Happiness? (Roger Taylor album)

Happiness? is the third solo album by the English musician Roger Taylor, best known as the drummer for the band Queen. It was his first album since Queen's 1991 album Innuendo, and his first album outside of Queen since 1991's Blue Rock

Happiness?
Studio album by
Roger Taylor
Released5 September 1994
Recorded1993-94
GenreRock
Length48:15
LabelParlophone, EMI
ProducerRoger Taylor
Josh Macrae (co-producer)
Roger Taylor chronology
Strange Frontier
(1984)		 Happiness?
(1994)		 Electric Fire
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Recording

Writing of Roger Taylor's material spanned way before initial recording in 1993. Taylor, like his other band mates, were mourning the death of lead singer, Freddie Mercury. Recording mostly took place in his home studio over the final months of 1993 to the beginning of 1994. Halfway through recording, Taylor had collaborated with Japanese musician, Yoshiki. The result of the collaboration was the track "Foreign Sand".

The album was released on what would have been Mercury's 48th birthday.

Controversy

Although released as a single, the lyrics of the track "Nazis 1994", attacking neo-Nazism, were deemed so controversial that it was banned by UK commercial radio stations. Additionally, it was banned from being advertised and many record stores refused to stock the single. Ironically, the publicity aided in the album's success.[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Roger Taylor, except "Foreign Sand" written by Taylor and Yoshiki.

  1. "Nazis 1994" – 2:35
  2. "Happiness" – 3:17
  3. "Revelations" – 3:44
  4. "Touch the Sky" – 5:04
  5. "Foreign Sand" – 6:53
  6. "Freedom Train" – 6:12
  7. "‘You Had to Be There’" – 2:55
  8. "The Key" – 4:25
  9. "Everybody Hurts Sometime" – 2:52
  10. "Loneliness..." – 2:25
  11. "Dear Mr Murdoch" – 4:19
  12. "Old Friends" – 3:33

Personnel

All tracks except Foreign Sand:

Foreign Sand:

  • Yoshiki: Arrangement, Drums, Piano and Synthesizer.
  • Roger Taylor: Vocals
  • Jim Cregan: Guitars
  • Phil Chen: Bass
  • Dick Marx: Strings Arrangement
  • Brad Buxer and Geoff Grace: Programming
  • Mastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road
  • Album Design by Roger Taylor and Richard Gray

Singles

"Nazis 1994" - (UK No. 22)

"Foreign Sand"- (UK No. 26)

"Happiness?" - (UK No. 32)

References

Happiness Liner Notes@ http://www.queenpicturehall.com/albums/r03h.shtml

  1. Allmusic review
  2. Roger Taylor Biography on Yahoo! Music
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