My Amazon Reviews: Queen "Made In Heaven"

Lost Among The Stars
3 Out Of 5 Stars

For their final proper album as Queen (I am one of those who is steadfast that there is no Queen without Freddie Mercury), Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon put in a valiant effort towards making an album worthy of their finest work. But there is no escaping that "Made In Heaven" is a patchwork effort, comprised of B-Sides, remixes and songs cobbled together from snippets of works in progress. It's a good album, but it is not a great one, and Queen is a band that produced more than their share of brilliance.

In 1995, four years after Mercury's passing, the band took a look over what they had. This included vocal tracks that Mercury had laid down prior to his death; he knew what was coming and did what any self respecting Diva would do, he made sure there were plenty of his grand voice tracks for his bandmates to choose from. These are the songs "Mother Love" and (I believe) "A Winter's Tale." Of the two, "A Winter's Tale" fairs the best as a relaxed song where Freddie ruminates on the finer yet unheralded things of life, before adding at the end, "ooo, it's bliss."

Then come the redoes, like "Made In Heaven" and "I Was Born To Love You," reworked from Mercury's underrated "Mr Bad Guy" album. "Born To Love You" started life as a disco-fied dance-rock number, here Mercury's vocal track is synthed out into a mid tempo rocker with the rest of the band adding their background vocals. The two songs where Freddie's vocals weren't originally there come from "Made In Heaven" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You" (now there's some bad irony) via Roger Taylor's unheralded band The Cross and a Brian May solo album, respectively. Both are grand in the traditional Queen fashion. Same with "Let Me Live," which features Taylor and Brian sharing leads with Freddie and a gospel chorus backing them up.

That's the good stuff. The rest of "Made In Heaven" is piecemeal and sounds it. Then there's the inexplicable 23 minutes of ambient chill-out that drags out the CD (thank heaven for the skip button) to a very WTF ending where the final thing you hear is Mercury exclaiming "Fab!" I'm sure someone, somewhere, thought this was a brilliant tribute to Mercury's ascendance into legend, but it wasn't. For Queen fans and completists, "Made In Heaven" is something you should own. But I can't recommend it to much anyone else except for the most ardent of Queen fans. "Innuendo" was the last Queen album that measured up to the bend's mighty legacy. Best it should have stayed that way.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Queen "A Kind Of Magic"

There Can Be Only One!
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Queen had just come off their triumphant Live Aid appearance when they headed back into the studio to record "A Kind of Magic." The band was also approached with the plum job of writing songs for the film Highlander, giving them even more inspiration to compose material up to their high standards. This album, probably the best of the latter part of their career, was the result.

"A Kind of Magic" contained the Live Aid inspired "One Vision" (which also ended up in the cult movie "Iron Eagle"). Better known as the "fried chicken song," "One Vision" is one of Queen's great arena rockers. Both "Gimme The Prize" and "Don't Lose Your Head" rocked the "Highlander" movie, with Freddie Mercury's mighty wails atop Brian May's usual guitar pyrotechnics.

May, however, contributed one of my favorite Queen ballads to this album, the heartbreaking "Who Wants To Live Forever." Along with the delicious pop of the title track, these were both massive hits around the world (and unforgivably ignored in the USA). The video of a cartoon Queen dancing to "Magic" is also one of the most clever things that the band's ever done. John Deacon put in the beautiful "One Year Of Love," also a worldwide hit.

Next to the farewell of Innuendo, the best of the second phase of Queen's career. As an Queen album, it's on a par with Jazz and A Day At The Races. The triumph of Live Aid and the inspirational feel of this album led Queen to embark on the Live Magic tour, their last live trek before Mercury's declining health ended their 20th Century touring.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Queen "The Miracle"

Royal Therapy
3 Out of 5 Stars

Queen was in a personal impasse at the time of The Miracle. Brian May was dealing with a tempestuous divorce and Freddie Mercury had been diagnosed with AIDS. Most bands would have found a corner to crawl into and curled up into a fetal position. Queen took it as a chance to regroup and have each others' backs while pouring their hearts into the new album.

"The one thing we're all waiting for
Is peace on Earth - an end to war
It's a miracle we need, the miracle."

Kind of giving the album a purpose, the title song was pure Freddie gold. It bogs in the end with a cacophony before rising back up with a unified and gorgeous harmony front, before tearing into a riff monster from Brian, "I Want It All" (with the single mix on the bonus disc). It's kind of a polar opposite from "The Miracle"; instead of harmony and good will towards men, "I Want It All" let it rip with guitar solos and a lyric that literally demands that you give it up, and give it up now.

There was a little of Queen's issues popping through. It's easy to interpret "Scandal" as Brian having a go at the British Press over treatment of his private life while the marriage was coming apart, and "Was It All Worth It" sounds like Freddie beginning his questioning of life with AIDS, a topic that would dominate "Innuendo" two years later. (Freddie's health also prevented the bad from touring behind this album, despite it being their most successful US album since "The Game." There was a bit of silliness courtesy of Roger Taylor's "Invisible Man," a total 80's dance track (included in a 12-inch mix on the bonus CD). Queen may have been searching for a Miracle as the 80's were drawing to a close, and this CD did a good job of proving the band still could deliver.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Queen "Flash Gordon Soundtrack"

Flash! Naahhh!
2 Out of 5 Stars
 
A Cheesey soundtrack for an even cheesier movie, this album arrived a mere six months after "The Game" began establishing itself as Queen's biggest American album. But let's not kid ourselves about this one; "Flash Gordon" is a mish mash of dippy synthesizer effects, Freddie Mercury wailing away operatically, and snippets of the film's campy dramatic dialogue. The theme itself is classic Queen, with the powerful "Flash! Ah Ah! Savior of the Universe!" The bonus disc offers the single version, with almost a minute of Ming The Merciless's dialogue chopped off, and a rework of "The Hero" to a single-like version (again, minus dialogue).

As Queen albums go, this is the bottom of the stack. Guess I am too nostalgic to not have bought it, and the bonus disc offers some good stuff, which is why I offer two stars instead of one. "Flash Gordon" is more a soundtrack that features Queen music than an album by Queen themselves. For that, get the pseudo "Highlander" soundtrack, "Kind of Magic."

     

My Amazon Reviews: Queen "The Works"

You had the time, you had the power
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Pulling themselves up after the commercial disappointment of "Hot Space" meant two things for Queen in America. The first was a major return to the pomp of their glory days, the second was a label change to Capitol. The band strikes a serious pose on the cover of "The Works," the the first single made them sound like they were ready to get back to business. "Radio gaga" is now notorious for two reasons: it was the last Queen US Top 40 single (prior to the reissue of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and inspired a young New Yorker to take that song's last name and claim it for herself.

There's also a question of the album's focus. The nine songs sound more of a piece than "Hot Space" did, from the aching closer "Is The The World We Created" to the worldwide hit "I Want to Break Free" (the single/video mix, which is substantially different than the original, makes one of the reissue's bonus tracks). While both "The Game" and "Hot Space" seemed consumed with dance synths, this time they hold that to the goofy "Machines/Back To Humans." Probably the smartest move of all was tossing the drum machine out the window and letting Roger Taylor back to his drum kit. As Queen's 80's discs go, "The Works" is one of the better ones.

As for the bonus discs, the real surprise is the remixed versions of "I Want to break Free" and the harder rocking version of "Hammer To Fall." There's a B-Side, "I Go Crazy" that has the laugh-inducing line "but I don't wanna go see Queen!" and finally, the Christmas single "Thank God It's Christmas," which was only available before on the lackluster third volume of greatest hits. A pair of live cuts round out the disc. Overall, a nice set of extras.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Queen "Innuendo"

The Show Must Go On
4 Out Of 5 Stars

"Innuendo" was released in February of 1991. The single "These are The Days Of Our Lives" was issued ahead of the album to little airplay, while "Headlong" fared better at rock radio. The video for "Days" was interesting in that Mercury seemed frail looking and in poor health. In November, Freddie Mercury released a press statement that he was terminally ill with AIDS, and then died within days. As is now well known, Mercury was fighting to complete this album (along with tracks that eventually would become "Made in Heaven") as his last testament.

As such, "Innuendo" is a really solid late Queen album, as good as "A Kind of Magic" and better than "A Day At The Races." Mortality was obviously weighing heavily on Mercury and his bandmates, as semi-autobiographical numbers like "I'm Going Slightly Mad," Mercury's ode to his cats "Delilah," the bittersweet "Days" and the stately "The Show Must Go On" all indicate. Brain May's guitar is hotter here than on many of their post-Game discs, on both "Bijou" and the epic title track.

Queen's pop sense also was in full swing here, with such missed opportunities for singles as "All God's Children" and "I Can't Live With You." Even though Mercury was in failing health, the band's tradition for pomp and grandeur continued with an album launch party occurring on the fabled Queen Mary liner in the US after Hollywood Records signed the band in the US. It's a considerable feat that the band decided to go out at full-throttle, with Mercury delivering some top-notch work. As the album closes, Mercury delivers what could be his finest goodbye.

"My soul is painted
like the wings of butterflies,
Fairy tales of yesterday,
will grow but never die,
I can fly, my friends!
The Show must go on!"

As far as the bonus cuts go, there are two noteworthy ones. First is the re-recorded version of "I Can't Live With You," which originally appeared on the now out of print "Queen Rocks" collection, the other a B-Side titled "Lost Opportunity." The passing of Mercury so soon after the release of "Innuendo" meant no live performances, though the Elton John rendition of "The Show Must Go On" from the Freddie Mercury Tribute shows would have been nice.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Queen "A Day At The Races"

Queen Clone Themsleves
3 Out Of 5 Stars

It was once reported that the late, great Freddie Mercury wanted "A Day At The Races" and A Night at the Opera to have been a double album. It's too bad that they weren't, because leaving "Races" to follow the first five star classic Queen album makes it seem like a lesser vehicle. From the reverse color scheme to copping a Marx Brothers movie title, "A Day at The Races" came off sounding like a desperate attempt to copy the madly successful "A Night At The Opera."

That is selling "Races" short. While there was no stunner ala "Bohemian Rhapsody" to be found here, there was the Top 20 single "Somebody To Love" (whose liver version happens to be the best of the bonus tracks), which utilized the now trademark multi-tracked vocal style to a near Gospel effect. The album opener, "Tie Your Mother Down," played it kinky while still mimicking "Death on Two Legs" as a big concert rocker. As always, there are nods to camp and vaudeville ("Millionaire Waltz" and the Ooh La La of "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy"). However, there's an unusually high number of filler songs (the dreadful "White Man" and the maudlin "Teo Torriatte" being the most flagrant violations). I've also always wondered how much "A Day At The Races" might have improved had the band opted not to self-produce but brought Roy Thomas Baker back to the studio.

"A Day At The Races" is more easily viewed as the bridge between "A Night At The Opera" and the second five-star Queen album, "News of the World." "Opera" pushed the band into superstar stratosphere, "News" (with "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" as its marching order) saw Queen proclaiming themselves rulers of the domain. Being lodged in that position leaves "A Day At The Races" looking like a mid-level Queen album, when in fact it's every bit as good as "Queen II," "Jazz" or "The Works."