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Face It Alone

Summary

"Face It Alone" is a song by British rock band Queen.[1] Written by Brian May, John Deacon, Roger Taylor and Freddie Mercury (credited as Queen) and produced by David Richards, Kris Fredriksson and Justin Shirley-Smith, recorded over thirty years prior to its eventual release, and originally thought "unsalvageable" by May and Taylor, it was released on 13 October 2022 as a single as part of promotion for The Miracle Collector's Edition box set, which itself was released on 18 November 2022.[2][3]

"Face It Alone"
Single by Queen
from the album The Miracle Collector's Edition
Released13 October 2022 (2022-10-13)
Recorded1988
Genre
Length4:07
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Queen
Producer(s)
Queen singles chronology
"We Are the Champions (Raw Session Version)"
(2017) 		"Face It Alone"
(2022) 		"Machines (or Back to Humans)"
(2023)
Music video
"Face It Alone" on YouTube

Background edit

Mercury and the rest of the band recorded "Face It Alone" in 1988 during the recording sessions for their 1989 album The Miracle. It was revisited during the recording sessions for Innuendo but was ultimately not included on either album. In summer 2022, Brian May and Roger Taylor leaked the news of the newly discovered song, and stated that the song had a good chance of being released (using the earlier recordings from The Miracle).

The final, officially released version of the song does not contain all of the lyrics present in the original takes, nor from Mercury's original handwritten lyrics.[4] A verse beginning "But screaming out loud gets you nowhere in this world" as well as lines such as "and the Sun begins to loom" were cut from the eventual 2022 release. In addition to the unused lyrics, alternate guitar parts and an extended guitar solo were recorded, too.

The original 1988 recording that served as the basis for the official release has a running time of 5:18. Studio dialogue from Mercury, directed at May, can be heard at the beginning of this version. Many of the lyrics on this recording are incomplete and ad-libbed, as was typical of Mercury's writing style at this point in his career. This track has been known to collectors since the late 1990s and has leaked online multiple times since the mid 2000s.

Music video edit

A lyric video was released on 13 October 2022. The official music video was uploaded on Queen's YouTube channel on 21 October.[5][6] The music video features figures of the band along with footage of the sessions from The Miracle.


Critical reception edit

Reviews for "Face It Alone" were generally positive. Neil McCormick, writing for The Telegraph, rated the song 4/5 stars and called it "tender, moving [and] defiant".[7] In a review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis gave the song 3/5 stars, adding that whilst he felt it was "not a bad song, [and] nor is it anything approaching a classic", he praised Mercury's vocals, calling "Face It Alone" "moving and slender, a minor footnote that manages to pack an emotional punch regardless".[8] A subsequent review from Rolling Stone magazine felt the song fit "effortlessly" into the band's back catalogue.[9]

Chart performance edit

On the day of its digital release, "Face It Alone" became the most downloaded song in the world for five days in a row and topped the iTunes download charts in 21 countries.[10] Placing on various charts around the world, the single peaked at number 7 on the US Hot Hard Rock Songs chart,[11] number one on the Dutch Single Tip 100 chart,[12] and number one on the UK Official Vinyl Singles Chart on 25 November 2022.

"Face It Alone" was the 14th best-selling vinyl of 2022 in the UK behind the Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) box set by David Bowie and ahead of "Rock the Casbah" by the Clash.[13]

Personnel edit

Queen
Production
  • David Richards – producer, engineer
  • Kris Fredriksson – producer, engineer, music supervisor
  • Justin Shirley-Smith – producer, music supervisor
  • Josh Macrae – producer, engineer
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering engineer

Charts edit

Chart performance for "Face It Alone"
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[14] 45
Canada Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[15] 15
Global Excl. US (Billboard)[16] 169
Hungary (Single Top 40)[17] 12
Japan Hot Overseas (Billboard Japan)[18] 13
Netherlands (Single Tip)[19] 1
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[20] 17
South Korea BGM (Circle)[21] 136
Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 17
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] 26
UK Singles (OCC)[24] 90
US Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[25] 36
US Hot Hard Rock Songs (Billboard)[26] 7
US Rock Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[27] 8

References edit

  1. ^ Van der Graaf, Arie (9 October 2022). "Queen To Release Single "Face It Alone" With Freddy Mercury". Melodic. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Queen premiere previously unheard Freddie Mercury song Face It Alone". BBC. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Queen share previously-unreleased track 'Face It Alone' featuring late Freddie Mercury". Retro Pop Magazine. 15 October 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Freddie Mercury Notebook containing autograph manuscript lyrics of songs for The Miracle, 1988-89". Sotheby's. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  5. ^ Lewry, Fraser (21 October 2022). "Queen launch new video for uncovered Freddie track Face It Alone". Louder Sound. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  6. ^ Peacock, Tim (21 October 2022). "Queen Share Newly-Created Video For "Face It Alone"". Yahoo!. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  7. ^ McCormick, Neil (13 October 2022). "Queen's beautiful Face It Alone will make you miss Freddie Mercury more than ever". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  8. ^ Petridis, Alexis (3 October 2022). "Queen: Face It Alone review – slight song boosted by Freddie Mercury giving it 150%". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  9. ^ Reilly, Nick (13 October 2022). "Queen share unreleased Freddie Mercury track 'Face It Alone'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  10. ^ "QueenOnline.com - News". www.queenonline.com. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  11. ^ "Queen Chart History (Hot Hard Rock Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Dutch Single Tip 22/10/2022". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  13. ^ "The Official Top 40 Best-Selling Vinyl Albums and Singles of 2022". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  14. ^ "Queen – Face It Alone" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Queen Chart History (Canadian Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  16. ^ "Queen Chart History (Billboard Global Excl. US)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Billboard Japan Hot Overseas: October 26, 2022". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  19. ^ "Dutch Single Tip 22/10/2022". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  20. ^ "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  21. ^ "BGM Chart – Week 42 of 2022". Circle Chart (in Korean). Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  22. ^ "Veckolista Heatseeker, vecka 42". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Queen – Face It Alone". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  25. ^ "Queen Chart History (Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  26. ^ "Queen Chart History (Hot Hard Rock Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  27. ^ "Queen Chart History (Rock Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2022.

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