was really able to sing live like in the studio in 1979, his performance on "don't stop me now" is astounding as his voice is exactly the same than in the studio version and he reaches all the high notes...
By the way, his best live performances are :
- Houston 1977 ("my melancholy blues", absolutely wonderfully sung)
- Montreal 1981 ("we will rock you" DVD)
- Sao Paulo 1981 ("somebody to love", even better than in Milton Keynes)
His voice is also very good and impressive at Milton Keynes, and I agree that Freddie's vocal masterpiece this night is "play the game" which is indeed better sung than in the "the game" record.
It changed because he smoked like fourty cigarettes a day
it did imo change in the studio which is very noticable on kind of magic album and his solo album mr bad guy, he even commented on it during an interview i.e 40 ciggs a day for the husk to sound abit more soul and he was worried fans wouldnt like his new voice, but when he packed the ciggies in when he was ill check out how pure and powerful his voice is on innuendo album i know it sounds thinner not his usual operatic voice but we all know that was due to his illness,, just put headphones on and sit back listen to show must go on and blast it!! ive listened over and over to that track and thought how the fuck did he sing that pure power and passion....