Queen - Party/Khashoggi's Ship

What were Queen thinking with the opening salvo of Party/Khashoggi's Ship on The Miracle?

Were they attempting to undermine the salacious gossip surrounding Mercurys flailing health at the time by singing about how great everything was?

Whatever the logic behind it, it must go down as the worst (and cheesiest) one-two punch in their catalogue.

Or maybe I'm alone on this one and they're more popular with fans than I think!

 

Well, the lyrics were in the past tense.

I think Party has dated badly.

Khashoggi's ship is alright.

 

I disagree completely. I love that one-two punch opening. And Freddie still had his powers and was killing it.

 

I think it's amongst the worst 1-2 opening of any major rock artist. Ever. A poor overall album in my view anyway, by far their worst, but when I first heard the opening two tracks back in 1989 or whenever it was I assumed I'd put the wrong tape in the machine!

 

Meh........

Enjoyed it at the time as it was new Queen material after a long time, but nowadays, I can't abide it (the album as a whole) and will only listen to IWIA and WIAWI.

 

Horrible. A very poor album (the poorest in Queen catalogue, bar Flash Gordon), saved only by the cool - yet by the numbers - singles and respective videos.

 

I prefer Flash Gordon (The Hero is one of their finest rockers) but otherwise agree 100%

 

I dislike The Miracle. i believe its Queen weakest album yet the videos were entertaining for my 13 self back then.

 

I remember liking it at the time because it had real drums, wailing guitars and a good hook. In retrospect it was a fitting and rather poignant opener to this album.

 

Truly awful.

 

Always liked those two songs. Never liked the title track. I remember buying all the CD singles, picture discs, 12" and even cassette singles when it came out. Missed all that with Magic. Went crazy with this one! Don't play it that often these days. Mostly like the singles (and the B-sides) which I hear on GHII.

 

always enjoyed these 2--like bRETT said, real drums, real guitars, sounds like a rock band (something of a rarity at this point in the carreer)!

not sure how i'd feel about it if it came out NOW, but it's still got a little bit of a nostalgic kick for me. they sound like they're having a blast.

smitquest

 

Those vocal harmonies on Party are absolutely worth the price of admission. Definitely feels unfinished, especially with the way it crashlands into the next track. Luckily there's an instrumental version on The Eye that might be able to slip on for a true ending.

 

Party may have some real cymbals but as for real drums, I would vote absolutely not. Khashoggi on the other hand.

 

I always wonder why so much people have the problem with Miracle. It is a fine album to me, and compared to Hot Space (bar Under Pressure) it is a killer album.

 

Roger was proclaiming all sorts of nonsense before, during and after the album came out. I'm paraphrasing but he spoke of heading back to their rock roots, dumping all the synthesizers in Lake Geneva, the album sounding like Led Zep II - all sorts of baloney

 

Never paid attention to the words. Definitely two of the worst Queen songs every recorded, no wonder i can't stand the lp.

 

I dunno. Seems like "Queen" and "cheesy" kind of go hand in hand. That's part of the fun.

BTW, I did not know until recently that "Khashoggi's Ship" was an actual ship (one of the biggest yachts in the world) and it was owned by the uncle of the journalist who was recently killed.

 

re, the drums:
lol, you're probably right--see, that was the nostalgia talking right there

re, the ship:
i knew i recognized the name, but i assumed it was coincidence, etc...

smitquest

 

I've never understood the dislike for these two. While, obviously, not meant to be "major" tracks, I think they were meant to make the statement that Queen, the decadent rock band, was back. In that, I think the succeeded. They also bookend the album very nicely with Was It All Worth It, thematically speaking.

 

We had a food fight in somebody's face!

It was a weird time for Queen. Came out the same day as Flowers in the Dirt. I used to flip between the 2 LPs that whole summer. Overall, I did prefer the Miracle over A Kind of Magic, which I just felt was un-Queen. A sax solo??? May as well have been a crappy Richard Marx album. The Miracle at least reestablished a little rock. They were never really the same after Hot Space. The Works thru One Vision corrected the ship. But the creative ship sank quickly after. Or maybe the ship stayed together but the creative ocean dried up. Bands get old and lazy. It's normal.

 

You say that but I'd imagine Brian May was quite the fan.

 

As mentioned above; vocals and harmonies are top notch, even though the songs are weak in the world of Queen (and in general )

Perhaps the queen album with the biggest gap from strong tracks to weak tracks on the same album

 

On an album that contained The Invisible Man and you pick those two to criticize??

I thought it was an unusual way to start an album, real left of centre.... and for that I love them.

 

On an album that contained 'insert almost any track from The Miracle here' and you pick those two to criticize??