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Queen
Nov 6, 2019 15:51:41 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 6, 2019 15:51:41 GMT
Oh I DEFINITELY prefer “There must be...” And I’d at least liked to hear a Queen version. Have you heard the version that appears on the Forever compilation?
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Queen
Nov 6, 2019 15:58:46 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 6, 2019 15:58:46 GMT
Yeah.
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Queen
Nov 6, 2019 16:31:20 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 6, 2019 16:31:20 GMT
It's a pity it took over 30 years for a Queen version of that song to surface. I just think the song is very repetitive, and other than the novelty of Freddie and Michael Jackson singing together, there's not a lot to it.
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Queen
Nov 6, 2019 18:10:39 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 6, 2019 18:10:39 GMT
It's a pity it took over 30 years for a Queen version of that song to surface. I just think the song is very repetitive, and other than the novelty of Freddie and Michael Jackson singing together, there's not a lot to it. It’s far from great but I’d have been curious to hear what they might’ve done with it at that time.
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Queen
Nov 6, 2019 18:29:00 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 6, 2019 18:29:00 GMT
It's a pity it took over 30 years for a Queen version of that song to surface. I just think the song is very repetitive, and other than the novelty of Freddie and Michael Jackson singing together, there's not a lot to it. It’s far from great but I’d have been curious to hear what they might’ve done with it at that time. My guess is that the mix that surfaced in 2014 is probably pretty close to what we'd have heard in 1982 or 1984, same with Let Me In Your Heart Again. I'm not so sure about Love Kills. There seem to be so many different versions of that song out now with various tempos.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 13:33:52 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Nov 7, 2019 13:33:52 GMT
Despite the fact that The Works contains two of my all time favourite Queen songs, I don’t often sit down and listen to it all the way through. As a whole the album is kind of alright - a weird balance between a some really strong songs (Radio Ga Ga, Tear It Up, It’s a Hard Life, I Want to Break Free and Hammer to Fall) and then some forgettable blandness that I don’t really care about that much, but that I also don’t hate, either.
Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free are perfect pop songs. My only quibble is the shorter album version of I Want to Break Free, as in why does it exist, the longer single version is far superior.
I’d absolutely kick off the uninspired Man on the Prowl (aka “Crazy Little Thing” Part 2) and replace it with I Go Crazy.
“Machines” grew on me. I didn’t care for it at first but I’ve come to appreciate it. If I was ranking each track on the album I think I’d put it squarely in the middle, above Man on the Prowl, “Open Windows” and “World We Created”)
Is This the World We Created has a unique distinction of being a song that Freddie and Brian sat down to write in the studio together specifically to fill out a gap on the album, and it sounds like it - I mean it’s nice, but it’s nothing earth shattering.
Apart from I Go Crazy, the other songs from this period that didn’t make it on to The Works didn’t make a huge impression on me, though I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the ones mentioned here. I certainly never sat down and listened to them as a group of songs from this period, I should do that and see if listening to them in that context “changes” them at all.
I know we’re not quite there yet, but I think taking the best tracks off the Works and the best tracks off A Kind of magic makes for a really, really awesome “80s Queen” listening experience.
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 13:38:07 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 7, 2019 13:38:07 GMT
I actually listened to The Works a couple times before I wrote my piece on it just because I hadn't in a very long time. As an album, it's stronger than I remember. And I agree with Kap that Queen's catalog is so strong that one of their lesser albums (which I still think The Works is) is still really good.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 14:03:55 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Nov 7, 2019 14:03:55 GMT
Yeah, I think I declared before that Queen has no bad albums, and I still think that's true. I have a soft spot for 80s Queen, even if their albums from that decade aren't quite at the level of the 70s albums.
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 14:14:51 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 7, 2019 14:14:51 GMT
Yeah, I think I declared before that Queen has no bad albums, and I still think that's true. I have a soft spot for 80s Queen, even if their albums from that decade aren't quite at the level of the 70s albums. I'm not sure I'd call Hot Space a bad album, but I definitely wouldn't call it a good one either. So, I partly agree. And Flash Gordon is really its own thing. The 80s albums each have filler that wasn't there for most of their 70s albums, but still a lot of stuff to like. It's funny, I'd pretty much checked out on 80s Queen for a little while. Then, I think it might've been due to getting the Forever compilation for Christmas a few years ago, I went back to it.
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 14:25:32 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 7, 2019 14:25:32 GMT
Moot point, but it would have been interesting to see what would’ve happened had Freddie never gotten sick.
My best guess is they’d have broken up in the late 80s. I say that because I’ve read they came together and really worked hard largely because he got sick and they knew their time was limited. Without that sense of urgency I can imagine more side projects if not total dissolution.
But I’m sure they’d also have come back together—MTV Unplugged in the mid-90s? Super hyped reunion tour in the 00s?—to capitalize on the huge money in the legacy markets.
But where would Freddie have gone artistically? (His styles seemed the most fluid.) would John have stuck around for it?
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 15:13:14 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 7, 2019 15:13:14 GMT
An interesting scenario. I always just assumed that Queen just would've carried on....carried on, but I discounted the fact that The Miracle, Innuendo, and the couple new songs on Made In Heaven has that sense of urgency from knowing they were on borrowed time. So, even if they did continue we'd have likely never gotten songs like Was It All Worth It, These Are the Days of Our Lives, The Show Must Go On, or Mother Love.
I'm not sure if Queen would've had a big break up. But, I could see a scenario where Brian, Roger, Freddie, and John just kind of quietly drift apart before some sort of reunion. I think Deacon would be more likely to participate in Queen had Freddie Mercury not passed on. But, since he's so private, it's hard to really know for sure.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 15:36:13 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Nov 7, 2019 15:36:13 GMT
I think the late 80s are a good blueprint for what would have happened even if Freddie had not gotten sick. They all had some other projects going on, while still being members of Queen, and it seems like that would have happened regardless.
In our actual timeline, they did all work together on some of Freddie’s later 80s solo stuff, like The Great Pretender (the video for which features an encore appearance of Freddie and Roger and their friend Peter Straker in drag). Then there was Freddie’s work with Monserrat Caballe. Though I’m unfamiliar with John and Brian’s other projects during that time, as far as I’m aware they were involved with some other things. And Roger was moonlighting with The Cross (can’t say I’m a fan) from the late 80s until the mid 90s, though he always maintained that Queen was his #1 priority.
So in a healthy Freddie timeline, I think those things would have happened anyway, and then some kind of reunion as has been suggested. Maybe we would have gotten some alternate versions of The Miracle and Innuendo, and maybe tours to go with them.
Beyond that into the 90s up to today… it seemed to be in their DNA to remain loyal to the Queen machine while pursuing other projects so I think that would have continued until John’s retirement. I got the impression that John and Brian had some major differences in the studio and that Freddie was able to mediate that, and perhaps with him still in the picture John would have stayed on a bit longer. But I do think he would have decided to pack it in at some point, regardless.
The big burning question: Before Freddie’s death, Queen had become uncool. So in a healthy Freddie timeline, would Mike Myers still insist on using Bohemian Rhapsody in Wayne’s World? And would Queen’s resurgence in global popularity still happened as a result of that? Or would they still be uncool today?
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 15:52:15 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 7, 2019 15:52:15 GMT
I think Queen's music still would've experienced a resurgence in the States at some point, even if not aided by Wayne's World. The cream has a way of rising to the top. It took a long time, but The Beach Boys eventually became cool again after their 80s nostalgia / self parody period (even though they largely didn't capitalize on it).
There are a lot of classic bands that were deemed uncool at one time or another in the 80s or 90s who had renewed appreciation in the 2000s - Styx, Journey, and Iron Maiden come to mind.
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 16:04:54 GMT
Post by kds on Nov 7, 2019 16:04:54 GMT
It's worth mentioning that, while on the road promoting The Works, Queen played the first Rock in Rio festival in January 1985. The Festival lasted ten days, and featured acts like Queen, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Yes, James Taylor, Scorpions, Rod Stewart, The Go Gos, The B52s, and George Benson among others.
On the first day of the festival, Queen headlined, and Iron Maiden went on before them. That might be my personal Holy Grail of back to back performances.
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Queen
Nov 7, 2019 16:09:28 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kapitan on Nov 7, 2019 16:09:28 GMT
I am totally confident they would have undergone at least one resurgence, and probably more, mostly because everyone of any quality did. These things are so cyclical, you can count on it. Besides, I’m not sure Wayne’s World wouldn’t have happened either way: the movie was greenlit in 1991, and Freddie didn’t die until late ’91. That scene may well have already existed, though I don’t know. But beyond the quality of the music and the possibility of Wayne’s World either way, I think other factors play in their favor. As other ambitious, glitzy, glamorous artists who obviously owed a debt to Queen came around, that would have inevitably shone a light back on them. Anyone from hard rock groups like Extreme—who were vocal about their debt to Queen even at the time before Freddie died—to pop artists like Lady Gaga, there is always someone ready to cite them. And of course the social changes over the years would make it likely that Freddie specifically would have been raised as a champion (forgive the semi-pun). There is no question that a living Freddie Mercury would have been the king (er, queen) of the LGBTQ+ movement, at least on occasion. While he was probably too conservative for the modern version of it, at the very least through the 90s and 00s I think he’d have been on the highest pedestal. But it does roll back around to their music. So many great songs are just too popular and too catchy not to take hold occasionally. Like the Beatles, like the Beach Boys, like Zeppelin, like Hendrix, like the Velvet Underground, like Joni Mitchell, like Elvis, like the Doors, like Carol King, like Buddy Holly, like Dylan … like all the legends. Queen were great. People always come back to great.
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