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'Too Much Love Will Kill You' was originally a Top 5 hit for Brian May in 1992... This new version, with the late Freddie Mercury's powerful vocals, is released on 26th February 1996.
As you might have guessed, it's not really that new a version. It predates May's solo version, having been recorded in the late 80s for their album The Miracle but left off, reportedly due to contractual problems with the co-writers. It was apparently a personal song for May, hence the release of his own version, but the original was dusted off for the posthumous Made In Heaven album - unlike much of that set, no work seems to have been done on it in the 1990s so the production is even more dated than the rest, showing Queen's least enjoyable and most blandly sentimental side. Mercury's vocal is always going to be an improvement over May's, of course, though it did lead Rob Newman to make the harsh if not entirely inaccurate joke that "No Freddie, too much unprotected sex will kill you".It doesn't make for the most dramatic opener to Now 33, in all honesty, but it does give Queen the distinction of being the first act to open consecutive Now albums. It's also the first non-Top-10 hit to open one, and still the only one I can think of, aside from the 'Grease Megamix' (a Top 10 hit but long before it opened Now 40). Of course, the record didn't last long since the Spice Girls went on to open Now 34, 35 and 36. It's also the group's last new material to appear in the series; though two further singles were pulled from Made In Heaven and inquorate versions of the act have managed hits since, their only subsequent showing was the reworking of 'Flash' on Now 54.
Also appearing on: Now 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 15, 16, 19, 21, 25 [with George Michael], 32, 54 [with Vanguard]
Available on: Greatest Hits III
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