The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Trollheart · 01-09-2012, 05:43 AM

Trollheart · 01-09-2012, 05:44 AM

Man! You learn something new, I tell ya... The worm always (and I mean always) thought this was a Tom Petty song! But it's not, it's by some crowd called Soul Asylum. Great song even so: this is “Runaway train”. Don't he sound like Mister Petty though?

Trollheart · 01-09-2012, 06:32 AM

Made in Heaven --- Queen --- 1995 (Parlophone)

Posthumous albums by their very nature always come across as cheap, tawdry, disrespectful and an exercise in cashing in on the celebrity who is no longer with us. “Made in Heaven” is the exception to that rule, having been conceived while Freddie Mercury was still alive, but suffering badly from the effects of the AIDS-related condition which would soon claim his young life. Eager that he be working right up to the end, and wanting to leave as much new material as possible, with the eventual plan that it would be released as an album after his death, Freddie recorded as much as he could with his bandmates and the rest was tweaked, added to, in some cases changed completely, and put together with some other material to produce what is, essentially, a tribute to the man and his music, by the people he made that music with, his family in every other sense.

Getting weaker by the day, Freddie was unable to sing on every track he recorded, and here his teammates helped him out by adding their own vocals, overdubbing or supplementing his. Material was also chosen from Freddie's solo projects, as well as Queen material that never originally made the cut, and it was all put together two years after Freddie's untimely death at the age of forty-five, though it would be a further two years before it would see the light of release.

It opens with “It's a beautiful day”, heavy synth and some twiddly guitar before Freddie begins singing, accompanied by himself on the piano, with a sudden surge of powerful guitar and keys from behind. This song was originally recorded by Freddie solo, just messing around, and was rearranged by the band after his death. It highlights Freddie's love of life and the simple things, and is a good track to begin the album with. The title track, then, is taken from Freddie's solo album “Mr. Bad Guy”, again rearranged by Queen for release on this album. It's a powerful, very Queenesque song, with a soaring chorus and powerful guitar from Brian May, great keyboard lines and Freddie singing at his best and most strongest, and a fitting legacy to the man. The usual Queen choral vocals are in the song, and a great little solo by May completes a great little song.

There's a huge gospel feel to “Let me live”, introduced on those familiar vocal harmonies, then it becomes a mid-paced ballad, with the vocal harmonies coming in again from time to time, Freddie's piano tinkling as Brian's guitar matches him, and considering what Freddie was facing, the lyric, indeed the title, take on a particular poignancy. But then, if you want poignancy, the next track is the last Freddie sung on prior to his death. “Mother love” is a slow, moody song, mostly guitar driven with stabs of synth punctuating the melody The lyric paints a heartbreaking story, running parallel to Freddie's struggle against the darkness reaching out to claim him: ”I'm a man of the world/ They say that I'm strong/ But my heart is heavy/ And my hope is gone.” In times of extreme terror, pain or despair, we all reach out to our mothers, be they alive or dead, and so here, Freddie declares ”Got such a feelin'/ As the sun goes down/ I'm comin' home to my/ Sweet mother love”, and the song ends, extremely appropriately, on a baby's cry.

Another ballad then in “My life has been saved”, very keyboard-centric, with what sounds like strings and some tasteful guitar from May polishing the corners, it's an uptempo song with a really nice hook. Again taken from his “Mr. Bad Guy” album, “I was born to love you” is flamboyant Freddie at his most outrageous, a hard rocker with plenty of sass and street-cred, and a new Queen sound for the re-recording released on this album, including May's signature guitar sound. In fact, in many ways May takes over the track, solos and riffs all over the place, and a very good job he makes of it too. Not to be outdone, even as his life began to ebb away, Freddie ad-libs the vocal from “A kind of magic” as well as “Living on my own”, just to add his own touches to the song. What a showman!

“Heaven for everyone” is a more downbeat track, despite the upbeat message. Almost a blues track, it features a change of tempo to make it a boppier, rockier song but then slips back to the low-key mood, almost giving the impression that Heaven is attainable if we would only try, but that we can't see that far and so fail to reach it. It gets powerful and insistent in the middle as May goes off on something of a frenzy with the guitar, but drops back to the laidback, blues approach for the fadeout ending. A song that featured on May's solo album, “Back to the light”, and was also one of his biggest hits, “Too much love will kill you” could be seen as a tribute to Freddie, though it was composed before his death, but it was written by Brian and played at his tribute concert. It's a slow, stately and powerful ballad played on keyboards mostly, almost in the mode of Labi Siffre on “Something inside so strong”. Not surprisingly, May's guitar comes in with a dramatic and emotional solo, almost as if his instrument is crying for the loss of the great man.

Going back to the disco style of “Hot space”, “You don't fool me” is a dancy track with stabs of guitar from May, but very much reminiscent of the sound that almost alienated a lot of Queen fans on that album, and so perhaps an odd choice for selection. Although in fairness they do “rock it up” here much more, with a frenetic guitar solo by May halfway through, but most of the time it comes across to me as Chic's “I want your love”. Weird. The final ballad on the album, “A winter's tale” was composed entirely by Freddie, the last song to have that distinction. Carried mostly on keyboard and synth, it has a really nice fireside feel, almost Christmassy. The instantly recognisable Queen multi-vocals feature in the song, as does a fine little solo by Brian May, and then we're into what is essentially the closer, a retreading of the opener in fact, called “It's a beautiful day (reprise)”, which I have to say sounds exactly the same... until the guitar winds up and the drums come in and the whole thing begins to take off in a much rockier, faster, heavier vein. Yeah, this is different. Eastern vibe on May's guitar adds just that touch of mystery to the song, and it's really more a continuation, even a remix of the original track.

There is one more track. It's called “Yeah” and actually closes the album, but it's literally Freddie yelling the word, and last only a few seconds, so I couldn't really call it a track per se. Nevertheless the word constitutes Freddie's last public words, so I guess for that reason we should allow it.

I can think of no better way that Freddie Mercury's bandmates and friends could ease his passing and allow him to leave this world with the dignity he maintained while on it, than to help him record and sing his last few songs with them, to be released after his death. It could seem ghoulish to some, but I see this as a labour of love, a final wish granted, in essence, the last will and testament of Farrokh Bulsara, whom the world knew and loved, and will always miss, as the one, the only, the irreplacable and the inimitable Freddie Mercury. May he rest in peace.

TRACKLISTING

1. It's a beautiful day
2. Made in Heaven
3. Let me live
4. Mother love
5. My life has been saved
6. I was born to love you
7. Heaven for everyone
8. Too much love will kill you
9. You don't fool me
10. A winter's tale
11. It's a beautiful day (reprise)
12. Yeah

Trollheart · 01-10-2012, 05:10 AM

Trollheart · 01-10-2012, 05:16 AM

While Stacey-Lynn is rockin' out, the worm prefers to chill out. Here's a classic from Black.

Trollheart · 01-10-2012, 05:41 AM

Let's have some more of those classic rock tracks that shaped music history, shall we?

This man has a deserved place as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, guitarists of all time, and who would argue with that?

And not far at all behind him, the man some call God...

Off the back of our review of “Made in Heaven”, seems only fair to include Queen's timeless classic...

And let's not forget the great Thin Lizzy!

And to finish with for this time, perhaps a slightly controversial choice, but a great track. Here's Don McLean, with “American pie”.

Trollheart · 01-10-2012, 08:15 PM

Trollheart · 01-10-2012, 08:18 PM

A real obscure one, this, but still a great song, from Charlie Dore, and a big hit for her back in the late seventies, this is “Pilot of the airwaves”.

Trollheart · 01-11-2012, 11:17 AM

Time to poke fun at the Eurovision for the first time this year. Let's be somewhat diplomatic and look at a few entries from my native country. We have actually won the contest a number of times, and to be fair we've had some okay songs, but by the Great Pixie, we have had some garbage in there too! Not surprisingly, those are the ones I'll be concentrating on here.

The first one I come across is this shower of wank--- sorry, performers, from the 1982 competition. Looks like they either think they're the Nolans (plus one VERY gay guy!) or Bucks Fizz minus one of the girls, but lord knows they are totally awful. This is a song that typifies and demonstrates the kind of turds the Eurovision used to churn out for us to vote for, or not, and probably for all I know still does. Their song is called “Here today, gone tomorrow”, and they were. Needless to say, they did not win... Oh the shame of being Irish!

1982 --- Ireland --- “Here today, gone tomorrow” by the Duskeys

Of course, if you go right back to 1974 it's even more cringe-making, with Tina Andrews, and a sub-sub-sub-sub-Europop cabaret number called, imaginatively, “Cross your heart”. Oh dear! Even the Brotherhood of Man would have been embarrassed singing this. Probably. Come on, any song where the writer gives up and throws in a host of “la-la-la-las” can't be good...
1974 --- Ireland --- “Cross your heart” by Tina Andrews

Now, this one just sounds like every sugary ballad ever written. From 2001, some guy called Gary O'Shaughnessy, who probably never worked again.
2001 --- Ireland --- “Without your love” by Gary O'Shaughnessy

Now, ample warning. I am so, so sorry to have to do this to you guys, but no look at Ireland's worst Eurovision entries could possibly leave these eff-star-star-kay-ers out, the twins who have single-handedly set back every musical advance Ireland made over the last forty years, and have reduced us to an image of dancing effing leprechauns. Oh god, I can't even speak their name! You know who I mean...
2011 --- Ireland --- “Lipstick” by Jedward (somebody shoot me in the head!)

Gaah! I feel all queasy now! Better go lie down and listen to some Slayer or something, get my mind off that trash. Anyway, that's my own country done, and done well, so let no-one accuse me of favouritism or of slagging off anyone else's native land. As mentioned, Ireland, like probably most countries lampooned here, has had some great Eurovision entries, among them Johnny Logan's double winners “What's another year” (1980) and “Hold me now” (1987), Dana's “All kinds of everything” (1970) and Charlie McGettigan and Paul Harrington's “Rock 'n' roll kids” (1994) --- all of which, incidentally, won the contest, but here in Eurovision Hell we're not concerned with such songs. Only the worst of the worst make it in here, and Ireland, land of my birth, has had some seriously bad entries!

Trollheart · 01-11-2012, 08:36 PM

01-09-2012, 05:43 AM	#711 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-09-2012, 05:44 AM	#712 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Man! You learn something new, I tell ya... The worm always (and I mean always) thought this was a Tom Petty song! But it's not, it's by some crowd called Soul Asylum. Great song even so: this is “Runaway train”. Don't he sound like Mister Petty though? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-09-2012, 06:32 AM	#713 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Made in Heaven --- Queen --- 1995 (Parlophone) Posthumous albums by their very nature always come across as cheap, tawdry, disrespectful and an exercise in cashing in on the celebrity who is no longer with us. “Made in Heaven” is the exception to that rule, having been conceived while Freddie Mercury was still alive, but suffering badly from the effects of the AIDS-related condition which would soon claim his young life. Eager that he be working right up to the end, and wanting to leave as much new material as possible, with the eventual plan that it would be released as an album after his death, Freddie recorded as much as he could with his bandmates and the rest was tweaked, added to, in some cases changed completely, and put together with some other material to produce what is, essentially, a tribute to the man and his music, by the people he made that music with, his family in every other sense. Getting weaker by the day, Freddie was unable to sing on every track he recorded, and here his teammates helped him out by adding their own vocals, overdubbing or supplementing his. Material was also chosen from Freddie's solo projects, as well as Queen material that never originally made the cut, and it was all put together two years after Freddie's untimely death at the age of forty-five, though it would be a further two years before it would see the light of release. It opens with “It's a beautiful day”, heavy synth and some twiddly guitar before Freddie begins singing, accompanied by himself on the piano, with a sudden surge of powerful guitar and keys from behind. This song was originally recorded by Freddie solo, just messing around, and was rearranged by the band after his death. It highlights Freddie's love of life and the simple things, and is a good track to begin the album with. The title track, then, is taken from Freddie's solo album “Mr. Bad Guy”, again rearranged by Queen for release on this album. It's a powerful, very Queenesque song, with a soaring chorus and powerful guitar from Brian May, great keyboard lines and Freddie singing at his best and most strongest, and a fitting legacy to the man. The usual Queen choral vocals are in the song, and a great little solo by May completes a great little song. There's a huge gospel feel to “Let me live”, introduced on those familiar vocal harmonies, then it becomes a mid-paced ballad, with the vocal harmonies coming in again from time to time, Freddie's piano tinkling as Brian's guitar matches him, and considering what Freddie was facing, the lyric, indeed the title, take on a particular poignancy. But then, if you want poignancy, the next track is the last Freddie sung on prior to his death. “Mother love” is a slow, moody song, mostly guitar driven with stabs of synth punctuating the melody The lyric paints a heartbreaking story, running parallel to Freddie's struggle against the darkness reaching out to claim him: ”I'm a man of the world/ They say that I'm strong/ But my heart is heavy/ And my hope is gone.” In times of extreme terror, pain or despair, we all reach out to our mothers, be they alive or dead, and so here, Freddie declares ”Got such a feelin'/ As the sun goes down/ I'm comin' home to my/ Sweet mother love”, and the song ends, extremely appropriately, on a baby's cry. Another ballad then in “My life has been saved”, very keyboard-centric, with what sounds like strings and some tasteful guitar from May polishing the corners, it's an uptempo song with a really nice hook. Again taken from his “Mr. Bad Guy” album, “I was born to love you” is flamboyant Freddie at his most outrageous, a hard rocker with plenty of sass and street-cred, and a new Queen sound for the re-recording released on this album, including May's signature guitar sound. In fact, in many ways May takes over the track, solos and riffs all over the place, and a very good job he makes of it too. Not to be outdone, even as his life began to ebb away, Freddie ad-libs the vocal from “A kind of magic” as well as “Living on my own”, just to add his own touches to the song. What a showman! “Heaven for everyone” is a more downbeat track, despite the upbeat message. Almost a blues track, it features a change of tempo to make it a boppier, rockier song but then slips back to the low-key mood, almost giving the impression that Heaven is attainable if we would only try, but that we can't see that far and so fail to reach it. It gets powerful and insistent in the middle as May goes off on something of a frenzy with the guitar, but drops back to the laidback, blues approach for the fadeout ending. A song that featured on May's solo album, “Back to the light”, and was also one of his biggest hits, “Too much love will kill you” could be seen as a tribute to Freddie, though it was composed before his death, but it was written by Brian and played at his tribute concert. It's a slow, stately and powerful ballad played on keyboards mostly, almost in the mode of Labi Siffre on “Something inside so strong”. Not surprisingly, May's guitar comes in with a dramatic and emotional solo, almost as if his instrument is crying for the loss of the great man. Going back to the disco style of “Hot space”, “You don't fool me” is a dancy track with stabs of guitar from May, but very much reminiscent of the sound that almost alienated a lot of Queen fans on that album, and so perhaps an odd choice for selection. Although in fairness they do “rock it up” here much more, with a frenetic guitar solo by May halfway through, but most of the time it comes across to me as Chic's “I want your love”. Weird. The final ballad on the album, “A winter's tale” was composed entirely by Freddie, the last song to have that distinction. Carried mostly on keyboard and synth, it has a really nice fireside feel, almost Christmassy. The instantly recognisable Queen multi-vocals feature in the song, as does a fine little solo by Brian May, and then we're into what is essentially the closer, a retreading of the opener in fact, called “It's a beautiful day (reprise)”, which I have to say sounds exactly the same... until the guitar winds up and the drums come in and the whole thing begins to take off in a much rockier, faster, heavier vein. Yeah, this is different. Eastern vibe on May's guitar adds just that touch of mystery to the song, and it's really more a continuation, even a remix of the original track. There is one more track. It's called “Yeah” and actually closes the album, but it's literally Freddie yelling the word, and last only a few seconds, so I couldn't really call it a track per se. Nevertheless the word constitutes Freddie's last public words, so I guess for that reason we should allow it. I can think of no better way that Freddie Mercury's bandmates and friends could ease his passing and allow him to leave this world with the dignity he maintained while on it, than to help him record and sing his last few songs with them, to be released after his death. It could seem ghoulish to some, but I see this as a labour of love, a final wish granted, in essence, the last will and testament of Farrokh Bulsara, whom the world knew and loved, and will always miss, as the one, the only, the irreplacable and the inimitable Freddie Mercury. May he rest in peace. TRACKLISTING 1. It's a beautiful day 2. Made in Heaven 3. Let me live 4. Mother love 5. My life has been saved 6. I was born to love you 7. Heaven for everyone 8. Too much love will kill you 9. You don't fool me 10. A winter's tale 11. It's a beautiful day (reprise) 12. Yeah __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2012, 05:10 AM	#714 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2012, 05:16 AM	#715 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	While Stacey-Lynn is rockin' out, the worm prefers to chill out. Here's a classic from Black. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2012, 05:41 AM	#716 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Let's have some more of those classic rock tracks that shaped music history, shall we? This man has a deserved place as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, guitarists of all time, and who would argue with that? And not far at all behind him, the man some call God... Off the back of our review of “Made in Heaven”, seems only fair to include Queen's timeless classic... And let's not forget the great Thin Lizzy! And to finish with for this time, perhaps a slightly controversial choice, but a great track. Here's Don McLean, with “American pie”. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2012, 08:15 PM	#717 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-10-2012, 08:18 PM	#718 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	A real obscure one, this, but still a great song, from Charlie Dore, and a big hit for her back in the late seventies, this is “Pilot of the airwaves”. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-11-2012, 11:17 AM	#719 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Time to poke fun at the Eurovision for the first time this year. Let's be somewhat diplomatic and look at a few entries from my native country. We have actually won the contest a number of times, and to be fair we've had some okay songs, but by the Great Pixie, we have had some garbage in there too! Not surprisingly, those are the ones I'll be concentrating on here. The first one I come across is this shower of wank--- sorry, performers, from the 1982 competition. Looks like they either think they're the Nolans (plus one VERY gay guy!) or Bucks Fizz minus one of the girls, but lord knows they are totally awful. This is a song that typifies and demonstrates the kind of turds the Eurovision used to churn out for us to vote for, or not, and probably for all I know still does. Their song is called “Here today, gone tomorrow”, and they were. Needless to say, they did not win... Oh the shame of being Irish! 1982 --- Ireland --- “Here today, gone tomorrow” by the Duskeys Of course, if you go right back to 1974 it's even more cringe-making, with Tina Andrews, and a sub-sub-sub-sub-Europop cabaret number called, imaginatively, “Cross your heart”. Oh dear! Even the Brotherhood of Man would have been embarrassed singing this. Probably. Come on, any song where the writer gives up and throws in a host of “la-la-la-las” can't be good... 1974 --- Ireland --- “Cross your heart” by Tina Andrews Now, this one just sounds like every sugary ballad ever written. From 2001, some guy called Gary O'Shaughnessy, who probably never worked again. 2001 --- Ireland --- “Without your love” by Gary O'Shaughnessy Now, ample warning. I am so, so sorry to have to do this to you guys, but no look at Ireland's worst Eurovision entries could possibly leave these eff-star-star-kay-ers out, the twins who have single-handedly set back every musical advance Ireland made over the last forty years, and have reduced us to an image of dancing effing leprechauns. Oh god, I can't even speak their name! You know who I mean... 2011 --- Ireland --- “Lipstick” by Jedward *(somebody shoot me in the head!)* Gaah! I feel all queasy now! Better go lie down and listen to some Slayer or something, get my mind off that trash. Anyway, that's my own country done, and done well, so let no-one accuse me of favouritism or of slagging off anyone else's native land. As mentioned, Ireland, like probably most countries lampooned here, has had some great Eurovision entries, among them Johnny Logan's double winners “What's another year” (1980) and “Hold me now” (1987), Dana's “All kinds of everything” (1970) and Charlie McGettigan and Paul Harrington's “Rock 'n' roll kids” (1994) --- all of which, incidentally, won the contest, but here in Eurovision Hell we're not concerned with such songs. Only the worst of the worst make it in here, and Ireland, land of my birth, has had some seriously bad entries! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-11-2012, 08:36 PM	#720 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018