Label: Parlophone Records (UK), 7243 8 30059 2 5
Style: Rock, Pop Rock
Country: Norfolk, England (born 26 July 1949)
Time: 48:21
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 301 Mb
The death of Freddie at the end of 1991 threw Queen into a tailspin, and each member reacted in his own way. John retreated to the normalcy and comfort of his family, spending time with his wife and children, most likely with a sigh of relief. Brian and Roger, however, remained committed to their music; the former finally completed his debut solo album, and went off on tour around the world to support it, remaining busy for an entire year. Roger, however, wasn"t quite as eager as Brian to get back into music, spending a lot of his time contemplating his journey over his career while writing the occasional song or two. Finally, in 1993, Roger had written enough material to constitute the bulk of his third proper solo album, which he recorded at his home studio over the next few months.
The material that he had written was far more introspective and lyrical than anything he had written on his first two solo albums or as the frontman of The Cross. There was the occasional moment of rock "n" roll, but for the most part, the songs were quieter and more keyboard-dominated. Freddie, too, had been on the forefront of Roger"s mind while he was writing the album, with many of the songs inspired by him, either in passing or full-force – specifically, the last two songs on the album, Dear Mr. Murdoch, written about Rupert Murdoch, owner of the British tabloid / rag The Sun, who had hounded Freddie during his dying days (it had even been written for a planned fourth Cross album), and Old Friends, a far gentler ode to remembering the fallen vocalist as his very best friend remembered him.
Elsewhere, there were songs about pursuing happiness, overcoming loneliness, and a heartfelt dedication to his then-wife Debbie (Touch The Sky). The song that made the biggest impression, though, was Nazis 1994, written after a horrified Roger read reports of the uprise of Neo-Nazism in the early 1990s. The original words were "We gotta kick these xxxin" Nazis", though Parlophone balked at the bluntness and politely suggested that Roger tone down the sentiment; hence, the dreaded F-bomb became "stinkin"", which was far less effective.
(full review: queenpedia.com/index.php?title=Happiness%3F_(album)
01. Nazis 1994 (02:35)
02. Happiness (03:17)
03. Revelations (03:44)
04. Touch The Sky (05:04)
05. Foreign Sand (06:53)
06. Freedom Train (06:12)
07. You Had To Be There" (02:55)
08. The Key (04:25)
09. Everybody Hurts Sometime (02:52)
10. Loneliness (02:25)
11. Dear Mr. Murdoch (04:19)
12. Old Friends (03:33)
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