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Post by frankie84 on Apr 18, 2020 11:27:43 GMT
I really like HS too lol. Good lad! I'm sure a few more will agree. 😉 I LOOOOOVE Hot Space! It was the first proper Queen album hat I bought on vinyl when it was released (I had been given the Greatest Hits tape earlier) so even though it was weird, I loved it to bits. And I've always been a massive fan, so the time Mr Bad Guy was released I bought it. It was fantastic! The Works, Live Aid on TV, A kind of Magic, the Magic Tour (I was fortunate enough to see Quuen live in Madrid, Spain, 1986), aah, the 80s... what's not to love about Queen in the 80s?
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Apr 18, 2020 11:36:02 GMT
Good lad! I'm sure a few more will agree. 😉 aah, the 80s... what's not to love about Queen in the 80s? well, for "1" - it wasn't Queen in the 70s.
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Steve
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Post by Steve on Apr 18, 2020 11:38:18 GMT
I love Queen in the 80's.
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moonhead
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Post by moonhead on Apr 18, 2020 13:31:15 GMT
That would be amazing. Doubt it will ever happen though! Sad but true, that album is great but needs some adjustment.
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Steve
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Post by Steve on Apr 18, 2020 14:05:02 GMT
That would be amazing. Doubt it will ever happen though! Sad but true, that album is great but needs some adjustment. If its given the MBG treatment, then that will be great.
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jon_innuendo
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Post by jon_innuendo on Apr 19, 2020 12:02:10 GMT
I personally love the album 😊😂💜
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Steve
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Post by Steve on Apr 19, 2020 12:10:35 GMT
I personally love the album 😊😂💜 We are in the minority I think!
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Post by megagoalie on Apr 24, 2020 17:49:33 GMT
For me it always sounded like a "plastic" album. I think it sounded already dated when it was released. No real rock, no real pop, no direction in songs and sound..... Like Freddies voice surrounded by amateur home musicians.
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Apr 24, 2020 17:59:03 GMT
For me it always sounded like a "plastic" album. I think it sounded already dated when it was released. No real rock, no real pop, no direction in songs and sound..... Like Freddies voice surrounded by amateur home musicians.
i don't think the musicians are/were the issue. the overall sound/production is poor. it was Freddie's pet project - he decided what was in/out and how everything sounded. he must have been happy with his own completed project (if not, why release it?) - which shows he was struggling for ideas at that time - although he probably didn't realise it, himself. poor production, poor thin sound, poor "club" inspired insipid songs...the best tracks were only finally made reasonable by MIH (1995).
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mike71
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Post by mike71 on Apr 25, 2020 16:39:31 GMT
The album that aged the most For me Is Hot Mess (Space)...as far as the 80's, Queen recorded really good stuff throughout the decade. Some of my favorite songs, but overall the 70's were the peak years. In all honesty Hot Space had a bunch of middle of the road songs not terrible or great. Nothing stands out aside from Under Pressure.
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jlf
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Post by jlf on May 31, 2020 6:22:07 GMT
My opinion of Mr Bad Guy:
Let's Turn It On - Some great singing on here actually, really. What that voice can do is incredible. The song itself is OK, but actually I think the remix from the FM album works better in some ways although it has a 90s dance feel to it on the remix with a very dated set of lyrics and melody.
Made In Heaven - beautiful song. Actually I've always felt, perhaps controversially, that this song is in too a high a key for Freddie to really do it justice, and I can hear a little bit of vocal fatigue coming in on the break of his voice, and it's unusually a little out of tune. The Queen version is a superior arrangement for my ears.
I was born to love you - I love this song, very much of it's time. I don't like the synth solo in it at all, it was dated in 1985, but the song is excellent and works beautifully as a Queen song.
Foolin' Around - I prefer the FM album version to the one that ended up on Mr Bad Guy, and I think had that arrangement or similar happened in 1985, the album would have been more successful. I do like the original, but the remix has more body to it. I like the seventh chords used after the synth solo on the remix, although that's not original to the song.
Your Kind of Lover - I like it. The intro is wonderful, typically Freddie. Again, it suffers from unimaginative use of a synthesiser. The FM album remix is far more commercial and would have probably worked better and been more in line with what Freddie actually wanted in my opinion.
Mr Bad Guy - actually a masterpiece, I can't fault it. Sounds like a Bond theme. Outstanding.
Man Made Paradise - I don't like this song but it fits with Freddie's cabarettish side.
There Must Be More To Life - On the MBG album it doesn't work so well but it's a beautiful song. It would have been better without the synth solo which makes it sound like a kids TV theme. I wish he'd used the orchestra here actually.
Living On My Own - I like the original version of this, and although the remixes work better commercially (obviously also it was at a time when people wanted new Freddie releases because we missed him!), I like the more smoky, sleazy club feel of the original.
My Love is Dangerous - I love this song, I don't know why, but I do love it.
Love me like there's no tomorrow - it's a touching track, and it's beautifully sung. It's maybe a little bit here we go again in some ways, but I like it.
All in all the album misses the mark with the arrangements, although there's some brilliant stuff on there. I personally feel if he'd not used Mack, and gone for a much more commercial sound than he thought he was going for, he'd have had more success with the album. He could have used more orchestra and made it more like a film sound-track. I kind of get the feeling he was sort of angling for a film soundtrack as a solo artist. Some of the album honestly sounds hastily thrown together.
Of course Freddie is my favourite singer, but I think his 70s timbre is on the whole better than his masculine 80s sound. I kind of wish he'd kept that style, which peaked around NOTW and Jazz, into The Game, a bit longer, but maybe he couldn't of course.
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Post by frankie84 on May 31, 2020 7:40:16 GMT
I really like HS too lol. Good lad! I'm sure a few more will agree. 😉 I sure do! I was 17 when Mr Bad Guy was released. I come from Spain, and, bearing in mind that all I had heard was Greatest Hits, my appetite for anything Queen related was unquenchable. Examples? Going to El Corte Inglés, Dad finally bought me and my brothers a decent sound system, and we were also treated to a couple of vinyls. At the time, most of my pocket money was devoted to buying vinyls): It was 1982, so my choice was clear: Queen's Hot Space. Anything where Freddie Mercury sang was HEAVEN!!! Naturally, the selling point was Under Pressure. That's why, HS is still a favourite of mine. Then, Radio Ga Ga the single, and The Works. Wow! Even better! Those videos! Everybody loved Queen in my hometown! Live Aid! Amazing (despite being criminally cut off here in Spain BEFORE WWRY / WATC because it was the start of the 24 hours de Montjuich - a motorbike endurance race in Barcelona). Mr Bad Guy had been released a few months before, and at the time, before Internet, you'd go to your local record store so imagine my surprise: A Freddie Mercury solo album! I may well have been the first kid in Bilbao to actually buy Mr Bad Guy! Then, the songs: Made in heaven, Born to love you, Love me like there's no tomorrow... Those were the days when you'd wear out your LPs, you'd focus on maybe side A and then try side B, you'd only buy a couple of records a month... Production values? That was the sound we had, then. It was perfectly contemporary. And what about Love Kills? Why does nobody even mention it? Another excursion to a record shop and the 45 hidden away in a singles bin. Thank God I was carrying enough money to buy it. And the song was, and still is, phenomenal! Conclusion? I don't care if those LPs and songs sound dated, because they were the soundtrack of my teenage years, and to quote you-know-who "those were the best days of our lives".
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Post by potpotmixes on Jul 28, 2020 11:12:43 GMT
Honestly, I love both versions of MBG. They did a great job with the remastering but some songs just aren't to my likings.
MIH and LOMO, mixed feelings about this one. I love the changes they made, like the snare in the intro in MIH, and the more bouncy bass in LOMO. But I sometimes miss the old mixes, I honestly can't decide which version to choose.
IWBTLY, I stan for the old mixes. The synth bass and hi-hats are a bit too much for me. To me, the bouncy feel feels like a cheesy love song you would get around the same time. It feels too bouncy and cheesy, whereas the old mix feels more pop sounding (idk if it made sense but you kinda get what I meant). It worked well with LOMO where its built around the bass, it doesn't kinda work with this song since this one is built around the piano.
TMBMTLTT, LMLTNT and MBG, I stan the new mixes. It just feels more alive and full. It fits really well to the songs. For some reason, the chamber reverb is on max for these songs on the original mixes. It had more room to breathe on the new mixes.
The others, I kinda don't listen that often so I can't give an indepth opinion but I do prefer the new mixes.
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emrabt
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Post by emrabt on Jul 28, 2020 11:26:13 GMT
Living on my own was almost 10 years ahead of it's time, 1994 came along and it fit right in with what Scatman John and the like were doing, it was well ahead of the craze there.
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emrabt
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Post by emrabt on Jul 28, 2020 11:32:11 GMT
I kind of get the feeling he was sort of angling for a film soundtrack as a solo artist. Some of the album honestly sounds hastily thrown together.
You could be spot on there, at this point Love kills and Foolin' around were both written for films, maybe he was hoping for more of that.
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Post by ThomasQuinn on Jul 28, 2020 11:36:17 GMT
Personally i believe that Hot Space needs the same treatment. That would be amazing. Doubt it will ever happen though! To be fair (and IMHO), in order to really 'save' Hot Space, you'd need to actually re-record many of the 'cheesy' parts (not least the drums...) rather than just editing and mixing the tapes anew. In a hypothetical world where the complete Hot Space multitrack tapes are available to us, I think 'we' (the musicians, engineers, close-listeners on this forum) could actually pull that off pretty well.
Sorry for veering off-topic there, by the way!
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Post by angusscrimm on Jul 29, 2020 10:50:47 GMT
Living on my own was almost 10 years ahead of it's time, 1994 came along and it fit right in with what Scatman John and the like were doing, it was well ahead of the craze there. Absolutely.
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pg
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Post by pg on Aug 1, 2020 8:49:23 GMT
Living on my own was almost 10 years ahead of it's time, 1994 came along and it fit right in with what Scatman John and the like were doing, it was well ahead of the craze there. I disagree. 1. Scatman John had been doing that for years, so you'd be more accurate to say Freddie was 30 years late to the party. 2. The fact that somebody in the mid 90s stuck a dance beat under a loop of Scatman John does not make 1985 Freddie a visionary. They had to stick a dance beat under LOMO to make that a hit, after all... 3. Scatman John had a hit single. It wasn't a whole new movement like grunge.
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emrabt
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Post by emrabt on Aug 1, 2020 8:52:01 GMT
Living on my own was almost 10 years ahead of it's time, 1994 came along and it fit right in with what Scatman John and the like were doing, it was well ahead of the craze there. I disagree. 1. Scatman John had been doing that for years, so you'd be more accurate to say Freddie was 30 years late to the party.
Or 60 If we go right back to the 20's.
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Steve
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Post by Steve on Aug 1, 2020 9:18:05 GMT
Living on my own was almost 10 years ahead of it's time, 1994 came along and it fit right in with what Scatman John and the like were doing, it was well ahead of the craze there. I disagree. 1. Scatman John had been doing that for years, so you'd be more accurate to say Freddie was 30 years late to the party. 2. The fact that somebody in the mid 90s stuck a dance beat under a loop of Scatman John does not make 1985 Freddie a visionary. They had to stick a dance beat under LOMO to make that a hit, after all... 3. Scatman John had a hit single. It wasn't a whole new movement like grunge. Anyone heard SJ's version of TIM?
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emrabt
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Post by emrabt on Aug 1, 2020 9:21:31 GMT
Anyone heard SJ's version of TIM?
Yes, do you know a way of unhearing it?
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Post by Unniendo on Aug 3, 2020 11:31:52 GMT
When I first saw the album cover of "Mr. Bad Guy", I immediately thought it was something special. Maybe even cooler than what Queen did. And when I finally heard the album itself, my expectations were more than justified. I've always loved "Made in Heaven" and "I Was Born to Love You" from solo album in my own way. It seemed to me even better than in Queen arrangement, because Freddie's original idea was just that.
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Steve
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Post by Steve on Aug 3, 2020 17:16:10 GMT
Anyone heard SJ's version of TIM?
Yes, do you know a way of unhearing it?
I wish mate!
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Post by stevedorius on Aug 7, 2020 1:06:59 GMT
When I first saw the album cover of "Mr. Bad Guy", I immediately thought it was something special. Maybe even cooler than what Queen did. And when I finally heard the album itself, my expectations were more than justified. I've always loved "Made in Heaven" and "I Was Born to Love You" from solo album in my own way. It seemed to me even better than in Queen arrangement, because Freddie's original idea was just that. I like the album cover, it's the classic 80s Freddie look
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Post by Unniendo on Aug 7, 2020 10:00:20 GMT
It seems to me that Freddie began to wear Aviator sunglasses already in the 70s. Does anyone know which particular model of sunglasses it was?
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Post by angusscrimm on Aug 7, 2020 17:45:15 GMT
Ray Ban Aviator Gold. The closest model just now I think is RB3025.
Well....that's what it looks like anyway.
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kimmlogan
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Post by kimmlogan on Aug 24, 2020 5:04:39 GMT
Okay, it's not Freddie's greatest ever output, but I don't get the hate for MBG. Pre-internet/eBay, I searched for what seemed an eternity to get it on any format (I started collecting circa '95) and just about jiz*ed myself when I finally tracked it down. It has some nice tracks on it, notably MIH, IWBTLY, TMBMTLTT, MMP and LMLTNT. Yet - the vast majority seem to despise the album. I loved the new special edition, but still like going "home" to the original. Also love the outtakes from the Freddie Solo box. Actual opinions, now we seem to be troll free? Why the hate? IMO, I think the hate comes from the same place the hate for ”Hot Space” and ”I Want to Break Free” came from. Some musically close-minded rock-only (the harder the better) fans. Queen were ”punished” by rock fans, especially in America, for not being purist enough when it came to ROCK music. And then there’s the homophobia and dislike for ”dance music” as being ”too gay”. I hate to say it but both Roger and Brian were kinds of ”rock snobs” and Freddie had to drag them into expending themselves statistically.
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Aug 24, 2020 5:56:03 GMT
for me (as a Queen fan of 46 years) - 11 years at the time MBG was released, it's certainly not a feeling of hate. it's more about being underwhelmed. I really looked forward to this LP (at the time of release), and really couldn't believe the lacklustre impression it left.
Queen had always been very dynamic, plotting their own course with very a very innovative/unique sound. MBG (along with HS and Works) was following the pack, rather than leading. MBG has some lazy writing, poor production and some very average playing by the hired hands.
Some of the songs (not all) had great potential - as evidence on Queen's Mad In Heaven album. once the quality control and decent musicians are involved (Deacon, May, Taylor) - IMO these songs come alive.
I think Freddie learned from this experience. For his next LP (Barcelona) he worked with consummate professionals and the result was something of great quality.
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Post by The Real Wizard on Aug 25, 2020 16:09:24 GMT
Okay, it's not Freddie's greatest ever output, but I don't get the hate for MBG. Pre-internet/eBay, I searched for what seemed an eternity to get it on any format (I started collecting circa '95) and just about jiz*ed myself when I finally tracked it down. It has some nice tracks on it, notably MIH, IWBTLY, TMBMTLTT, MMP and LMLTNT. Yet - the vast majority seem to despise the album. I loved the new special edition, but still like going "home" to the original. Also love the outtakes from the Freddie Solo box. Actual opinions, now we seem to be troll free? Why the hate? IMO, I think the hate comes from the same place the hate for ”Hot Space” and ”I Want to Break Free” came from. Some musically close-minded rock-only (the harder the better) fans. Queen were ”punished” by rock fans, especially in America, for not being purist enough when it came to ROCK music. Mostly untrue. For sure there were some people who just liked Queen's heavy stuff, but if you listen to those first six albums, about a third of the tracks court other genres of music.
American fans jumped off the Queen bus not because they weren't "rock" - they jumped off because they went commercial. Ask the average Gabriel era Genesis fan what they think of Fat Bottomed Girls and Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2020 0:01:30 GMT
I'm not a rock fan at all, yet I think their early albums were marvellous. The reason was a lot of softer material such as ''39' and 'White Queen'.
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