Freddie's songwriting really took a nosedive in the '80s. His '70s stuff was brilliant but he peaked then and the rest of the band really carried the songwriting torch in the 80s and 90s. The last great Queen song Freddie wrote was Crazy Little Thing in '79. Think of Queen's biggest and best remembered hits from the '80s and '90s - Another One Bites the Dust and I Want to Break Free was Deacon; Radio Ga Ga, A Kind of Magic, These Are the Days of Our Lives and Innuendo was Roger or mostly Roger; Hammer to Fall, Who Wants to Live Forever, I Want It All, The Show Must Go On, Brian or mostly Brian. Even One Vision and Under Pressure were full on 4 or 5 way collaborations. Freddie's Queen hits in the '80s and '90s were all of the less spectacular variety - Play the Game, Friends Will Be Friends, Its a Hard Life, Princes of the Universe, even The Miracle and I'm Going Slightly Mad, all good but not at the very top of anybody but the most die-hard's list and not particularly big hits. Not one of them even top 5 in the UK. The Mr. Bad Guy stuff didn't light the world on fire and Barcelona, which was genius, was all written in collaboration with Mike Moran and, to a lesser extent, Tim Rice. Doubtless he remained a great singer and intepreter of songs, but as a songwriter, Freddie had peaked. Fortunately the other three guys had a lot to offer. No, they couldn't have done it without him, but he couldn't have done it without them either. That's why they were a great band - they needed each other and they picked up each other's slack.
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MR FARON HYTE....very clever, very clear..very well said!
Intresting point.
Intresting point.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]louvox wrote: [/QUOTENAME] Especially at that time when disco was on the way out.[/QUOTE]
Not in gay bars.
Not in gay bars.
I wouldn't exactly call Freddie's solo career terrible, becuase the lyrics are great and some of the back beats are catchy... BUT... the music is so dated. It's 80's to the tenth degree. Maybe if the tracks were modernized or changed from the dance/disco format they were originaly recorded to a rock feel they would be great. As I said, the lyrics are great.
I thought that on the 1995 made in heaven album queen made, made in heaven and born to love you a lot better but i don'yt know what all the extra little bits were about.
I think queen as a whole are a lot better, i think that, Time, love kills, love me like there's no tomorrow and the songs with montseratte are really good as he uses piano and bass.
on thw whole queen are the legendary band and freddie mercury made them who they are now.
Thanks Johnny
I think queen as a whole are a lot better, i think that, Time, love kills, love me like there's no tomorrow and the songs with montseratte are really good as he uses piano and bass.
on thw whole queen are the legendary band and freddie mercury made them who they are now.
Thanks Johnny
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Mr Faron Hyte wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Freddie's songwriting really took a nosedive in the '80s. His '70s stuff was brilliant but he peaked then and the rest of the band really carried the songwriting torch in the 80s and 90s. QUOTE]
A fine post, Mr Faron Height. I have only a slight matter of disagrement. I felt, like you that his songwriting powers did diminish in the eighties but on the last two albums they picked up again, The Miracle, WIAWI, IGSM, Innuendo, Bijou and DTSH all speak of a song writer who is back to his best.
A fine post, Mr Faron Height. I have only a slight matter of disagrement. I felt, like you that his songwriting powers did diminish in the eighties but on the last two albums they picked up again, The Miracle, WIAWI, IGSM, Innuendo, Bijou and DTSH all speak of a song writer who is back to his best.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Mr Faron Hyte wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Freddie's songwriting really took a nosedive in the '80s. His '70s stuff was brilliant but he peaked then and the rest of the band really carried the songwriting torch in the 80s and 90s. The last great Queen song Freddie wrote was Crazy Little Thing in '79. Think of Queen's biggest and best remembered hits from the '80s and '90s - Another One Bites the Dust and I Want to Break Free was Deacon; Radio Ga Ga, A Kind of Magic, These Are the Days of Our Lives and Innuendo was Roger or mostly Roger; Hammer to Fall, Who Wants to Live Forever, I Want It All, The Show Must Go On, Brian or mostly Brian. Even One Vision and Under Pressure were full on 4 or 5 way collaborations. Freddie's Queen hits in the '80s and '90s were all of the less spectacular variety - Play the Game, Friends Will Be Friends, Its a Hard Life, Princes of the Universe, even The Miracle and I'm Going Slightly Mad, all good but not at the very top of anybody but the most die-hard's list and not particularly big hits. Not one of them even top 5 in the UK. The Mr. Bad Guy stuff didn't light the world on fire and Barcelona, which was genius, was all written in collaboration with Mike Moran and, to a lesser extent, Tim Rice. Doubtless he remained a great singer and intepreter of songs, but as a songwriter, Freddie had peaked. Fortunately the other three guys had a lot to offer. No, they couldn't have done it without him, but he couldn't have done it without them either. That's why they were a great band - they needed each other and they picked up each other's slack.[/QUOTE]
for fucks SAKE, who CARES wether or not songs released in the 80s were big big hits or not!! That doesnt make them any better or any worse of a song!!! So you're saying because BoRhap was a big big hit, that makes it a good song? No! What makes it a good song is the SONG itself. And who are you to say those songs arnt at the top of any die hards list? I love all those songs you listed, I personally LOVE the 80s material, and notice Im speaking for myself, and not for any other "diehard". Im speaking for myself and you should do the same. And realise that because something isnt a big big hit, that doenst make it BAD.
If Paris Hilton's album went platinum, would that make it good? No, that would just mean a million people are stupid as fuck.
for fucks SAKE, who CARES wether or not songs released in the 80s were big big hits or not!! That doesnt make them any better or any worse of a song!!! So you're saying because BoRhap was a big big hit, that makes it a good song? No! What makes it a good song is the SONG itself. And who are you to say those songs arnt at the top of any die hards list? I love all those songs you listed, I personally LOVE the 80s material, and notice Im speaking for myself, and not for any other "diehard". Im speaking for myself and you should do the same. And realise that because something isnt a big big hit, that doenst make it BAD.
If Paris Hilton's album went platinum, would that make it good? No, that would just mean a million people are stupid as fuck.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Sherwood Forest wrote: [/QUOTENAME]i hope everyone knows that the song the great prenteder was only a cover of a song, it wasnt his stuff
but i must say it did fit him perfectly
all in all there were a lot worse of solo carreers than freddies
[/QUOTE]
i knew. i hope so that everybody else knew it too...
but i must say it did fit him perfectly
all in all there were a lot worse of solo carreers than freddies
[/QUOTE]
i knew. i hope so that everybody else knew it too...
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]WhatMustHeThink wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
If Paris Hilton's album went platinum, would that make it good? No, that would just mean a million people are stupid as f[/QUOTE]
you just don't know what good music is.
If Paris Hilton's album went platinum, would that make it good? No, that would just mean a million people are stupid as f[/QUOTE]
you just don't know what good music is.
I 100%, totally, with all my heart, could not possibly disagree with you more!!!
My guess is that you are fairly young, at least enough to not remember the trends and style of the disco/pop 80's. The reason why is that style and period of music, though popular at the time, is considered by many today as crap. The style I am referring to was very heavily infused into the Mr. Bad Guy album. That being said, at least half of the tracks are total classics, and the worst is at least catchy or interesting in some way or another.
The other solo works, and especially the Barcelona/opera album he did with Monsterat Caballe are pure works of genious.
But what I even more specifically disagree with in your bash was the alleged proof of Freddie's musical co-dependance on the other three members of Queen. While it is obvious that they helped him get to higher places than he would have on his own, I rather found the opposite to be true due chiefly to the unmistakably Brian sounding guitar solos. The style was so exactly like Brians, though the solos themselves were all very original. What I read later explained the similariy to me. Apparently Freddie wrote most of the guitar solos Brian played on Freddie's tracks, conceiving them so accurately that by comparison with the solo works, it's clear to me to be written by the same musical mind.
Freddie's solo material is, some of it, a bit dated, but after further listening, I think the 80's-ness of it will shortly stop bothering you.
My guess is that you are fairly young, at least enough to not remember the trends and style of the disco/pop 80's. The reason why is that style and period of music, though popular at the time, is considered by many today as crap. The style I am referring to was very heavily infused into the Mr. Bad Guy album. That being said, at least half of the tracks are total classics, and the worst is at least catchy or interesting in some way or another.
The other solo works, and especially the Barcelona/opera album he did with Monsterat Caballe are pure works of genious.
But what I even more specifically disagree with in your bash was the alleged proof of Freddie's musical co-dependance on the other three members of Queen. While it is obvious that they helped him get to higher places than he would have on his own, I rather found the opposite to be true due chiefly to the unmistakably Brian sounding guitar solos. The style was so exactly like Brians, though the solos themselves were all very original. What I read later explained the similariy to me. Apparently Freddie wrote most of the guitar solos Brian played on Freddie's tracks, conceiving them so accurately that by comparison with the solo works, it's clear to me to be written by the same musical mind.
Freddie's solo material is, some of it, a bit dated, but after further listening, I think the 80's-ness of it will shortly stop bothering you.
I love the Mr Bad Guy album and i have an original tape of it. It does have a very 80's gay bar feel about it, but i think that it works. But i really hate the remixes! I love all of Freddies songs as i think they are great but thats just my opinion.
I dont think that you can judge a song/album by what success it had in the charts. It's only a good album if you think it is!
Something that is a great album to one person wont necessarily be great to another.
I dont think that you can judge a song/album by what success it had in the charts. It's only a good album if you think it is!
Something that is a great album to one person wont necessarily be great to another.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Another Roger (re) wrote: [/QUOTENAME].
Tracks like Made In Heaven and I was born To love you shows how much impact Brian and Roger really had. The difference is shocking.
Freddie mercury on his own? Not a good idea.[/QUOTE]
I dont think that freddie was dependant on the others but i dont think that the others were dependant on him either. They were so good because they worked amazingly as a team.
Are we forgetting that Roger and Brians solo careers didnt do much better or worse than Freddies? Dont get me wrong, i like brian and rogers solo careeers aswell as freddies but i dont think they would have been much without eachother.
Tracks like Made In Heaven and I was born To love you shows how much impact Brian and Roger really had. The difference is shocking.
Freddie mercury on his own? Not a good idea.[/QUOTE]
I dont think that freddie was dependant on the others but i dont think that the others were dependant on him either. They were so good because they worked amazingly as a team.
Are we forgetting that Roger and Brians solo careers didnt do much better or worse than Freddies? Dont get me wrong, i like brian and rogers solo careeers aswell as freddies but i dont think they would have been much without eachother.
Freddie has the most incredible voice and is a great showman, but I agree that the material was somewhat lacking, and the stylings of the music does lack the talent of the band. He could have had an great solo career if he hadn't been with Queen first, maybe? Maybe his solo career just hit a different target audience? I don't know, but he was an amazing man, with a tremendous voice, a huge amount of fun thrown in, and Queen wouldn't be the same without him, and vice versa.
I find Freddie's solo career to be incredible. I'd put it tops among the Queen members, followed by Roger, who is a VERY close second. Brian's solo career has always been a slight dissapointment for me though. Partially it's because of his voice. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE his voice. It just doesn't have much range. He can, better even than Freddie, nail songs that require a lot of softness in the lead vocal. But any track that requires pushing a voice forward, and Brian struggles to maintain without cracking or reaching his limits. Another problem I think is Brian's style. His own personal taste and desires of songs he likes making, went towards a more organic, loose, live-oriented style, away from most things Queen, and the songs he has made are, for the most part, less ambitious than F + R's solo tunes, and even moreso, less ambitious than most of Brian's Queen contributions. My guess is that Brian's assistance from the other members is more important than Freddie's and Roger's. Lastly, Deacon's solo career(1 song) is a joke.
I find roger solo stuff to be crap, but brian has some hits (nothin but blue) and misses (I'm scared) freddie was my favorite from their solo efforts, barcelona is one of my fav albums of all time, in my defence, and the great pretender is fab. The bottom line is it's all a matter of opinion. Freddie mercurys terrible solocarrer?...I say Grow up!....Barcelona is more creative than anything roger talyor could ever produce.