Freddie's best album, vocally?

[QUOTE] [b]flash00. wrote:[/b]

The Game , Hot Space, Mr Bad Guy album Barcelona and Innuendo album, pure power![/QUOTE]

I'd have to agree with that.

A lot of this stuff wasn't his best material compositionally, and whatever lies in that category is proof that he could've sung the phone book and it would've sounded good.

Hot Space and Mr Bad Guy had so many horrible songs, but his voice was just outstanding.

i think his voice was at it's peak from 74-76 so anything on II thru to Races is sung well

"Queen2" 1974 to "The Works 1984" Freddie had a good voice then the voice got a little raspy with constant smoking and clubbing, then when the "Barcelona" album came out he recovered some energy in his voice but as a lot of people have already said 70s Freddie was the real deal.
i love the falsetto on the revisited "In the lap of the gods" song its pure Mercury magic for me!

[QUOTE] [b]gerry wrote:[/b]

"Queen2" 1974 to "The Works 1984" Freddie had a good voice then the voice got a little raspy with constant smoking and clubbing, then when the "Barcelona" album came out he recovered some energy in his voice but as a lot of people have already said 70s Freddie was the real deal.
i love the falsetto on the revisited "In the lap of the gods" song its pure Mercury magic for me![/QUOTE]

I don't see how you can say he sounded great on the works. That's the first album where I noticed he lost something. He was partying too much lol but hot space had its moments less than the game which had less moments than jazz which had less than news of the world which vocally was a different style than a day at the races, hardly any overdubs and just straight ahead dirty rock vocal. So there I've answered it his peak was until news of the world. Which not so coincidentally coincides (lol @ that double positive) ×)with his partying. Not so ironically when he stopped it got better. It probably seemed better than ever because he was wiser and appreciated it more when it came back than the first time.

ANATO was his first peak, the first three albums were great and his voice was Solid, but he was still Developing vocally. Opera, Races, NOTW he sounded his best. It's a shame Hot Space and Mr. Bad Guy is so unpopular because his voice was at his strongest., Barcelona is another High point and then Innuendo.

As a million times before.. define 'best'. The album you enjoy his voice the most is the one you like the best. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

To me? I don't know. I love stuff like Innuendo and Hot Space, where he seamed to sing with such great ease.
But there's something about News Of The World that just keeps me interested. I think that's the first album where he truly pushes himself vocally, and you can really hear it when he sings.

The Game, Hot Space, The Works, A King of Magic, Mr Bad Guy and Barcelona.

Early Queen has the best Freddie vocals IMO. I think ANATO shines in that respect. Innuendo was a wonderful recovery for me, and he sounds marvelous on MIH too despite it being sourced from different periods.

I'll add my vote for A Day at the Races. He showed such amazing restraint on You Take My Breath Away and then power on Tie Your Mother Down. The entire time, he feels so in control. But then again. Did he ever have a bad vocal album?

For me, Jazz.

Not nearly my favorite album, but I think his voice sounded the best it ever has.

Hm, a lot of different answers to this one! I think I'd still go with Barcelona......might be about a 15 way tie for 2nd place, though....:D

Just to mention one song that I dont really see a lot of talk about.........I think one of my favorite vocal performances of his is Youre My Best Friend.....he doesnt hit any crazy high notes or anything, but I just love his tone on that one......

actually he hits a top C on 'best friend' in his chest voice which is quite a note even for Freddie. You're right though, it is a beautiful performance.

One thing about the 70s recordings which continues to amaze me is the ease with which he sings certain notes, and the tone sounds fluid and easy. I know there is a lot of falsetto going on, but the transition between the falsetto and chest voice is pretty seamless, which is something he lost in the 80s and regained towards the last sessions.

Actually there are two sustained high C's in Best Friend, and another short one on "making me live now, ho-NEY", though I'm not sure that's a chest note since, as stated above, he was able to shift pretty seamlessly.

Funny how people go on about that short C5 from Bohemian Rhapsody when there are a number of places on that album where he hit harder notes than that. YMBF C5's, Prophet's C5 and C#5's, Sweet Lady D5 to name a few.

The second one is a falsetto one, but you're right, when he was on form in the studio, he had outstanding range. The vocal performance on Show Must Go On, with the D5 in a couple of places, All God's People is a great performance too, but I haven't tried to work out the highest notes in it (but they are spectacular), there is some beautiful singing on The Golden Boy, Ensueno gives us a rare opportunity to hear Freddie in baritone mode and it's again a lovely performance simply because it isn't trying to be spectacular. Thinking back, there are so many wonderful things - for high notes, Let's Turn It On is a masterclass in technique even though it's far from my favourite song, Somebody To Love is one of the most beautiful vocal performances ever, period, then there are some live things I love like the Earl's Court '77 vocal improv, and the little bit in Milton Keynes '82 where he pulls off an Aretha Franklin impression. Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon is also pretty hot stuff too. I'll have written down the entire back catalogue before I finish this post.....

There are some performances of his which are less good - I think Made In Heaven sounds a little strained, and Too Much Love Will Kill You doesn't sit well in his voice really, the G in the chorus is just on his break and you can hear a little fatigue there. There are a couple of others that don't work so well, but not many. Given that all of his recordings were done before the words 'Auto Tune' had entered our vocabulary, I think all of his performances are pretty spectacular. These days a glitch here and there is corrected, producers leave virtually no flaws in takes, and we're not really used to hearing real singing anymore. Freddie was really working at a time when the take was the take, and perhaps later on there was a bit more stop start and cutting, but nothing like today.

Oh there's also that wonderful performance of 'The Kiss' in both the early and the album versions, the backing vocals are almost tearjerking actually! When you listen to that and realise that there was no studio trickery other than multi tracking and a little reverb, it makes you stand back and realise exactly what an artist and musician Freddie was. I'm still bowled over by some of the things he could do, and I must have heard the whole released catalogue 100 times through, like the rest of us on this forum.