The Great Planet Skaro Queen Time Team: Made It to Made In Heaven!

[Si Hunt]

Can we do Don't Take Offence At My Innuendo do-do-do-do do-do-do----do----doooooo!

Now?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Not until we have PEACE on EARTH and END to WAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHH....

Today.

[Dino]

Can we do Don't Take Offence At My Innuendo do-do-do-do do-do-do----do----doooooo!

Now?

Si.

Not until we have PEACE on EARTH and END to WAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHH....

Today.

Good good good good good good.
Good good good good good good!

[Si Hunt]

1. "Innuendo" 6:29
2. "I'm Going Slightly Mad" 4:22
3. "Headlong" 4:39
4. "I Can't Live With You" 4:35
5. "Don't Try So Hard" 3:39
6. "Ride the Wild Wind" 4:41
7. "All God's People" (Queen, Mike Moran) 4:19
8. "These Are the Days of Our Lives" 4:12
9. "Delilah" 3:32
10. "The Hitman" 4:52
11. "Bijou" 3:37
12. "The Show Must Go On" 4.24

[Dino]

Laptop problems (I'll sort it, I'll sort it) have prevented me from listening to it on Spotify. But the thing is, over the years since 1991, I've owned at least two copies, one on tape I got the year it came out and a CD years later.
Innuendo is my starting point. My bother had A Day At The Races, Sheer Heart Attack and News Of The World. But it was with Innuendo I came on board.
It was a friend in school who had got me into the band and Innuendo happened to be the next thing they had to be released.
I've still got the cassette single of Innuendo and Bijou somewhere...

I'll review the album as normal soon, but I might be one of the late reviewers on this album!

[Si Hunt]

Innuendo

This has always sounded to me like Queen trying to "re-make" Bohemian Rhapsody. A weird, part rock, part operatic, multi-act epic. The allure of a brand new Queen song after many, many months of flogging "The Miracle" saw it shoot to Number 1, and yet... AND YET... it absolutely plumetted down the charts the next week.

Because... well, because although it's very, very good, it's also very very hard to love isn't it? Very worthy, and yet history has NOT remembered it the same way as it remembers Bo Rhap. With it's spanish guitar and harmonies it's all very individual and classy and so on, but there's something missing. Something lovable, maybe a little camp. Maybe something a little more Queen? 6.5/10

I'm Going Slightly Mad

The same might be said of this. It's definately got the camp, and the lyrics see a welcome flourish of Freddie - "I'm driving only three wheels these days.... but my dear, how about you?" and "I think I'm a banana tree.... oh dear!". And yet - AND YET - the single flopped and the music feels oddly mid-tempo and dreary. The music doesn't match the pomp of the lyrics. It's not a very FUN song is it? Freddie wrote it after being told his illness might make him delussional, and the song is a bit like being trapped in a fog of sickness, strange things looming up out at you. Musically, it's not very good.

The video is for Queen's promos what "Was It All Worth It" was to their songs - it's clear that perhaps they thought this might be his last one, note the final shot in which Freddie dissapears from the shoes up, until there's just the jokers hat left. But he still had more in him. 7/10

Headlong

Now this, I love. Finally the fun is back and, despite a more gaunt appearance, Freddie is clearly having fun here. I love the "Hoop diddy diddy, hoop diddy doo!" bit of the song, and Freddie's raw vocal shows him getting a second wind. The chugging guitar line is a Brian May classic, and the video ends with Freddie and his tongue stuck out. It felt like a bit of a student classic at the time, and sure enough the chart position rebounded back up for the third single, this making number 14. A bit more like it. 8/10

I Can't Live With You

I quite like this one. Neither good enough to be a single (despite being ressurected for a pointless re-make on the "Rocks" compilation some years later) nor poor enough to be called filler, this is a mid-quality Queen song. The chorus is a bit lumpen, but the thing sort of grows on you and isn't half bad. 4/10

Don't Try So Hard

A lovely Queen ballad, sung in glorious falsetto. It's not QUITE a Classic, but it is very good. One of those songs that reminds you how much Freddie sung his heart out in the final days. I like the final chorus where the song literally soars. "OOOOOOH DON'T TRY SO HAAAAAARD!". It's only fools/who make these rules/don't try so hard. The lyrics are a bit ropey in places, but this is a cut above the standard of Queen album tracks in the late seventies and early eighties, and a welcome change of pace. I've always been a bit fond of it. 7/10

Ride the Wild Wind

Oh dear. The unwelcome return of the Shit Roger Taylor Song About Cars. "Live life on the razors edge!" hollars Rodge amid a floaty, almost tuneless wash of sound. Hey, hey, hey, hey! The worst track on the album by some distance. 2/10

All God's People

Now this is a bit of a lost gem. The surprise Mike Moran credit suggests this is something knocked up for "Barcelona", and it's the first sign of Queen re-using old material because Freddie's time and energy is limited. But (and I'd love to hear the original demo) they've done something a bit special with this.

Gotta face up
Better grow up
Gotta stand tall and be strong
Gotta face up
Better grow up

It sounds oddly familiar, and the new gospel sound is a bit like what they'd do with "Let Me Live". Anthemic and different, it's at this point that you realise this album is a bit "fuller" than previous efforts. Of course, they are releasing for compact disc for the first time, so 10 songs (4 singles, 2 good album tracks and a bit of filler no longer cut it) so suddenly this becomes an album with a bit more depth. You've got the singles, then you've got stuff like this, and "Delilah" and "I Can't Live With You" and it's all top drawer stuff. This is Queen's first album you can actually explore, rather than finding the hits and a couple of bits they knocked out to finish the thing up. This is a fine track. 7/10

These Are the Days of Our Lives

But this. This is superb. I adore this song with all my heart. I can't listen to it without picturing monochrome Freddie in the video, looking up wistfully at the camera. His eyes just say so much. And what's special about the performance, his last, is that he can't even MOVE (in long short, you can see the poor bugger is PROPPED UP) and yet he's performing with all his might. The lyrics say "The rest of my life's been just a show" and Freddie puts on a mock 'grin'. All the way through it he's gesticulating with his hands. During the instrumental, he makes strange arc shapes with his arms. He can't move, but he's going to use everything ELSE he CAN move to put on a show. Is there significance in the fact that, at the recording, he wore a brightly patterned custom-made waistcoat, but the video is all shot in black and white? Brian May was off doing promotion in America, so he's added in to the video later.

That's the video. The song is gorgeous - is this really the work of Roger Taylor? I love the way the tense changes throughout the verses. "These are the day of our lives..." and then "Those were the days of our lives". So many great lyrical couplets...

"The rest of my life's been... just a show"

"You can't turn back the tide... ain't that a shame?"

And best of all.... "I still love you"

Appropriately enough, it's the perfect song for someone sitting at the tail end of life and looking back. It's not sung with any kind of bitterness, just with a fond, knowingness. How Freddie must have felt, when he realised it would be his last visual curtain call, that things had worked out so perfectly. As Roger Taylor would later say: "I wonder if that was going through his mind at the time.... that's a nice line to go out on." 10/10

My thoughts on the final songs later.

Si.

[Si Hunt]

Delilah

Another cheeky album highlight. Roger hated it, apparently. But what's not to like? This song makes me think that, curiously, for all Freddie's pomp and camp on and off stage, very little of that personality actually translates into his studio recordings for the most of Queen's back catalogue. Sure, musically there is flair in "Don't Stop Me Now" and "We Are The Champions" and there are whimsical numbers like "Lover Boy", but for the most part, Queen were a rock band. It seems to me that on later songs like "Slightly Mad" (when we hear Freddie talk for the not-very-many-th time on a track) and this, we are finally getting to MEET him in his songs.

This is about his favourite cat, and quite downbeat. I LOVE Brian May's miowing guitar, I love the "pee on my chippendale suite" line. Very Freddie. Love it, love it, love it. 8/10

The Hitman

Where-as this might be considered the ying to that yang. It's pure rock, almost heavy metal, and a pretty dumb track, in truth, though not unpleasant. A bit of filler? But slightly above average filler. 4/10

Bijou

Slight instrumental, but also quite lovely. If they had kept this back they could have expanded it out to a whole proper song on "Made In Heaven" - they made better with less on that album! 5/10

Show Must Go On


An epic closer, and quite simply one of the best tracks. It's impossible not to see this song as the embodiment of Freddie's hard, tough, public face; where "Delilah" was a glimpse at his domestic, true side, this is every inch his showman "persona". And he hollars it out; his voice has risen above everything and, as the lyrics go, "My Make Up may be flaking, but my smile stays on". What a line that is.

Elsewhere Brian May's guitar drives hard on the solo, and there is a beautiful sun-through-the-blinds middle 8-

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


I'm no great fan of Elton John, but when they did this live with him some years later, he more than did it justice. He shouts it out hoarse, and Brian May's guitar drives like never before - it's an amazing performance, if you can track it down (It's on Greatest Hits III).

But this is a last shout from Freddie's macho-man stage persona, screaming through the pain of his private life - the Show is going on! And it was, despite everything. There were vocals STILL being laid down for another album, two records after they thought it was all over. Though, as it turns out, not many. The Last Great Queen Song? 10/10

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Innuendo
We're straight into something darker and more serious than The Miracle. It sets out the tone for the album right away. There's going to be little room for frivolity or humour. For me, this song is a bleak sister to Bohemian Rhapsody. The same sort of philosophical questions are asked, but there's a bitterness and weight to it.

I adore this song, from it's majestic riff reminiscent of Led Zepplin's Kashmir to the slow, quite 'Don't take offence at my Innuendo' line and the Spanish guitar break.

The Spanish guitar section is insane for a pop song. The time signature is miles away from the standard 4/4 and it's played at a furious pace. Yet it's tuneful enough to be memorable and it seems to fit neatly into the song.

Quite a brutal opening track with a mix of hard and progressive rock. Love it.
10/10

I'm Going Slightly Mad
This is another song that's entwined with it's magnificent video, the black and white surreal mime-artist style fitting perfectly with the Noel Coward inspired lyrics. Plus I like the bit with the penguin.

It's also the band at their campest.
9/10

Headlong
This might be the last truly great Queen Rock track. (Unless there's a good one on The Cosmos Rocks, I haven't heard it!) You could imagine Queen bursting out on stage to this number, full of energy and hungry for performance. With no chance of another concert of any description, it's great that they still included a few air-guitar crowd-pleasers like this.

The lyrics are a bit nonsensical, but Freddie more than covers up for that with his usual verve and passion.

I once claimed that this was my favourite Queen song. Not true any more (probably even at the time) but I still like it.


I Can't Live With You
This is where Innuendo gets harder to engage with. Like a lot of the songs after Headlong, at first listen I found it rather turgid. It doesn't feel like anything special. But it's the kind of song that after repeated listening becomes endearing. It has an upbeat and honest feel to it, it could happily have been put on The Miracle. It's probably the only song on this album that could have been.

Although the lyrics are derived from a well-known phrase (I can't live with you, but I can't without you) the way it's put together and coupled to the music makes it work, without seeming too cliched. The turnaround point where it leads into 'Baby, baby, I can't live without you' has a feeling of joy to it.
7/10


Don't Try So Hard
Back to the melancholy here after two upbeat Brian May songs. Freddie, gazing out of a window, musing on life.

Freddie's song-writing has become more insular and less exuberant. Whereas before it was all about pomp and being showy, he's now contributing more of the quieter, reflective moments. Is it also true that he's stopped writing love songs?
6/10


Ride the Wild Wind
Roger has been trying to nail writing the 'Perfect Driving Song' since 1970, but he's finally made it here.

What I like about this is the way all of the musical elements, drums, bass, synth, guitar and vocals all add to the feel of travelling at speed. It's a good example of Queen working in harmony. No single band member is in the foreground.

That said, it's never going to be a favourite. Yet it's odd, the filler tracks on Innuendo seem better than on other albums. Listening together, there's a mood that runs through all of them and builds up over the course of the album. The razor sharp production quality helps, but Innuendo takes a diversity of styles and still manages to feel coherent. I wouldn't want to take any of the songs off, even this one.
6/10


All God's People
Here's the Big Operatic track, that would have dominated a lesser album. Despite the effort, I find this a really hard track to love. There aren't any decent hooks in the song and the blues break around two minutes in (then I went into a dream!) is totally bizzarre. The song is 4.21 minutes, but it's finished by 3.20! If that wasn't enough to scuttle the song, the lyrics are so outrageously pompous that they make The Miracle seem like urban grime.


It still fits well into the structure of the album, but it's the low point of the album. I still maintain that Innuendo is a great album, even with stinkers like this!
3/10


These Are the Days of Our Lives
Oh my god this song makes me cry.

'When I look,
And I find,
I still love you.
I still love you.'

It seems somehow shallow to give this a 'score'. But it's ten.

Delilah
This is a cute little song and Brian gets some great noises out of his guitar. Miaow! Miaow!

I'm wondering if Freddie's cat hypnotised him to write this song. Sitting on the mixing desk, saying 'Meowmeow, meowmeowmeow, meow.' (Translation: 'Write a song about me, you unworthy fawning imbecile!')

I often like songs about animals. There's sincerity and humour in this one, especially when he's talking about Delilah's kisses.
8/10


The Hitman
Queen were always supposed to be a rock band, though they do tend to get drawn aside by pop songs and ballads. That's why there are songs like 'The Hitman', which seem to exist simply to fill out some sort of Rock Quota. On it's own terms it's great, but it doesn't do anything especially different or interesting.

It's also totally interchangable with 'Gimme The Prize' from A Kind of Magic. That's the problem, we've heard it before.
5/10


Bijou
Now this one I really like. Again, it's a song that exists purely because it's the sort of thing that Queen do brilliantly. A chance for Brian to show off. Although it smells like a filler track, it's wonderfully atmospheric. It's as good a soundscape as Pink Floyd were producing in their prime (just needed to be 10 minutes longer before the singing cut in).

In a lesser Universe, this would have been the last song on the album. There's a feeling that everyone's gone home, the stage is empty and there's just Freddie and his love left.
8/10


The Show Must Go On
Tailing the album in the same mood as Innuendo, this is a thoroughly honest and mature song. Right from the opening notes, there's a feel to this song as though the walls are closing in.

Reading about this track, it seems to be a proper collaboration with all the members of Queen inputting. Roger and John worked out the chord sequence, Freddie set the tone and Brian contributed the lyrics. Yet this is entirely about Freddie Mercury and the end of the journey. Listening to the vocals you can't help but think 'Was this guy really wasting away and dying?!'

Brilliant, heartbreaking and brutal.
10/10

[Si Hunt]

Freddie's song-writing has become more insular and less exuberant. Whereas before it was all about pomp and being showy, he's now contributing more of the quieter, reflective moments. Is it also true that he's stopped writing love songs?

An excellent observation, I hadn't considered this before.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

OK - as suspected, my observation isn't entirely correct! 'I Was Born To Love You' blows a huge hole in the argument... plus 'Delilah' could count if you were being generous.

But we're a long, long way from 'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' and no mistake.

[Si Hunt]

Born To Love You was written in 1984 though. And "Delilah" is definitely reflective. To me, it totally proves your theory that once he was writing about love affairs, now he's writing about being at home with his cats.

Si.

[Jon Masters]

Well, its’ time for a major Queen TT catchup weekend !!

The Works

Radio Gaga ***
It’s a great single, but for me it’s just too long – it takes too long to get going, and I don’t like the jittery bass stuff and the long synth breaks. But then it redeems itself by having such a damned good sing along chorus. It’s a concert audience participation shoe in! It just needs to know when to finish….

Tear it Up **1/2 It’s OK as a hard rock track, but there’s not enough to make it distinguishable for me. It’s nicely minimalist in the effects department though, something you could play in your garage band. The lyrics suffer as a consequence though.

It’s a Hard Life ***** My favourite of the whole album, and for me one of the best set of lyrics they ever produced. You get the feeling this is being written straight from the heart. Add to that soaring vocals, lovely piano work, a brilliant structure and a perfectly integrated guitar solo and you’ve got a massive track. The video is just the cherry on the top.

Man on the Prowl ** Well, its’ OK but its nothing special – we’ve seen it before , and done better. A great track for any other band, but not here.

Machines * Let’s more swiftly on – oh no, we can’t – it drags on for over 5 minutes

I Want to Break Free ***1/2 Probably the track the band will be immortalised for, alongside BR, when they all pop off. You can’t listen to it without seeing the video in your head. But it’s a perfect pop song – simple structure, singable tune , and the synth balance is just about perfect. Why not a higher rating ? Probably over-familiarity.

Keep Passing the Open Windows ** A great intro, but it goes downhill from there. And given the similarity of the subject matter, lyrically it’s the polar opposite of Hard Life – depressingly trite. And it just goes on and on….

Hammer to Fall **** A certified rock classic. Harkens back to the old days, but sounds up to date. Not world shaking in the lyric department, but it makes the good decision to focus on the chorus. And , Oh that middle 8 that turns into a whole new song ! (and being featured in Highlander doesn’t hurt either – see later)

Is this The World we Created *** A bit too twee to be a classic, but you can never resist a bit of acoustic Brian

Overall – a quantum leap from Hot Space, but a great album ? Not for me. It’s the sort of ‘ oh, its in the tape deck lets have a listen’ rather than a ‘ I need to hear Queen what shall I pick’. The singles are massive, but the rest are…well, just a bit OK.

Next – There Can Be Only ONE !!

[Jon Masters]

A Kind of Magic

I have to declare an interest here – Highlander is in my top 3 favourite films, so some of the track ratings for this one might seem a little OTT….

One Vision **** It’s a list song, but oh, its so much more. From an intruiging, dance-style intro we jump into hard guitar, and full on rock . It’s a simple riff but it just builds and builds, and we get time for a major drum-guitar duo. Back on form, boys.

A Kind of Magic ***1/2 Again, apparently simple in structure but another grower. Freddie is having a ball, as evidenced in the video, but everyone is doing their bit. I agree with Rob about the bass line. It maybe outstays its welcome a bit, and the backing refrain gets a bit tedious.

One Year of Love **** Beautiful, nicely underplayed melody with Freddie given full reign. I really like this one, though it’s difficult to pinpoint why. And, astonishingly , no Brian. Jazz club smooooth.

Pain is so Close to Pleasure *1/2 Aaargh – WTF?? It’s a Hot Space flashback !! Move on, move on !

Friends will be Friends **1/2 It’s Rock Anthem time – get those cigarette lighters out. OK, a bit harsh, but it’s never been one of my favourites, and just seems to go through the motions.

Who Wants to Live Forever ***** It’s Orchestral Queen Time, and about bloody time. The only mistake is letting Brian loose on the vocals at the start – the contrast is too much (In the film its Freddie throughout). Otherwise a beautifully constructed lament which takes me straight to the point in the film where it features. You need a heart of stone not to be moved by this, especially given what happened to the band afterwards.

Gimme the Prize ***1/2 OK, it’s the “Promote the film as well as the song” track, but its miles better than most of that ilk (see Prince’s Batman theme for how to really stuff it up). And it always makes me grin to hear Clancy Brown’s lines and remember the relevant parts of the film. Even beyond that, its got some stonking guitar work – especially the bagpipe imitation. It’s better to burn out than fade away.

Don’t Lose your Head **1/2 It’s not anything more than what it was written for – a car chase sequence. And its much better in the film, when Freddie segues into singing New York, New York.

Princes of the Universe **** Ballsy, brassy, unapologetically big. And this should have been the first track on the album – it’s lost at the back here, but as it does in the film it’s the scene setting for the whole thing. Operatic vocals, guitar battles, fantastic drumming. Watch this man fly !!

OK, so as an album I find it difficult to separate from Highlander , but most of the tracks stand up well enough on their own. There are many more winners than losers, and WWTLF and One Vision are out and out classics.

[Jon Masters]

The Miracle

Party/Khashoggi’s Ship *1/2 OK, Wiki tells me these tracks started as a jam session, and you can see that they’re kind of cool in an unusual way. But why, FTLOG, did someone not stop and say “Is this really good enough to be a proper track ?”. It flitters from here to there with no real structure, and just sets my teeth on edge. It sounds like a demo dredged up from the 70’s, which was quite rightly rejected. I usually skip these 2 instantly, and will continue to do so. Sorry.

The Miracle ** A much better and hopeful start – OK, it’s a list song, but there’s nothing offensive in the melody. But then it just goes on…and on… and on… no punctuation, no respite, no ups and downs, just relentless. It’s a miracle if I make it to the end.

I Want it All **** Now this is more like it. No prisoners, no surrender (though I much prefer the single version that starts with the choral voices, rather than the guitars). Rocktastic (and a great one for Singstar !)- especially like the extra heavy guitar section in the middle of the album version.

The Invisible Man ***1/2 It seems lightweight, especially given the naffness of the video, but this is Queen firing on all 4 pop cylinders. The shout outs are great, but given the emphasis on 4 band members this is a classic example of 4 acting as one.

Breakthru **** What a run, and what a perfect build up to a rollercoaster (or should that be trainride) of a song. The rhythm is relentless once it starts, and you know its not going to stop. Love the church organ style keyboards. Freddie’s never been better.

Rain Must Fall ** It’s a light bit of fluff, with a Caribbean, Billy Ocean style. Not for me though

Scandal ***1/2 Now this one I like much more – interesting intro, then stonking beat and lovely minor melody. Freddie steps up with the performance. And the lyrics really hit home, given Freddie’s treatment then and later. A quiet classic.

My Baby Does Me ** It’s not bad, but it’s not great. Sounds like a Miami Vice style musical montage sequence. Maybe its meant to sound a bit dirty ?

Was it All Worth It ? ****1/2 This can only be a Queen track, and a bloody brilliant one at that. My favourite off the album – it’s the big , grown up brother of Let me Entertain You. The minor guitars are dirty, and the melody follows the same vein. Freddie pours his heart into the lyrics and vocals, but doesn’t make it melancholy but a shout of triumph and a big ‘Up Yours’ to the music critics. There are homages to styles and riffs from the past, but it’s a solid song in its own right.

So, overall do I like the Miracle ? Yes, but in patches. There are songs that are Greatest Hits from their opening notes, but there are some very low points. It’s much more hit and miss than I would like, and I’ll probably only keep those tracks that have always lived on my Playlist. I want to like it more, but in truth I probably don't.

[Dino]

SIDE ONE

1. Innuendo

I love the fact it starts with a drum roll building up. It seems like such an obvious thing to do, I'm surprised they didn't do that sooner. Then a voice counts down and it doesn't start, but another build up of synth and John Deacon's ringing two bass notes like it's the soundtrack to a temple and they'd misplaced their gong, so had to make do with a bass guitar instead. (I'd go to that Temple!) There is a yawning sound from Brian May and then we kick into the song. Like a great beast awoken and rising above the altar. Freddie has never sounded more with it and angry on this song. If you hear it now, you're able to take it apart with the Led Zeppelin references. And even then it's not that heavy on Led Zeppelin, but if you were 16 without going into the classic rock from the 70's, this is a brilliant song. And even if you knew your Alex Harvey's from your Alex Lifeson's, it's still a brilliant song! It's the better opener than The Miracle's opener. And depending on mood, it's even darker than the joyful One Vision. The chorus is perfect light to the shade. And even the Spanish guitar moment doesn't sound out of place. It's as long as Bohemian Rhapsody, but I don't really see it as a sequel. It hasn't got the fun of their 1975 megahit, but it's really brave of them to launch an album with the longest track on the album. But then that's Queen! They've got their mojo back and they don't give a f

2. I'm Going Slightly Mad

First few times I heard this, I was wanting more guitars and real drumming. But now it's one of the highlights of the album. If a lesser band had recorded this song, they would have played it up and made it more wacky. Queen get it just right. The keyboards are mournful and Freddie sounds in control, overlooking a world that's already insane and burning and casually announcing their going slightly mad. Wonderful lyrics. Good way of tackling the chorus as well. Calmly but beautifully sung. You just don't hear it on the radio these days. And wonderful guitar solo from Brian which sounds like three guitars arguing with each other. Although the album version obviously tops the single version which just seems to bubble out unexpectedly.

3. Headlong

Back to what Queen do best. It does seem like a Breakthru knock off. But without the synth processing being so obvious. And clearly recorded on the sort of equipment they used for their live/rehearsal sessions. I think it was this one that sealed the deal for me in becoming a Queen fan. I was really impressed with Freddie's vocals. He sounds more focused than he did on the best tracks of AKOM album, and his vocals here have an almost teenage excitement. No cocaine dabblings. Had no idea why Freddie was just so focused at the time.
I remember a discussion in school with a classmate about the "Hoop Diddy Diddy/Hoop Diddy Doo" lyric. I marvelled at "Soup in the laundry bag" until I realised it was an expression for an... Innuendo!

4. I Can't Live With You

I loved the intro to this. It sounds like it could be three in a row?
I used to feel cheated it had quieter, casual paced moments in this song. I was new into Queen! I want it up! UP! Fast!
And surprise, guess who finally gets it? It's Queen's last Breakfast Show single! Imagine your life since 1991. Imagine hearing this over Breakfast every day for a week?
Seems like a slight, don't mind Queen, we'll just let you talk amongst yourselves until... I CAN'T LIVE WITH YOU!!!
The perfect jingle. I still love the impression of someone out at a restaurant with a misplaced order. "Some mistake".
It is though, in the cold light or years later, a Queen by numbers song.
Yes, but it's such a perfect by numbers formula that would have been perfect for Breakfast TV shows on two of the four channels of- I CAN'T LIVE WITH YOU!
And then there was the foreshadowing before one last go of I CAN'T LIVE WITH YOU!
Rather than Innuendo, this should have been the lead off single.

5. Don't Try So Hard

I've always dismissed this one over the years. I always thought it was too quiet but sung well. Listening to it now and in relation to the albums I've since heard, this is one of the album's overlooked highlights. I've finally fallen in love with it. You think it's as stripped back as Queen could get, but they manage to bring it back. It sounds better than anything that closed the last two albums with. It would have probably aimed those last two higher if this track had been recorded then. Instead it makes an excellent contrast after the three singles and Breakfast should have been single.

6. Ride The Wild Wind

I loved and still love, the Roger Taylor songs from the 70's albums. "The Loser In The End", "Modern Time Rock'N'Roll", "Tenement Funster","DROWSE" (How can you not wish "Drowse" had been a single?) so although this was a Freddie's gonna get you album, I did wish to hear more prominent role for Roger Taylor. (HA! I've still not listened to any of his solo albums...)
A new Queen and I was more interested in when the drummer sings than the man who had a short time to life (But didn't confirm rumours at the time)...
It sounds like it's going to be a pounder. Roger's voice!
And then the song begins and it's disappointing still. Although over the years I can be kinder to it. It doesn't lift the pace of side one (Cassette) enough from where the last song had left of.
As a teen I wanted it faster. As an adult I want better lyrics. As a Queen fan I wouldn't have wanted a better song!

And I'll do side two as soon as I can.

[Rob McCow]

Yay for the Jon catch-up updates!

Listening to it now and in relation to the albums I've since heard, this is one of the album's overlooked highlights.

Interesting what a difference going through them all in order makes! Innuendo sounds a lot better in context, at least to me.

[Rob McCow]

Just waiting for Dino's Pt2 now... Made In Heaven to come!

[MacNimon]

Innuendo is an album I've always struggled with, and I've also felt rather sad about that as it was the last one ever recorded during Freddies lifetime. There's some great stuff in there as you'd expect, but overall it's one of the patchiest albums they ever mede.

Innuendo: I remember when this single was released, all the reviewers called it a "Bohemian Rhapsody for the 90s" While I wouldn't argue with that, nor the fact that it was a No.1 hit, unlike BR this leaves me cold. It's not a track that I dislike as such, but this was the first time I'd played it in years (I usually tend to skip it) and I've just remembered why. I just don't like it that much! Just not my style 5/10.

I'm Going Slightly Mad An improvement here. A catchy little tune which I really like, but it's always felt a bit too depressing to me to ever be one of my favourites. Still, a 7/10 though.

Headlong This is more like it...upbeat, and full of energy. Listening to this, it's hard to believe that Freddie only had a short time to live when he recorded this.Unlike the first two songs, this one actually sounds as if they're having fun! It's one of those songs which really make you sad we never got a chance to see Freddie perform live,as he was in his prime. 8/10.

I Can't Live With You: I love this, nothing new here but it has a more traditional Queen sound than the first two tracks. It could easily have been a single (moreso than Innuendo, although it probably wouldn't have been such a big hit), and is just what's needed at this point of the album. Old-school Queen, and there's nothing wrong with that. 8/10.

Don't Try So Hard A nice wistful little track, solid if nothing spectacular. 6/10.

Ride The Wild Wind A solid Roger song here. Nothing spectacular lyrically, maybe, but I really like this one. And unsurprisingly, I think what I like most about it are the exact reasons Si Hunt gives for disliking it! I've always been a sucker for songs about cars and girls! I think we're always just going to have to agree to disgree when it comes to Rogers songs...7/10

All Gods People This is where the album totally loses its way. After a string of solid songs, we get this tuneless mess. It's one of the rare intstances I've had of wishing they'd never bothered releasing the track at all. It really drags the album down. 1/10.

These Are The Days Of My Life This certainly makes up for it though, doesn't it? I overlooked it a bit to begin with following on on the album as it did from such a stinker, but it was only when it was released as a "Double A-sided" single along with Bohemian Rhapsody after Freddie's death that I began to appreciate it fully. Possibly the last real classic Queen song, and the perfect song for Freddie to go out on, single-wise. Pure class, 10/10.

More to come later!

[Dino]

INNUENDO SIDE TWO


7. ALL GOD'S PEOPLE

I always used to fast forward this one. Thought it was cheap it was the b-side to the cassette of Headlong. (And didn't think to look for other formats of the single at the time)
Listening to it now and it's not bad. The whole album would have been a different thing if this had been the opening track. I suppose if Freddie hadn't had that sentence hanging over him, I think we would have got an entire production about the song, co-written with Mike Moran.
Although it's got all the Queen studio tricks, it still sounds like a demo version for a West End than it does as a classic Queen track. It's interesting then frustrating we never got a whole album full of the band collaborating with other songwriters though.

8. THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES

For future reference, whenever you see an article in Q Magazine about Freddie Mercury. Please note that I remember this being described as "A song about how great it is being Queen" in their review. This is the highlight of the album. I've just thought how it would be if this was what the album was actually titled? Although Brian is a backseat in guitars on this one, not one member of the band is performing at less than 100%. It sort of pre-dates Chill out doesn't it?
Brian's eventual solo got more bitter and harrowing after Freddie had died and this tape was being played over and over looking for clues. I'm glad it got to number 1.
Even if it wasn't twinned with the tribute re-release, I'm confident this song could have gotten top three positions fourth single release from an album.

9. DELIAH

I always used to fast forward this one as well. I've been bought up with cats, so I do like this one. It is as throwaway as you can charge it with. It would have been thought of as one of Queen's worst ever songs if they'd recorded it on any of their previous albums.
But on Inneundo, it works. Well... it's passable. The album needs a boost though right about now...

10. THE HITMAN

This was my favourite song off the album as a teen. It had all the dumb heavy rock I wanted to hear. It's not as coked out as "One Vision" and has got more balls than "I Want It All". It's like it's an attack on the Military Industrial Complex. It's the slightest Queen lyric on the album though. (I've heard the outtake "Robbery", I would have loved to have heard that instead of "Deliah")
It would have sounded great being pumped out at the stadiums if things had allowed.
Queen not just by numbers, but Queen on heavier by numbers.

11. BIJOU

I loved this hearing it as the b-side to the title track. Brian seems to be channeling Robert Fripp. But making Robert Fripp sound commercial. Making Robert Fripp sound like Queen.
The bare backing of this track is unarguably one of the highlights of the album.
And a lyric that doesn't diminsh through finding out it's ANOTHER Freddie cat song.
The album has taken us some good places, epic rock, synthised power pop, Casio gospel, and this track is the closest to being an Astronomer, looking out at the night sky. (Not that I've ever been an Astronomer...)

12. THE SHOW MUST GO ON

I did consider if the health had been better, that this song would have opened the album instead? But then I actually listened to the track.
Roger Taylor's best work. It's like "Scandal" and some of the more dramatic moments from "The Miracle" album had been dress rehearsals for this epic.
I love how Freddie's voice is asking to be recognised and begging to be left alone... only to get the impulses of The Show Must Go On, life still goes on, progress doesn't care and keeps moving forward. Even if this was the only song to have been recorded during the sessions, it's enough.
And I really thought the "Go on... Go on... Go on..." chorus of Robotic Mrs Doyle's was cheesy, the first times I heard. But it wasn't until the news informed me of the death, that I finally got the whole picture. And forensically went over the album, theorising and looking for clues.
Even though I've got myself into being ambivalent about Roger and Brian continuing to play live shows, I am heartened to see so many Innuendo tracks are still making up their live sets.


THE VERDICT

Even though this was my first bought Queen album, it seems it didn't have to "untouchable classic" status I'd normally afford it out of sentiment. There is some crap, three tracks, and only a couple of the great songs seem to be taking Queen somewhere new.
It's certainly got the better run of singles than the last two albums. Even though "Breakthru" was so good, they had to make a "Headlong" clone, "Innuendo" is bigger than "I Want It All" and "One Vision", "I'm Going Slightly Mad" triumphs "The Invisible Man" but can't beat "A Kind Of Magic" and "The Show Must Go On" eclipses easily "The Miracle".
I have a feeling this might be in my top 5 Queen albums, but I haven't thought that far ahead yet!

9/10

I still never bought "Made In Heaven", I'm sure I have heard it though.

[MacNimon]

Delilah: The band must have had their arms twisted up their backs to record this! Given the state of Freddie's health, they probably would have granted him any favours that he asked, and this - a song which would never have appeared on any previous album - is the evidence! It reminds me musically of some of the more whimsical tracks on their earlier albums, although being about a cat is a first! They give it their all though, and do a decent enough job. It's a bit lightweight, but listenable. 6/10.

The Hitman: I usually love Queen's heavier rocking songs, but this one just doesn't quite hit the mark. There's nothing I can quite put my finger on, but it just feels like it's there to beef up the album a bit. Listenable, but no classic. 6/10.

Bijou I love this. This should have been the album closer, shouldn't it? So atmospheric...brilliant guitar work from Brian. One of the album's highlights...9/10

The Show Must Go On It's amazing how Freddie managed to belt this one out, isn't it? Like other tracks from this album, it has something of a reflective feel and also looks to a future without Freddie. Freddie telling the guys to continue making music without him? Or just a thought that he'd like his music to be remembered for a long time? Not that it really matters, a great song to go out on. 9/10.

Overall, it's a rather patchy album but there's only one song on it I'd really go out of my way to avoid. If this had been released in the pre-cd days we'd probably have got a tighter album with less filler, but we can't really complain when they wanted to fill the cds with as much material as possible, can we?

[Rob McCow]

The band must have had their arms twisted up their backs to record this!

I'm not so sure - Brian May in particular seems to relish the chance to get some amazing cat-sounds from his guitar.

It's amazing how Freddie managed to belt this one out, isn't it?

He sounds like a singer in his prime, rather than a man wasting away. It's magnificent really.

[Si Hunt]

It was only Roger that apparently hated Delilah. What exactly is peoples problem with it? I didn't really know it was about his cat at the time, only half-listening to the lyrics. It works fine just as a song.

Si.

[MacNimon]

It was only Roger that apparently hated Delilah. What exactly is peoples problem with it? I didn't really know it was about his cat at the time, only half-listening to the lyrics. It works fine just as a song.

Si.

I don't actually have any problem with the song being about a cat, all I was really trying to say (not very clearly!) was that it was an unusual subject-matter for a song (although, on second thoughts maybe no stranger than say, Mustapha or Machines or Don't Try Suicide, none of which were obvious song subjects) My biggest problem is with the quality of the song, although it's catchy enough and not a dislikeable song, it still feels like filler at a point where the album needs another classic to beef it up a bit.

[Rob McCow]

Last chance to catch up!

Made In Heaven

1. It's a Beautiful Day - Queen (Freddie Mercury) 1980 2:32
2. Made in Heaven - Mercury 1984 5:25
3. Let Me Live - Queen 1984/1995 4:45
4. Mother Love - Brian May, Mercury 1990 4:49
5. My Life Has Been Saved - Queen (John Deacon) 1987-88 3:15
6. I Was Born to Love You - Mercury 1984 4:25
7. Heaven for Everyone - Roger Taylor 1987 4:43
8. Too Much Love Will Kill You - May, Frank Musker, Elizabeth Lamers 1985 4:20
9. You Don't Fool Me - Queen 1990 (?) 4:46
10. A Winter's Tale - Queen (Mercury) 1990 3:49
11. It's a Beautiful Day (Reprise) / Yeah - Queen (Mercury) 1980 3:05

I've included the years for this, roughly where the bulk of the song was born from or where Freddie recorded his vocals. This is gleaned from Wikipedia and assuming that Freddie didn't record anything in 1991. Everything was polished and put together by Roger, Brian and John in 1993-95.

[Si Hunt]

So we come to the somewhat shocking truth about Queen's final album "Made In Heaven". When Brian May said, at the time, that they needed to "get the last pieces of Freddie out there", we all thought that this meant he wanted to release Freddie's final album of songs. What he actually meant was that they needed an album to put the final scraps onto.

Yes, some songs on this album were obviously recycled from the start (such as the two 'Queen-ified' versions of well-known Freddie solo hits) but you assumed these were to pad it out. Then, as the years went by, song after song on this record was revealed to be "a fake". As late as last year I discovered that two tracks here were not, as thought, taped during desperate last recording sessions post-Innuendo, but at some point in the early eighties. So how much here is new? Well, it transpires three songs, one of which Freddie left half-finished, one of which was "artifically" created from a few scraps. So basically, folks, one and a half songs here were "new" recordings in 1995. But does it matter? Let's not delay further, and dive in...

It's A Beautiful Day

This feels scrappy, a slight vocal that's stretched out over an intro and a reprise, which of course fools you into thinking this was half a scraped together song post-Innuendo, when in fact, it turns out, this was a demo circa 1980! Who knew? In terms of a Queen song, there's not much here aside from a soaring vocal which fades into the first track "proper".

Made In Heaven

A solo hit for Freddie Mercury from "Mr Bad Guy", here with the synthy, dated eighties production removed and the rest of Queen giving it a bold, heavier musical backing instead. The first thing to say is that the song is a reasonably good one, and without its cheap keyboards it doesn't sound that "eighties" at all. The most important thing is why it's here at all. If they were trying to find solo material to pad out this new Queen album, quite honestly they could have used something more obscure and not drawn attention to it - the "New York" demo for example. If you want to subtly find some "lost" Mercury material, you can be more discrete than to draw on a song that's been a Top 10 hit already.

No, the key to understand why they picked this is quite simply because it fits the theme they have decided on. Queen arn't, you see, padding out Mercury's last recordings with anything decent they can find, that would be too easy. Instead, they are building up some kind of semi-concept album, as we will see, and this fits that thematically. It's the correct choice - the songs are picked because they are good, and not because they are rare.

It also raises the prospect of "Queenifying" more solo material. If it works as well here, there was plenty of other Freddie material they could have stripped of its music and added Brian, Roger and John too. Could Queen have gone on for a few more albums by simply turning Freddie solo hits into Queen songs? It would have been a pointless exercise of course, though one cannot help but wish a couple more of the better Freddie solo tracks could have been re-worked as well.

Let Me Live

For many years I believed this, too, was a later years Mercury treasure; it made sense that, with vocal duties shared, perhaps Freddie had recorded the beginnings of a song and left the rest having to be "reconstructed" around him. Could it be that in the final days, when he was asking his band mates for "more words, more words" they had got him to recite that famous song "Piece of my Heart", from which "Let Me Live" seems to be derived? Nope. This is, of all things, drawn from a "Works" era sing-a-long with Rod Stewart! Who knew they had ever collaborated? The original must be so rare I've never heard of it leaking (there are 8 seconds on Youtube as proof) but I'd love to hear it.

What were are left with is no Rod, but a quite extraordinary track, and one of Queen's very best. It does make you wonder why, although forced from circumstance here, all three singing members of Queen didn't appear on the same song more often! I have to confess my first listen of this song lead me, on hearing Roger Taylor's verse, to ask "Who's that woman?". He does sound a bit like Bonnie Tyler or Dusty Springfield. There were rumours that the voice doing the count at the start was John Deacon's, making this the only Queen track with all the members voices on, but no, I think it's Freddie.

What we end up with is something quite wonderful, a rare foray into gospel for Queen, and it quite rightly later became a hit single. And all from a rough, abandoned crack at an old cover version by two old mates in 1984. What Queen have done to turn that into this is nothing short of magic. And you begin to reassess what this album is again; this is truly the "last pieces" of Freddie; not in terms of anything as shallow as attempting to release his final recordings as a cash in, but of creating one final great Queen album from the lost fragments of the man, combining material that had been discarded as rubbish with studio and creative brilliance to make something new and something special. If they'd have known how something as wonderful as "Let Me Live" could be created from those off-cuts, maybe they'd have done it sooner?

To be Continued...