Queen - Innuendo - opinions?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Uly Gynns, Oct 26, 2015.

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  1. Uly Gynns

    Uly Gynns Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    Let's ignore for a minute the tragedy of Freddie's unfortunate and way-too-soon death so as not to bias the judgement of the record. Let's pretend that Queen just broke up and went their separate ways after this record or something -

    How do you feel Innuendo holds up both as a Queen album in general, and as the last record of completely original material by Queen?

    Myself, I think it's their most solid album since the '70s. It was a return to form overall, tied with The Miracle (IMO) for being their best post 1980 record. It has all the magic of the '70s records, a similar sound but updated for the '90s, great lyrics and pop hooks as well as amazing vocals by Freddie and epic guitar work as always by Brian. Would give it an A+ rating, objectively.
     
  2. gfong

    gfong Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Strong album, really love the feel and like how it flows. I think it is brilliant and very underrated.
     
  3. Jerquee

    Jerquee Take this, brother, may it serve you well.

    Location:
    New York
    I would say it was their best since The Game.
     
  4. Cornfed Hick

    Cornfed Hick Forum Resident

    It's tough to divorce an evaluation of the album from Freddie's illness and death, because he knew he was dying when he recorded it, and it shows. That is, in part, what gives tracks like "The Show Must Go On" so much power. If I am understanding your post correctly, I think you and I feel largely the same. I am more a fan of the "no synthesizers" '70s albums than the later stuff, but Innuendo is an excellent record and in many ways a return to their pre-Hot Space form. I prefer it to The Miracle, and I feel it is one of their most coherent and consistently solid albums start-to-finish.
     
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  5. Galley

    Galley Forum Resident

    Best album closer, ever?
     
  6. I love Innuendo, but I think The Game is the least interesting album Queen ever released.
     
  7. Uly Gynns

    Uly Gynns Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    I don't mind synthesizers - even Innuendo has them in droves. That album is laden with keyboard bits and synths. It's all a question of how they're used. Synthesizers used the right way can really either be an interesting foundation for a great song, or work well within the framework of a song. It just depends on how it's done. Hot Space basically strips away everything that I personally love about Queen and leaves the synths. Whereas The Miracle and Innuendo especially manage to marry the two sounds in a way that allows Queen's majesty to shine through while sounding fresh (for the time). Queen's best records have a timeless quality to them; Innuendo continues this tradition. Whereas with an album like Hot Space, you can tell when it was made.
     
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  8. Zach Johnson

    Zach Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Their best album since A Day at the Races...And the title track stands up with anything they ever did.
     
  9. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I could never get on with 'Innuendo'. After the singles, it's one of the worst albums I've heard by them.
     
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  10. ruben lopez

    ruben lopez Nunc Est Bibendum

    Location:
    Barcelona Spain
    I like it a lot,i have the vinyl with the edited pieces.It has aged very well IMO.
    Songs like Slightly Mad or Innuendo sound very fresh today.
     
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  11. Helmut

    Helmut Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Germany
    Considering that every Queen album (with the exception of Hot Space and Flash) contained three to four songs, that became huge hits or concert classics, "Innuendo" easily followed that "tradition". And yet for me it's one of their strongest albums.
    Bands often work best when being "Under pressure". "A Night at the Opera" was done under the situation, that it might be their last album because of record deal problems. So they gave "all".
    And "Innuendo" happened under even more dramatic pressure. And it can't be seperated from the tragedy behind, as it comes through in most of the songs. It's probably their most personal album. A dying singer singing "I'll soon be turning round the corner now" - it can't get more personal.
     
  12. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    Great album, fantastic lead single. Whilst there were rumours regarding Freddie in the UK tabloids at the time, nothing was known for sure and I listened to the album at the time with 'It's a new Queen album' ears rather than 'Its the last Queen album' ears.

    Loved The Miracle when it came out, thought it was a clear step up over the previous few albums. Innuendo was a step up again, thought so at the time and still think so now. Freddie tragic passing so soon after the album (and GH2) came out inevitably cast a new light over the music (how could it not?), as did the videos for the singles (how could they not, when the ravages of his illness were right up there on screen?), there was no sense of charity involved in my estimation of the music itself. A fantastic album from a band continuing their return to form post Live Aid.
     
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  13. OneStepBeyond

    OneStepBeyond Senior Member

    Location:
    North Wales, UK
    This is sums it up for me. :)

    I friend bought the cassette it when it was first released and that was a rarity for him - he was a fan of the band but had a relatively small collection (maybe less than 75 LPs and tapes, combined) and stuck to a lot of his old favourites. We'd not heard a thing from this when he put the tape in the player and after that, it was barely off. I even got a big sheet of paper and wrote the lyrics, chords and some of the lead guitar bits down as best I could, so I could play along to the title track. :D

    I had heard the previous few albums and felt they weren't up to scratch, compared to a lot of their 70s work and so this took me by storm as I thought it was going to be a bit dull, shall we say. Great memories and perhaps this goes a long way to explain why I still love it; I'd not change or remove a track. It's in my top 3 albums of theirs - along with the s/t debut and Sheer Heart Attack but it's hard to say what order I'd place them in as it can change from one day to the next... like with most bands & artists I enjoy.
     
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  14. Freedom Rider

    Freedom Rider Senior Member

    Location:
    Russia
    I would agree. But, although it does have some amazing highs (Innuendo, The Show Must Go On), it has its share of mediocrity as well (IMO). But that stands true for many Queen albums - brilliant at times, but also inconsistent.
     
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  15. Rne

    Rne weltschmerz

    Location:
    Malaver
    The title track is one of the best in their whole catalogue, "I'm Going Slightly Mad" is great, as well as "These Are The Days of Our Lives" (each in its own very particular way) and "Bijou". "The Show Must Go On" is fine and works as a perfect closer. The rest of the songs don't appeal much to me, but it's a good album overall, and a quite a feat, given all what Freddie was going under.
     
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  16. tmwlng

    tmwlng Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denmark
    I had not paid that much attention to Innuendo until the day I saw the We Will Rock You musical. I was 16 and on a school trip to London. The song was (if I recall correctly) the first song played in the musical and I just sat there and thought, "this is the best song ever"... The entire musical was like that. Until then, I liked Queen on a semi-fan basis, primarily their seventies output and merely hits onward, but when I got home I started getting more into Innuendo. I was a big Queen fan, and knew The Miracle, kind of, as I had the CD, but had not listened that much to it. I'm glad I did. There's hard rock like they did it in the seventies, ballads, nice mid-tempo stuff and an interesting, fairy tale-like production to some of the tracks, especially the two first. It contains probably some of the best opening and closing songs an album ever had. The title track, again, is one of my all-time favorite songs.

    Queen is still popular, very popular in fact, among people of all ages. I don't know where Innuendo fits into the equation, but I think it still holds water. Just well-crafted songs. As much as I enjoyed The Miracle, I'm glad they made this album when Freddie was still here, a real fine way to wrap up a 20-year long recording career.
     
  17. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Great record. The only Queen album I own, apart from a 2-CD Greatest Hits. But I wish someone would remix it, and attenuate some of that reverb ... it drives me slightly mad.
     
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  18. Futurecity

    Futurecity Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nevada
    Wow, one of their worst albums? It has some of their strongest songs ever...the 5 hits alone make it a nice album and the title track is a fantastic piece of music.

    My problem with it is the production though...not the songs...they tried to hide Freddy's weak voice behind a lot of echo and processing, but if you listen to his vocals on Made In Heaven, they sound just fine and much more normal without all that echo and processing.
     
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  19. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    The singles were all very good. It's the rest of it I couldn't stand. I've actually bought and sold the album twice.:)
     
  20. Futurecity

    Futurecity Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nevada
    Well I understand to a point...the singles on Innuendo are so good and strong compared to the rest of the album, but I do hope you at least have those 5 hits on a Queen compilation...:)
     
  21. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I do indeed.
     
  22. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    I think it's hugely overrated. If Freddie had remained healthy, it wouldn't be so loved imo. I think there's only a few worthwhile tracks on it. And I'm a huge Queen fan of all eras.
     
  23. Dukes Travels

    Dukes Travels Forum Resident

    About half of it is good.
    These Are the Days of Our Lives being the standout for me.
     
  24. Gregster

    Gregster Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Hello,

    By the time of it's release, I'd say most "older" Queen fans had adjusted to the 1980's sound & production that was being used, & I'd say that this album for me stands as strong as the Works does, though less diverse IMO. So I like it, & see it as a return to form, with some real "power" again in the music, both lyrically & instrumentation wise.

    It's always a good thing to hear Brian May & a wall of Vox amplification getting a work-out !

    Cheers,

    Gregster
     
  25. Superb album. Absolutely in their top 5. And I thought this immediately, before Mercury's passing.
     
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