Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé’s “Barcelona – Special Edition” coming soon
Written by admin on August 11, 2012 – 11:06 am - |
Next month sees the release of standard and deluxe versions of “Barcelona – Special Edition”.
This 25th anniversary edition of Freddie Mercury’s collaboration with Spanish operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé features a new full orchestral score, arranged by Stuart Morley, who is the musical director for the Queen musical “We Will Rock You”. |
Morley explains that he set about orchestrating the songs by:
| “…basically listening to the album over and over in short sections and noting down the harmonic structure, lead orchestral lines and instrumental voicings along with the vocal lines. I then proceeded to expand into making a full orchestral score (with a 2B pencil, ruler and erases –the old fashioned way) working at the piano and constantly referring back to the original recordings to make sure the work I was doing remained faithful to Freddie and Mike Moran’s original intentions.” |
The promotion for the album boasts that this is the “version Mercury would have wanted to make at the time had he felt able to work with a full symphony orchestra”. The original was recorded almost entirely on keyboards.
There are also cameos from leading musicians such as Naoko Kikuchi, whose koto is added to “La Japonaise,” classical violinist David Garrett on “How Can I Go On,” and drummer Rufus Taylor (Roger’s son), who replaces the drum machine on the latter song and on “The Golden Boy”.
“Barcelona – Special Edition” – Promo
The tracklists for the standard and deluxe versions of “Barcelona – Special Edition” are as follows:
Standard edition – CD/Vinyl
- Barcelona
- La Japonaise
- The Fallen Priest
- Ensueno
- The Golden Boy
- Guide Me Home
- How Can I Go On
- Exercises In Free Love
- Overture Piccante
- How Can I Go On Feat. David Garrett (bonus track).
Deluxe edition – 3 CDs/DVD
CD 1 – Barcelona – Special Edition
- Barcelona
- La Japonaise
- The Fallen Priest
- Ensueno
- The Golden Boy
- Guide Me Home
- How Can I Go On
- Exercises In Free Love
- Overture Piccante
- How Can I Go On Feat. David Garrett.
CD 2 – Best of the rarities & session outtakes
- Exercises In Free Love (1987 B-side)
- Barcelona (Early Version: Freddie’s Demo Vocal)
- La Japonaise (Early Version: Freddie’s Demo Vocal)
- Rachmaninov’s Revenge (The Fallen Priest) (Later Version: Freddie’s Demo Vocal)
- Ensueno – Monsterrat’s Live Takes
- The Golden Boy (Early Version: Freddie’s Demo Vocal)
- Guide Me Home / How Can I Go On (Alternative Versions)
- How Can I Go On (Alternative Piano Version).
DVD
- Ku Club Ibiza Performance – Barcelona
- La Nit Barcelona Performance (Barcelona, How Can I Go On, The Golden Boy)
- Barcelona – Classic Video
- Barcelona – The Special Edition EPK
- Barcelona – 2012 edit by Rhys Thomas.
The third CD in the deluxe edition contains the instrumental orchestral version of the album.
“Barcelona – Special Edition” is out on September 3 in the UK and on import in the US/Canada on September 11. All versions are available for pre-order now.
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Barcelona – Special Edition (CD) |
Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now |
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Barcelona – Special Edition (LP) |
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Barcelona – Special Edition: Deluxe (3 CDs/DVD) |
Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now |
Related story:
Freddie Mercury – The Great Pretender on DVD and Blu-ray
Tags: Barcelona Special Edition, Freddie Mercury, Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, Montserrat Caballé
Posted in New releases |
