Queen release unheard song featuring Freddie Mercury
‘It’s a very passionate piece,’ says the band’s drummer Roger Taylor on the new song
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Your support makes all the difference.Queen will share a rediscovered and unreleased new track today (13 October), featuring the late Freddie Mercury.
The song, entitled “Face It Alone” will be the band’s first release featuring Mercury in over eight years.
The track was initially teased by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor in May. It had been discovered when the band’s team returned to original sessions work on The Miracle box set reissue, which will be released in November.
At the time, Taylor said the track was “a little little gem from Freddie that we’d kind of forgotten about”. May agreed, adding that “it’s beautiful, it’s touching”.
“Face It Alone” was originally recorded in 1988 during the making of The Miracle album which was created after the band’s last show together at Knebworth Park, where they famously performed for an audience of around 160,000 people.
During the sessions, the band set down 30 tracks, many of which were never released. “Face It Alone” was one such song that listeners never got to hear, until today.
“We’d kind of forgotten about this track,” said Taylor. “But there it was, this little gem. It’s wonderful, a real discovery. It’s a very passionate piece.”
“I’m happy that our team were able to find this track,” said May. “After all these years, it’s great to hear all four of us … yes, Deacy is there too … working in the studio on a great song idea which never quite got completed ... until now!”
The band worked in the studio together during Mercury’s illness, with the band members saying at the time that it was the most collaboratively they had ever created.
“Splitting the credits was a very important decision for us. We left our egos outside the studio door,” said May during recording. Mercury added: “I think it’s the closest we’ve ever been in terms of actually writing together.”
The Miracle was originally released in 1989, achieving global success and reaching No 1 in the UK and several European countries.
The new track will form part of an eight-disc Queen The Miracle Collector’s Edition box set due for release on 18 November. The set will revisit the band’s 13th album.
The special release will feature original takes, demos and rough cuts, and six previously unreleased tracks including “Dog With A Bone”, “I Guess We’re Falling Out”, “You Know You Belong To Me”, and “Face It Alone”.
The set will also include rare spoken outtakes from the album’s recording sessions, where Mercury can be heard saying things such as, “Before we all pass out, can I just try this?” on “I Want It All”.
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