Customer Reviews

Solo

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First of all, the display picture is inaccurate; It refers to the 10 CD + 2 DVD British edition of the complete solo recordings.

This 3 CD (2 1/2) collection brings back to life a remastered version of the exquisite "Barcelona", and the rare, melodic and strong "Mr. Bad Guy". The sound is crystal clear, and it does pay up for its price.

An excellent choice for the Mercury fan who won't spend 120+ on 10 CDs which can be "resumed" in this edition. I would recommend getting both "The Great Pretender" and "The Freddie Mercury Album" as accompanying audio selections and "The Freddie Mercury Video Collection DVD" for viewing pleasure. A great gift for a friend, lover or relative.

I am really disappointed with this CD set. Not because of the music. It is great, but because Hollywood Records that possess exclusive rights to produce Queen music in the USA refused to release the 10CD set that has many new original records. A number of songs have never been released before. Also, the 10 CD set has some rehearsal pieces (e.g. The Golden Boy sung without Caballe, etc). Hollywood Records said they are not releasing the full set because it will not sell effectively. However, I doubt that this 3CD set will sell better as it has only very little new music. I would strongly recommend all Queen fans to ignore this production and get the 10CD/2DVD) set from England where this set was released in two different versions: with PAL and NTSC DVD format.(It was nice of them to think about fans from North America and Japan).Only this way you will be able to enjoy Freddie Mercury Solo Collection because the 3CD set that basically repeats previously released Freddie Mercury's albums does not really qualify for this name.

As someone commented earlier, it is pretty unfortunate that Hollywood Records only chose to release this 3-CD set, as opposed to the far superior 10-CD set that includes 2 DVDs.

Yes, it is exciting to have the long since deleted "Mr. Bad Guy", and "Barcelona", which is by far one of the most beautiful and heartfelt pieces of music ever written. However, once one has listened to these CDs and enjoyed them, it's hard to not want more. Especially knowing that a 10-CD set exists, with all the exciting demos and Freddie's solo videos.

If I were Hollywood Records, and I wanted to produce a scaled down version of the bigger box set, for people who aren't willing to spend over $100, I would have made the bonus CD have been a sort of "highlights" complilation of the best demos and rare tracks from "The Solo Collection". Instead, we are given tracks that most Freddie fans have known about for a while. Again, you're left hungry for the special features on the 10-CD set.

Needless to say, I returned this set, and opted for the 10-CD set. I know it's a lot more money, but if you're a die-hard Freddie fan, it's worth it without a doubt. It's just too bad that Hollywood Records didn't come through for us American fans on this one.

This 3 CD set is a collection of his released studio work and also a "teaser" for "The Solo Collection" 10 CD box set (not released in America sadly.)The first CD is a remastered edition of the long out-of-print "Mr. Bad Guy" album, Freddie's first solo release. If you were lucky enough to get the original CD from 1985, you WILL notice the difference in sound! However, the songs themselves aren't all that you'd expect from the lead singer of one of the most successful bands of all time, Queen.It's mostly filled with watered down 80's synth pop. Freddie always favored dance/disco like tunes and you get that with songs like "Living On My Own" (which was later remixed for his "The Great Pretender" compilation CD.) The ballads are quite nice though. "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow" is wonderful. Just the type of song a hopeless romantic would fall for.The second CD is a remastered edition of Freddie's duet album with spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe, "Barcelona". A daring project to be sure but Caballe seems very out of place when pop and gospel singing is required but she gives it a good try. This was a dream project for Freddie and you can hear the joy in his voice.The third CD features singles not featured on any of his "proper" albums. You might wonder, "Where is The Great Pretender album at?" Well, as stated previously, it was a compilation released *after* Freddie had died but don't worry, several of the songs on there are brought back here such as "In My Defence" and the remixed (and improved) "Living On My Own". Of particular interest on the 3rd CD is "I Can Hear Music" which makes it's worldwide CD debut. It was originally released by "Larry Lurex" which featured Freddie, Brian May and Roger Taylor. The quality is superb (after hearing it on countless poor quality bootlegs) and is very much done in the Phil Spector vein.Also, there are 2 versions of "Love Kills" on this CD (but not the remix from "The Great Pretender" album.) The first is the original version from 1984 (with a synth-pop feel) and the other is a new remix called the "Rock Mix" which is just as it sounds, an entirely new rock backing track but with the added twist of throwing in "audience noise" to give it a "live" feel". Other songs on the bonus CD; "The Great Pretender" (original version) & "Time".The first 2 CD's are picture discs and the packaging is excellent with a very detailed set of liner notes.This is a fantastic release and a great introduction to Freddie's solo work. Buy it!

If you own freddie mercury music don't buy this. For me, however, this was perfect. I have liked queen since I was in 5th grade. I bought all their albums. I wanted to hear more queen so I turned to the bands solo careers. In one purchase I became the owner of virtually all of Freddie's major releases.(If you own his stuff already all you are getting is the exact same music just in one box) Freddie Mercury, I find having listened to this compilation, is the master of creating moods in music. I definitly would recomend a purchase of this box set to anyone unless they are willing to buy the big imported expensive box set instead.

Wow! I am always amazed (and have been since the early '70's) at the quality and power of Freddy Mercury's incredible voice. Before I listened to Queen music, I did not care for rock. Once I heard the magic of their vocals, and the amazing harmonies that Queen incorporated into their songwriting, I was hooked. They got me interested in classic rock for the first time. I was 13 at the time. While this CD set is not by Queen, per se, it does showcase Freddy Mercury's amazing talents. Pairing him with an opera singer was an original and innovative idea. Any Queen fan would find these CD's enjoyable, if they are open to other forms of music than classic rock. These CD's are meant to be enjoyed from a vocalistic point of view, and there is no greater voice than Freddy Mercury's clear smooth tenor. I believe that opera singers may find this an enjoyable experience as well, and it may help them to understand that many rock singers have operatic talent as well, and are to be equally respected as classical singers are.

For Freddie Mercury fans this is a great compilation to round off the great work he has done without Queen. For the younger generation who never had chance to hear the great man perform this a superb set of three CD's to start appreciating his music and vocal talent. I have also purchased the 12 CD set and this is a must for all Freddie fans 10 out of 10, the DVD Documentry is an amazing behind the scenes of Freddies life and what made him the performer we all grew to love.

This CD collection set is very good, even though I do have the 10 CD solo collection that I had to order from England, it is worth every penny to any collector. The music is very high quality. My recommendation is it get it while you can.

I was happy to hear the new remastered quality on these songs. I liked the booklet that comes with this too. Barcelona, I was disappointed to see that it is NOT remastered, they used the 1992 remaster, and that was 8 long years ago. It's basically just Freddie's music repackaged, like Queen's has been over the last ten years via Hollywood Records. But we have to buy these CDs because we are trapped. We love Freddie and Queen too much!

Any fan of Freddie Mercury needs this collection in addition to everything he ever recorded. Perhaps the most gifted vocalist ever. What a loss.