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

personally I loved the Miracle and Innuendo and even tried making an album of the outtakes from the sessions just to hear more

 

I've also tried compiling an album from Queen's various outtakes, concentrating exclusively on those recorded during sessions for The Miracle and Innuendo. While the results were interesting, there isn't quite enough there for me to be satisfied with the end product. However, it would be a very different story if QPL were to do something with the multitracks, assuming these still exist for all the tracks (and I'm sure they must)... Maybe this was the approach Roger and John originally took in Brian's absence before he assumed control, leading to the creation of Made In Heaven?

P.S. To those interested, my understanding is that just one song was 100% completed and even technically released from the period I've just discussed, this being Dog With A Bone, which surfaced on an official collection of the group's messages to its annual fan club meetings, where it appeared in an extended form.

 

All their albums from this period have highs and lows (while the highs and lows on their 70s album were both higher). I don't think there was much filler on the 70s albums, just some songs that weren't as good as the others, but in the period in question, there was definite filler.

The songs on the 70s albums were more fleshed out. One person wrote the nuts and bolts and the rest of the band added their touch. By the 80s, their songs often sound like they were playing around in the studio and something developed. The rest of the songs sound like someone came in with an idea for a song and they all finished it, whereas before that the main writer had done more work on it before bringing it to the band*--just how it sounds to me. From Another Bites the Dust on, bass lines composed of three notes (from the pentatonic scale) became a thing; you can hear them, or variants of them, in 'Breakthru,' 'Invisible Man,' 'Keep Passing the Open Window' and others. Whereas with 70s Queen, the bass line was never something you considered. The notes Deacon played were dictated by the chord the songwriter wrote, but by the 80s it was often more of a starting point from which the rest of the song developed. In the first album of this period, you start seeing cowrite credits, which was quite rare before, and soon all songs were written by 'Queen.' That may have been partly a business decision (more money for all), but it also reflects the way their creative processed had changed.


* The recently released outtake of 'Who Needs You?' contradicts my interpretation though. It's a very unfinished song with at least Mercury brought in early to record, adding vocals despite missing most lyrics and a still-unfinished melody.

 

'Magic' I always enjoyed, but only side one seemed to garner regular repeat playings back in the day for me.
'Miracle' I always saw as a somewhat weak effort...despite the two standout singles I really enjoyed, and still do ( I Want It All, Breakthru )
'Innuendo' as an album everyone I knew raved about....but it left me cold and still does.
Just not into most of the music presented on it, the exception again being the standout singles.

Of the three choices above, if I were to choose one to play now it would be 'Magic'.
I rank that album above the other two.

One long time Queen fans opinion.

-

 

What was your track listing for that album, out of curiosity?

As much as I enjoy the Made in Heaven we were given, I really wonder what might have been had Roger and John been given free rein on the project. I like Brian's songwriting, but when it comes to him without restrictions, I tend to think he goes off the rails too easily. Roger is weaker in the lyrical department, but his musical instincts seem more solid to this listener at least. And, per the usual, John was the secret weapon and I don't think gets near his due. Absent Freddie, I have a suspicion that Brian created a Made in Heaven that he thought was was Queen should sound like. Roger and John, by comparison, probably would have continued the direction in evidence on Innuendo and it would have sounded like a new project rather than a looking back.

Just a guess.

 

It does – I made my own version which I enjoy far more than the original:

1. Breakthru
2. I Want it All
3. The Invisible Man
4. Too Much Love Will Kill You
5. The Miracle
6. Hang On In There
7. Scandal
8. Hijack My Heart
9. My Life Has Been Saved
10. Was It All Worth It?

 

Queen fans tend to underrate A Kind of Magic imho. Miracle is not worse than Works or Hot Space (or The Game btw ). Innuendo is my favourite Queen album (followed by Sheer Heart Attack).

 

Magic it's okay, not perfect, but a album that thave WWTLF and Magic is not that bad, and also i think Don't Lose Your Head underrated. 6.5/10
Miracle it's better, the 5 singles was well choose, but WIAWI wasn't a single was a bad idea, also i like My Baby Does Me , and the album has great b sides. 7.5/10

Innuendo, wow, this and ANATO are tie in my favorite Queen album, great album, perhaps the eletronic drums in some tracks and Delilah. 9.5/10

Made In Heaven is a great epilogue, could be choose more NEW tracks instead to use solo tracks? Yeah, but the album flows well. 8/10

 

A Kind of Magic is the last album of theirs that i can happily sit down and listen to all the way through. What came after i found very hit and miss, including Innuendo.

 

Totally my opinion only, but Queen started putting out half a good album with Jazz (except for The Game, where I only dislike one song).

I like The Works, only a couple stinkers, but they seemed to start repeating themselves, or as if after the Hot Space experiment they said, "uh-oh, better go back to the old stuff". A Kind of Magic is half a good album, with songs like "Friends Will Be Friends" unforgivably corny. The Miracle and Innuendo are each half or so a good album, but the thing is the good tracks are so good we forget the bad tracks, because songs like "I Want It All", "Innuendo", and "The Show Must Go On" are essential Queen songs of any era.

Some of the songs on The Miracle and Innuendo would have benefited from a more "live" rock and roll arrangement, rather than the dated synthesized sound.

 

1. A new life is born
2. Affairs
3. Self Made Man
4. I guess Were Falling Out
5. Roggery
6. Grand Dame
7. Dog With a Bone
8. Face It Alone
9. My secret Fantasy

although I'm thinking of switching it around and have a face it alone reprise from the version discovered last year

 

As I just mentioned in another thread, I think there is a sharp upward curve from their debut to Night at the Opera, after that it's a slow curve down.

As sometimes happens, with greater success came less chance taking, more formulaic songs, a concentration on "hits". Queen could have been one of the best rock bands we've heard, but instead they got mired in making catchy little tunes.

I've been tempted by Day at the Races, and News of the World has a couple very good songs (love Spread Your Wings and Get Down, Make Love), but both are patchy (especially NOTW). By the time Queen hit Hot Space and Flash they were irrelevant. The formula of taking a well worn phrase and making it a chorus was tired, and though they maintained the ability to craft decent pop, it isn't enough to be interesting.

Listening to the first four albums today, you can really hear their potential. A more lo-fi sound did them wonders too. I find albums such as NOTW, Jazz, and Works to have been wildly over-produced.

Innuendo gets lots of kudos, but I've never really gotten on with it. It's merely okay, and I find it's bogged down by the emotional circumstances.

Come to think of it, I might like News of the World better if the track sequencing were different, leading off with the two mega hits doesn't help.

In short - huge potential sold down the river. Still, more power to them, live they were amazing.

 

I always thought that after The Works they became a really solid singles act. One of the great joys of premium Queen is the deep cuts and there are plenty pre Kind of Magic, but from then on its slim pickings. Innuendo is the best of the bunch but outside of that I cant think of a really solid album track. As other people have mentioned I think the Miracle is at times offensively bad. Those first two tracks should never have made the cut, let alone open the album!

I love Hot Space, the works is really solid but the cracks are showing and from then on you're in trouble outside of what is a frankly outstanding run of singles all the way through Made In Heaven. Such huge talent but they spread it thin post 85.

 

Could have been? They were / are one of the best rock bands we've ever heard.

I'd take their initial run olbums over any other act (how many acts have a run of 5 great albums? Not many. Sabbath and Zeppelin spring to mind, Pink Floyd and maybe The Rolling Stones), and even after that they still had some damn good albums into the 80s / early 90s, like The Game, The Works, and Innuendo, unlike other many of the other big acts from 70s.

 

All of their albums are patchy. I don't think Queen ever made a "perfect" album. News of the World might be the closest, and even that has a couple of songs I can't stand. Having said that, the later stuff is pretty consistent with that. There's a lot of crap on them and there's also at least two or three songs that are absolutely indispensable. The only one I really don't like anything on is Hot Space, although I do listen to it occasionally out of a kind of rubbernecking fascination.

 

Think of ANY other band who's lead singer died 25 years ago who haven't released new music which is still selling out stadium-like venues world-wide like Wembley, the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne etc. I can't think of any...?! Just shows what an amazing band they were/are.

 

I don't find their first 5 albums to be patchy, I don't find The Game or The Works to be patchy either. News Of The World is probably their least consistent 70s album.

What do you find patchy about, say, Queen II?

 

I always skip "The Loser in the End" and "March of the Black Queen."

 

Most albums by any group will have a couple of songs (or more) that someone doesn't like, but I don't think that makes it patchy. March of The Black Queen is generally considered one of the best on that album - even on this forum, it got a lot of votes as being one of the best tracks.

 

I like late-era Queen, but I'll concede all four albums in your timeframe have some weak moments. The Miracle is definitely the weakest record they made along with Hot Space, but I think Magic, Innuendo, and Made In Heaven are all mostly strong records with fantastic singles and some choice album cuts that are well worth seeking out.

Also don't overlook the 1997 remake of "I Can't Live With You." It blows the original Innunedo version out of the water.

 

I absolutely adored this band during the period: Queen 2 - A Day at the Races

After that they completely lost me…might have to do a bit of YouTubing but I'll be shocked if they've got close to the quality of Brighton Rock, Death on Two Legs, White Queen (as it began) etc...

 

So you don't accept my answer?

 

I accept that you don't like those two tracks, but I don't think Queen II is patchy at all.

 

I love Brian May's guitar playing on the later Queen records. The licks, the phrasing, the tones...

 

I'd recommend the following post-70s songs if the theatrical rock thing is your angle:

Innuendo
Princes Of The Universe
Was It All Worth It?