4 Track CD Sampler. Track 1 taken from the album Barcelona.
Tracks 1&2(p)1987 Mercury Songs Ltd. Track 3(p)1992 Mercury Songs Ltd. (c)1992 Mercury Songs Ltd.
Sleeve track listings refers to sub-title of track 4 as just 'Edit'. CD is printed 'TV Edit'.

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer, songwriter and record producer, known as the lead vocalist and co-principal songwriter of the rock band Queen. He also became known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. Mercury wrote and composed numerous hits for Queen (including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "We Are the Champions"); occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists; and concurrently led a solo career while performing with Queen.

Mercury was born of Parsi descent in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens, before moving with his family to Middlesex, England — ultimately forming the band Queen in 1970 with Brian May and Roger Taylor. Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS, having confirmed the day before his death that he had contracted the disease.

In 1992 Mercury was posthumously awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and had a tribute concert held at Wembley Stadium, London. As a member of Queen, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004, and the band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. In 2002, he was placed at number 58 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Consistently voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music, Mercury was voted best male singer of all time in a 2005 poll organised by Blender and MTV2; was elected in 2009 as the best rock singer of all time by Classic Rock readers; was ranked at 18 on the 2008 Rolling Stone list of the 100 greatest singers ever; — and was described by Greg Prato of AllMusic as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers," with "one of the greatest voices in all of music."

Montserrat Caballé (born 12 April 1933) is a Spanish operatic soprano. She has sung a wide variety of roles, but Caballé is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. She came to the attention of a much wider audience when she recorded at the request of the IOC in 1987 "Barcelona", a duet with Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen; the song was inspired by Caballé´s home city, later it was used as one of the two official theme songs for the 1992 Olympic Games.

"Barcelona" is a single released by Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury and operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé. A part of their collaborative album Barcelona, it also appeared on Queen's Greatest Hits III.

The song reflects Mercury's love of opera with his high notes and Caballé's operatic vocals, backed by a full orchestra. Originally released in 1987, it was one of the biggest hits of Mercury's solo career, reaching number eight in the UK Singles Chart. After Mercury's death in 1991, it was featured at the 1992 Summer Olympics, after which the track climbed even higher, peaking at number 2 in the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

Mercury had been a long-time fan of opera, especially favoring Montserrat Caballé. In 1986, he mentioned on Spanish television that he would be glad to see her in person. They had a friendly initial meeting in Barcelona in February 1987. Later, when the city had been chosen for the 1992 Summer Olympics, Caballé, a native of the city, was asked to help with producing a song for the games. She summoned Mercury for the task. Mercury became enthusiastic about the project and instead of recording a single, she proposed to make an album, on which Mercury agreed. The song "Barcelona" had to be its opening song, to be completed by 1988, and to be submitted as a candidate for the 1992 Olympic theme (the selection was scheduled for 1988, 4 years before the Games). The recording was complicated by the tight schedule of Caballé. Thus to spare her time, Mercury recorded the song, also singing her part in falsetto. He would then send a tape to Caballé to prepare her for the joint studio sessions.

The song was co-written by Mercury with Mike Moran, who also appeared in the song's video and played piano and all keyboards for the studio recording. The song starts with an orchestral introduction, which fades and is followed by Mercury and Caballé singing alternately their solo lines, sometimes merging into a duet. When singing the chorus "Barcelona" and a few other parts for the studio version, Mercury dubs over his voice in his usual multi-tracking style. Mercury leads the song whereas Caballé provides a powerful "background" soprano. Since Caballé covers the soprano part, Mercury sings in his natural baritone voice rather than forced tenor, which was common in his other recordings.

The song has been described as a rare textbook example of a combination of pop and opera singing which accentuated their differences. Whereas Mercury articulates his every word, Caballé focuses on the tone; her lines are much harder to comprehend, and further, she uses both English and Spanish languages. Consequently, she keeps her part melodic throughout all the song at the expense of the text, whereas Mercury has to resort from singing to nearly shouting at the crescendo part in order to deliver his words. Mercury was reportedly amazed by the legendary ability of Caballé to control her voice; for example, in the fade out, he had to step away from the microphone to decrease his voice intensity, whereas she didn't move at all.

This listing is for a rare, out of print PROMO CD title - a USED / OPENED, in Near Mint minus overall condition PROMO CD PRESSED and ISSUED by POLYDOR Records, of a highly collectible title, featuring -

Freddie Mercury / Montserrat Caballe

PROMO CD Title -

Barcelona - 4 Track Sampler

Performers on this PROMO CD include -

The PROMO CD is from the ultra-rare series of audiophile CDs made by POLYDOR (Out of Print).

• PROMO CD catalog # PZCD 221
  
• PROMO CD first issued in 1992
• PROMO CD made in the UK
  
• For promotional use only - not for sale

The PROMO CD, Outer CASE and INSERTS are all in near MINT minus overall condition. The CD has no serious marks on the reflective side of the disc. The jewel case shows just some light shelf wear. Inserts are clean and crisp. In top notch collectors grade condition.

This CD is an audiophile quality pressing (any collector of fine MFSL, half speeds, direct to discs, Japanese/UK pressings etc., can attest to the difference a quality pressing can make to an audio system).