Happiness? (Roger Taylor album)

Happiness?
Studio album by Roger Taylor
Released	1994
Recorded	1993-94
Genre	Art rock
Length	48:15
Label	Parlophone, EMI
Producer	Roger Taylor Josh Macrae (co-producer)
Roger Taylor chronology
Strange Frontier (1984) Happiness? (1994) Electric Fire (1998)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

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 solo album since 1984's Strange Frontier.

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 a Japanese musician named Yoshiki. The result of the collaboration was the track "Foreign Sand".

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

Controversy

Although released as a single, the lyrics of the track Nazis 1994 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]

Personnel

All tracks except Foreign Sand:

• Roger Taylor: Drums, Vocals, Guitars and stuff
• Jason Falloon: Guitar
• Phil Spalding: Bass
• Mike Crossley: Piano and keyboards
• Catherine Porter: Backing Vocals
• Josh Macrae: Programming

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

Category:Roger Taylor albums Category:Albums produced by Roger Taylor