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: T Rex "Electric Warrior"

My Hubcap Diamond Star Halo
5 Out Of 5 Stars

Marc Bolan was an older man trapped in a younger man's brain. In his world, unicorns and faeries still ran amok, bongos were still pretty cool and twee spacey poetry made for good lyrics. But something happened by the time he expanded his band into a full unit and set forward with "Electric Warrior." Bolan discovered the magic three chord boogie and blues and found out that sleazy grooves were so much more fun that medieval trippiness.

Which made "Electric Warrior" arguably the first brilliant glam album. While David Bowie, producer Tony Visconti and Bolan were pals, it was another year before Bowie delivered "Ziggy Stardust" to the world and really shored up the UK Glam scene. "Electric Warrior" managed transatlantic success, bringing a taste of Bolan-mania to this continent via "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" and that single's stride to the US Top Ten. Yet, despite the "Electric" part of the title, Bolan still showed remarkable restraint. Only in the final "Rip Off" does the band go for some floorboard shaking.

But the real winners here, from "Bang a Gong" to the Chuck Berry inspired "Jeepester" and the handicapping blues of "Lean Woman Blues" rock in their own sublime way. Bolan was still enthralled by his hippy-dippy days, but it seemed now confined only to the lyrics (sample from "Planet Queen": "Flying saucer take me away, give me your daughter," or the bulk of the still sultry "Bang a Gong." It made its peace with folk, rock and shot-gun marriage to bubblegum, and you'll hear traces of everyone from Bowie to Mott to Slade (hey, if "Hot Love" and "Bang a Gong" aren't godfathers to "Cum On Feel The Noise," you tell me what is) across this album.

I'd also advise to find the expanded Rhino version that includes "Hot Love" as a bonus track and seven other bonus tracks, including an acoustic run through of "Planet Queen," and "Raw Ramp," a bonus single and a cool T Rex Electric Warrior interview. It's well worth it, just for "Hot Love" alone.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Duran Duran "Big Thing"

Give Me the Playlist and Watch Me Eat It,
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Coming off the horn heavy funk of "Notorious," Duran Duran the trio stripped the sound down to some heavy beats for "Big Thing." The first single, "I Don't Want Your Love," sounded like a re-invention. Incorporating the current house and new-jack dance trends at the time, it was a major leap away from the candy-floss of "Rio." "All She Wants Is" carried the same sort of dance-floor urgency, and the title track was an arena ready thumper.

But the trademark lushness wasn't ever too far off. "Too Late Marlene" and "Land" are everything you'd expect from Duran Duran, rich arrangements, Simon's grandiose lyrics and Nick Rhodes' atmospheric keyboards. But perhaps "Big Thing's" best moment is the tribute to the band's late friend Alex Sadkin, "Do You Believe In Shame." Slowing down the swamp groove of "Suzie Q" and laying in an emotional vocal, "Shame" connects on a level that only a few songs in the DD library have ever done before. The remaster also brings out the nuance of these two songs.

The second disc is for serious collectors. Compiling many of the dance remixes and US single mixes of assorted songs, it's a hoot for collectors. (The double disc version of "Notorious" manages the same feat.) For my money, "Big Thing" is equally as good as "Notorious," and in my opinion, better than the "Wedding Album."