Much as I would love to be moving on the next Queen record (which is a personal favorite) I would be remiss if I didn’t include the previous to 1991 unreleased “Mad the Swine”. According to Wikipedia the reason it was left off was that producer Roy Thomas Baker and the band were unsatisfied with the quality of the percussion. I would hasten to add: also cuz it’s a really dumb song. I say this because a) I’ve never had an issue with the percussion, in fact I think it’s the best thing on the song and because b) it’s a dumb song about a prophetic angel who has come back but “this time I wear no sandals”. He is Mad the Swine who has come to save everyone ala Jesus. In fact, from everything Freddie sings (Crap like “Let me take you to the river without a fall”) its the story of the return of Jesus. But why is his name “Mad”? And why is he referred to as “the Swine”?
Ugh. I think they just blamed Roger for the fact that Freddie wrote a piece of shit and they recorded it. This song stinks of early 70s love-fest, Godspell-ian hippy, robe-flowing crap.
Grade: D
