Thursday 6 November 2014

Queen - Forever (Deluxe Edition) (2014)

Genre - Rock / Hard Rock / Pop
Label - Virgin EMI

Track listing:
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
19. I Was Born To Love You
20. Somebody To Love
21. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
22. Friends Will Be Friends
23. Jealousy
24. One Year Of Love
25. A Winter's Tale
26. '39
27. Mother Love
28. It's A Hard Life
29. Save Me
30. Made In Heaven
31. Too Much Love Will Kill You
32. Sail Away Sweet Sister
33. The Miracle
34. Is This The World We Created
35. In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited
36. Forever

"Queen present Forever, an exciting album featuring three brand new Queen tracks, including the long-anticipated track by Queen and Michael Jackson, "There Must Be More To Life Than This". The rest of the package brings together Queen hits, classic tracks, and new takes on well-known songs. The tracks are all linked to represent a definitive collection of Queen’s timeless love songs, and celebrate the extraordinary musical path of one of the world’s greatest rock bands. This special deluxe edition contains 36 tracks over 2 CDs in a deluxe package with a 24-page booklet."

Well its a pretty nice track list I have to say that, and for once not one based purely upon the hit singles. It really is nice to see songs like Nevermore, In The Lap Of The Gods (Revisited), Dear Friends, Lily Of Then Valley, Bijou, Mother Love and Don't Try So Hard represented, as they, in my humble opinion showcase some of Queen's finest (if softer) moments.
As for the three new tracks, well they aren't really new songs are they?
Let Me In Your Heart Again is a reworking of a song that was abandoned during the Works recording sessions (circa 1983) that was eventually recorded by Brian Mays future wife Anita Dobson. Now don't get me wrong, its a great song, and the guys have a done a great job rebuilding Freddie's lead vocal here, you would never know that it has been pieced together from various takes.
Its not the strongest Queen song that I have ever heard but it is great to hear a previously unheard Freddie vocal so this track is a winner for me.
Love Kills - the ballad, now this has proved to be a little bit controversial amongst Queen fans. The disco arrangement of the original has been completely thrown away, and the song turned into a pretty bloody amazing ballad in my opinion. I really like what the guys have done with this song, giving it a completely new lease of life, another winner in my opinion.
There Must Be More To Life Than This, featuring one Michael Jackson, (William Orbit Mix). Well I have been lucky enough to hear the original demo of this song recorded by Freddie and Michael back in 1982/1983, and although the recording was only a rough demo it was in many ways superior to this William Orbit mix. to be completely honest I have heard some pretty awesome fan mixes of this track over the years that are way superior to this mix! Michael's vocals only really feature in bits and drabs, probably due to the low quality of the original recorded material, I would have much preferred to hear a Queen mix of State Of Shock that Freddie and Michael recorded together during the same sessions, this song is fair but really doesn't cut it for me.
As for the rest of the track listing, well what can I say, its a really nice cross section of the bands entire career, focusing up on their softer side, but featuring some of their best songs and some of my personal favourites.

Recommended for die hard fans and anyone who doesn't already own the bands entire back catalogue!


Rating - 10/10





Note this is a different mix to the one featured on the album! (Thankfully!)

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