I've said it before, but if you take the 2011 bonus tracks as a whole and dumped them onto us in, say, 2005, we'd have been the happiest little bunnies. It's just the way they chose to do it by grafting the material onto the relevant albums for context (and sales of course!) What we've had a archival stuff is generally great. Just a shame it's been spread over 20 years (starting with the Hollywood CDs)
And yes, again I think there was plenty to keep us happy in the Hollywood CDs too - however unfortunately it was the dire dance remixes that stick in the mind. Again though - that was their angle back then so no harm.
I keep changing my opinion on how they are doing compared to their contemporaries. For volume of unreleased stuff they are leagues ahead of say Bowie or Sparks when comparing like for like. As they are arguably in the same commercial league as Beatles and Elvis now it would be great to get similar archival stuff to those acts - the NOTW box hinted that this might be their new angle.
I have been actively following the bands releases since 1995 and must say i didn't really pay attention to releases before that(pre-internet).
How well were releases received around 1989-1991? The non-album b-sides on the singles for The Miracle and Innuendo for example?
Box Of Trix, Box of Flix, The Freddie Mercury Album, etc.
They were kind of 'normal' at the time. Desirable but you only really heard of them after the event. Finding Rare Live and The Magic Years in the local HMV was really exciting (of course, hindsight reveals that they, Rare Live in particular, were flawed). FM album seemed a bit of a cash in - the first of many released designed to introduce new fans to the solo stuff. The extra tracks on the Miracle singles were great because you had an extra layer of fandom to discuss, but again were most likely born out of the times they were released when non-album material was everywhere on b-sides so again just seemed 'normal'. Like you say, pre-internet all this was special but meant to know what was on what, you really had to hunt.
Being an 80s tape fan it was amazing to me to look through the CDs even before I had a player and WOW! the booklets!
[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]
They were kind of 'normal' at the time. Desirable but you only really heard of them after the event. Finding Rare Live and The Magic Years in the local HMV was really exciting (of course, hindsight reveals that they, Rare Live in particular, were flawed). FM album seemed a bit of a cash in - the first of many released designed to introduce new fans to the solo stuff. The extra tracks on the Miracle singles were great because you had an extra layer of fandom to discuss, but again were most likely born out of the times they were released when non-album material was everywhere on b-sides so again just seemed 'normal'. Like you say, pre-internet all this was special but meant to know what was on what, you really had to hunt.
Being an 80s tape fan it was amazing to me to look through the CDs even before I had a player and WOW! the booklets!
[/QUOTE]
I can imagine. Funny you mention finding stuff. I remember checking out our record store sporadically and finding new stuff....without context. It was exciting actually...i miss those days. God, i sound old. :D
Made in Heaven (colored vinyl) was an especially exciting find back then. Glad i picked it up.
There were of course ads on tv...but not that many. I remember finding the first album somewhere in 93 i reckon...and it was one of those things. I had no idea what to expect. I bought it because it said Queen and i recognized Seven Seas of Rhye....so i was sure it was them...but still it was a weird purchase. I didn't know it was their first album. There was no actual bootleg (AAD CD release from the 80s - CDP 7 46204 2). Imagine my surprise listening to that for the first time. Aaaaah good times.
