Search - Freddie Mercury :: Solo Collection

THE collection of collections

Queen fan | Loveland, CO USA | 07/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"....this is what you get:1. Mr. Bad Guy Album - The one album that I think is one of the hardest of all Queen's members' solo material to find on CD. People have payed almost $50 for the original CD, just to hear the songs-but here it is fully remastered an beautiful. Great piano on these tracks and unbelieveable catchy tunes.2. Barcelona - Yes, the album that probably introduced more people to Opera than you could imagine. This is a great duet with Montserrat Cabelle and even though most of the songs are opera some just bend t a little like The Golden Boy which goes into a little gospel revival thingy. Once again, great quality, great music, not as hard to find as Bad Guy, but great album.3. The Great Pretender - Yes, that's right I hear "why, most those songs are on bad guy??" well they are, but what most poeple don't know about this CD is that essentially almost all the tracks except In My Defence, The Great Pretender and some other miscellaneous tracks, are remixes, you what you basically have is a remix album with some non-album tracks thrown into one, great ide when you think about it.Singles '73-'85 - can't list all the tracks but what you get is beautifully restored versions of hard to find songs including single mixes and extended mixes.Singles '86 -'93 - same as above including every official Living On My Own mix ever made.Instrumentals - an awesome collection of instrumentals from both albums, plus some extras.Rarities 1 - amazing demos and unreleased songs from Bad Guy Sessions you really feel like you are in the studio recording with Freddie as he tries out different lyrics and tunes.Rarities 2 - once again, the same as above, but the highlights of this CD are that excerpts from Garden Lodge where you can here Freddie and Montserrat working out songs and joking around, probably one of the best in the whole collection.Rarities 3 - all the unreleased studio demo songs, guest appearences, and all sorts of other stuff fit on to one CD. What's great about this CD is that it contains material from some of Freddie'd early bands like Ibex and Wreckage.David Wigg Interviews - Great CD with some great interviews...what else can I say??Video Collection DVD - awesome picture quality with all of Freddie's solo video ever made, including a great video of In My Defence with different pic of Freddie through his life.Untold Story DVD - An awesome look into Freddie's personal life with Queen & Freddie music as the soundtrack. Although some of the re-inactments of Freddie as a boy are corney they only last for the first 3rd of the video and they're not too bad. The end is very emotional, I won't spoil it, but you'l be if not yet, almost in tears.Plus- THE BOOK! It's awesome with HUGE photos and discography, album info, song info, song index, and lyrics its awesome!But this now It's a great addition to any Queen Fan's collection."

Great Contribution To The Art Of Biography

ilgemino | 02/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This solo collection is worth every single dollar invested in it. The great quality book with numerious pictures is accompanied by 10 CDs and 2 DVDs. Some pictures in the book are really rare including the one taken by Mick Rock and showing the young Freddie with a vase. This photo was first exhibited in New York in the fall of 1999. Some people might say what's good in releasing the stuff that is already basically known to the public. Well, you have to be a Queen fan to understand that. For me this collection is first of all a great contribution to the art of biography. Once we find our favorite writer or painter or singer we are eager to know why each particular line was written or drawn. This collection is an important attempt to do that in application to Freddie Mercury's creative work. Several CDs called rarities contain some fragments from rehearsals, some lines that were replaced with others as well as those that were discarded later being never transformed into a real song.After Freddie's tragic death people all over the world whose souls were once touched by the beam of his light have been trying to reconstract and review Freddie's image and legacy. Freddie Mercury Solo Collection is a fundamental milestone on this way."

The ultimate set

Michael Allred | Niles, Michigan United States | 10/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, what a set! Pretty much Freddie's entire career is included. Now this will only be an overview as going into everything would take forever.The set is packaged in a large, coffee table sized book filled with rare pictures, Freddie's art work (which are quite good), picture sleeves of his singles and extremely well researched details on every song included. Very lavish and classy.The first 2 discs, "The Singles" contain many of Freddie's non-album B-sides, 12" mixes and remixes, several of which make their CD debuts in this set (including the rare "Larry Lurex" tracks.)"The Instrumentals" disc held very little interest for me. Afterall, it's still the same song, just minus the vocals."Rarities 1" features demos, alternate takes and outtakes from the "Mr. Bad Guy" album. It's a lot of fun hearing Freddie trying to get a piano bit right then crying out "I'll never get it!"There are also unfinished songs here such as "God Is Heavy" and you can tell by the shabby and temporary lyrics. Shame, some could've ended up quite good if he had gone back for more work.The "Rarities 2" disc features material from "Barcelona". Of most interest are the recordings from the first night Montserrat was at Freddie's home and they sang together for most of the night around his piano.The last track features Freddie, after a long night of recording (and drinking it seems) into one piano jam of silliness.The 3rd "Rarities" disc showcases Freddie's pre-Queen work with his first groups Ibex and Wreckage. Sadly the sound quality is rather poor but it came from the best source tape they could find.Also Freddie's duets with other artists can be found here such as his work with friend Billy Squier.Several more unfinished songs appear on this disc. Again, the temporary lyrics leave much to be desired but the basic framework could've been molded into something quite fun.The "Interviews" disc shows Freddie opening up to the only journalist he ever truly trusted. A revealing look at a man not often seen by the public.Now, the DVD's. Thankfully I got an NTSC version from the UK so I could watch them."The Untold Story" is an almost 2 hour documentary covering Freddie's entire life from his childood in an exotic and far off country to his death from AIDS. Interviews with his closest friends to his mother and sister. Sad, compelling and fun, this film shows all of Freddie sides."The Video Collection" is just that, a compilation of all his music videos. From the spectacle of "Made In Heaven" to the camp of "The Great Pretender", it's all here and each clip is complimented by interviews with each video's director. The sound was also remixed in digital surround and Dolby 5.1. Also featured is a DVD-ROM segment with a "virtual" tour of Freddie's photograhic exhibit.Also of note, each CD is a picture disc.A Freddie fan will be in heaven with this beautiful and encompasing collector's item."