darcy-wright
I havnt got a copy, but is the poster / photo of freddie from the cover feature those photoshopped longer arms that the promo images showed??
Thread
Posts in chronological order
Viper
In my opinion, the Never Boring compilation is quite boring! Why not give us some alternate versions of the songs (at least the ones on MBG), instead of releasing the same tracks on MBG?!
dysan
I read an interesting post about this set - that the band (Brian) is actually quite disinterested in doing archive stuff while they're off playing live so Jim Beach had actually cobbled this together himself for when the label asked for the annual release. I can believe this, and if correct, makes me very disappointed.
RS_Protos
^^^
Definitely, I think I've mentioned the same before that as long as they are playing live we will be getting crappy releases. Even next year will the same crap.
Definitely, I think I've mentioned the same before that as long as they are playing live we will be getting crappy releases. Even next year will the same crap.
runner_70
[QUOTE] [b]RS_Protos wrote:[/b]
^^^
Definitely, I think I've mentioned the same before that as long as they are playing live we will be getting crappy releases. Even next year will the same crap.[/QUOTE]
sadly you might be right
^^^
Definitely, I think I've mentioned the same before that as long as they are playing live we will be getting crappy releases. Even next year will the same crap.[/QUOTE]
sadly you might be right
Negative Creep
What, so Universal don't differentiate between Queen and solo releases and will allow QPL or whoever to substitute a Queen release with a niche solo thing? Find that hard to believe.
miraclesteinway
Honestly, I think they missed a trick here, and with the 2000 Freddie Boxed Set that I could never have afforded at the time (although I saw one in Tower Records Glasgow for £50, and I hadn't enough left of my student loan to pay for it, plus my mother would have killed me - we don't get on and probably never will - boy do I regret that day though...)
Point is... I'll never actually understand why Mr Bad Guy was deleted at all, nor why Brian and Roger's solo stuff are only available through download and on the odd boxed set (nor why Brian and Roger didn't keep going with their solo stuff which despite being a niche market produced some nice songs if no masterpieces).
I would have thought that instead of releasing The Freddie Mercury album in 1992, that the re-issuing of Barcelona to co-incide with the Olympics (that may have happened even if Freddie hadn't died) would have been an opportune time to re-issue Mr Bad Guy. I know that by then Queen's surviving members probably knew they'd be using Made In Heaven and I was Born To Love You on their last album, but I do think something was missed then.
When the Freddie boxed set came out in 2000, that would have been a good time to re-issue Mr Bad Guy in its original form as a separate CD rather than just in the 3 CD set - the set was quite nice as it did give fans that rarities disc, but I don't quite understand the reasoning for the way it was released.
Then in 2006 they had that rather strange Lover of Life Singer of Songs Boxed set for his 60th birthday, which re-hashed all previous releases, and gave us some odd remixes, and then in 2016 they gave us the singles boxed set and CDs which I personally think is a much better release than much that came before, but still no Mr Bad Guy reissue.
This business of having to remix everything for release because the record company thinks people expect a certain sound is a bit bizarre to me. I think it would be a much better idea just to do a classy package of the original album in its original form as Freddie heard it, and let the fans be the judge. Perhaps cleaning things up in the transfer to digital is acceptable but that's as far as I'd take it.
The Barcelona project with the orchestra, well, it is in my opinion a nice idea. I actually like the idea of releasing it with a real orchestra but firstly they took the initiative to "improve" Mike Moran's arrangement rather than just converting it to real instruments. Secondly the orchestra they picked sounded like a scratch orchestra, they were sloppy in places and very out of tune in other places. They did that on the cheap. They could have used the London Symphony Orchestra, it would have been much better and in fact it would have been much more expensive (about £250,000 to hire LSO for a project like that, compared to about £15 to £25,000 to hire the Czech orchestra they plumped for), and LSO have the best players in the world. They spent money on getting some big name players in to that orchestra, as well as a Koto player, and the packaging and all that looks quite nice although I don't like it. In my opinion they should have released that WITH the original mix as well. They didn't even put the original mix in the boxed set. I bought that release being very excited about it at the time, the four disc set, and very quickly became a bit disheartened by it.
Anyway.... Never Boring? I'd say all this is pretty boring. I can understand Queen and Jim Beach wanting to give younger fans who may not have heard these long deleted albums a chance to hear them in a classy release (which they've kind of failed at), but this just seems to be yet another way to cash in. Of course, they won't cash in because I don't think it'll make an awful lot of money - certainly not an amount that will make ANY difference to their quality of lives at this time.....
Point is... I'll never actually understand why Mr Bad Guy was deleted at all, nor why Brian and Roger's solo stuff are only available through download and on the odd boxed set (nor why Brian and Roger didn't keep going with their solo stuff which despite being a niche market produced some nice songs if no masterpieces).
I would have thought that instead of releasing The Freddie Mercury album in 1992, that the re-issuing of Barcelona to co-incide with the Olympics (that may have happened even if Freddie hadn't died) would have been an opportune time to re-issue Mr Bad Guy. I know that by then Queen's surviving members probably knew they'd be using Made In Heaven and I was Born To Love You on their last album, but I do think something was missed then.
When the Freddie boxed set came out in 2000, that would have been a good time to re-issue Mr Bad Guy in its original form as a separate CD rather than just in the 3 CD set - the set was quite nice as it did give fans that rarities disc, but I don't quite understand the reasoning for the way it was released.
Then in 2006 they had that rather strange Lover of Life Singer of Songs Boxed set for his 60th birthday, which re-hashed all previous releases, and gave us some odd remixes, and then in 2016 they gave us the singles boxed set and CDs which I personally think is a much better release than much that came before, but still no Mr Bad Guy reissue.
This business of having to remix everything for release because the record company thinks people expect a certain sound is a bit bizarre to me. I think it would be a much better idea just to do a classy package of the original album in its original form as Freddie heard it, and let the fans be the judge. Perhaps cleaning things up in the transfer to digital is acceptable but that's as far as I'd take it.
The Barcelona project with the orchestra, well, it is in my opinion a nice idea. I actually like the idea of releasing it with a real orchestra but firstly they took the initiative to "improve" Mike Moran's arrangement rather than just converting it to real instruments. Secondly the orchestra they picked sounded like a scratch orchestra, they were sloppy in places and very out of tune in other places. They did that on the cheap. They could have used the London Symphony Orchestra, it would have been much better and in fact it would have been much more expensive (about £250,000 to hire LSO for a project like that, compared to about £15 to £25,000 to hire the Czech orchestra they plumped for), and LSO have the best players in the world. They spent money on getting some big name players in to that orchestra, as well as a Koto player, and the packaging and all that looks quite nice although I don't like it. In my opinion they should have released that WITH the original mix as well. They didn't even put the original mix in the boxed set. I bought that release being very excited about it at the time, the four disc set, and very quickly became a bit disheartened by it.
Anyway.... Never Boring? I'd say all this is pretty boring. I can understand Queen and Jim Beach wanting to give younger fans who may not have heard these long deleted albums a chance to hear them in a classy release (which they've kind of failed at), but this just seems to be yet another way to cash in. Of course, they won't cash in because I don't think it'll make an awful lot of money - certainly not an amount that will make ANY difference to their quality of lives at this time.....
dysan
Agreed.
Nice detail about the first box being £50. I saw it for £50 in a London HMV around that time and on a trip to another town decided to buy it if they had it (in those days all towns had an HMV. Needless to say they had one full price. I told the guy at the counter that London were selling them for £50 and he didn't believe me.
I eventually got my spare though, and HMV now do not have a branch in London.
Regarding the Mr Bad Guy remix - I do like the idea in this thread (or the other one) that if they were going to remix they should've played up to it's 80s 'naffness' and gone overboard on that angle rather than try to normalise it. It would've done well in these post-Strnger Things times.
Nice detail about the first box being £50. I saw it for £50 in a London HMV around that time and on a trip to another town decided to buy it if they had it (in those days all towns had an HMV. Needless to say they had one full price. I told the guy at the counter that London were selling them for £50 and he didn't believe me.
I eventually got my spare though, and HMV now do not have a branch in London.
Regarding the Mr Bad Guy remix - I do like the idea in this thread (or the other one) that if they were going to remix they should've played up to it's 80s 'naffness' and gone overboard on that angle rather than try to normalise it. It would've done well in these post-Strnger Things times.
Nathan H
Several Queen enteries in the UK Albums Chart Top 40 Update:
[b]#08 - Never Boring[/b]
#15 - Bohemian Rhapsody - OST
#26 - The Platinum Collection
#28 - Jazz
[b]#34 - Mr. Bad Guy[/b]
[b]#39 - Never Boring - Solo Box Set[/b]
[b]#08 - Never Boring[/b]
#15 - Bohemian Rhapsody - OST
#26 - The Platinum Collection
#28 - Jazz
[b]#34 - Mr. Bad Guy[/b]
[b]#39 - Never Boring - Solo Box Set[/b]
dysan
Jazz is an interesting entry. I guess the presence of Don't Stop Me Now and the sneaking suspicion that casual fans are deciding a good next album to get after the obvious ones.
Vali
**post, deleted, wrong thread!"
Dr Magus
Massive vinyl section in my local HMV and I saw two people grab a JAZZ pink picture disc when the doors opened.
DAZH
To be fair Jazz got back in the UK top 100 album chart after the release of the film but not as high as this
Nathan H
Jazz has charted quite a few times recently as have others albums. So here is my ranking of the most popular Queen albums nowadays in the UK (depending on how many "popular" songs) with the biggest songs in order of popularity:
1. A Night At The Opera - BR, LOML and YMBF
2. Jazz - DSMN, FBG & BR
3. News Of The World - WWRY & WATC.
4. The Game - AOBTD & CLTCL
5. The Works - IWTBF, RGG & HTF
6. Hot Space - UP
7. A Kind Of Magic - WWTLF, AKOM & OV
8. A Day At The Races - STL
9. Innuendo - TSMGO & TATDOOL
10. Sheer Heart Attack - KQ
11. Flash Gordon - F
12. The Miracle - IWIA
13. Made In Heaven - TMLWKY & HFE
14. Queen II - SSOR
15. Queen - KYA
1. A Night At The Opera - BR, LOML and YMBF
2. Jazz - DSMN, FBG & BR
3. News Of The World - WWRY & WATC.
4. The Game - AOBTD & CLTCL
5. The Works - IWTBF, RGG & HTF
6. Hot Space - UP
7. A Kind Of Magic - WWTLF, AKOM & OV
8. A Day At The Races - STL
9. Innuendo - TSMGO & TATDOOL
10. Sheer Heart Attack - KQ
11. Flash Gordon - F
12. The Miracle - IWIA
13. Made In Heaven - TMLWKY & HFE
14. Queen II - SSOR
15. Queen - KYA
dysan
Thanks that's a useful list.