A One Take Rhapsody

Marc Martel

In 2011 a video Marc Martel created as an audition for Roger Taylor’s own Queen tribute act caught the world by surprise, and made him a viral household sensation. The short two-minute raw performance, seen by over 21 million on YouTube, was enough to thrust him onto the world stage, earning him not only the lead vocalist spot for the official Queen tribute show for 5 years, but also brought invitations to perform on the Ellen Degeneres Show, American Idol, at Abbey Road, national television commercials, video games, and appearances with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra.

Although Martel’s vocal prowess first made news nearly a decade ago, his worldwide audience, video views, and fanbase numbers have exploded, since Queen’s resurgence from the biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody." Martel has performed for hundreds of thousands of people over the last 9 years, and has played in over 35 countries, across 5 continents. In late 2018, he uploaded another raw performance of a Queen song, the behemoth “Bohemian Rhapsody,” only this time in its entirety, with the added challenge of accompanying himself on piano. The video was originally titled “Bohemian Rhapsody - One Take” to highlight the lack of any video edits, and the sheer feat of skill and will-power required to perform the song all the way through without egregious errors. To his own surprise, the video quickly outperformed his first viral video, now having earned over 37M visits just on YouTube. “What a wild ride it has been over the last few years. Who would have thought that a simple video created in my home studio all those years ago, would have led to millions of people around the world asking me to perform Queen’s music”, muses Martel as he describes the shock he experienced when his second video blew up, earning him accolades on an ever broader spectrum, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and even CNN.

Since then, Martel has followed up “BoRap” with a slew of other Queen hits like “Killer Queen,” “I Want To Break Free,” and the aching ballad Mercury penned for his partner, Mary Austin, “Love Of My Life,” all with the “One Take” formula. All told, the view count of this series of raw Queen song performances has reached over 74M.

Martel is now offering A One-Take Rhapsody as a one-stop collection of the audio taken from all of his “one take” Queen performances, mixed and mastered for audio-only consumption. The songs were selected not just based on their popularity among Queen fans, but each song’s ability to translate well in a stripped-down, acoustic setting. A big Queen fan himself, Martel hopes that people will discover some of the band’s lesser-known material through his own interpretation of the music, such as the gorgeously haunting “You Take My Breath Away.”

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Bohemian Rhapsody 5:51

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Killer Queen 3:03

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Love of My Life 3:48

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I Want to Break Free 2:53

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Who Wants to Live Forever 3:58

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We Are the Champions 2:57

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You Take My Breath Away 3:46

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Live in Auckland, New Zealand (featuring the UQC)

Marc Martel

Recorded live with the Ultimate Queen Celebration on August 30th, 2019 at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre in Auckland, New Zealand.

Marc Martel "Live in Auckland, New Zealand (featuring the UQC)

Executive produced by Marc Martel, Josh Petersen, and Paul Horton

Marc Martel - Lead Vocals, Piano, Acoustic Guitar Brandon Ethridge - Musical Director, Keys, BGVs Tristan Avakian - Electric Guitar, BGVs Mike Cohen - Bass, BGVs Jason Gianni - Drums, BGVs

All songs mixed by Richard Sprinkles All songs mastered by Jason Germain Album art and photography by Crystal K. Martel Management by Josh Petersen (Music City Management)

*In the past a very small number of people who have had problems with missing download tracks have discovered there is an issue with with the "Windows's native zip file handler". If that is an issue, you will want to open it in 7-zip instead! Most people have no issues, especially those with Macs. Also Apple does not allow non-tunes files to download to your mobile phone, so you will have to download on your laptop or desktop and drag the album into your iTunes folder!

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Tie Your Mother Down (Live) 4:42

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Don’t Stop Me Now (Live) 3:50

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You’re My Best Friend (Live) 3:03

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Killer Queen (Live) 3:03

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Hammer To Fall (Live) 3:43

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Bohemian Rhapsody (Live) 6:26

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Another One Bites the Dust (Live) 3:59

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I Want It All (Live) 4:59

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The Show Must Go On (Live) 4:32

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Love of My Life (Live) 3:32

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Somebody to Love (Live) 10:13

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We Will Rock You (Live) 2:48

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We Are the Champions (Live) 4:48

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Live in Auckland, New Zealand + Thunderbolt and Lightning

Marc Martel

Get both digital albums "Live in Auckland, New Zealand" and "Thunderbolt and Lightning" for $20

*In the past a very small number of people who have had problems with missing download tracks have discovered there is an issue with with the "Windows's native zip file handler". If that is an issue, you will want to open it in 7-zip instead! Most people have no issues, especially those with Macs. Also Apple does not allow non-tunes files to download to your mobile phone, so you will have to download on your laptop or desktop and drag the album into your iTunes folder!

1

Tie Your Mother Down (Live) 4:42

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2

Don't Stop Me Now (Live) 3:50

0:00 / 3:50
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You're My Best Friend (Live) 3:03

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Killer Queen (Live) 3:03

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Hammer To Fall (Live) 3:43

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Bohemian Rhapsody (Live) 6:26

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Another One Bites the Dust (Live) 3:59

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I Want It All (Live) 4:59

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The Show Must Go On (Live) 4:32

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Love of My Life (Live) 3:32

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Somebody to Love (Live) 10:13

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We Will Rock You (Live) 2:48

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We Are the Champions (Live) 4:48

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Bohemian Rhapsody 5:57

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We Are the Champions 3:12

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Love of My Life 3:24

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Under Pressure (Featuring Kevin Max) 3:51

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Don't Stop Me Now 3:38

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You Take My Breath Away 3:43

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Somebody To Love 5:02

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The Christmas Collection

Marc Martel


Physical CD Download	In cart Not available Out of stock

Marc Martel, an artist who has fostered a steadily increasing presence in the realm of holiday music, has released his latest offering of Christmas favorites. An album four years in the making, The Christmas Collection features an all-star cast of collaborators (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Jason Gray, Buddy Greene, Plumb, Scott Mulvahill, and Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station), some of whom have graced the top of the Christmas charts on multiple occasions themselves.

This 21-track project includes Martel’s four AC Billboard Top 10s: “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”, “What Child Is This?”, “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, along with his majestic rendition of “The First Noel.” And brand new for Christmas 2019, Martel has teamed up with two of his own music heroes, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, for a fresh take on “Silver Bells.” The rest of this comprehensive mix of sentimental classics and yuletide hymns beckons the listener on an expertly-paced journey from cozy fireside, to lively annual get-togethers, to the quiet hillsides of Bethlehem, covering an extremely satisfying gamut of all that is the most wonderful time of the year.

Track Listing:

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (feat. Plumb)
Silver Bells (feat. Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith) 3. The Christmas Song (feat. Scott Mullvahill)
All I Want For Christmas Is You 5. Christmastime Is Here 6. O Come All Ye Faithful (feat. Jason Gray)
What Child Is This? (feat. Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station)
Mary, Did You Know? (feat. Buddy Greene)
Ave Maria 10. The First Noel 11. How Many Kings (feat. Downhere) 12. Little Drummer Boy 13. The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah”
Noisy Day 15. Silent Night 16. In The Bleak Midwinter 17. O Little Town of Bethlehem 18. O Come, Emmanuel 19. O Holy Night
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
How Many Kings (Reboot)

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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (feat. Plumb) 2:40

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Silver Bells (feat. Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith) 3:15

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The Christmas Song (feat. Scott Mulvahill) 3:48

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All I Want For Christmas Is You 3:37

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Christmastime Is Here 3:05

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O Come All Ye Faithful (feat. Jason Gray) 3:52

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What Child Is This? (feat. Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station) 3:59

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Mary, Did You Know? (feat. Buddy Greene) 3:21

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Ave Maria 4:11

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The First Noel 4:14

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How Many Kings (feat. Downhere) 4:21

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Little Drummer Boy 3:54

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The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah” 3:58

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Noisy Day 0:52

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Silent Night 0:52

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In The Bleak Midwinter 4:05

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O Little Town of Bethlehem 3:56

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O Come, Emmanuel 3:58

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O Holy Night 3:33

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Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 3:35

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Thunderbolt & Lightning : CD

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Reimagining well-loved songs always comes with an appropriate sense of risk, danger, and terrifying moments of self doubt. When it comes to artists like Queen, though, who are veritable giants of recording history, that feeling is magnified. Throughout their career, they apparently set out to avoid all shortcuts; were never happy to merely repeat sections of songs (as is quite customary in all genres of popular music), and everything was through-composed. They habitually pushed the boundaries of available technology beyond what even its inventors envisioned. Queen are the progenitors of many studio tricks and processes which have since become commonplace, and even some that have never been successfully replicated. Über-ambitious multitrack layering, Wagnerian vocal arrangements, guitar tones that mimic the sound of other instruments, and lyrical rhythm parts, are just a few of the ways they cut their unique path through the wilds of a recording industry in its adolescence. They set the bar high, and they got it right the first time.

Like technology, music has this uncanny transformative nature; taking on different shapes and telling equally true stories that the original composer never intended. Perhaps like a crab moving from conch shell to conch shell. And we music lovers possess the strange capacity to fool ourselves into a sense of ownership of this immaterial thing whose creation we’ve played no part in. Couples do it all the time. “Hey, that’s our song!” A great song can forge a bond with its listener so strong that one becomes incredulous, and even jealous, to think that anyone else could have the same, never mind stronger, experience with that very same song.

So, who am I to come along three, four decades later, spending the time, energy and resources to reinterpret these already flawless songs? Having gradually immersed myself over the last seven years in the music of Queen, I’ve developed a sort of stepchild-esque kinship with it, along with a growing desire to place a more pronounced emphasis on the latter half of the term “tribute artist” - a role I never imagined myself playing earlier in my musical career. And as a songwriter myself, I do know a little bit what it feels like to have a song of mine covered. I’ve heard some pretty good, and some less good renditions of my own tunes, but the fact is, it’s always a huge compliment.

Clearly, I could never dream of improving on what, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon created together. That was never the spirit of this project. Rather, I hope you’ll approach this EP with an inquisitive, openminded attitude that is something like, “What if Queen had recorded these songs in an alternate universe?” And if that’s a little too sci-fi for your blood then, “Hey… why not?” will do just fine.