Customer Reviews

Great Pretender

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity to hear the famed 1985 album "Mr. Bad Guy", for which I am quite regretful. I very much hope that it will be re-released someday, but in the meanwhile, this album has what we need: FREDDIE! The only way to tackle a review of this incredible chunk of pure Mercury is to take it song by song. It starts off with Freddie's amazing rendition of the Platters' "The Great Pretender". WOW. That's about all one can say. Next comes "Foolin' Around": cute, catchy, and reminiscent of late-eighties Queen. "Time", the third track, is a lovely song, well suited to Freddie's style and voice. "Time" inevitably reminds one how little time he himself had left when this album was released: how can we refuse as he appeals to us to use what time we have wisely? Next, the fun "Your Kind Of Lover" goes from a thoughtful opening to a disco-pop toe-tapper. Now we come to the fifth song - remember to breathe when you listen to this one. "Exercises In Free Love" makes me cry every single time I hear it. Without contest, this is Freddie's most unspeakably beautiful creation. All by itself, this song makes the album worth owning. Ok... I know it's hard, but let's tear ourselves away and move on. Number six, "In My Defence", is a typically gorgeous Freddie tune, and, like "Time", it's an exhortation to do what we can while we can. "Mr. Bad Guy" rocks along, a snarl that is, in this version, really just a grin. Rock on, Mr. Mercury. "Let's Turn It On" is a socially conscious disco number with a decently danceworthy beat. Next comes the awesome "Living On My Own". Woo hoo! Lyrics you can sing along with the first time, kickin' beat, and the line "I don't have no time for no monkey business"! Sing loud, laugh hard. "My Love Is Dangerous" makes no excuses. Love is a fire dance and Freddie knows it. "Love Kills" continues the extravaganza with metal-esque guitars and Freddie's growling rock'n'roll voice. And as far as the official tracklist goes, that's the end of this album. I'm not gonna tell you about the hidden bonus remix track...oops...

Picture it...1993. I, a Queen fan, go to the record store to buy the newly released "Great Pretender" by Freddie Mercury. I listened to it, and thought "Hey, these songs are pretty good!" They were "dancier" then most of Queen's songs and revealed a somewhat different side of Mr. Mercury.

A year or two later, I found a copy of "Mr. Bad Guy", an album released in 1985, and my opinion changed. I heard the original versions of several songs on the album (including My Love is Dangerous, Mr. Bad Guy, and Foolin Around), and liked them MUCH better. These were the songs as Freddie intended them...not remixed to someone else's wishes.

Likewise, I heard the original versions of the Great Pretender and Love Kills, and I liked those better too.

Unfortunately, for the time being (hopefully!), the original editions of all these songs are out-of-print. Mr. Bad Guy has been for several years, the Time soundtrack (with Time and In My Defence on it) is hard to find, and some of the songs were only released as singles. So, we must turn to this album, and the Barcelona album to experience Freddie's solo work. Serious fans should buy it so that they can hear the songs (at least, these versions of the songs), until the record companies give us what Freddie really wanted - namely, his songs done his way!

It's strange how you can be a fan of Queen, a band known for their genre breaking style, yet knock a remix which makes it a bit more techno-like. Queen fans are well known for their dislike of remixes and for the most part, they are misguided for hating this album.This CD features, for the most part, remixes or complete reworkings of songs off the "Mr. Bad Guy" album. If you've never heard that particular album, you haven't missed much as Freddie, for whatever reason, filled it to the brim with horribly cheesy synths which marks them forever with a bad 80's sound. "The Great Pretender" album fixes all of that, making them timeless."Living On My Own" is the best example of this. In it's original 1985 form, it barely made the top 50 on the UK singles chart yet when it was remixed in 1993, it went to #1 and I believe that says something. For the record, that remix is the ONLY Queen solo song EVER to be a #1 single anywhere in the world. It was brilliantly done, updating it for the 90's, giving it a faster, techno beat.Another great example is "Love Kills" which, oddly enough, was a synth dance number in it's original form but now they made a kicking rock song out of it!Let it be known that a good number of other "remixes" on here aren't all that different from the originals like "Time" and "In My Defence" which were taken from a musical."Exercises In Free Love" is one of my favorites and Freddie, playing piano and harmonizing sound ever so haunting...Tori Amos would love this one.This is the best of Freddie's solo releases (and yes, I believe he would've loved the new versions....especially the success it would've brought him!)

This is a compilation album of Freddie Mercury solo material. Six of the songs are from his Mr. Bad Guy album, two are from Dave Clark's musical Time, two are from movie soundtracks, and there is one other song which, I believe, is an outtake from the Barcelona sessions. The songs on this CD have been remixed. I have never heard the original mixes of these songs, so I can only judge them based on how they sound here. Well, they sound pretty good to me. I enjoyed all the songs here, some more than others, of course. If you are a fan of Queen, you will probably enjoy this CD, too.

Freddy always said that his 2 biggest influences were Judy Garland and Hendrix, and those influences are really apparent here. Listening to 'Your Kind Of Lover' and 'Great Pretender' is a bit like having a front row seat in a cabaret in the Twilight Zone. But in a good way. Generally gone is the Queen sound. What's left is Mr. Bad Guy's heart on his sleeve and a slight scent of cheese in the air. But in a good way. With Freddy, it was always good. Just kind of goofy. But in a good way.

Freddie seems to have been a good-natured soul, but even he might have exclaimed: "Enough of the remixes!". The album is fun, and for those who missed out on the now out-of-print original material, isn't all that bad. Unfortunately for those who are discovering Mercury's solo cuts as a historical adventure, this music is hard to find. I recall jumping on his solo vinyl back in '85 ("Mr. Bad Guy") along with the two missing B's side singles (one of which is my favorite from the entire LP "Stop All The Fighting"). His "Barcelona" album was also something to savor. His one-off "The Great Pretender" single, backed with the reflective, almost teary-eyed and operatic "Exercises in Free Love" was also a delight. It's a shame this music isn't still on the shelves. Oh, did I mention the never released tracks he made with Micheal Jackson, at Jackson's home studio. Jackson, for some reason, is taking these with him to his grave. Another shame. Perhaps we could get Tom Cruise to do a Mission Impossible to liberate these tracks. I wish Jackson would donate them to fight AIDS. Alas.

Have they no shame? The mixing engineers absolutely desecrated Freddy's music. This album is not for true Freddy fans. Casual fans and fans of Queen (only) may enjoy this, but anyone who is interested in hearing Freddy's true solo art the way he intended it should stay the #^#@ away from this (as well as "The Freddy Mercury Album" which is the same as "The Great Pretender", different packaging).

Allow me to provide an analogy:
If you're a Freddy Mercury/Queen fan, I assume you're old enough to have seen the original Star Wars when it came out in '76. It was great wasn't it? Sure, the cantina scene was cheezy as hell, and some of the special effects were--by today's standards--lackluster. BUT WE LOVED IT. Then in the late 90s, Lucasfilm decided to re-do Star Wars, chopping up the cantina scene and adding in stupid modern CGI effects. I was sickened, and I'm hoping most of you were as well.

"The Great Pretender" is the equivalent of the Star Wars 90s re-release. A travesty. We don't want stupid CGI effects on the Millenium Falcon, nor do we want stupid "arena rock" reverb on Freddy's drums. We don't want the annoying distorted guitars mixed in after Freddy's death. And we certainly don't want the inane Fine-Young-Cannibals-ripoff drumbeat overtop the original grooves.

Go find yourself a copy of the original MR. BAD GUY album. It may sound cheezy at first with its dated drum machine and flamboyant piano playing, but c'mon folks, that's what Freddy was all about. Let's remember him that way, not through some post-production sound engineer's drunken nightmare of a remix.

I give Freddy's voice 5 stars, and I give the mixing engineer -3 stars. Averages out to a 2. Avoid it. Read my review of "The Freddy Mercury Album" for more.

Another compilation of Freddie Mercury's solo work , including his magnifficent reworking of The Platters hit The Great Pretender , the offbeat Foolin' Around and Living On My Own , the funky Your Kind Of Lover and Let's Turn It On , the bold Living On My Own and my personal favourite among Mercury solo Hits , Love Kills.
An interesting sampling of Mercury's solo work.

I would like to say I enjoy this album immensely, I am a big fan of Freddie Mercury but this album overlooks many of his solo songs of sheer briliance and focusses largly on lame covers and Freddies synth led dance/disco material. Foolin Around and Your Kind Of Lover sound like outtakes from the highly overrated Dance Floor/Acid Jazz Queen travesty Hot Space. Still theres some great stuff with Excercises In Free Love, Mr. Bad Guy, My Love Is Dangerous and Love Kills. These show Freddies songwriting at its best and elevate the album from the dreck and theres no deneing through even the worst parts of this album the former member of Wreckage is in fine form vocally and his piano although very minimal is also great.

Growing up in Ealing (about 2 miles from where Freddie grew up after he emigrated to the UK from Bombay at the age of 13), I have always had this undying unashamed obsession for Queen and all it represents. Express yourself - no matter what they say! That's what he was all about. There's more to all of this than lyric - there's hope!