For those unaware, the 40th anniversary of legendary Queen singer Freddie Mercury’s majestic debut solo album Mr Bad Guy is being celebrated with a lavish new vinyl reissue.

Originally released end of April 1985, Mr Bad Guy was Mercury’s first album away from the group he had co-founded 15 years before and helped steer to staggering artistic and commercial heights. It found him breaking free from the confines of a band, swapping Queen’s chameleonic, arena-sized music for a set of songs that combined his unique songwriting with a driving, dance and pop-inspired sound.

Forty years after it first came out, Mr Bad Guy will be reissued on spectacular 180g translucent green vinyl on December 5th, 2025 as well as picture disc LP exclusively via D2C.

“I had a lot of ideas bursting to get out and there were a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore which I really couldn’t do within Queen,” said Mercury of the album at the time.

Mr Bad Guy showed a very different side to the singer, one that had been hinted at a few years earlier on Queen’s more dance-orientated Hot Space album. It was partly a love letter to the club scene he was immersed in but also a chance for Freddie to reveal more of himself than he ever had before.

Side A:
1. Let’s Turn It On
2. Made In Heaven
3. I Was Born To Love You
4. Foolin’ Around
5. Your Kind Of Lover

Side B:
1. Mr Bad Guy
2. Man Made Paradise
3. There Must Be More To Life Than This
4. Living On My Own
5. My Love Is Dangerous
6. Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow

This was Freddie Mercury’s first solo album, recorded during some down time in between Queen albums. With all songs written and sung by Freddie (as well as a significant part of the mixing and production), Mr Bad Guy sounds similar to, but not quite like, contemporary Queen albums The Works and A Kind Of Magic, in my humble opinion.

Because no other Queen members play on the album, Brian May’s distinctive-sounding guitar and both his and Roger Taylor’s voices are obviously not present. If I sound like I’m saying that something is missing, I’m not, only that Freddie is the focus here. And he rises to the occasion to deliver the goods, of that you have my word.

The songs are excellent examples of why Freddie was such a powerhouse musician; all of them are good, and some of them are superb. Every time I listen to Made In Heaven, I get shivers running up my spine because I find the song so nice. One criticism that I’ve heard about Mr Bad Guy is that it has a certain over reliance on keyboards and synthesizers. While it’s true that these are indeed present, they aren’t any worse or more apparent than on other pop and rock material of the era.

If anything, they are actually integrated into the material better than in many other albums from the time. Although not always the easiest (or cheapest) album to get a hold of, it is definitely a worthy addition to any Queen fan (or music fan’s) collection; especially as it has just been lovingly reissued as 40th Anniversary Special Edition, Half-Speed Mastered on Transparent Green vinyl!

Forty years on, Mr Bad Guy remains a pivotal album for Freddie Mercury. It allowed him to flex his creative muscles and seek out new sounds and styles, ensuring he returned to Queen re-energised and revitalised.

“I put my heart and soul into Mr Bad Guy and I think it’s a very natural album,” said Mercury. “It had some very moving ballads – things to do with sadness and pain, but at the same time there were some very frivolous and tongue-in-cheek songs, because that is my nature. I think the songs on that album reflect the state of my life, a diverse selection of moods and a whole spectrum of what my life was.”

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Mr Bad Guy is reissued on 180g translucent green vinyl on December 5, via Hollywood Records in the U.S. and Canada and via Universal for all other territories, as well as on picture disc LP exclusively via D2C.

Official Purchase Link

www.freddiemercury.com