QUEEN – Queen Forever (Deluxe Edition 2CD) (2014)

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Three previously unreleased QUEEN songs featuring late singer Freddie Mercury spearhead an exciting new QUEEN album, “Queen Forever“, due November 10 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 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, Deluxe Edition two-CD set, and celebrates the extraordinary musical path of one of the world’s greatest Rock bands.

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 producer William Orbit.

Perhaps the biggest revelation on “Queen Forever” is Brian May’s composition, “Let Me In Your Heart Again”. The song was first recorded 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. As example, “Queen Forever” reaches back as far as 1974 with fan favorite “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.
What I really like about this release it’s the inclusion of more obscure songs from the band early albums, many of them among my favorites from Queen.
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.

CD 1
01. Let Me In Your Heart Again
02. Love Kills – The Ballad
03. There Must Be More To Life Than This (William Orbit Mix)
04. Play The Game
05. Dear Friends
06. You’re My Best Friend
07. Love Of My Life
08. Drowse
09. 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

CD 2
01. I Was Born To Love You
02. Somebody To Love
03. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
04. Friends Will Be Friends
05. Jealousy
06. One Year Of Love
07. A Winters Tale
08. ’39
09. 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

PRE-ORDER:
www.amazon.co.uk/Forever-Queen/dp/B00NHWXUZK
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