Freddies vocals on innuendo

Did they do that in Hammer To Fall? I had no idea!

I am sure but I think it was the music track that was pitched not the vocals. The middle section of 12 inch remix has a part on different key.

I always thought the 12" Headbangers Mix was a semitone down - so is that then the correct version?

It was just the opposite actually. Freddie's range and singing vastly improved in the last 3 years of his life.
Mainly because he quit smoking but an overall healthier way of life did help a lot.

I remember a quote in a documentary, I think it was either Mack (producer of some 80's albums) or David Richards (producer of later albums) that Freddie told;

'...I don't know if it's the medication, or something else, but I can sing better than ever!'

I am paraphrasing... don't remember what he actually said, but Freddie acknowledged that he was a much better singer at that time due to unknown factors.

Hammer To Fall is pitched slightly lower isn't it?

I think the case with pitch changes in those days was more a case of changing the tempo. I'm sure they sped up AOBTD because it felt slow, not because they thought Freddie's vocals could do with being half a semi-tone higher!

Always thought there was something strange with his voice on "Don't Try So Hard"...that vocals were tampered with, or smthng

his voice got really thin there and, on moments, feels he's struggling to sing

Despite Freddie not really having truly terrible moments of singing I'm don't like the demo to "Too Much Love Will Kill You" that much as his voice sounds off the key the music is in. Maybe it's due to a mistake when the song was recorded at the time that ended up
on bootlegs but I'm sure it could be improved by having at least one track of Freddie singing and the other being the music supporting the song in the background that needs to be adjusted to fit the key he sung it.

What demos have Brian and Roger released where Freddie messes up? To my memory, the News of the World box set may have some gaffes, but those weren’t just Freddie.

If you’re talking about the solo box set, Brian and Roger have no say over those.

Yeah, weirdly I'd actually say the opposite is true: Brian and Roger tend to touch-up demos to make Fred sound better. It's really annoying - why put autotune on the NOTW Raw Sessions (particularly noticeable on Who Needs You)? I mean, if someone is a big enough fan to want to listen to rough demos, they aren't going to care if Fred is a bit out of tune here and there.

They also did that to themselves after QPR; they leaned much more into their legacy, culminating with the biopic. I think they reasoned no one gives a shit about their solo careers (and that’s coming from someone who does give a shit about them!) and releasing new material with a new singer won’t sell, so why not just keep the past alive by touring with the closest approximation to their lead singer?

I can’t fault them for doing that, honestly. They both have their separate creative outlets, but they recognize that Queen will always be bigger than them, so they’ve embraced it. Good for them.

He certainly isn't shy of using vocal effects though, perhaps a little too readily? They don't detract from the enjoyment of the album, but I can't help wondering what they add.

Freddie's voice change in the 1989-1991 period was undoubtedly due to
- giving up smoking
- reducing alcohol consumption
- not touring (the touring was a massive strain on his voice)

Then there'd be the negative stuff like
- His illness
- His medication - those early medications really hammered the body

But also he changed his technique quite a bit. He was no longer simply muscling through the high notes. Montserrat Caballe showed him some technique things and in that time period he reportedly went for coaching with Mary Hammond (who will confirm privately but not publicly). Mary Hammond coached Elton John, Liza Minelli and later Chris Martin from Coldplay amongst many others. The story that came to me when I was a little bit involved with some musical theatre folk in London a long time ago was that he didn't quite have the power as he became sick, and wanted to have coaching to maintain whatever quality he could. Mary Hammond was the name recommended to him, and if you know anything about her teaching you can, coincidentally or not, recognise some of her trademarks in his voice placement in the higher notes, and other places. There's a lot more 'technique' on the Innuendo album in general.

Anyway it might not be true that it was Mary Hammond, you know what London's like, and all the musical theatre crowd up to the early 2000s had a Freddie Mercury story, but the sound he makes on Innuendo seems to fit the story.

agreed 100%. i just can't get along with this "fashion" for singers needing to sound like they're about to burst into tears.

Oh, I agree! On my local radio station they play a track from an unsigned local artist every afternoon, which is great for giving new artists an airing, but 90% of them are dreary female (and male) vocalists who sound like the world has ended because they broke a nail or got a zit.

Teenagers today need to learn to enjoy themselves a bit, rather than wallowing in self pity, and if I might be controversial, there's far too many fashionable "issues" around these days, the vast majority of which are perpetuated by social media.