Mr. Bad Guy

Mr. Bad Guy (English for "Lord villain " ) is the first solo album of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock group Queen. It dates from the year 1985. Production of a solo album was also therefore become possible for him because Queen did not work on a new album at this time. The album consists of eleven songs that wrote itself Mercury.

The album

Although Mr. Bad Guy could not match the popularity of the Queen albums, but made ​​it to number six in the UK album charts. Originally wanted to Freddie Mercury, that the album is named after the second song of the album: Made in Heaven. A few weeks before the pressure he decided, however, for Mr. Bad Guy.

Freddie Mercury dedicated the album as follows: " ... to my cat Jerry - So Tom, Oscar and Tiffany and all the cat lovers across the universe - screw everybody else! " ("... For my cat Jerry - Tom, Oscar and Tiffany and all the cat lovers in the whole universe - forget all the other " )!

The original version of Man Made Paradise was created in 1983 by Queen during the recording of their album The Works. From There Must Be More to Life Than This, it is both a Queen version as well as a common demo of Mercury at the piano with Michael Jackson as a singer. These three demo recordings were incurred prior to Mercury's album versions and were not yet officially released.

A comprehensive insight into the history of Mr. Bad Guy provides the book published in 2000 box set Freddie Mercury - The Solo Collection. The ten CDs and two DVDs include, among other instrumental versions, all " 12" / Extended Versions " and in particular more than 20 previously unreleased demos from the recording sessions for the album.

The songs Made in Heaven and I Was Born to Love You are in a posthumously revised version published in 1995 on the Queen album Made in Heaven. The Queen version of I Was Born to Love You came out on top of the Japanese charts.

The CD editions of Mr. Bad Guy from 1985 are highly sought after today and therefore valuable. The album is out of print since about the late eighties and has since not reissued as a single album. Since 2000, it is available as part of the box set The Solo Collection or solo.

Title list

The British, French and Japanese CD editions included as bonus tracks, the three " Extended Versions " of Let's Turn It On, I Was Born to Love You and Living on My Own.

The songs Stop All the Fighting and She Blows Hot and Cold appeared as a B- side of the singles I Was Born to Love You or Made in Heaven. All songs wrote Freddie Mercury.

Single releases

• I Was Born to Love You (9 April 1985); B-side: Stop All The Fighting
• Made in Heaven (July 1 1985); B-side: She Blows Hot and Cold
• Living on My Own (2 September 1985)
• Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow (18 November 1985, published in the UK only )

Contributors

Instrumentation:

• Freddie Mercury - vocals, piano, synthesizer
• Fred Mandel - additional piano, synthesizers, guitar
• Paul Vincent - lead guitar
• Curt Cress - drums
• Stephan Wissnet - Bass Guitar
• Jo Burt - fretless bass in Man Made Paradise
• Rainer Pietsch - Arrangement for Mr. Bad Guy
• Mack and Stephan Wissnet - Fairlight CMI, drum program '
• Mack, assisted by Stephan Wissnet - sound engineers

Cover Design:

• The Artful Dodger - Design
• A. Sawa - Photographs

Reviews in the media

Record Mirror ( UK ), 1985: " Freddie Has produced a diverse album filled with tunes dextrous did are infinitely more pleasurable than the load 17 Queen albums. "

Sounds ( UK ), 1985: " This album is nothing more than a wimpy work- out of soft rock and dated disco. "

All Music Guide (USA), by Ed Rivadavia: " [ ... ] However, de frontman quietly does a commendable job of stretching into uncharted territory. The synthesizer of ' Let's Turn It On ' did announce Queen's typical guitar heaviness will be conspicuously absent Throughout the album, while extravagance will be at an all- time high. ' I Was Born to Love You, " the album 's leadoff single, elevates '70s disco and '80s dance Influences to a level of blatant pop silliness did Queen would never dare approach. Mercury therefore Combines his acoustic piano playing with synthesizer -driven backing tracks for the beautifully dramatic ' Made in Heaven ' [ ... ]. The singer 's talent for complex and original arrangements thus yields multifaceted pieces like ' Man Made Paradise, ' [ ... ] make this an outstanding record from start to finish. "

Chart positions

Overview of individual song versions

The following table includes all the officially released versions of song from the recording sessions for Mr. Bad Guy, written in the years 1984 and 1985. Posthumous remixes are not considered.

• Album Version
• Early Version *
• Original 1985 Unreleased 12 " Mix *
• Instrumental *

• Demo *

• Demo *

• Album Version
• Original 1985 Extended Version
• Vocal & Piano Version *

• Album Version
• Original 1985 Extended Version
• A Capella *

• Album Version
• Original 1985 Extended Version
• Hybrid Edit: Early / Later Versions *

• Demo *

• Album Version
• Original 1985 Extended Version
• Instrumental *
• Early Version *
• 2nd Early Version: Extract *
• 3rd Early Version *
• Live Rig *

• Album Version
• Original 1985 Single Version
• Original 1985 Extended Version
• Instrumental *
• Alternative Version *

• Album Version

• Demo *

• Album Version
• Instrumental *
• Orchestra Out -takes *
• Early Version *
• Bad Circulation Version

• Album Version
• Original 1985 Extended Version
• Early Version *

• Demo *

• Album Version
• Instrumental *
• Piano Out -takes *

• Album Version
• Early Version *
• Vocal & Piano Version *

Apart from two exceptions ( the single version of Made in Heaven and the "Bad Circulation Version" of Mr. Bad Guy ) which includes published in 2000 box set, The Solo Collection ' all tracks above. The versions marked with * were first published it. The "Bad Circulation Version" of Mr. Bad Guy is on the second CD of the 2006 compilation brought out, Lover of Life, Singer of Songs - The Very Best of included Freddie Mercury Solo '.