Too Much Love Will Kill You originally shows up on Brian May's solo CD, Back To The Light. Obviously worked on and finished years before if we have a Freddie Mercury vocal on it. Brian May had written this song about his break-up with British actress Anita Dobson. The lyrics are emotional and touching. Queen, (Roger, Brian and John) geared up and entered the studio to make the first posthumous Queen album four years after the death of Freddie, and polished up the old Queen recording with some new music and backing vocals to shine it up nicely. I say 'old Queen recording', but to my ears it sounds as if Freddie's vocal had been recorded about 1989.

This version is the radio edit, which is funny because what radio station is going to play this song on the radio. The classic rock stations play Queen because listeners demand it, but radio will not play new Queen for promotional means. God forbid Queen had any help from these corrupt payola radio stations that America is subject to. Don't you think it odd that Mariah Carey cannot release an album without it going to number one? It's a scam and the billboard charts mean nothing today.
Am I getting off subject?
This song is a ballad, with some strong performances and lyrics.
♫"I'm just the shadow of the man I used to be
And it seems like there's no way out of this for me♫
or
♫"How would it be if you were standing in my shoes
Can't you see that it's impossible to choose
No there's no making sense of it
Every way I go I'm bound to lose"♫

It sounds as if these lyrics could be about Freddie, they are very deep and soulful and they cut right to the heart. But, as I've said before, it turns out that they are about Brian May and his break with Anita Dobson. After Freddie's death though, many Queen fans would attribute many songs to be about Freddie's impending death.

It's really a nice song and would have possibly been a hit, if radio was not so corrupt. I guess we'll never know.

Rock In Rio Blues is a song that started showing up in Queen's concert's around 1985 during their shows in, you guessed it, Rio. It's made to sound like this is just a jam type of a song with Freddie just scatting in high falsetto to the band playing a jazzy-blues number.
This is obviously a live number that is available here, and in a scant few other places.

These are the only two songs on the CD Single, and it's nice that Queen were thoughtful enough as they have been since the mid 1980s to include a rare track as the backing track.

Songs: 3½ stars


Recommended: Yes