New Queen Album "Forever"

Thought Queen fans would want to see this.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forever-Queen/dp/B00NHWXUZK/ref=dp_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=229816&s=music

Since 2011 the surviving Queen members have mentioned finishing up 3 unreleased Michael Jackson / Freddie Mercury songs with William Orbit and being blocked by Michael's Estate. Despite all their hype and the long wait it's sad for me to see that only one of the tracks they were working on comes out. The others would have presumably been Victory and State of Shock.

 

I was hoping for a bit more 'new' material here. Particularly as nesboy43 said, I was hoping for the MJ/FM songs to finally make their debut. It seems like the MJ estate is still holding things up based on comments Brian has made recently. As it is, its mostly ballads, with a few 'new' versions thrown in etc. No direct mention of Michael Jackson actually being on "There Must Be More To Life Than This" either. I wonder if the titular track will just be the instrumental version of WWTLF or something new.
Heres the track list from Amazon tho. The official press release cant be far away now.

Disc: 1
1. Let Me In Your Heart Again
2. Love Kills - The Ballad
3. There Must Be More To Life Than This (William Orbit Mix)
4. Play The Game
5. Dear Friends
6. You're My Best Friend
7. Love Of My Life
8. Drowse
9. You Take My Breath Away
10. Spread Your Wings
11. Long Away
12. Lily Of The Valley
13. Don't Try So Hard
14. Bijou
15. These Are The Days Of Our Lives
16. Nevermore
17. Las Palabras De Amor
18. Who Wants To Live Forever
Disc: 2
1. I Was Born To Love You
2. Somebody To Love
3. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
4. Friends Will Be Friends
5. Jealousy
6. One Year of Love
7. A Winters Tale
8. '39
9. Mother Love
10. It's A Hard Life
11. Save Me
12. Made in Heaven
13. Too Much Love Will Kill You
14. Sail Away Sweet Sister
15. The Miracle
16. Is This The World We Created
17. In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited
18. Forever

 

Yes, it's really possible that Orbit Mix is a pure Queen version without MJ appearance.

Also it's interesting that 'Nevermore' and 'Lily Of The Valley' will be released as standalone versions.

 

"Too Much Love Will Kill You"

This album should come with a warning sticker, then.

 

The choice of "There must be more to life than this" is quite simple, cause that's a Mercury composition with Jackson being the guest. "State of Shock" and "Victory" are Jackson's tracks with Mercury as a guest. And I can see, why his estate may want to use them for their own releases. And also they may not like the idea that Taylor and May turned them into Queen-songs. No matter how good the result is.....

But..."State of Shock" once leaked in it's original form on the internet etc and.....it's not good, there is no real chemistry between both no matter how often they shout "Come on baby" and "wow" and "hey" and "listen".....

 

To be fair - State of Shock with Jagger is waaay better than the version with Freddie... Jagger just fits the song better.

So.. this is not an album, but rather a two disc anthology. Right?

 

They just played two of the new tracks on radio 2, the third coming up between 9 and 9.30.

 

Why does Amazon mention "Virgin/EMI"? I thought Queen was on Island now

 

Just heard the 3 "new" tracks. There Must Be More To Life Than This, Let Me In Your Heart Again and Love Kills.
All newly reworked by Brian and Roger combining the vocals and original bass parts of Freddie and John.
For me, the second one is the best of the three.

 

Are you sure that LMIYHA is the reworked version and not the original version/mix from circa 1986 ?

 

Same with Mike Oldfield: Island beloning to Universal group, Universal purchased EMI, restructured and gives it the Virgin/EMI-brand - so it suites the original catalogue.

 

I've a feeling that all the goodwill generated by Live at the Rainbow '74 is about to be eroded...

From queenonline...

QUEEN FOREVER
Queen Bring Back Freddie
New ‘Queen Forever’ CD Collection Brings New Freddie Mercury Tracks to Light
RELEASED NOVEMBER 10TH 2014
Three previously unreleased Queen tracks featuring late singer Freddie Mercury spearhead an exciting new Queen album, Queen Forever, due November 10th 2014 on the Virgin Records label.
The tracks include a long anticipated track from Queen and Michael Jackson, There Must Be More to Life Than This, a previously unfinished Mercury-Queen track Let Me In Your Heart Again originating from the band’s The Works album recording sessions, and a scorching new stripped-down ballad version of Mercury’s first solo hit, his Giorgio Moroder collaboration, Love Kills.

The rest of the package brings together Queen hits, classic tracks, and new takes on well-known songs, matched with band recordings Brian May describes as “things that we have collected together that are representative of our growth rather than the big hits” in a collection immaculately assembled by May and Roger Taylor themselves. The tracks are all linked to represent a definitive collection of Queen’s timeless love songs.
Queen Forever is available as a 20-track single CD and as an extended 36-track, two-CD set, and celebrates the extraordinary musical path of one of the world’s greatest rock bands.

Anticipation for these new Mercury tracks has been high since May and Taylor first hinted earlier this year that new tracks featuring Mercury were being explored.

Speaking at the press conference to launch their North American concert tour with singer Adam Lambert earlier in the year, May said: "There was a little bit more in the can that we had overlooked for a long time, so we have a few songs which we're working on right now. Freddie sounds as fresh as yesterday."

On the subject, Taylor said: “We’ve got some great new tracks that haven’t been heard and there’s an interesting selection of older stuff.”

The Queen and Michael Jackson duet, There Must Be More to Life Than This, began as a song written by Mercury during sessions for Queen’s 1981 album, Hot Space. The band recorded a backing track, but the song was never completed. Mercury visited Michael Jackson at his home studio in Los Angeles where he recorded Jackson singing the song for an unfinished version. Queen revived the track during sessions for 1984’s The Works, but again it was not finished. A year later, Freddie’s own version of the song surfaced on his debut solo album, 1985’s Mr Bad Guy. This new production of the powerful ballad fuses Queen’s original backing track and Mercury and Jackson’s distinctive vocals, and has been produced and remixed by celebrated Madonna/Robbie Williams producer William Orbit.

Talking of his involvement, Orbit say: “I had known Roger for many years, now he was on the phone asking if I would get involved in this musical adventure.

“When I first played it in my studio I opened a trove of delights provided by the greatest of musicians. Hearing Michael Jackson's vocals was stirring. So vivid, so cool, and poignant, it was like he was in the studio singing live. With Freddie's vocal solo on the mixing desk, my appreciation for his gift was taken to an even higher level."

“The musicianship of all four members of Queen is phenomenal. Roger, an extraordinarily multi talented man I've always admired. John Deacon's original bass part with its lyrical fluidity that made it easy for me to know where to put the odd reinforcement. Freddie's original piano carried most of the song's musical DNA. Brian, one take for the solo, a blur of fingers, and the spirits of MJ and FM fully present, in the moment, sending shivers down the spine.”

Perhaps the biggest revelation on Queen Forever is Brian May’s composition, Let Me In Your Heart Again. The song was first recorded by Queen for The Works album, but not completed at the time and has remained overlooked since then. An authentic, live-in-the-studio track from the same golden age as Radio Ga Ga and I Want To Break Free, this never-before-heard Queen track shows off Freddie’s timeless vocals and features newly recorded guitar parts and new backing vocals from Brian and Roger. This thrilling track finally reaches us nearly 30 years after Freddie first laid down his original vocal.

The third new track, Love Kills, was composed by Freddie Mercury and famed German producer/songwriter Giorgio Moroder for the soundtrack to Moroder’s newly restored and tinted version of Fritz Lang’s 1927 classic silent movie Metropolis in 1984 to which he added a pop soundtrack featuring various music artists. Mercury recorded a high-energy dance version of the song that became his debut solo hit in 1985. However, it is less well known that all four members of Queen played on the original track. Prior to Queen embarking on their recent tour with lead singer Adam Lambert, Brian May proposed performing an acoustic ballad version of Love Kills, which became one of the most memorable moments of the current Queen & Adam Lambert shows. This new Queen-Freddie studio version is shaped in the same ballad style and revives the Queen original with some newly recorded guitars and drums by May and Taylor, becoming a glorious showcase for one of Freddie’s most adrenaline-charged vocal performances.

Alongside this new material, both the one and two-CD versions of Queen Forever feature songs that spotlight the band’s songwriting prowess, studio experimentation and remarkable development. It’s a timely reminder that, almost uniquely in the world of rock and pop, all four members of Queen were accomplished songwriters and superlatively gifted musicians.

Queen Forever reaches back as far as 1974 with fan favourite Nevermore, a Freddie Mercury song originally included on Queen II, the album that first saw Queen use the recording studio as an instrument in its own right. From the same year comes the dramatic power ballad In The Lap Of The Gods… Revisited, once the grand finale of any Queen show, and since revived by Queen & lead singer Adam Lambert on their 2014 tour. Meanwhile, the upbeat single, You’re My Best Friend, written by bass guitarist John Deacon, showcased Queen’s poppier side and was released as the follow-up to 1975’s Bohemian Rhapsody, becoming a Top 10 UK and Top 20 US hit in the same year and gave John Deacon his first Queen hit single.

Elsewhere, 1977’s Long Away remains the only Queen single to feature Brian May on lead vocals; and the same year’s B-side Drowse includes a rare Queen performance from Roger Taylor on guitar. Queen saw out the decade with a run of hits that included the gospel-flavoured Somebody To Love, memorably performed by Queen and George Michael at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, and finished on a high with ‘79’s US Number 1 hit, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, an exuberant rockabilly pop song composed by Freddie Mercury in the bath in Munich.

By touching on prog rock, gospel, acoustic balladry, Elvis-style rock’n’roll and more, these songs alone encapsulate Queen’s diversity in the 1970s. However, the band threw out the rulebook completely in the decades that followed, embracing funk, hard rock, soul and pure pop, but always sounding unmistakably Queen. The band used synthesizers for the first time on 1980’s Play The Game single; Freddie sang some of his vocals in Spanish on the 1982 hit Las Palabras De Amor, and 1986’s One Year Of Love featuring unusually a saxophone. The album is completed by latter-day Queen hits, including ’91’s no. 1 These Are The Days Of Our Lives and ‘95’s Too Much Love Will Kill You, together with the poignant A Winter’s Tale, recorded during Freddie Mercury’s final Queen recording sessions in Montreux in 1991.

Queen Forever is both a showcase for these exclusive new recordings, but also an enduring tribute to the extraordinary musical achievements of John Deacon, Brian May, Roger Taylor and the late, great Freddie Mercury whose singular talent we can again get to marvel at with the arrival of these previously unheard tracks.

Queen Forever. Forever? Who can tell? But for now we can be certain that this highly rewarding collection of Queen new, rare, and at their most accomplished, more than serves to uphold the band’s indisputable place in music history and is certain to earn a prized place in music collections for a long time to come.

 

a USA version coming out?

 

am i blind what album does the song "forever" come from originally?

 

Piano version of Who Wants To Live Forever.

 

ahh thank you.

 

I know I'm going to listen to this even less than Made In Heaven - but it might be interesting - Drowse and Long Away are great songs - it's annoying they've linked all the tracks though

 

hmm i read it with LINK meaning common theme, you think they are faded into eachother?

 

I assumed they were just linked by the common theme too, otherwise my enthusiasm for standalone versions of Nevermore and Lily of the Valley is going to be very short lived.

 

So, basically, QPL still only want 'new' fans buying their stuff. No mention of the tracks being properly remastered, so presumably they're using the painful 2011 versions. Please move along, nothing to see here............Another kick for long-term fans.

 

so undecided about this.... it was my favourite Mercury solo track but there's just way too much going on here.... Usually Brian's guitars work well with each other but there's no cohesion. The mid section where it nearly heads a bit dance-y sounded promising but then it went back to plod rock again.

 

I love Queen and would defend them to the death 99% of the time. But Greatest Hits 3 was horrible 15 years ago. Why do it again?

 

The best of all the three 'new' tracks. Actually sounds like it could fit on the Works (which was roughly when it was recorded).

 

"...new takes on well-known songs..."

I'd like to hear more about these "new takes". Presumably, "Play the Game" is the Andy Gibb version. I would hope that this sentence fragment means more than just three of the first four tracks. Perhaps it will tip the scales for me to actually pick up this sad excuse for a release.

 

Of the three tracks I thought 'let me in' was the standout as it seemed less laboured and more natural and is basically 'new' in that it was Freddie we'd not heard before. The song itself is not amazing but Freddies vocal elevates it completely.
TMBMTLTT sounded a bit like they were trying to cram too much into it and the strings were completely unneccessary, i'm too familiar with Freddies solo version to form an opinion yet, I know this track in some rendition was originally meant to close 'The Works' so am interested if anything remains from then, ie: the bass!
'Love Kills' - again i'm not sure, I quite like the original, though again this was originally a Queen track before being a Freddie solo one so interested if this revisits that original version before - I assume - Giorgio Moroder turned it into a more dancey version.