freddie Mercury's Crowning Studio Vocal

Djdownsy wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned 'In My Defense'.

I mean, one take? How many people pull that vocal out in ONE TAKE???

yes, but he was "on a promise" with a taxi waiting outside to take him to a "club"

Yeah, Bob. Soul Brother is a Freddie's excellent vocal high tone song. Perhaps is not from most of the fans favs but it is out of classical queen song with a deep feeling and tribute message to his brother, Brian.

And I made an unforgettable mistake. In My Defense is instead of Time. I didn't know what I was thinking about at that moment.

True that '...Dust' is a great vocal, but equally so it was a vocal (maybe the only one ever..not sure?) of his that was pitch shifted up in the studio, so he didn't sing it quite in that key.

The whole thing was shifted up a half step....so its actually in F but was performed in E (I remember that from seeing the guitar tab!)

I dont think anyone mentioned You're My Best Friend....not the biggest range on that song, I think, but just an awesome TONE from Freddie!

And I've always loved his singing on You And I....especially the bridge, how he gets just a bit of a growl in his voice....

Another One Bites The Dust runs half a semitone too fast on the studio version (varispeed thing).

In My Defence, I guess? Tough call.

cmsdrums wrote:

Most of A Day At The Races too; it was the album where he nailed everything, and reached the perfect point of power (Tie Your Morher Down, White Man), finesse (Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy) and control (You Take My Breath Away) without having any of the 'warble' which is still present at points on A Night At The Opera, the thinness from the debut album, or straining present in other places. The whole of ADATR is perfect vocally for me.

Yeah speaking about "whole album performances" ADATR must be on the "top 5". From my personal point of view anyway he reached his peak in the '70s with Jazz and in the '80s with The Miracle.

The Real Wizard wrote:

GAP wrote:

Soul Brother

I always forget about that one. Undoubtedly one of his best vocals ever.

In fact, I'd even argue it's one of the best Queen songs ever. Of all the Queen tracks from the middle era that seem to get lost amongst the big hits, this is one I wish people would have heard. It's classic Queen at their best, with Freddie channeling his inner Aretha to the fullest.

yeah I remember seeing this coupled with Under Pressure when it came out and being excited about two brand new Queen tracks. I also remember reading somewhere that Freddie threw it out quite fast because they needed a BSide.

cmsdrums wrote:

Most of A Day At The Races too; it was the album where he nailed everything, and reached the perfect point of power (Tie Your Morher Down, White Man), finesse (Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy) and control (You Take My Breath Away) without having any of the 'warble' which is still present at points on A Night At The Opera, the thinness from the debut album, or straining present in other places. The whole of ADATR is perfect vocally for me.

hi cms when you're taking about warble on ANATO , which songs are you referring to and which bit?

Hard to say. Definately some of the 70s stuff is up there. But if we are talking about the famous *big* voiced Freddie people tend to recognise, I think it's the 80s, to be more precise the mid-80s. By that point he got to even higher notes, more grit and more vibrato which makes it sound very powerful.
As someone already mentioned, Freddie could make even a boring (or bad) song sound exciting just by singing it out in a unique way.

For example, Body Language is shite, but the way he sings the high parts is wow.

Tear It Up 2:01 in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQxjqqkRveY "oooooh". Also ITLOTG:R from this very same concert "so funny.... my money....". His voice was in bad shape here but he still managed to make such a sound that I get goosebumps how powerful it is. That's one aspect of his 80s voice that I like.

And then there's his soothing falcetto (head voice, or whatever technical people call it) in songs like Cool Cat, Don't Try So Hard (bloody good song).

I think the thing about the greatness of Freddie's voice is not the range, but his tone, emotion and skill to adapt it for every song where it was necessary. It was his instrument. The end of A Dog With A Bone (around the 4 minute mark ) is pure blabber but I just like it for some reason :-)

Raffy wrote:

cmsdrums wrote:

Most of A Day At The Races too; it was the album where he nailed everything, and reached the perfect point of power (Tie Your Morher Down, White Man), finesse (Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy) and control (You Take My Breath Away) without having any of the 'warble' which is still present at points on A Night At The Opera, the thinness from the debut album, or straining present in other places. The whole of ADATR is perfect vocally for me.

Yeah speaking about "whole album performances" ADATR must be on the "top 5". From my personal point of view anyway he reached his peak in the '70s with Jazz and in the '80s with The Miracle.

Whole album Freddie vocal performances for Queen would be Hot Space IMO also solo on Mr Bad Guy Freddie gave some of the best of his career with every performance a gem IMO

Chief Mouse wrote:

Hard to say. Definately some of the 70s stuff is up there. But if we are talking about the famous *big* voiced Freddie people tend to recognise, I think it's the 80s, to be more precise the mid-80s. By that point he got to even higher notes, more grit and more vibrato which makes it sound very powerful.
As someone already mentioned, Freddie could make even a boring (or bad) song sound exciting just by singing it out in a unique way.

For example, Body Language is shite, but the way he sings the high parts is wow.

Tear It Up 2:01 in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQxjqqkRveY "oooooh". Also ITLOTG:R from this very same concert "so funny.... my money....". His voice was in bad shape here but he still managed to make such a sound that I get goosebumps how powerful it is. That's one aspect of his 80s voice that I like.

And then there's his soothing falcetto (head voice, or whatever technical people call it) in songs like Cool Cat, Don't Try So Hard (bloody good song).

I think the thing about the greatness of Freddie's voice is not the range, but his tone, emotion and skill to adapt it for every song where it was necessary. It was his instrument. The end of A Dog With A Bone (around the 4 minute mark ) is pure blabber but I just like it for some reason :-)

Good points regarding the 80s I've already mentioned Hot Space, but you know what, I actually listened to Feelings Feelings from 77 earlier and for some reason that sounds to me now more like the kind of vocal he'd deliver in the 80s

Djdownsy wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned 'In My Defense'.

I mean, one take? How many people pull that vocal out in ONE TAKE???

awesome for one take i didn't realise that. Don't they also say that about TSMGO?

marc.s wrote:

cmsdrums wrote:

Most of A Day At The Races too; it was the album where he nailed everything, and reached the perfect point of power (Tie Your Morher Down, White Man), finesse (Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy) and control (You Take My Breath Away) without having any of the 'warble' which is still present at points on A Night At The Opera, the thinness from the debut album, or straining present in other places. The whole of ADATR is perfect vocally for me.

hi cms when you're taking about warble on ANATO , which songs are you referring to and which bit?

Only very slight, but things like the 'Now I Know' and 'Ooh-ah, ooh-ah' repeat vocals in 'The Prohet's Song' show slight strains in his delivery. ADATR is the FIRST album where (to me) he is essentially perfect on everything.

As others have said, he then repeats that on almost everything up to and including Hot Space, somewhat shows the effects of having started smoking on 'The Works' and AKOM, and then regains it for 'Barcelona' onwards!

cmsdrums wrote:

Only very slight, but things like the 'Now I Know' and 'Ooh-ah, ooh-ah' repeat vocals in 'The Prohet's Song' show slight strains in his delivery.

Actually, I know what you're referencing here. It's particular evident in the parts were he is singing lower notes, it tends to 'warble', to use your word, in and out of tune.