No The Kills

Released to coincide with what would have been Freddie Mercury's 70th birthday, the excellent 2016 double-disc anthology Messenger of the Gods: The Singles brings together all of the legendary Queen vocalist's solo A-side and B-side singles. Originating from a variety of projects, including Mercury's one and only proper solo album, 1985's Mr. Bad, these are all the songs released under Mercury's name and not as Queen singles. Nonetheless, there was some cross-pollination and several of these songs were later reworked as Queen tracks. While Queen were primarily known for their muscular, guitar-oriented rock, they were also innovators who experimented with funk and dance grooves. Mercury himself was always an eclectic artist whose tastes ranged from early rock & roll to disco to classical music.

Although Freddie Mercury had a legitimate solo career in Europe, the Queen singer's solo output was largely ignored stateside (since Queen's albums weren't selling that well in the U.S. during the mid- to late '80s, you wouldn't expect Mercury's solo material to exactly light up the charts). But Mercury managed to score quite a few solo hits back home in the U.K., especially his 1985 outing Mr. Bad Guy, as well as an assortment of singles and a vocal tour de force with opera singer Montserrat Caballe, Barcelona, all of which serve as the basis for the ten-track collection The Freddie Mercury Album…

Power pop is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It originated in the mid 1960s as young music fans began to rebel against the emerging pretensions of rock music, and developed mainly among American musicians who came of age during the British Invasion. The genre typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and "happy"-sounding music underpinned by a sense of yearning, longing, or despair.

The set presents a compilation of concert highlights captured the world over personally selected by Taylor, May and Lambert from over 200 shows they have performed with several featured here becoming available for the very first time. These cover concerts from Rock in Rio, Lisbon, to the UK’s Isle of Wight Festival, Summer Sonic, Japan, selected UK and North America tour dates, and - from one of their very last performances before lockdown – the Fire Fight Australia benefit show. All formats include the band’s entire 22-minute Fire Fight Australia appearance in which they performed Queen’s original history-making 1985 Live Aid set in full: Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Will Rock You and We are The Champions. While even Freddie Mercury’s iconic Ay-Ohs feature.

The jazz poet’s finest Flying Dutchman recordings, as originally compiled in 1974. CD edition includes additional nine tracks from his first three albums.