Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender (1992)

Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender (1992)
Pop/Rock, Contemporary Pop/Rock | EAC Rip | FLAC, Img+CUE+LOG+Scans (JPEG) | 41:32 Min | 299,03 Mb
Label: Hollywood Records (USA) | Cat.# HR-61402-2 | Released: 1992

"The Great Pretender" is the U.S. reworking of "The Freddie Mercury Album", which was a posthumous compilation of previously released songs, about two-thirds of which were in the form of new remixes. Although the concept is the same, replaces about half of the tracks with versions that were not on "The Freddie Mercury Album", resulting in all but one track being new remixes of the old material.
~Discogs





From all appearances, The Great Pretender would seem to be a collection of tracks from Freddie Mercury's Mr. Bad Guy album with various additional rarities. And that it is, but what is not made clear from looking at the track listing is that almost every song on this compilation has been remixed, sometimes quite drastically, from the original version. Thankfully, the music is still strong and in some cases arguably has been improved by the remixes. However, the fact that the tracks have been altered, obviously without the authority of the late Freddie Mercury, will put off some fans. The two pieces that Mercury recorded for the Time musical ("Time" and "In My Defense") have not been altered too much, and these hard-to-find ballads and the cover of "The Great Pretender" are the major selling points of the album, given the fine, dramatic performances given by Mercury. The material from Mr. Bad Guy has been altered far more, however, with added techno beats and heavier guitars. In fact, on these tracks there's very little remaining of the original music. However, the changes are still interesting musically, and enough people liked the raved-up version of "Living on My Own" that it hit number one on the U.K. singles chart. With added heavy guitars, "Mr. Bad Guy," "Love Kills," and "My Love Is Dangerous" are far more ominous than their original versions. All in all, for Queen fans the music here deserves a listen, even if it isn't in the versions Mercury originally intended. [The Freddie Mercury Album, released one week earlier in the U.K., is basically the same album except for the substitution of "Barcelona" for "My Love Is Dangerous."]
~Review by Geoff Orens





Release of this CD: 1992 [CD Hollywood Records (USA), Cat.# HR-61402-2 / UPC: 720616140227]
This compilation ©&℗ 1992 Mercury Songs Ltd.
Under exclusive license to Hollywood Records
Distributed by Elektra Entertainment, a Division of Warner Communications Inc.
Printed in the U.S.A.
Made in the U.S.A. by WEA Manufacturing Inc.

Credits:

A&R - Sharon Swab
Design - Richard Gray
Mastered By [Digitally] - Eddy Schreyer
Photography By - George Hurrell, Jeremy Enness, Peter Hince, Simon Fowler

Tracklist:

01. The Great Pretender (Brian Malouf Mix) (03:40)
02. Foolin' Around (Steve Brown Mix) (03:36)
03. Time (Nile Rodgers Mix) (03:49)
04. Your Kind of Lover (Steve Brown Mix) (03:57)
05. Exercises in Free Love (03:57)
06. In My Defence (Ron Nevison Mix) (03:52)
07. Mr. Bad Guy (Brian Malouf Mix) (03:55)
08. Let's Turn It On (Jeff Lord-Alge Mix) (03:45)
09. Living on My Own (Julian Raymond Mix) (03:39)
10. My Love Is Dangerous (Jeff Lord-Alge Mix) (03:38)
11. Love Kills (Richard Wolf Mix) (03:25)
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