Lover of Life, Singer of Songs: The Very Best of Freddie Mercury Solo

The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo — Lover of Life, Singer of Songs was released on September 4th, 2006 – the day Mercury would have celebrated his 60th birthday. It tastefully compiles standout tracks from both of his solo albums, 1985’s Mr. Bad Guy and 1988’s Barcelona, as well as songs that he recorded for musical soundtracks, various remixes, and some really interesting pre-Queen recordings from 1973, when Mercury sang under the Larry Lurex pseudonym for cover versions of Phil Spector’s “I Can Hear Music” and the Carole King/Gerry Goffin hit “Goin’ Back.” The former boasts Mercury singing androgynous falsettos over a “Wall of Sound” style pioneered by Spector, while the latter sounds closer to Dusty Springfield’s piano ballad but with more a more urgent vocal performance. Other highlights include a remix of the dramatic “In My Defence” from Dave Clark’s 1986 musical Time and the 1984 single mix of “Love Kills,” a mid-tempo, post-disco dance number. Bookending with an a cappella rendering of “Let’s Turn It On” makes for an intimate insight to the man’s powerful vocal soul.