On September 5th, 2006 Freddie Mercury would have been 60 years old had he lived. It's hard to imagine the British Rock band Queen's frontman at that age since he died a young man at only forty-five years back in 1991. To mark the occasion, his record companies (EMI in the UK, and Hollywood Records in the US) remembered him with a CD, The Very Best of Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life/Singer of Songs which touches on only his solo work.

Freddie's solo career was short lived. He managed to release two albums and a couple of singles. In total, the number of songs he released on his own is just about twenty-five songs. This double CD has thirty-five tracks, with twenty of Freddie's songs, one demo and fourteen repeats including six different versions of Love Kills.

Freddie's first solo album Mr. Bad Guy (1985) was, well...not that good by any stretch of the imagination. Let's put it this way, it certainly isn't Queen, actually the only times Freddie created a solo project it was music that would not have fit in with the Queen sound, despite how varied that may be. Freddie, at the time was frequenting select night clubs immersing himself into the gay night-life-style in Munich and NYC. At these clubs, they would play loud, dance tracks, techno and the like. Freddie loved the genre and thought that he should write songs in that genre. Can you imagine the pick-up lines he could use if his music were playing in those clubs? So he started recording his solo album in 1984 during a brief hiatus in Queen history. Sadly, the end result for these tracks sounded too sterile and frankly boring, although Freddie liked the sound. Years later when a compilation album, The Great Pretender was released of Freddie's music (after his death) were most of these songs remixed and in most cases totally reworked to fully realize the sound Freddie must have been looking for.

This CD, The Very Best of Freddie Mercury includes eight of the eleven tracks from Mr. Bad Guy.

The ballads off of Mr. Bad Guy are almost decent, songs like Made In Heaven or Mr. Bad Guy are OK for a couple of listens, but don't expect them to grow on you over time, it doesn't get any better. They're much too bland, and I have to blame the production over all because of the fact when Queen reworked Made In Heaven playing the music along with only Freddie's voice, it sounds great. On another of the piano ballads, There Must Be More To Life Than This this was a track that he and Michael Jackson were working on around that time. In my opinion, the song sounds better with Jackson singing the verses.

The club song that Freddie attempted to write, Living on My Own is hardly heard anymore as far as the original Mr. Bad Guy version. In the three instances that this song appears on this compilation it is a pumped up, big beat, true techno, different arrangement that masks the original so much that it's hardly recognizable, and this is a good thing. Living on My Own is actually one of the better songs from Mr. Bad Guy now that I think of it. The remixes make the song much more interesting on this compilation.

In 1988, Freddie put forth his second and last full length solo effort, Barcelona.

Freddie had written an album with friend/musician Mike Moran as a vehicle to work with Montserrat Caballe, an operatic singer and legend. The album, Barcelona is "real" opera, not the mock opera example found in Freddie's Bohemian Rhapsody from 1975. Of course the album is laced with Pop elements as well, yet a number of the songs are in another language or contain bi-lingual lyrics. Here on Lover of Life, Singer of Songs they have included four of the eight songs found on Barcelona. The title song, Barcelona is the best song of the four; it's a moving operatic/pop piece with soaring vocals from both Caballe and Mercury. Barcelona, being the first track written for this project contains more pop influence than most of the album despite the symphony and Spanish lyrics.

On The Golden Boy lyricist Tim Rice helps with the lyrics and his input adds a deeper dimension to the album. The quiet cascading melodies from Mercury and Caballe are inspiring, at half way through the song a loud and boisterous Gospel choir breaks into the song almost seamlessly. The Very Best of Freddie Mercury opting for the more pop-oriented songs from Barcelona to be included on this compilation leaving purely opera songs like La Japonaise and The Fallen Priest behind on the Barcelona album. The song How Can I Go On sounds very Queen-like especially of this late 80s era. Perhaps it's due to the fact that John Deacon (Queen bassist) plays bass on this track. I think it's a shame that Caballe is on this track; she ruins the flow, her operatic vocal sounds terribly out of place in this adult contemporary/soft rock song.

Even before Queen's debut album was released, a single under the pseudonym Larry Lurex (a playful jab at Gary Glitter) was recorded and released. The single's two songs are covers, I Can Hear Music, originally by The Beach Boys, and a song written by Carole King called Goin' Back are considered Freddie Mercury's first solo record. It is true that these two tracks feature Brian May and Roger Taylor, but their input was limited to a guitar lead from Brian and Roger played a tambourine or rhythm sticks amid the other studio musicians. These two songs are probably the best on this double CD. I Can Hear Music showcases a young Freddie singing flawlessly at the top of his range to this Beach Boys deep cut. The producer of the two songs was trying to imitate Phil Spector's "wall of sound" production that people must have liked back then, and it sounds as though he succeeded in this quest. So, even though these numbers were not penned by Mercury, the performance he gives on both tracks is stellar.

Speaking of songs Freddie didn't write, there are two featured here from Dave Clark's - Time - The Musical. Freddie participated in this musical along with Leo Sayer, Julian Lennon, Ashford & Simpson and more. The folks that live in the USA have no idea what this project was; it's basically a concept album. The two songs that Freddie sings on, Time and In My Defense sound like perfect songs for the 1970s Las Vegas Elvis Presley to sing in his concerts. I don't think they suit Freddie Mercury too well, yet having said that, again he gives a great vocal as always.

A single that Freddie released in 1987 is yet another cover song. Freddie managed a very decent rendition of The Platters' 1956 hit, The Great Pretender. His voice seems to fit this early doo-wop style nicely with his ever-present vibrato. This is not the original version, this is a remix by Brain Malouf, the same 1992 remix found on the Hollywood Records release The Great Pretender. I prefer this version; it has more power and a better arrangement. Love Kills, a song from 1983 where it appeared on the Metropolis soundtrack benefits the most from all of these remixes. The original version appears here along with five different remixes on both discs. The original is sappy due to the synthesized symphony and drums. The remixes found on both discs benefit from techno remixes, hard rock remixes and more.

The second disc is all remixes and a rare demo with Love Makin’ Love, this is not the first time this song became available. It was also listed in the 10CD/2DVD Freddie Mercury box set from 2000. Actually in some instances Disc 2 is better than disc one. The I Was Born To Love You (George Demure Almost Vocal Mix) is very cool, it’s a relatively quick dance track with zooming space sounds and Freddie’s harmonizing ♫born, born, born, born♫ over and over. Love Kills (Pixel82 Remix) is more hardcore dance music with very little Freddie in it.

I’m not sure if I would recommend this CD to everyone, it’s a tough call. On one hand I would suggest going with the 1992 release The Great Pretender, but on the other hand, I do enjoy these remixes on disc 2. Also, with the inclusion of the four songs from Barcelona, it also makes this CD have an advantage over The Great Pretender which has no songs from Barcelona. Also, this double CD is reasonably priced, almost the cost of a single CD. Just remember, this is not Queen Music, it’s Freddie Mercury and that’s not the same thing. It’s obvious that Freddie needed Queen, and of course Queen needed Freddie in order to produce the wonderful music that they had.


the songs
DISC ONE
1. In My Defense
2. The Great Pretender
3. Living on My Own (1993 Radio Mix)
4. Made In Heaven
5. Love Kills
6. There Must Be More to Life Than This
7. Guide Me Home
8. How Can I Go On
9. Foolin' Around
10. Time
11. Barcelona
12. Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow
13. I Was Born To Love You
14. The Golden Boy
15. Mr. Bad Guy
16. The Great Pretender (Malouf Remix)
17. Love Kills (Star Rider Remix)
18. I Can Hear Music
19. Goin' Back
20. Guide Me Home (Therry Lang, Piano Version)

DISC 2:
1. Love Kills (Sunshine People Radio Mix)
2. Made in Heaven (Extended Version)
3. Living on My Own (The Egg Remix)
4. Love Kills (Rank I Remix)
5. Mr. Bad Guy (Bad Circulation Version)
6. I Was Born To Love You (George Demure Almost Vocal Mix)
7. My Love Is Dangerous (Extended Version)
8. Love Makin' Love (Demo)
9. Love Kills (Pixel82 Remix)
10. I Was Born To Love You (Extended Version)
11. Foolin' Around (Early Version)
12. Living on My Own (No More Brothers Extended Mix)
13. Love Kills (More Oder Rework By The Glimmers)
14. Your Kind Of Lover (Vocal & Piano Version)
15. Let's Turn It On (A Capella)


Recommended: Yes