Kind of harsh on Roger, aren't you? I think the 2nd two Cross albums are crap, but all in all, Roger is a fantastic song writer. What amazed me is on 'Strange Frontier', how there are two covers, one written by Bob Dylan, and the other by Bruce Springsteen. The amazing part is that songs covered by Roger that came from these two legends, are easily the worst songs on the album.
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I'm going by what I'v heard. Happiness I never liked, and the cross stuff I couldn't stand. Electric fire has some good stuff, but overall is boring. I must say I loved the couple of songs he did with the japaness musician (forget his name) I thought that was fantastic. roger is probably my least fav songwriter from queen, john wrote a lot less, but I like his songs better, especially when comparing 70's roger and john. Sorry roger fans!
One thing also worth considering(somebody may have mentioned it already) to is that Mr. Bad Guy was not an album Freddie really made his primary musical focus. It was his first solo effort, fit into a short timeframe between 'The Works' and 'A Kind Of Magic'. All of this tells me three things:
1. His best songs at that time were likely reserved for Queen.
2. He had a short period of time to make his first solo effort. What I mean is that all the sudden Freddie is totally the leader in the studio and has no alternative vocalists or writers to lean on, forcing him to take on more responsibility on a record than he has had to deal with.
3. Last but not least, Freddie had to have been spent! 12 years of constant writing, recording and touring had to have left him somwhat fatigued. At the very least, he was(and I have seen him say so in interviews around that time.) bored with Queen's sound and wanted some sort of departure. A rested Mercury, I believe, would have naturally fallen into more piano/rock sound than the 'Mr. Bad Guy' album had.
All that having been said, I still disagree with any who think Freddie's solo career sucks. Guide Me Back, Barcelona, Living On My Own, Man Made Paradise, You're My Kind Of Lover, Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow, In My Defence.... Any questions?
1. His best songs at that time were likely reserved for Queen.
2. He had a short period of time to make his first solo effort. What I mean is that all the sudden Freddie is totally the leader in the studio and has no alternative vocalists or writers to lean on, forcing him to take on more responsibility on a record than he has had to deal with.
3. Last but not least, Freddie had to have been spent! 12 years of constant writing, recording and touring had to have left him somwhat fatigued. At the very least, he was(and I have seen him say so in interviews around that time.) bored with Queen's sound and wanted some sort of departure. A rested Mercury, I believe, would have naturally fallen into more piano/rock sound than the 'Mr. Bad Guy' album had.
All that having been said, I still disagree with any who think Freddie's solo career sucks. Guide Me Back, Barcelona, Living On My Own, Man Made Paradise, You're My Kind Of Lover, Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow, In My Defence.... Any questions?
I totally have to disagree with the original poster as well here. I also think that AmeriQueen makes some really excellent points.
Just because a song has synthesizers or a disco groove to it does not automatically mean that it sucks. If it has a nice melody, then it is a nice song. At the end of the day, arrangement and production are not what makes someone a great songwriter. After all, a lot of people with degrees in music know how to arrange and produce songs. What makes the difference between an OK songwriter and a brilliant songwriter, on the other hand, is MELODY. And Freddie Mercury wrote some of the most beautiful melodies that you can find in popular music, both with Queen and solo.
To me, Freddie Mercury's solo songs are similar sounding to Queen albums that were put out at that time, and I find them to be of a similar quality. I do not see how you could call "Hot Space" and "The Works" much better than "Mr. Bad Guy." In general, neither are as sophisticated as material from the 1970's, but they are more fun.
I also have to agree with AmeriQueen that Freddie Mercury probably helped some of the others (in particular, John and Roger) more than they helped him. When they did contribute to his songs, I suspect that the other members were adding to the production/arrangement and not the structure of the song or the melody. However, Freddie Mercury actually re-wrote certain songs for other members at times.
Just because a song has synthesizers or a disco groove to it does not automatically mean that it sucks. If it has a nice melody, then it is a nice song. At the end of the day, arrangement and production are not what makes someone a great songwriter. After all, a lot of people with degrees in music know how to arrange and produce songs. What makes the difference between an OK songwriter and a brilliant songwriter, on the other hand, is MELODY. And Freddie Mercury wrote some of the most beautiful melodies that you can find in popular music, both with Queen and solo.
To me, Freddie Mercury's solo songs are similar sounding to Queen albums that were put out at that time, and I find them to be of a similar quality. I do not see how you could call "Hot Space" and "The Works" much better than "Mr. Bad Guy." In general, neither are as sophisticated as material from the 1970's, but they are more fun.
I also have to agree with AmeriQueen that Freddie Mercury probably helped some of the others (in particular, John and Roger) more than they helped him. When they did contribute to his songs, I suspect that the other members were adding to the production/arrangement and not the structure of the song or the melody. However, Freddie Mercury actually re-wrote certain songs for other members at times.
Who's the moron who named the thread?
If you compare Freddie's solo career to the amount of sales Queen made, or perhaps compare it to how many copies Dark Side of the Moon sold..... then yeah, it's pretty small.
If anything, in terms of sales I reckon he had a pretty decent solo career *when compared to other soloists at the time*; it wasn't a giant success but it was pretty good, all things considered. A naive thing to say would be that he had a pretty short solo career, but we all know why that is anyway.
Seriously... jabs at his 80's synths aside, his career wasn't terrible at all. I'm a big fan of the William Shatner song "Has Been", because..... well it's a non-word isn't it? Even a Has-Been has gotten a lot further than most of us Never-Beens!
And that in itself is a stupid thing to say... because we're not in Melody Maker we don't exist?
A most intellectually-crippled way of looking at things if you ask me!
If you compare Freddie's solo career to the amount of sales Queen made, or perhaps compare it to how many copies Dark Side of the Moon sold..... then yeah, it's pretty small.
If anything, in terms of sales I reckon he had a pretty decent solo career *when compared to other soloists at the time*; it wasn't a giant success but it was pretty good, all things considered. A naive thing to say would be that he had a pretty short solo career, but we all know why that is anyway.
Seriously... jabs at his 80's synths aside, his career wasn't terrible at all. I'm a big fan of the William Shatner song "Has Been", because..... well it's a non-word isn't it? Even a Has-Been has gotten a lot further than most of us Never-Beens!
And that in itself is a stupid thing to say... because we're not in Melody Maker we don't exist?
A most intellectually-crippled way of looking at things if you ask me!
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Zebonka12 wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Who's the moron who named the thread?
If you compare Freddie's solo career to the amount of sales Queen made, or perhaps compare it to how many copies Dark Side of the Moon sold..... then yeah, it's pretty small.
If anything, in terms of sales I reckon he had a pretty decent solo career *when compared to other soloists at the time*; it wasn't a giant success but it was pretty good, all things considered. A naive thing to say would be that he had a pretty short solo career, but we all know why that is anyway.
Seriously... jabs at his 80's synths aside, his career wasn't terrible at all. I'm a big fan of the William Shatner song "Has Been", because..... well it's a non-word isn't it? Even a Has-Been has gotten a lot further than most of us Never-Beens!
And that in itself is a stupid thing to say... because we're not in Melody Maker we don't exist?
A most intellectually-crippled way of looking at things if you ask me![/QUOTE]I agree with you on this one. How can you call his solo career terrible when you have the barcelona album, half of Mr. bad guy is good, especially man made paridise, more than life than this, living on my own (all versions) love me like there's no tomorrow. the great pretender, time, in my defence, love kills. I'm talking maybe about 4 songs from his solo stuff I don't like, and obviouly other people agree, this is his third straight week in the top twenty.
If you compare Freddie's solo career to the amount of sales Queen made, or perhaps compare it to how many copies Dark Side of the Moon sold..... then yeah, it's pretty small.
If anything, in terms of sales I reckon he had a pretty decent solo career *when compared to other soloists at the time*; it wasn't a giant success but it was pretty good, all things considered. A naive thing to say would be that he had a pretty short solo career, but we all know why that is anyway.
Seriously... jabs at his 80's synths aside, his career wasn't terrible at all. I'm a big fan of the William Shatner song "Has Been", because..... well it's a non-word isn't it? Even a Has-Been has gotten a lot further than most of us Never-Beens!
And that in itself is a stupid thing to say... because we're not in Melody Maker we don't exist?
A most intellectually-crippled way of looking at things if you ask me![/QUOTE]I agree with you on this one. How can you call his solo career terrible when you have the barcelona album, half of Mr. bad guy is good, especially man made paridise, more than life than this, living on my own (all versions) love me like there's no tomorrow. the great pretender, time, in my defence, love kills. I'm talking maybe about 4 songs from his solo stuff I don't like, and obviouly other people agree, this is his third straight week in the top twenty.
When I bought greatest solo hits, I fell in love with it! In my defence is one of my top twenty songs, it's got so much meaning and feel to it. Sure, most of the songs wouldn't rate so high on the charts, but does that mean there bad? Nonsense! It simply means that there are better tracks. Barcelona is amazing, Time brings tears to my eyes, I love the sounds in Mr. Bad Guy, The Golden Boy is pretty good, and the Great Pretender is very close to my heart. Freddie's solo albulm to me was not just a new commercial line, or a break from Queen, it was our darling Freddie in one way expressing himself. I think he wanted to show that he wasn't just the flamboyant front man of Queen, he was a star in his own right. Sure, I think that Freddie was the most talented member of the band where writing is concerned, but I also agree that instrumentaly he wasn't as skilled. I think Brian May is easily one of the top ten guitarists, and Roger Taylor is excellent on the drums, and although he's quite, John is really good at what he does.
I guess I also love Freddies albulm because it's a celebration of a mentor, and a guy I really look up to. But would I say it's better than Queen, no. They were four guys in the right place, at the right time, and for a little while they gave the world something brilliant and amazing.
Freddie may not have had the best musicians supporting him in his solo carreer, but his voice is at it's best in some of those songs.
Cheers to the great man!
B.R
I guess I also love Freddies albulm because it's a celebration of a mentor, and a guy I really look up to. But would I say it's better than Queen, no. They were four guys in the right place, at the right time, and for a little while they gave the world something brilliant and amazing.
Freddie may not have had the best musicians supporting him in his solo carreer, but his voice is at it's best in some of those songs.
Cheers to the great man!
B.R
To another Roger,
I actually never saw it that way, but thanks for pointing it out, i suppose the same could be said about all the bands solo work.... On that note, quoting RT, he said we could always come back to queen, like coming back to mother,,,, so on that note, i suppose theyn just needed to ventilate there music with out anyone cutting them down... But none the less,
I actually never saw it that way, but thanks for pointing it out, i suppose the same could be said about all the bands solo work.... On that note, quoting RT, he said we could always come back to queen, like coming back to mother,,,, so on that note, i suppose theyn just needed to ventilate there music with out anyone cutting them down... But none the less,
To another Roger,
I actually never saw it that way, but thanks for pointing it out, i suppose the same could be said about all the bands solo work.... On that note, quoting RT, he said we could always come back to queen, like coming back to mother,,,, so on that note, i suppose theyn just needed to ventilate there music with out anyone cutting them down... But none the less,
I actually never saw it that way, but thanks for pointing it out, i suppose the same could be said about all the bands solo work.... On that note, quoting RT, he said we could always come back to queen, like coming back to mother,,,, so on that note, i suppose theyn just needed to ventilate there music with out anyone cutting them down... But none the less,
"If anything, in terms of sales I reckon he had a pretty decent solo career *when compared to other soloists at the time*; it wasn't a giant success but it was pretty good, all things considered. A naive thing to say would be that he had a pretty short solo career, but we all know why that is anyway."
I dont care about sales!! How many copies a single or album have sold has nothing to do with the quality. If you look at it that way you should buy the music after the charts. Its so refreshing that we have bands like Dream Theater who doesnt care about the charts. Queen unfortunately went into that trap. They let the radios and media form the shape of their music. They did that in the 80s. Too bad. When things gets commercial they usually lose something.
Queen wanted a wide audience. Most people unfortunately want easy catchy music that you can like at once. Thats also what the radios want to play. People who are interested in a more long term satisfaction can spend some more time getting into the music. This is usually the music who last for a while.
Finally. I dont judge Freddie Mercurys solo carrer on sales. I just dont like it. The music is too cheap for me. The song Barcelona is alright indeed. The album though is boring as the day is long. I cant stand that screaming from monsterrat. Its like getting needle in your hear. So thin and high pitched. Awful.
I dont care about sales!! How many copies a single or album have sold has nothing to do with the quality. If you look at it that way you should buy the music after the charts. Its so refreshing that we have bands like Dream Theater who doesnt care about the charts. Queen unfortunately went into that trap. They let the radios and media form the shape of their music. They did that in the 80s. Too bad. When things gets commercial they usually lose something.
Queen wanted a wide audience. Most people unfortunately want easy catchy music that you can like at once. Thats also what the radios want to play. People who are interested in a more long term satisfaction can spend some more time getting into the music. This is usually the music who last for a while.
Finally. I dont judge Freddie Mercurys solo carrer on sales. I just dont like it. The music is too cheap for me. The song Barcelona is alright indeed. The album though is boring as the day is long. I cant stand that screaming from monsterrat. Its like getting needle in your hear. So thin and high pitched. Awful.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Another Roger (re) wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
I dont care about sales!! blah blah blah
Finally. I dont judge Freddie Mercurys solo carrer on sales. I just dont like it. The music is too cheap for me. blah blah blah I cant stand that screaming from monsterrat. Its like getting needle in your hear. So thin and high pitched. Awful.
[/QUOTE]
Hmmm. Sorry, I assumed you were judging it on sales because the music wasn't all that bad.
I find big chunks of Mr. Bad Guy to be a little too 80's for regular listening. And I don't like most of Barcelona simply because it would have benefited from a real symphony as opposed to shitty synths.
But the compositions, and the vocal performances, are pretty good. There's nothing 'terrible' in there I don't think.
His solo stuff isn't what I'd call Easy Listening, to be honest, but there's great stuff in there, and people who call it unilaterally terrible... c'est ridiculé!
One final note - Great Pretender kicks arse, you'd have to be Helen Keller not to enjoy that one.
I dont care about sales!! blah blah blah
Finally. I dont judge Freddie Mercurys solo carrer on sales. I just dont like it. The music is too cheap for me. blah blah blah I cant stand that screaming from monsterrat. Its like getting needle in your hear. So thin and high pitched. Awful.
[/QUOTE]
Hmmm. Sorry, I assumed you were judging it on sales because the music wasn't all that bad.
I find big chunks of Mr. Bad Guy to be a little too 80's for regular listening. And I don't like most of Barcelona simply because it would have benefited from a real symphony as opposed to shitty synths.
But the compositions, and the vocal performances, are pretty good. There's nothing 'terrible' in there I don't think.
His solo stuff isn't what I'd call Easy Listening, to be honest, but there's great stuff in there, and people who call it unilaterally terrible... c'est ridiculé!
One final note - Great Pretender kicks arse, you'd have to be Helen Keller not to enjoy that one.
[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]
The one thing this poster needs to understand as well as anyone else is that his words are put together to create his version of an OPINION. Nothing more. This can be said about anyone who openly shares their thoughts. It's like people who believe in God or the Koran, it's a belief, NOTHING FACTUAL. (by the way the bible was written by hundreds of men over a period of hundreds of years) So we all go to bed taking comfort in our beliefs or opinions, that's fine. And just because something becomes popular does not mean it's good, it just appeals to the masses, something the U.S. falls prey to so easily.
As for "THE BIG HITS OF THE 80'S AND 90'S" those are songs that the public gravitated towards, so what?
Mr. F.H. rounded up a few facts, weaved them into his belief and so now we have HIS perspective. In the end, It's all up to you to make your own opinion.
I personally like "Delilah" better than "Bohemian Rhapsody"
How can anyone say I'm wrong or right? I think that proves my point.
The one thing this poster needs to understand as well as anyone else is that his words are put together to create his version of an OPINION. Nothing more. This can be said about anyone who openly shares their thoughts. It's like people who believe in God or the Koran, it's a belief, NOTHING FACTUAL. (by the way the bible was written by hundreds of men over a period of hundreds of years) So we all go to bed taking comfort in our beliefs or opinions, that's fine. And just because something becomes popular does not mean it's good, it just appeals to the masses, something the U.S. falls prey to so easily.
As for "THE BIG HITS OF THE 80'S AND 90'S" those are songs that the public gravitated towards, so what?
Mr. F.H. rounded up a few facts, weaved them into his belief and so now we have HIS perspective. In the end, It's all up to you to make your own opinion.
I personally like "Delilah" better than "Bohemian Rhapsody"
How can anyone say I'm wrong or right? I think that proves my point.