Queen is back. Not with Adam Lambert on vocals but Freddie Mercury! The title “Face It Alone” was unveiled this Thursday, as a prelude to an upcoming Deluxe reissue of the album The Miracle. A box set including 5 CDs, the vinyl album, a DVD and a Blu-ray will be released on November 18, with, of course, its share of rarities, excerpts from the recording sessions, etc. In total, no less than an hour of music never released until today, excerpts from studio conversations and above all 6 unreleased tracks!
Needless to say, “Face It Alone” is one of them. The title comes from the recording sessions that led to The Miracle in 1989. The song, since forgotten, was rediscovered by the team that surrounds Brian May and Roger Taylor when it comes to working on reissues. A happy meeting! Queen drummer calls ‘Face It Alone’ a “little nugget”. The enthusiasm is the same on the side of the guitarist. “It’s great to be able to listen to all four of us together in the studio working on a great idea for a song that had never been finalized until now”, he confides. Because yes, it’s not just the voice of Freddie Mercury that resurfaces, there is also the bass of John Deacon who left the group in 1997.
What to think of this novelty? That it’s anything but a drawer just dusted off for the purposes of the cause, namely the promotion of a reissue. “Face It Alone” may not have the magic of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the strength of “We Will Rock You” or the crazy pop side of “Radio Gaga”, but it’s a good title. for Freddie Mercury’s impassioned vocal performance that lights up this rock lullaby from another time. Queen’s touch is instantly recognizable and when you’re done listening, you can’t wait to play the song once more.
Amazing? Not really. After a mixed critical reception at the time – Queen was emerging from a long period of silence and the use of electronic instruments confused many -, The Miracle imposed itself and is now hailed as one of the group’s great albums in terms of its production in the 80s. Queen was then in an ultra-creative period. For this disc, between London and their studio in Montreux, Switzerland, they worked on no less than 30 tracks. Less than half were selected for the album, the rest having remained in the cards.
“Face It Alone” will be released as a single at the same time as the reissue of The Miracle, namely November 18. Remember, however, that this is not the first title with the voice of Freddie Mercury to resurface since the death of the singer in November 1991. In 2014, three unreleased songs with the original singer of Queen had surfaced, linked to the release from the album Queen Forever: “Let Me in Your Heart Again”, “Love Kills” and “There Must Be More to Life Than This.”
