Thoughts on latter day Queen? (A Kind of Magic onward)

If there is an album that I would welcome a re-recording of, The Miracle would be it. I do wish Roger & Brian would replace those outdated sounds. They did it great with "Let Me In Your Heart Again".

Also I recently read somewhere (possibly Queen zone), Freddie's vocal on the album was improved with help and tips by Montserrat Caballe'. It's always cool when an seasoned pro like Freddie will still take notes and work on improving his approach to his instrument.

 

The Miracle is a more tolerable album than A Kind of Magic. Innuendo is the strongest of the bunch, talk about going out on a high note *hands down* Freddie.

 

I don't know if I'd trust Roger and Brian in 2018 to revisit that album. Now, if you had Roger and Brian with John on board and it was 1995, color me sold. I just haven't cared for the duo's curation of the older material. Frankly, I suspect it's more Brian at fault than Roger as Roger's last solo album still has the spark and even salvaged songs I didn't much care for from The Cosmos Rocks.

 

I have to be in the mood and it's rare ...
My go to queen albums are night at the opera, a day at the races and news of the world

 

I own them all up to Hot space, the only later period Queen I own is The Miracle and Innuedo, and enjoy them both.

 

The last one really is that bad.

Innuendo 3/5
A Kind Of Magic 2/5
The Miracle 1/5
Made In Heaven [It's a compilation as far as I'm concerned and is tagged as "Queen" in my iTunes library] 1/5

There's some great stuff on Magic and Innuendo but the lesser material really let those albums down. Too many cooks.

 

While I was aware that the earlier part of Queen's career was more heralded, I wasn't aware that The Miracle was looked down upon as much as I've read here. I just listened to it again this past weekend and found it to be quite solid. My 18 year old daughter said it sounded "very 80's", whatever that is worth. While it might not be as strong as say A Night at the Opera, I think it is still a very good album.

 

For my money, what weighs down The Miracle is the duo of opening tracks. The latter is musically interesting, but both suffer from pretty sub-par lyrics - in my opinion. The album picks up from there, but it's hard to recover from that weak an opening salvo.

 

That still doesn't make any sense. How can 2-3 songs, no matter how bad, make an album one of the worst ever made?

 

It certainly sounded terrific in 1989. At least that's what I was told.

Seriously, I remember buying it on the first day of release on CD and heading home to play it.

Nowadays I don't even own it. There's a gap in my Queen vinyl collection between "Hot Space" (which I like) and "Innuendo". After watching "Bohemian Rhapsody" I considered to rebuy at least "The Works".

It's complicated with Queen. They didn't suddenly turn bad. In fact they never made a truly bad album. I guess the first - slight - drop occurred around "News Of The World". After that things would become slightly more patchy. Never especially liked the more "Queen by numbers" stuff; "Friends Will Be Friends", "I Want It All" etc.

 

I can only speak for myself. There are a handful of artists of which I am a completest. Their best work is so fantastic and something about them just elevates them above everything else, forever in your heart. Queen are one of them. I personally think The Miracle, The Works, Made In Heaven and a good chunk of A Kind Of Magic are terrible.
Really, really terrible. Of course I didn't know how bad they would be until I spun them, long before the days of streaming or file sharing, where you could try before you buy.
So they sit there in my collection. The worst albums in my collection because I am a completest when it comes to Queen, 1973 - 1991. I haven't heard every other album in existence, so by default, they are some of the worst albums ever made, that I have heard.

 

I had The Miracle a week before its original release date I worked in Woolworths [RIP] as a 'Saturday Boy', whilst doing my GCSEs [I donded quiet whell in english]
I spotted the box of CDs in the stock room and approached the store manager - I was his favourite
I was hyped for the album, a 3 year wait, a strong lead single with a cool b-side. It wasn't to be. Hopefully they'll be a tour and It will all be OK...
Luckily, I had found just found Tin Machine and was listening to R.E.M's recent stuff. I had moved on.

 

You Sir are so full of sh^%

 

Well, then, so must I be because I wholeheartedly agree. but, then again, IMVVHO, I fully believe that Queen came to be full of "sh^%" when they decided that chart domination was the way forward and abandoned their roots as a gritty, innovative, rock band.

 

After The Game they lost it, only a couple of good tracks the following decade. Pity.

 

The Miracle is Queen's worst record. In particular, the production is horrendous. But really, there are too many garbage songs that you can't save with a re-work: "Party," "Khashoggi's Ship," "The Invisible Man," "My Baby Does Me." Only "Breakthru" and "Was It All Worth It" feel like perfect pop songs.

Innuendo is the best of their later-era material, but it's still far from perfect. Made in Heaven is unfinished and it sounds it. The Cosmos Rocks isn't Queen, but it has a few decent songs on it.

Hot Space remains their last five-star piece of work. Fight me.

 

Hot Space was the last stand of the truly creative Queen for me. I like some of the stuff after that but in a way a lot of the, erm, magic has gone.

Incidentally, I'm listening to the A Kind Of Magic album right now, which is purely coincidental. Some of it is ok I guess.

 

Hot Space is their worst, but The Miracle isn't far behind. At least Hot Space had a cool album cover...

They seemed to be getting some of their mojo back with parts of A Kind of Magic, but The Miracle was extremely mediocre. And the only Queen album with no ballads. Innuendo and Made in Heaven are miles better imo.

I guess the no ballads thing had to do with 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' being planned for inclusion, but then taken off due to problems with co-writers (I think).

Here's a re-imagining of The Miracle into what I think would have been a better album.

Side A:
1. Chinese Torture
2. The Miracle
3. I Want It All
4. Too Much Love Will Kill You
5. The Invisible Man

Side B:
6. Breakthru
7. Rain Must Fall
8. Scandal
9. Hang On In There
10. Was It All Worth It

Could also include 'My Life Has Been Saved' in place of 'Rain Must Fall', but I admittedly kind of like that track. Plus I think the '95 version of 'My Life Has Been Saved' is better.

 

It's actually funny how several people here claim that various Queen albums were "the worst ever made".

Looks like the boys can at least trigger some pretty emotional reactions!

 

Apparently the band fought among themselves fairly regularly, getting pretty nasty and personal at times. It doesn't surprise me. I don't think I'd last too long in a room with Brian May

 

An old band mate of mine went to music college way back in the early 90s. He was also a Queen fan. After spending some time there, tinkering with all these new toys, he told me some of the synth sounds on The Miracle were just built in presets on the keyboards they were using. I have no reason to doubt that. I seem to recall something on the Invisible Man being one such 'offender'. Perhaps someone can confirm?

 

Even until Freddie's end, Queen still brought the goods.

 

Lol at people giving Made in Heaven a 1...Is there anything really that offensive to your ears on the album to justify giving it a 1?

It seems to be an album that people either love or hate, which I don't really understand considering it's a pretty middle of the road album. I certainly don't get the hate.

 

I know that on 'Don't Try So Hard' off Innuendo, the beginning sound is that of the Korg M1 turning on.

 

For the sake of this exercise, I welcome the inclusion of Chinese Torture and Hang On, but they are just 'better' than what was already there. They are still just decent b-sides at best, for me.