New Queen Album "Forever"

I am probably going for this since it's inexpensive for the 2 disc set but as stated by Sordel the real reason is track selection which is very cool. I like comps that have a theme.

Rick A.

 

You forgot Queen Rocks, Icon and the gazillion variations on GH 1 & 2.

 

Perhaps my choice of words earlier probably wasn't the best it could have been... I'm aware that David Richards is sadly no longer with us, but if he was able to build a satisfactory track like You Don't Fool Me during the Made In Heaven project using a handful of vocal ad-libs plus liberal use of a choral part lifted from A Winter's Tale, there's absolutely no reason why Brian and Roger couldn't do something similar now with the various more elaborate later period outtakes we know exist such as Dog With A Bone, I Guess We're Falling Out, A New Life Is Born, Affairs, Face It Alone, Self Made Man, Robbery or even My Secret Fantasy. Instead, they've given us one moderately fascinating treat plus some long circulating second rate leftovers interested fans have already got in slightly less polished (though not always inferior) versions. For all the hype surrounding those Michael Jackson collaborations, they deserve to remain in the vault. Actually, based on the sheer number of incomplete songs from The Miracle and Innuendo that I've just listed, Queen could easily assemble a far more legitimate new album than Forever or even Made In Heaven. Maybe they'll drip feed us newly completed treatments of these as incentive to keep buying otherwise mostly pointless themed compilations long into their retirement, which I feel is very much overdue?

 

I'm sure that Queen did a version of Brians 'I dream of Christmas' as well?

 

Try to get used to the thought that it's over. "You don't fool me" may have been a rare case, where a few lines could be turned into an attractive song. But even this does not have a real "feeling".
Mercury always recorded his final vocals on top of the nearly finished recording. So there was a real interaction between him and the music. And that's a big difference in the performance. When he sang "Love kills" he interacted with a dance oriented track. So even if the timing fits and the pitch is correct in the new arrangement the song sounds strange and constructed. Well done on pro-tools or whatever, but it has no soul.

 

"There Must Be More To Life" is mixed so poorly that Michael's voice is drowned out by Brian's loud guitar.

 

You heard the real CD so far? The file on youtube was extremely compressed and lossy, so I think it's a bit early to complain about mixing or sound issues.

 

I've been a Queen for many, many years. As much as I love this band, the constant reissuing of compilations is somewhat frustrating. Greatest Hits III was the nadir.

Then again, I'd rather they do this than simply not issue anything; at least they're trying to get their music heard by newer generations.

I actually like the new tracks. I would much rather this have been an album or EP rather than tacked onto another compilation.

Not sure if I will buy this yet or not...

 

Made me chuckle!

But yes, I agree with everything you say! We've had reissues of Greatest Hits 1+2 in the past few years and then there was three Deep Cuts albums.

And I despise compilations with a couple of new songs added.... If they do the decent thing and release a one-off EP (maybe for RSD?) then it might go some way to acknowledge their loyal fans.

 

Not only that, but a file on Youtube taken from an online stream of a national radio broadcast with no doubt lots of additional compression!

 

*laughs* That's what I get for posting before breakfast. Meant to say I've been a Queen fan for many years, but I'm leaving it because it's hilarious.

 

It sounds completely unbelievable now, but a few years ago Brian May actually said that it may be a good idea to delete the 'Greatest Hits' albums for a while, so that people could concentrate on the albums and see past the hits. He obviously changed his mind, sadly. This latest comp is neither needed nor wanted. If they want to throw something out, why not redo the 'Rocks' album, but do it PROPERLY this time, and leave out the hits and concentrate on the heavier album tracks that were ignored the first time. But NEWLY remastered tracks, and mastered properly this time.

 

It really seems like almost everything is such a missed opportunity with them. At some point the compilations will outnumber the actual catalog!

I was disappointed with the '11 expanded remaster bonus discs- they could have made more effort to pad those bonus discs out much like what the Led Zeppelin deluxe editions are. If there's not much in terms of extra material, fine, put on a whole concert from the era. Can you imagine a Pink Floyd-type "Immersive Edition" of something like Queen II or a Night at the Opera?

As far as the mastering issue goes, there's no way May especially couldn't have noticed fan comments regarding the mastering for pretty much everything since the original EMI discs. At this point, I'm convinced it's either gotta be the original vinyl or the initial EMI discs if I want that warm sound.

It does sound like they did a good job with Live at the Rainbow '74, although I haven't been able to find out for myself yet (it's on my list).

 

Actually, I grabbed an MP3 of it for a quick test: It came out the test at DR10. If there is compression used by the radio, that means Queen Forever would be perfect in DR. And this was a quick MP3 grab... That's one thing that's positive!
I do think the mix would be better on the final product.
But I still have the same opinion on Queen Forever: A bit too much of a cash grab, which I find disappointing from Brian and Roger.

 

I think it was David Richards who once described how Freddie recorded his vocals to Mother Love on top of a basic track featuring a drum machine click and perhaps some keyboards, yet the end result - with all of its overdubs from the other Queen members added later - sounds far more organic than this new reworking of Love Kills, which I have to agree is too artificial, especially since the original dance version isn't exactly an obscure curio in the back catalogue, having appeared on Metropolis, The Freddie Mercury Album then experiencing an overhaul as the so-called Rock Mix to name just a few previous well known incarnations.

 

The thing with Love kills is that Brian constructed backing track which is half-speed when compared to the original FM solo version and the tempo of this new track speeds up near the end. Question remains why didn't they use different Freddie's vocal take ?

To all whiners and haters:
Please, read the official press release with attention. We WILL get another takes/altern. versions of the songs we all know. Even Gary Taylor via Facebook confirmed this and added that they (Qprod.) have element of surprise. For example: we can expect Who wants to live forever with Freddie's intro (as it appears in the Highlander movie), stand-alone versions of Lily of the valley and Nevermore and long-rumoured to exist piano version of Is this the world we created.

I thought that we would get "I dream of Christmas" but you never know. Bearing in mind that the work on the Queen forever project began in 2011, we can assume that hey have prepared material for full album of now-finished/unreleased tracks, but they want to if people's reaction and sales will be good enough to announce *next* real studio album.

 

So there's a good possibility the other tracks listed as being on this compilation won't just be the original versions we've all come to know and love? Every time we start to lose faith in QPL, they always seem to throw us fans a bone at the very last minute... now if only they'd actually consider putting out Dog With A Bone along with all the other various known outtakes from The Miracle and Innuendo - there's more than enough from the sessions for those two albums alone to create a worthy successor to Made In Heaven, assuming Brian and Roger are willing to step up to that level of a personal challenge once again! Even if they don't release anything further that has been confirmed to exist in the vault, Forever's new contents will easily help to stretch my home-made Anthology collection to another disc...

 

Still, I Guess We're Falling Out deserved to be fixed up and put on the album. It's a great song, which Brian and Roger could fix up by adding some lyrics like they did on Let Me Live, from the Made In Heaven album.
Standalone Lily of the Valley btw? Is that from the 1974 BBC Sessions? Because Flick of the Wrist and Tenement Funster were standalone released on the Deluxe version of the Sheer Heart Attack 2011 Remaster. If so, they should have released it on that Deluxe version IMHO.

 

Standalone Lily of the Valley supposedly was released with the Now I'm Here single back in 74'' so we should get this version but remastered.
AND yes, this tracklist presents LESS what I personally have been expecting from Queen prod. I mean where are "I Guess we're falling out", "I dream of Christmas", "Affairs" and "Face it alone" ?
Also bear in mind that in one of the interviews Brian stated "a couple" of Mj tracks. So we can assume that MJ's Estate blocked the release of two of them and only accepted one, which btw is mixed terribly. William Orbit has made a terrible job and people have been bashing him from a few days. With that heavy criticism he went back to the mix and is "fixing" it up (according to his twitter account).

PS.: Check the tracklist out from amazon.DE as there you will find some more hints which altern. takes or rearranged songs we will get

Cheers !
Martin

 

Well, the Amazon Deutschland tracklisting shows that there are an awful lot of 2011 remasters... Those were horrid.
Kinda putting me off even more...

 

How did the tour with Adam Lambert go? I passed on it....I am sure it was a good time....but did they sell out etc?

 

They released Love Kills - The Ballad on iTunes for $1,29. Anyone got iTunes, a spare $1,29 and the DR Meter? I can't get iTunes to run on Linux...

 

They did very well here in Australia. I went to the Perth show and it was amazing!! It really felt like a Queen show, but Adam didnt fake Freddie, he was a breath of fresh air and was just excellent all the way through. His version of Who Wants To Live Forever was particularly stellar. Would happily see them again.

Steve

 

When I first saw this thread's title, I thought that John Stamos had joined the band for a guest appearance.

 

It seems that Brian May refuses to let Queen be an antiquity of the past and he keeps going on with Roger and whatever who's with them. These three songs are aimed to have impact on charts (they won't anyway) and not only to be a "gift" for fans out there. When the band release an anthology with demos and song ideas as they were conceived (recorded with Freddie's infamous ad-libs and clocking at two minutes), that will be a symbolic way of saying "alright, we're done, here's what's left on our archives, that's it". I don't think Brian is prepared for that.