| Freddie's #1 Fan Forever 08.06.2006 00:09 |
I was surprised to hear a lot of people saying that they felt that Freddie Mercury solo albums are not as good as Queen albums. I totally have to disagree. With the exception of "Body Language" and "Don't Try Suicide", Freddie never wrote a song that did not have a nice meoldy. And that statement applies to his solo songs as well as to songs written while in Queen. In terms of the "Mr. Bad Guy" album, to me it sounds a lot like "The Works" and "Hot Space", which, according to most people, are not Queen's stongest albums anyway. On the other hand, I don't think that it is any better or worse than these other two Queen albums. Like "The Works" and "Hot Space", "Mr. Bad Guy" also has a weird 80s sound. But the melodies are there. Furthermore, as far as I am concerned, the "Barcelona" album is the only really good solo album from any of the Queen members. After all, if you can get used to the unusual convention of a rock singer and opera singer together (which does take some time), it is quite original. On the other hand, Brian May's solo stuff is just plain boring and depressing. Although I see the spirit of Queen in Freddie's solo albums, which are fun and original, I don't see it as much with Brian. |
| mike hunt 08.06.2006 00:28 |
I agree with most of what your saying, but I actually like don't try suicide. I agree that brians solo stuff is unoriginal and boring, and I like a lot of freddie solo stuff. Man made paradise is one of his best, and barcelona is simply one of the most original and creative albums I'v ever heard, it's right along side my favorite queen albums. I sound like a broken record with this, but I can't express how much I love barcelona. |
| beautifulsoup 08.06.2006 00:42 |
mike hunt wrote: I sound like a broken record with this, but I can't express how much I love barcelona.You'll have no complaints from me. :) |
| beautifulsoup 08.06.2006 00:42 |
oops. I had double posted. |
| deleted user 08.06.2006 04:39 |
This thread made me dig out my old "Mr.Bad Guy" from somewhere in my old vinyl collection. I must say I was very skeptic. From what I remembered this was just a terrible eighties production... But I was gladly surprised! This is fun! Thank you, Piggie, for helping me finding this album again. Barcelona has never disappeared. Always loved that album. |
| deleted user 08.06.2006 05:12 |
No! Wait! I just finished listening to side-B of "Mr.Bad Guy". That side has not changed at all. That's the reason why this LP has been gathering dust! Someone stole my "Ressurection"-CD, but as I recall I used to play it a lot... Was it depressing? I don't remember it that way. But then again, my memory obviously is not that good. |
| Going Back 08.06.2006 05:13 |
well for me freddie solo albums are exellent, don't care what others think, if you listen a song then you've got to get to the songs heart and i found in every song something special and i just love mr bad guy. |
| Ayreon 08.06.2006 05:55 |
Fat Queen Pig wrote: Furthermore, as far as I am concerned, the "Barcelona" album is the only really good solo album from any of the Queen members. After all, if you can get used to the unusual convention of a rock singer and opera singer together (which does take some time), it is quite original. On the other hand, Brian May's solo stuff is just plain boring and depressing. Although I see the spirit of Queen in Freddie's solo albums, which are fun and original, I don't see it as much with Brian.ever heard of some dude named Roger Taylor? He made 7 solo albums (including the Cross' albums) of which i consider 5 to be great. Queen was more than Fred and Bri, you know... |
| deleted user 08.06.2006 06:15 |
Which of Roger's would you recommend to start with? I have nothing of his solo stuff. |
| JWS3 08.06.2006 06:35 |
<font color=330066><bold>old barrow-boy wrote: Which of Roger's would you recommend to start with? I have nothing of his solo stuff.Roger's albums are all worth listening to, but MY favourites are - Happiness?, Strange Frontier, Blue Rock, Mad Bad and Dangerous To Know, Electric Fire, Fun In Space and Shove It. Each album has some classic tracks on them, but I think Happiness is his best so far. |
| mike hunt 08.06.2006 06:43 |
I personally think rogers solo stuff is boring. A few good songs, but they get old fast. I have electric fire, hapiness?...the cross stuff was just plain horrible. |
| Ayreon 08.06.2006 06:49 |
Ahppiness is my number one. Blue Rock is awesome as well |
| rocks. 08.06.2006 07:08 |
WHat! Who suggested Freddie's solo stuff wasnt good! I LOVE Barcelona, its completely Epic. The Golden Boy, How Can I Go On, and Barcelona (song) are all so amazing, I love them! For anybody to suggest this album was bad, well, they need to get their ears checked. Ah, Mr. Bad Guy, I quite like this one! I love Man Made Paradise, Foolin Around, and most especially I LOVE Your Kind Of Lover. One of my favourites. Freddie's solo stuff was great! |
| john bodega 08.06.2006 08:05 |
Brian's solo stuff is pretty good at times, pull the wool out of your ears! :P |
| Ayreon 08.06.2006 08:11 |
WhatMustHeThink wrote: WHat! Who suggested Freddie's solo stuff wasnt good! I LOVE Barcelona, its completely Epic. The Golden Boy, How Can I Go On, and Barcelona (song) are all so amazing, I love them! For anybody to suggest this album was bad, well, they need to get their ears checked.Mayb you should get your eyes checked. No-one in this topic suggested Barcelona was a bad album... |
| bgordon88 08.06.2006 08:54 |
Mr Bad Guy was a 3/5. It was done at a time when Freddie 's songwriting was not at it's best. Imagine if he had done a solo album in 1976 now that would have been something. |
| Sebastian 08.06.2006 09:16 |
I agree that a Fred solo album in the 70s would have been exceptional. Personally I rate Barcelona, Brian's solo albums and Electric Fire over any Queen album. Back To The Light has a better drummer than any Queen thing, and a better guitarist :) Barcelona has two better singers than any Queen album, and a much better pianist. |
| deleted user 08.06.2006 09:24 |
Aaah! You see! I couldn't even remember the name of the album... It was "Back to the light"! Sorry about that folks! Surprised noone made fun of my mistake... |
| deleted user 08.06.2006 09:38 |
Well i've just started collecting Freddies solo albums and so far i have Mr Bad Guy and thats it lol i have got to 2 Bri ones aswell |
| Ayreon 08.06.2006 09:49 |
Sebastian wrote: Back To The Light has a better drummer than any Queen thing, and a better guitarist :)there isheavy use of a drummachine on BTTL (Driven by you, Last horizon). Do you prefer that over Roger's drumming on a Queen album? |
| Freddie's #1 Fan Forever 08.06.2006 10:03 |
Well, it's great to hear that Old-barrow boy is listeneing to "Mr. Bad Guy" again after all the years of dust. OK, maybe Freddie was doing a little too much coke at the time, but it is a fun album with good songs on it. In terms of criticism, I guess that I never really heard people on this site criticize "Barcelona". I only heard criticisms of how "Mr. Bad Guy" was not that great album of an album, and I disagreed. |
| Sebastian 08.06.2006 10:43 |
> there isheavy use of a drummachine on BTTL (Driven by you, Last horizon). Do you prefer that over Roger's drumming on a Queen album? No, but I do prefer the drumming on Love Token, Resurrection or Nothin' But Blue over anything Roger did (even though I still think Roger was the best instrumentalist of Queen). |
| Mr Faron Hyte 08.06.2006 10:44 |
Mr. Bad Guy suffers badly from a dated 80s production sound. Some good songs with a lot of potential (as MIH and some remixes prove), but as they are on the album, most of them sound like demos. Barcelona, however, is brill. Back to the Light is very good; Another World sounds phoned in. Fun in Space and Happiness are Roger's best; Electric Fire is good; I never cared for Strange Frontier beyond the first 3 tracks. The Cross stuff is generally pretty mediocre-to-bad, especially the first album. Mad, Bad, etc, was okay but not terrific. I do wish New Dark Ages had been a Queen song. |
| louvox 08.06.2006 17:57 |
I couldn’t disagree more. Freddie’s “Bad guy” sound like what exactly it is, a crapy disco album. Totally unoriginal and boring. Louis |
| rocks. 08.06.2006 20:16 |
Ayreon wrote:Oh, i know nobody in this thread, I meant that the first poster saif "I dont know why some people say Freddie's solo albums were bad..." so I assumed somebody said that in a different thread, etc...WhatMustHeThink wrote: WHat! Who suggested Freddie's solo stuff wasnt good! I LOVE Barcelona, its completely Epic. The Golden Boy, How Can I Go On, and Barcelona (song) are all so amazing, I love them! For anybody to suggest this album was bad, well, they need to get their ears checked.Mayb you should get your eyes checked. No-one in this topic suggested Barcelona was a bad album... |
| Freddie's #1 Fan Forever 08.06.2006 20:53 |
To Louvox, You say that "Mr. Bad Guy" is a crappy disco album. However, would you not also have to say the same thing about "Hot Space" and "The Works"? And what about the "Flash Gordon" soundtrack, also released a couple of years before "Mr. Bad Guy". Could it not be argued that all three of these albums have a dated sound from the eighties? On the other hand, I still maintain that Freddie Mercury always wrote nice melodies and fun songs, whether we are talking about solo albums or Queen albums. Despite the production, nice melodies never really become dated. |
| louvox 09.06.2006 12:11 |
To: Fat Queen Pig Flash Gordon is a sound track and I could forgive them for that. I really don’t consider it a proper Queen album. Hot space is absolutely their worst offering. It was at the point Queen first died. The works was simply them going through the motions. Other than “Hammer to fall” the rest is just a bunch of re-hashed garbage. In Europe Queen could fart on a record and everyone would love it, but here in the USA, we knew disco was never cool or good. Probably why Queen never returned here. Louis |
| deleted user 09.06.2006 12:17 |
There wicked :D |
| Winter Land Man 09.06.2006 12:19 |
louvox wrote: To: Fat Queen Pig Flash Gordon is a sound track and I could forgive them for that. I really don’t consider it a proper Queen album. Hot space is absolutely their worst offering. It was at the point Queen first died. The works was simply them going through the motions. Other than “Hammer to fall” the rest is just a bunch of re-hashed garbage. In Europe Queen could fart on a record and everyone would love it, but here in the USA, we knew disco was never cool or good. Probably why Queen never returned here. LouisI guess I'm quite different and I'm from the USA. I know a lot of people NOW, happen to enjoy the disco stuff. Back in the day, people did as well, but it was more of the disco fans, yeah, and a lot of females. Older Queen 'rock' fans thought Queen went insane. |
| magicalfreddiemercury 09.06.2006 12:38 |
I would love it if the Mr. Bad Guy album was remixed to remove the 80's techno sounds. I think the music is fabulous, but it is dated. Not that that stops me from listening to it, though. The Barcelona album is a different story, IMO. I know many of you love it, but I can't listen to it. Freddie's voice is phenomenal on that album, but Caballe's voice ruins the experience for me. I'm just not a fan of opera. If I could have a wish granted, it would be to somehow alter that album so her voice was relegated to the background. |
| bucsateflon 18.03.2019 13:00 |
Why do all the guitar solos on his stuff sound like Brian May style? ? |
| dysan 18.03.2019 13:43 |
Maybe Brian was playing on Queen stuff in a style suggested by Freddie? |
| Mark_Glasgow 18.03.2019 15:12 |
Mr Bad Guy is a great album, Barcelona was good too although a couple of weaker tracks (or at least a few tracks I didn't personally enjoy) but the title track was amazing I like Fun in Space and Strange Frontier by Roger but little else since, and I hated everything the Cross did for some reason. Brian's solo material I thought was the biggest disappointment for me as I expected great things from the guy who wrote Tie Your Mother Down and Hammer to Fall etc. Back to the Light was just clucky with awful lyrics and no decent tunes that stuck in the mind. Even the riffs seems second hand. |
| spiralstatic 18.03.2019 15:31 |
I LOVE Barcelona, especially the more recent orchestrated version. I wish Freddie could have heard it this way. Mr Bad Guy - I like it, but I wouldn't listen to it often. I'd say it was better than most of Queen's 80's stuff though. I'm really not a fan of '80's Queen generally. At least Freddie's songwriting is always interesting even if not his very best. I think a lot of the songs start off great, but it's more a case of they would have been great with different production. Songwriting-wise I think many are better than Queen at a similar time, but without the rest of Queen on there, the end result isn't that great. I'd love to hear Mr Bad Guy all Queen-ified because I think if the rest of the band were brought in on those tracks and it were made in a less dated style it could be wonderful. As it is, a number of the tracks on Mr Bad Guy I think "Oh wow, I LOVE this!!!" during the intro.... and then it kicks in to the main of the track and isn't quite as good and is a bit of a let down. But there are some great tracks on Mr Bad Guy too! And I really think it could be a great album if the tracks were as they are just with better arrangements and less DISCO-SYNTH and a bit of great drums and guitar. Please do not get rid of any piano though and also add some real strings! I've never heard any of Roger's solo stuff. What album would you all recommend as the best? Not a huge fan of Bri's stuff that I've heard, it's not the most interesting, but it ain't offensive or anything. And oh my, IMAGINE a '70's solo Freddie album. That would have been a thing of utter glory!!! |
| mika251 18.03.2019 17:35 |
Mr. Bad Guy /especially remix-versions from Great Pretender album/ are great for jogging. My love is dangerous Mix by Jeff Lord Alge is great, the heavy part in the end is a perfect kicker. link (2:21 onwards) To be honest, the original album has really very very poor production. The songs are "empty", like demos to me. Great Pretender album is much better, pity not all songs were remixed. |
| Dr Magus 18.03.2019 17:40 |
Nearly 13 years. Is that a record? |
| bucsateflon 18.03.2019 20:41 |
I'm fucking annoyed how good the guitar solos on "Love kills" and "In my defense" are!! |