Five Live (EP)
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| Five Live (EP) | |||||
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| EP by George Michael and Queen with Lisa Stansfield | |||||
| Released | April 19, 1993 | ||||
| Recorded | April 1992 | ||||
| Genre | Pop rock, Ballad, Dance-pop | ||||
| Length | 28:46 | ||||
| Label | Hollywood (U.S./Canada) Parlophone (Rest of world) |
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| Producer | Queen George Michael Roy Thomas Baker |
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| Lisa Stansfield chronology | |||||
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Five Live, released in 1993, features five (in some countries, where it is considered to be a reduced-length long-playing album, six) tracks, performed by George Michael, Queen, and Lisa Stansfield. Somebody to Love and These Are the Days of Our Lives (both also availbale on video) were recorded at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, held on April 20, 1992, at Wembley Stadium. In particular, the live performance of the opener gave Michael a lot more credibility as an adult artist, making him one of the few acts of the evening to be praised for fitting Freddie's hard, controversial shoes.
All proceeds from the sale of the EP benefited the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Sales of the record were in fact very strong throughout Europe, where it debuted at Number One, in the UK Singles Chart, and several European countries, either considered as a single, an extended play, or an LP. Chart success in the U.S. was far less spectacular, but the EP still peaked at Number 30 on the Billboard 200.
An edited shorter version of Killer and Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, a live medley already (performed by George at the Wembley Arena, as Calling You was, from the "Bagdad Café" soundtrack, also previously, but less successfully covered, by Paul Young), was released by George Michael as a further independent single, in some territories only. The singer also shot a video for it, where he did not appear personally though (it was during the time when the artist refused to exploit his outward look, which he though would distract the audience from the music, his main concern).
While These Are the Days of Our Lives, played by Queen, is actually a duet between George Michael and Lisa Stansfield's extremely soulful voices, the sixth optional track is represented by a short performance by Queen, entitled Dear Friends, originally sung by Freddie Mercury himself. Recorded in 1974, this constitutes the one studio recording on the record.
Usually, countries where the six-track work is distributed consider it to be as a short LP, whereas those where the five-track (hence, its title) work is available generally tend to see it as an EP or even (if Killer/Papa Was a Rollin' Stone was not marketed independently in those same territories) as a particularly long or content-rich single. However, no matter its status, whether an EP, a short album or a long single, the work as a whole sold an estimated 5 million copies worldwide[citation needed].
[edit] Track listing
- Somebody to Love (Freddie Mercury) – 5:17 (U.S. #30)
- Performed by Queen and George Michael
- Killer (Tinley/Seal) – 5:58
- Performed by George Michael
- Papa Was a Rollin' Stone (Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong) – 5:24
- Performed by George Michael
- These Are the Days of Our Lives (Queen) – 4:43
- Performed by Queen, George Michael and Lisa Stansfield
- Calling You (Bob Telson) – 6:17
- Performed by George Michael
- Dear Friends (Brian May) – 1:07 (some releases only)
- Performed by Queen (1974 studio recording)
[edit] Release details
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
| The Netherlands | 1993 | EMI | CD | 0777 7 89418 2 8 |
| France | PM 517 |
| Preceded by "Young at Heart" by The Bluebells |
UK Singles Chart Number 1 single April 25, 1993 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "All That She Wants" by Ace of Base |
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