The Royal QUEEN Discussion and Adoration Thread!

[Entre_Perpetuo]

LOL, this thread made me spend money. Though I did want to thank you guys for helping me to want to dig back into their catalogue to find these gems again.

 

I went back on iTunes and re-purchased albums that were either never purchased or long-lost on cassette in the 80's that I didn't necessarily get in to at the time.

 

Jazz

A Day at the Races

Sheer Heart Attack

News of the World

 

I have a new appreciation for all of them, but I have to say that 'News of the World' is just tremendous to me, and 'It's Late' has quickly shot to the top of my favorite Queen songs. Just stunning!!!

 

My collection now is actually only missing Queen, Queen II, IAKOM and The Works (which I used to have but never cottoned to but for a couple of songs).

 

So glad to here this thread has done some real goodness in the world! (That's what I consider spreading more Queen to other people :) ). I have to say, Queen II is my second favorite Queen album of all time, it's proggy weirdness beating out even the sheer (heart attack) thrill and uncluttered abandon of News Of The World.

[MusicHead]

Freddie Mercury is my one hero (other than Jesus) whom I haven't met nor will I ever meet. Sure he screwed up sometimes in his life and made some bad decisions here and there, but at the end of his life he realized what he had accomplished so far, and he wouldn't give up his life without laying down as many more heart wrenching, chilling, astonishing vocal tracks as he could because he knew he had a bit more to say, even if others had to write the words for him. He sang on his deathbed. In his life he knew exactly what he was going to do, set out to do it, and he did it all. All of it. I wrote my application essay for my private high school on him (if I recall). I went as him for Halloween last year. Listening to him sing, watching videos of him, reading his quotes. It inspires me deeply, while simultaneously saddening me that I was born after he passed away. The rest of Queen is of course absolutely wonderous as well, but Freddie embodied the collective magic of the band and presented it before the world, reaching both the front row and the lawn chair seats with equal, massive effectiveness. I could probably write forever on just him, but when combined with possibly the most innovative guitarist of all time (certainly moreso than supposed "architect of sound" The Edge), powerhouse percussion machine Roger Taylor, and sneaky, quiet, but mind-bending wonderful bassist John Deacon, the result was inhuman to say the least, and in the most human way possible.

 

We need more Internet win like this. Bravo, sir. Bravo.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Back in 1980, I had just go Live Killers on cassette as my second Queen album (after The Game). My first listen to it was in fact several hours, as my dad set me out front to weeding a rather large area of our rural property. It was an all day affair, on my knees and pulling weeds from the dirt, while my little portable played Live Killers for hours and hours. It sounds like a lousy time, but Queen made it such a rewarding day musically I didn't care.

 

This really elevated my interest in a broader range of their music and showed me what they were like before The Game and the only other songs I'd heard from them on my limited radio; We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions. I went on a race to get their cassettes as I could afford them back then, but again, I had some difficulties tuning to the deep cuts on the albums at that time.

 

So happy to be back in with them again.

 

My favorites are Rush, Yes, Queen, The Police, and Dire Straits amongst many bands that I love musically.

[custom55]

My roommate in college ( Bruce !!! ) was a big Queen fan so I became a fan out of my environment. Sheer Hear Attack was my intro to the band.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Back in 1980, I had just go Live Killers on cassette as my second Queen album (after The Game). My first listen to it was in fact several hours, as my dad set me out front to weeding a rather large area of our rural property. It was an all day affair, on my knees and pulling weeds from the dirt, while my little portable played Live Killers for hours and hours. It sounds like a lousy time, but Queen made it such a rewarding day musically I didn't care.

 

This really elevated my interest in a broader range of their music and showed me what they were like before The Game and the only other songs I'd heard from them on my limited radio; We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions. I went on a race to get their cassettes as I could afford them back then, but again, I had some difficulties tuning to the deep cuts on the albums at that time.

 

So happy to be back in with them again.

 

My favorites are Rush, Yes, Queen, The Police, and Dire Straits amongst many bands that I love musically.

 

A whole day of nothing but Live Queen and mind numbing physical labor, I can't imagine a happier day for my ears.

[The Cat 3]

Back in 1980, I had just go Live Killers on cassette as my second Queen album (after The Game). My first listen to it was in fact several hours, as my dad set me out front to weeding a rather large area of our rural property. It was an all day affair, on my knees and pulling weeds from the dirt, while my little portable played Live Killers for hours and hours. It sounds like a lousy time, but Queen made it such a rewarding day musically I didn't care.

 

This really elevated my interest in a broader range of their music and showed me what they were like before The Game and the only other songs I'd heard from them on my limited radio; We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions. I went on a race to get their cassettes as I could afford them back then, but again, I had some difficulties tuning to the deep cuts on the albums at that time.

 

So happy to be back in with them again.

 

My favorites are Rush, Yes, Queen, The Police, and Dire Straits amongst many bands that I love musically.

 

A whole day of nothing but Live Queen and mind numbing physical labor, I can't imagine a happier day for my ears.

 

I remember the first time I heard "Live Killers".

 

It was summer of 1979 and a bunch of friends and myself were driving around getting into typical teenager trouble.

 

The DJ on the radio announced, "Up next, the new live album from Queen".

 

It was before the days of Internet and I had no idea a live album was even coming out.

 

So we stood outside of 7-11 and waited from someone to buy us beer.

 

We just hung out, drank our beer (perhaps some other activity as well) sitting around the car and listened to it start to finish.

 

It was a good night among friends.

 

The four of us ended up going to see Queen live the following year on "The Game" tour.

Edited January 31, 2016 by ReGorLaTroy

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Welp, I've got Innuendo. I've been listening to it since yesterday and I'll soon have a fully realized first impression to post. For now though, I'm thinking it's pretty great. Obviously the four biggest standout tracks have been Innuendo, I'm Going Slightly Mad, These Are The Days Of Our Lives, and The Show Must Go On, but maybe more to come.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

Welp, I've got Innuendo. I've been listening to it since yesterday and I'll soon have a fully realized first impression to post. For now though, I'm thinking it's pretty great. Obviously the four biggest standout tracks have been Innuendo, I'm Going Slightly Mad, These Are The Days Of Our Lives, and The Show Must Go On, but maybe more to come.

 

A remarkable album considering Freddie's health at the time. Other tracks that I love are Ride The Wild Wind, I Can't Live With You, Bijou & the rockin' Headlong. A couple of duffers on there too, but overall a damn fine album.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

I think I'll have to add Don't Try So Hard to my stand out tracks for sure. It's been so long since I heard Freddie sing that high without his growl. Beautiful.

 

Now on Ride The Wild Wind again. A Taylor track for sure if I've ever heard one. I imagine it's a ton of fun while driving. Maintains a lot of that 80s vibe from the past few albums.

[toymaker]

Don't Try So Hard . . . awesome. Check it out with headphones and just focus on that voice.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Okay, three times through, so here's my first impressions review:

 

Innuendo is a very different Queen than I'm used to. Familiar in many ways, but strikingly different in many others. You're average Queen album contains a feverish sense of humor, of camp and pomp, which runs through the lifeblood of the record. Innuendo has much of that, but it's not a euphoric release of laughter like in the past, it's a hysterical, slightly mad chuckle (which of course makes perfect sense with I'm Going Slightly Mad). It's not such a bright album as many others. It becomes very apparent that a new sense of dread or finality has overtaken the band's mentality with many of the tracks, whereas others seem to want to escape those tones, but fail to overtake them. It feels like a great, brave battle between the reminiscent and lightweight and the inevitable and final. What I'm trying to say is, it's obvious Freddie was dying. This is the album of a dying man and his helpless band. They seem to put their all into every song, but the overhanging dread of Freddie's health clouds their usual musical instincts and leads to some very strange, unorthodox experiments, juxtaposed with some determined attempts to reinvoke Queen of the past with varying degrees of success. All of this said, it's a wonderful, insane album which should rank very highly for me once I get used to it. So the songs:

 

Innuendo: Masterful epic Queen track, and done by Roger to boot. This one really succeeds in fusing the star power of Queen in the eighties with the proggy, imaginative, almost hilarious abandon of Queen in the mid seventies. The strange juxtaposition of sections reminds me more of The March of the Black Queen, The Millionaire's Waltz, or The Prophet's Song than Bohemian Rhapsody, but these songs all fall in that same epic category for Queen, and when Queen taps into that area they come out with a masterpiece every time. Easily one of my top four on the record, and very indicative of the succeeding tones on the album.

 

I'm Going Slightly Mad: Has Freddie ever been more seventies Freddie than this? Even in the seventies? This song perfectly encapsulates that tone of diminishing sanity which prevails on the album, and it's of course masterfully written. One of Fred's best definitely, and sung in his lower register as well for more expression. I love this one, another top four.

 

Headlong: Hm, all the markings of a wonderful Queen rocker from Brian, but without the same sense of driving excitement for me. I have my theories for why it fails to live up to songs like Hammer To Fall or One Vision, but they could of course be wrong. At any rate, it's a great song and a great rocker, but upon the first couple listens I do wish it had the same flow as their older rockers. I do like it though, quite a lot, and the chorus is excellent.

 

I Can't Live With You: So we're continuing with the rock vibe which battles the finality of it all. Overall I find it a more interesting rocker than Headlong, but with a similar lack of flow and classic Queen rocker sound. The choir vocals are always wonderful (I don't think this band has misused them once), though the opening chorus is shocking in it's jauntiness. I probably would rate it a tad higher than Headlong, but not in my top four.

 

Don't Try So Hard: Sweet sweet music to my ears. We've reached a real ballad here, one which hardens back to the most heartbreaking confessionals of early Queen. I'm talking White Queen, You Take My Breath Away, Love Of My Life stuff here, though maybe without quite as memorable of a hook as those last two. Anyways I love this one, as I'm a sucker for this stuff when it comes to Queen. Freddie always impresses, but I'm really pleasantly surprised that he's still got that clean part of his upper range without having to break into falsetto. After The Game it seemed that side of his voice had disappeared. Not quite top four, but almost.

 

Ride The Wild Wind: I said in an earlier post this was a Roger Taylor track if I ever heard one, and I stand by that here. It's somewhere between I'm In Love With My Car, Breakthru, and The Invisible Man, but seem's much more reliant on it's driving beat than it's potential for dynamic, which is initially a tad disappointing, but overall makes a lot of sense. I also said earlier that this would probably be a ton of fun to listen to while driving, and I think that's really the whole point of this song. So I don't think I can fairly rate it until I get a chance to hear it on the freeway or something. Seems great though.

 

I'll do the second half later.

[Amps211]

Okay, three times through, so here's my first impressions review:

 

Innuendo is a very different Queen than I'm used to. Familiar in many ways, but strikingly different in many others. You're average Queen album contains a feverish sense of humor, of camp and pomp, which runs through the lifeblood of the record. Innuendo has much of that, but it's not a euphoric release of laughter like in the past, it's a hysterical, slightly mad chuckle (which of course makes perfect sense with I'm Going Slightly Mad). It's not such a bright album as many others. It becomes very apparent that a new sense of dread or finality has overtaken the band's mentality with many of the tracks, whereas others seem to want to escape those tones, but fail to overtake them. It feels like a great, brave battle between the reminiscent and lightweight and the inevitable and final. What I'm trying to say is, it's obvious Freddie was dying. This is the album of a dying man and his helpless band. They seem to put their all into every song, but the overhanging dread of Freddie's health clouds their usual musical instincts and leads to some very strange, unorthodox experiments, juxtaposed with some determined attempts to reinvoke Queen of the past with varying degrees of success. All of this said, it's a wonderful, insane album which should rank very highly for me once I get used to it. So the songs:

 

Innuendo: Masterful epic Queen track, and done by Roger to boot. This one really succeeds in fusing the star power of Queen in the eighties with the proggy, imaginative, almost hilarious abandon of Queen in the mid seventies. The strange juxtaposition of sections reminds me more of The March of the Black Queen, The Millionaire's Waltz, or The Prophet's Song than Bohemian Rhapsody, but these songs all fall in that same epic category for Queen, and when Queen taps into that area they come out with a masterpiece every time. Easily one of my top four on the record, and very indicative of the succeeding tones on the album.

 

I'm Going Slightly Mad: Has Freddie ever been more seventies Freddie than this? Even in the seventies? This song perfectly encapsulates that tone of diminishing sanity which prevails on the album, and it's of course masterfully written. One of Fred's best definitely, and sung in his lower register as well for more exp<b></b>ression. I love this one, another top four.

 

Headlong: Hm, all the markings of a wonderful Queen rocker from Brian, but without the same sense of driving excitement for me. I have my theories for why it fails to live up to songs like Hammer To Fall or One Vision, but they could of course be wrong. At any rate, it's a great song and a great rocker, but upon the first couple listens I do wish it had the same flow as their older rockers. I do like it though, quite a lot, and the chorus is excellent.

 

I Can't Live With You: So we're continuing with the rock vibe which battles the finality of it all. Overall I find it a more interesting rocker than Headlong, but with a similar lack of flow and classic Queen rocker sound. The choir vocals are always wonderful (I don't think this band has misused them once), though the opening chorus is shocking in it's jauntiness. I probably would rate it a tad higher than Headlong, but not in my top four.

 

Don't Try So Hard: Sweet sweet music to my ears. We've reached a real ballad here, one which hardens back to the most heartbreaking confessionals of early Queen. I'm talking White Queen, You Take My Breath Away, Love Of My Life stuff here, though maybe without quite as memorable of a hook as those last two. Anyways I love this one, as I'm a sucker for this stuff when it comes to Queen. Freddie always impresses, but I'm really pleasantly surprised that he's still got that clean part of his upper range without having to break into falsetto. After The Game it seemed that side of his voice had disappeared. Not quite top four, but almost.

 

Ride The Wild Wind: I said in an earlier post this was a Roger Taylor track if I ever heard one, and I stand by that here. It's somewhere between I'm In Love With My Car, Breakthru, and The Invisible Man, but seem's much more reliant on it's driving beat than it's potential for dynamic, which is initially a tad disappointing, but overall makes a lot of sense. I also said earlier that this would probably be a ton of fun to listen to while driving, and I think that's really the whole point of this song. So I don't think I can fairly rate it until I get a chance to hear it on the freeway or something. Seems great though.

 

I'll do the second half later.

 

Awesome post !! Looking forward to the second half ... I remember having the cassett years ago and loving days of our lives ... Freddie still sits atop my list of all time favorite rock vocalists

[The Cat 3]

Okay, three times through, so here's my first impressions review:

 

Innuendo is a very different Queen than I'm used to. Familiar in many ways, but strikingly different in many others. You're average Queen album contains a feverish sense of humor, of camp and pomp, which runs through the lifeblood of the record. Innuendo has much of that, but it's not a euphoric release of laughter like in the past, it's a hysterical, slightly mad chuckle (which of course makes perfect sense with I'm Going Slightly Mad). It's not such a bright album as many others. It becomes very apparent that a new sense of dread or finality has overtaken the band's mentality with many of the tracks, whereas others seem to want to escape those tones, but fail to overtake them. It feels like a great, brave battle between the reminiscent and lightweight and the inevitable and final. What I'm trying to say is, it's obvious Freddie was dying. This is the album of a dying man and his helpless band. They seem to put their all into every song, but the overhanging dread of Freddie's health clouds their usual musical instincts and leads to some very strange, unorthodox experiments, juxtaposed with some determined attempts to reinvoke Queen of the past with varying degrees of success. All of this said, it's a wonderful, insane album which should rank very highly for me once I get used to it. So the songs:

 

I think you hit it right on the head. Freddie, Brian, John and Roger knew time was short and really wanted to honour Freddie's desire to make more music. There are some great, and heartbreaking stories of Freddie have little or no energy to get to the studio, etc...but, once there just belted out songs and made music on a whole other (almost supernatural) level...amazing show of bravery and determination I read the album story on Queen's website that gives some insight into the process.

[The Cat 3]

INNUENDO By Greg Brooks and Gary Taylor

 

　

 

Queen's 14th studio album, and their first of the 1990s, was recorded at Metropolis and Mountain Studios, in London and Montreux Switzerland, respectively, between March 1989 and November 1990.

 

　

 

It would prove to be the last album Freddie Mercury worked upon, and yet also, despite his hugely deteriorating health, a work containing some of his most powerful and emotive vocal performances of all.

 

　

 

Produced by Queen and David Richards, Innuendo contains several of the band's best known hits and most memorable videos.

 

　

 

Sadly, however, though much of the material would have been perfect for the live show, none of it was ever destined to be heard in that context.

 

　

 

Freddie lost his battle for life on Sunday November 24th 1991, nine months after the release of the album.

 

　

 

The nearest Queen came to recreating the Innuendo material in the live domain, was at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert of April 1992. Roger, John and Brian performed the title track with legendary Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant singing vocals, and later they backed Lisa Stansfield and George Michael for a rousing recital of These Are The Days Of Our Lives and Elton John for The Show Must Go On.

 

　

 

Innuendo was released on Feb 4th 1991 and a week later crashed into the UK album charts at No 1, ultimately achieving platinum sales status.

 

　

 

The album would also attain the No 1 position in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Portugal and Italy.

 

　

 

Released a day later in the U.S., the album peaked at No 30 and achieved gold sales status as the first Queen LP to do so in America since The Works in 1984.

 

　

 

The album cover was designed by the band and Richard Gray, and featured various illustrations inspired by an eighteenth century illustrator called Granville (1803-1847).

 

　

 

The idea had come from Roger when he found a book of illustrations and showed one particular black and white pencil drawing, A Juggler Of Universes, to the band.

 

　

 

They loved it and Richard Gray was called in with a view to adapting the image for the front cover.

 

　

 

Additional illustrations by Angela Lumley also based on Granville's work were used on the back cover and also for numerous subsequent worldwide singles sleeves.

 

　

 

At the time of the Innuendo sessions, only the few people closest to Freddie knew the extent of his illness and just how little time was left.

 

　

 

As has been confirmed several times since, the four band members closed ranks and pulled together like never before in order to support Freddie in every way possible, for as long as they could, through the final months of his life, and this included keeping the truth from the world's media until the very last moment.

 

　

 

The fans, meantime, though having seen Freddie's startling appearance in recent Queen videos and at the BPI awards ceremony on television, while aware something was very wrong, were completely unprepared for the devastating news contained within Freddie's last press statement, released one day before he died, in which he confirmed he was suffering with AIDS.

 

　

 

Despite his personal anguish and suffering, Freddie somehow found the strength to muster some truly breathtaking vocal performances for Innuendo, digging deep within himself and finding a depth and spirit like never before.

 

　

 

He reached truly dazzling heights, seemed to find a new dimension to his voice, and poured his very soul into every note.

 

　

 

This is all the more remarkable when one considers his physical condition at during this time, as is so poignantly evident in the last videos he filmed; I'm Going Slightly Mad and These Are The Days Of Our Lives.

 

　

 

As Brian May would later recall, Freddie could barely stand up during the final sessions, every hour he was present at the Mountain studios required superhuman effort, and yet none of this is evident on the final album.

 

　

 

It is impossible to believe that the extraordinary voice behind songs such as Headlong, All God's People, Don't Try So Hard, The Show Must Go On and the album's title track, could have been recorded by someone as ill and physically weak as Freddie was.

 

　

 

Many people agree that these performances (and those to later emerge on the final album) are not only great, but among the best and most moving of his entire career.

 

　

 

As with its predecessor The Miracle, in 1989, all songs (but one) on Innuendo were credited to all four Queen members equally, regardless of who actually conceived them.

 

　

 

(All God's People is the exception; originating from Freddie's 1988 Barcelona sessions, and co-written with Mike Moran).

 

　

 

This was another clever Freddie idea, and rather a generous at that one when one considers that Freddie had historically written the bulk of the band's most successful hits.

 

　

 

The equal billing concept was the perfect solution to the age-old problem of whose track gets chosen as a single, whose tracks are B-sides, whose songs are disregarded, and all the related writing royalty issues that always arise.

 

　

 

These troublesome aspects albums and singles have dogged numerous bands and been the catalyst for endless arguments through many decades, even splitting some groups up, but from 1989 onwards, for Queen at least, the problem was overcome with Freddie's forward-thinking.

 

　

 

When Innuendo emerged in February 1991, with the cloak of secrecy around Freddie still tighter than ever, it was praised by fans as one of the strongest ever, and, most significantly, was universally acclaimed by the press too.

 

　

 

The reviews were uncommonly flattering and with the title track song having already entered the UK charts at No 1 a month earlier, Queen were very much back with a bang!

 

　

 

With hindsight, many of the songs on Innuendo are extremely personal, and that was not necessarily evident at the time the LP first emerged.

 

　

 

Certain songs are clearly written in the knowledge that Freddie's battle for life is nearing the end, and with the band members struggling to come to terms with the imminent reality of losing the person they would later describe as "the most beloved member of their family."

 

　

 

Both Brian and Roger would much later explain that the Innuendo sessions, and slightly later recordings that would eventually make up the Made In Heaven album (released some years after Freddie's death), was a curious mixture of great sadness and joy, with moments of humour and some of the best times the four men ever enjoyed together.

 

　

 

For both the final two Queen albums the band united like never before and were closer than at any time previously, albeit with the cloud of impending calamity ever present.

 

　

 

Freddie, Roger, John and Brian made maximum use of every second available to them in the studio and recorded as much as they could in the time they had left, precisely as Freddie had requested.

 

　

 

The Show Must Go On has to be singled out as probably the most poignant and emotive recording on the album, and of course is the track that closes the LP.

 

　

 

Freddie and Brian conceived and developed this song together, with Brian furiously scribbling down lyrics for Freddie to put down on tape while he still could.

 

　

 

It is a triumph on every level, and of course it would become a much loved Queen classic.

 

　

 

Queen's last live performances were in 1986, on the colossal Magic Tour of Europe.

 

　

 

In ordinary circumstances the band would no doubt have toured with the Innuendo album throughout 1991.

 

　

 

Just as they had done so many times before, the so-called touring Queen Machine would have surely criss-crossed the globe far and wide, enjoying a string of international singles hits along the way, and then, into 1992, as destiny would have it, the Wayne's World film launching Bohemian Rhapsody back into the world forum again, becoming a huge hit in the U.S., and no doubt the American/Canadian leg of the Innuendo tour would have seen renewed interest in Queen for the first time since 1982.

 

　

 

Alas, the devastating passing of Freddie meant that Queen never got to play these wonderful songs in concert, nor indeed the hits contained upon the previous album The Miracle. Freddie once quipped, flippantly as ever, that it would probably take his death for Queen to win back America again, and sure enough that is more or less what happened. Rhapsody reached No 2 in the U.S. in Feb 1992 seven places higher than with its inaugural release in 1975.

 

　

 

Innuendo, the title track, and at over six minutes the longest Queen single since Bohemian Rhapsody, was the first single issued from the album. An epic track, taking in several diverse musical styles - an intrinsic Queen trademark and featuring Spanish guitar from Steve Howe, the disc was released on January 14th 1991.

 

　

 

Coupled with Brian's guitar-based Bijou, the single entered the UK charts at No 1 and gave Queen their third UK chart topper the first since the David Bowie Under Pressure collaboration of ten years earlier.

 

　

 

It was also No 1 in South Africa and Portugal. Incredibly the song was only ever issued as a promotional CD in America. Hollywood Records, Queen's brand new record label in the U.S, to whom they had recently signed (in Feb 1990) instead put out Headlong as the first single.

 

　

 

The Innuendo video was directed by Jerry Hibbert and Rudi Dolezal, and is an animation tour de force. Plasticine models of the band which alone took four weeks to create are one of the innovative highlights of the piece, and at over six minutes in length this film is certainly among Queen's most spectacular, expensive and memorable.

 

　

 

Many edits of the video were released, but with only one so far available on an official home video compilation.

 

　

 

The video won several prestigious awards, including the top Gold Camera award at the 1991 American Film and Video Festival in Chicago.

 

　

 

The next single was the rather uncharacteristic but at the same time typically unconventional Freddie gem I'm Going Slightly Mad. Paired with The Hitman, a hugely contrasting heavy number, which again would have been perfect for the live show had circumstances been different, and featuring a somewhat stark and unforgettable video, Slightly Mad (released on March 4th) climbed to only No 22 in the UK, and again was not issued in the U.S. Slightly Mad CD singles also included Brian's non-album blues track Lost Opportunity, featuring lead vocals sung by Brian, and these discs have become quite sought-after.

 

　

 

The Slightly Mad video was once again directed by the Do-Ro partnership of Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher and was shot at Limehouse Studios in London in February 1991.

 

　

 

The song depicts some of the numerous weird and wonderful aspects of Freddie's tongue in cheek lyric; a man in a gorilla suit with a banana, a thousand yellow (silk) daffodils, live penguins, a giant screw, and Roger on a tricycle and not forgetting Roger snipping off the bottom of John Deacon's tie with scissors.

 

　

 

The Slightly Mad video is great fun, and despite Freddie's obvious physical deterioration cleverly masked beneath heavy make-up, has become a great favourite. Brian May's Headlong one of two songs originally intended for his solo album of the time but ultimately hijacked by Queen for this album (the other being I Can't Live With You) became the third single taken from Innuendo.

 

　

 

Released on May 13th, and partnered with the greatly underrated Freddie Mercury/Mike Moran All God's People, the disc reached No 14 in the UK, but faired less well in America, where it was coupled instead with Under Pressure. The CD single and 12" vinyl releases had the addition of a long forgotten classic Queen/Roy Thomas Baker recording from way back in 1973, in Freddie's intriguing Mad The Swine a song intended for the first Queen album but ultimately left off because, it is rumoured, of differences of opinion between the band and Producer.

 

　

 

It was a curious title to suddenly pull from the archive, but from the fans point of view, a hugely appreciated one.

 

　

 

The Headlong video, featuring an extra guitar line that was not available elsewhere, was directed by the Do-Ro partnership and was filmed in April 1991 at Metropolis recording studios in London, where the band had just completed work on the album.

 

　

 

The penultimate single from Innuendo, and the last to be released in Freddie's lifetime, came on October 14th, with The Show Must Go On.

 

　

 

The choice of B-side was something of a mystery at the time, provoking much discussion and debate among fans, and still to this day the speculation has been neither denied or confirmed. Brian May's Keep Yourself Alive, from the 1973 debut LP, was of course Queen's very first single, and thus it has been suggested that pairing the song with The Show Must Go On may have been because the band knew it would be their last single with Freddie.

 

　

 

Though entirely plausible, it has never been established for certain one way or the other.

 

　

 

Regardless of speculation, The Show Must Go On did prove to be the final single in Freddie's time, and did also have as its flipside the first ever single.

 

　

 

Whatever the origins, and whether or not there was some design to it, it was a greatly fitting merging of songs, with equally fitting lyrics, and it reached No 16 in the UK charts. Following Freddie's death at the end of November, the song re-entered the charts and spent longer in the top 75 second time around than in its debut appearance.

 

　

 

The Dolezal/Rossacher accompanying video is that of a beautifully edited compilation of Queen footage from the 1980s, containing some wonderful larger than life images of Freddie during happier times, and celebrating the launch of Queen's Greatest Hits II and Flix II packages, also released in this month.

 

　

 

In America, Hollywood Records instead put out Roger Taylor's exquisite and uncommonly reflective These Are The Days Of Our Lives.

 

　

 

Featuring one of Freddie's most gorgeous and heart-wrenching vocals ever, matched by equally emotive words, the song was paired with Bijou and released on September 5th 1991, the day of Freddie's 45th birthday.

 

　

 

Following Freddie's death in November, and largely as a result of public demand or at least persuasive suggestion EMI issued Bohemian Rhapsody c/w These Are The Days Of Our Lives (a double A-side) as a tribute to the great man on December 9th 1991.

 

　

 

Partnered by the last video Freddie filmed, in which of course he is physically a shadow of his former self, and which many fans feel unable to watch, the disc stormed to the top of the UK chart and followed suit in numerous other territories too, including Ireland, Poland and Portugal.

 

　

 

The single was the UK's Christmas number one of 1991. Hollywood in America instead released Bohemian Rhapsody c/w The Show Must Go On, in February of 1992, where the single reached No 2.

 

　

 

Producers: Queen and David Richards Engineers: David Richards. Assistant engineers: Noel Harris & Justin Shirley -Smith Recording Studios: Metropolis and Mountain Studios Date Recorded: January 1989 Novemeber 1990 Artwork Concept: Queen and Richard Gray Award Status: Platinum (UK) Gold (US)

Edited February 1, 2016 by ReGorLaTroy

[Segue Myles]

INNUENDO By Greg Brooks and Gary Taylor

 

　

 

Queen's 14th studio album, and their first of the 1990s, was recorded at Metropolis and Mountain Studios, in London and Montreux Switzerland, respectively, between March 1989 and November 1990.

 

　

 

It would prove to be the last album Freddie Mercury worked upon, and yet also, despite his hugely deteriorating health, a work containing some of his most powerful and emotive vocal performances of all.

 

　

 

Produced by Queen and David Richards, Innuendo contains several of the band's best known hits and most memorable videos.

 

　

 

Sadly, however, though much of the material would have been perfect for the live show, none of it was ever destined to be heard in that context.

 

　

 

Freddie lost his battle for life on Sunday November 24th 1991, nine months after the release of the album.

 

　

 

The nearest Queen came to recreating the Innuendo material in the live domain, was at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert of April 1992. Roger, John and Brian performed the title track with legendary Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant singing vocals, and later they backed Lisa Stansfield and George Michael for a rousing recital of These Are The Days Of Our Lives and Elton John for The Show Must Go On.

 

　

 

Innuendo was released on Feb 4th 1991 and a week later crashed into the UK album charts at No 1, ultimately achieving platinum sales status.

 

　

 

The album would also attain the No 1 position in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Portugal and Italy.

 

　

 

Released a day later in the U.S., the album peaked at No 30 and achieved gold sales status as the first Queen LP to do so in America since The Works in 1984.

 

　

 

The album cover was designed by the band and Richard Gray, and featured various illustrations inspired by an eighteenth century illustrator called Granville (1803-1847).

 

　

 

The idea had come from Roger when he found a book of illustrations and showed one particular black and white pencil drawing, A Juggler Of Universes, to the band.

 

　

 

They loved it and Richard Gray was called in with a view to adapting the image for the front cover.

 

　

 

Additional illustrations by Angela Lumley also based on Granville's work were used on the back cover and also for numerous subsequent worldwide singles sleeves.

 

　

 

At the time of the Innuendo sessions, only the few people closest to Freddie knew the extent of his illness and just how little time was left.

 

　

 

As has been confirmed several times since, the four band members closed ranks and pulled together like never before in order to support Freddie in every way possible, for as long as they could, through the final months of his life, and this included keeping the truth from the world's media until the very last moment.

 

　

 

The fans, meantime, though having seen Freddie's startling appearance in recent Queen videos and at the BPI awards ceremony on television, while aware something was very wrong, were completely unprepared for the devastating news contained within Freddie's last press statement, released one day before he died, in which he confirmed he was suffering with AIDS.

 

　

 

Despite his personal anguish and suffering, Freddie somehow found the strength to muster some truly breathtaking vocal performances for Innuendo, digging deep within himself and finding a depth and spirit like never before.

 

　

 

He reached truly dazzling heights, seemed to find a new dimension to his voice, and poured his very soul into every note.

 

　

 

This is all the more remarkable when one considers his physical condition at during this time, as is so poignantly evident in the last videos he filmed; I'm Going Slightly Mad and These Are The Days Of Our Lives.

 

　

 

As Brian May would later recall, Freddie could barely stand up during the final sessions, every hour he was present at the Mountain studios required superhuman effort, and yet none of this is evident on the final album.

 

　

 

It is impossible to believe that the extraordinary voice behind songs such as Headlong, All God's People, Don't Try So Hard, The Show Must Go On and the album's title track, could have been recorded by someone as ill and physically weak as Freddie was.

 

　

 

Many people agree that these performances (and those to later emerge on the final album) are not only great, but among the best and most moving of his entire career.

 

　

 

As with its predecessor The Miracle, in 1989, all songs (but one) on Innuendo were credited to all four Queen members equally, regardless of who actually conceived them.

 

　

 

(All God's People is the exception; originating from Freddie's 1988 Barcelona sessions, and co-written with Mike Moran).

 

　

 

This was another clever Freddie idea, and rather a generous at that one when one considers that Freddie had historically written the bulk of the band's most successful hits.

 

　

 

The equal billing concept was the perfect solution to the age-old problem of whose track gets chosen as a single, whose tracks are B-sides, whose songs are disregarded, and all the related writing royalty issues that always arise.

 

　

 

These troublesome aspects albums and singles have dogged numerous bands and been the catalyst for endless arguments through many decades, even splitting some groups up, but from 1989 onwards, for Queen at least, the problem was overcome with Freddie's forward-thinking.

 

　

 

When Innuendo emerged in February 1991, with the cloak of secrecy around Freddie still tighter than ever, it was praised by fans as one of the strongest ever, and, most significantly, was universally acclaimed by the press too.

 

　

 

The reviews were uncommonly flattering and with the title track song having already entered the UK charts at No 1 a month earlier, Queen were very much back with a bang!

 

　

 

With hindsight, many of the songs on Innuendo are extremely personal, and that was not necessarily evident at the time the LP first emerged.

 

　

 

Certain songs are clearly written in the knowledge that Freddie's battle for life is nearing the end, and with the band members struggling to come to terms with the imminent reality of losing the person they would later describe as "the most beloved member of their family."

 

　

 

Both Brian and Roger would much later explain that the Innuendo sessions, and slightly later recordings that would eventually make up the Made In Heaven album (released some years after Freddie's death), was a curious mixture of great sadness and joy, with moments of humour and some of the best times the four men ever enjoyed together.

 

　

 

For both the final two Queen albums the band united like never before and were closer than at any time previously, albeit with the cloud of impending calamity ever present.

 

　

 

Freddie, Roger, John and Brian made maximum use of every second available to them in the studio and recorded as much as they could in the time they had left, precisely as Freddie had requested.

 

　

 

The Show Must Go On has to be singled out as probably the most poignant and emotive recording on the album, and of course is the track that closes the LP.

 

　

 

Freddie and Brian conceived and developed this song together, with Brian furiously scribbling down lyrics for Freddie to put down on tape while he still could.

 

　

 

It is a triumph on every level, and of course it would become a much loved Queen classic.

 

　

 

Queen's last live performances were in 1986, on the colossal Magic Tour of Europe.

 

　

 

In ordinary circumstances the band would no doubt have toured with the Innuendo album throughout 1991.

 

　

 

Just as they had done so many times before, the so-called touring Queen Machine would have surely criss-crossed the globe far and wide, enjoying a string of international singles hits along the way, and then, into 1992, as destiny would have it, the Wayne's World film launching Bohemian Rhapsody back into the world forum again, becoming a huge hit in the U.S., and no doubt the American/Canadian leg of the Innuendo tour would have seen renewed interest in Queen for the first time since 1982.

 

　

 

Alas, the devastating passing of Freddie meant that Queen never got to play these wonderful songs in concert, nor indeed the hits contained upon the previous album The Miracle. Freddie once quipped, flippantly as ever, that it would probably take his death for Queen to win back America again, and sure enough that is more or less what happened. Rhapsody reached No 2 in the U.S. in Feb 1992 seven places higher than with its inaugural release in 1975.

 

　

 

Innuendo, the title track, and at over six minutes the longest Queen single since Bohemian Rhapsody, was the first single issued from the album. An epic track, taking in several diverse musical styles - an intrinsic Queen trademark and featuring Spanish guitar from Steve Howe, the disc was released on January 14th 1991.

 

　

 

Coupled with Brian's guitar-based Bijou, the single entered the UK charts at No 1 and gave Queen their third UK chart topper the first since the David Bowie Under Pressure collaboration of ten years earlier.

 

　

 

It was also No 1 in South Africa and Portugal. Incredibly the song was only ever issued as a promotional CD in America. Hollywood Records, Queen's brand new record label in the U.S, to whom they had recently signed (in Feb 1990) instead put out Headlong as the first single.

 

　

 

The Innuendo video was directed by Jerry Hibbert and Rudi Dolezal, and is an animation tour de force. Plasticine models of the band which alone took four weeks to create are one of the innovative highlights of the piece, and at over six minutes in length this film is certainly among Queen's most spectacular, expensive and memorable.

 

　

 

Many edits of the video were released, but with only one so far available on an official home video compilation.

 

　

 

The video won several prestigious awards, including the top Gold Camera award at the 1991 American Film and Video Festival in Chicago.

 

　

 

The next single was the rather uncharacteristic but at the same time typically unconventional Freddie gem I'm Going Slightly Mad. Paired with The Hitman, a hugely contrasting heavy number, which again would have been perfect for the live show had circumstances been different, and featuring a somewhat stark and unforgettable video, Slightly Mad (released on March 4th) climbed to only No 22 in the UK, and again was not issued in the U.S. Slightly Mad CD singles also included Brian's non-album blues track Lost Opportunity, featuring lead vocals sung by Brian, and these discs have become quite sought-after.

 

　

 

The Slightly Mad video was once again directed by the Do-Ro partnership of Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher and was shot at Limehouse Studios in London in February 1991.

 

　

 

The song depicts some of the numerous weird and wonderful aspects of Freddie's tongue in cheek lyric; a man in a gorilla suit with a banana, a thousand yellow (silk) daffodils, live penguins, a giant screw, and Roger on a tricycle and not forgetting Roger snipping off the bottom of John Deacon's tie with scissors.

 

　

 

The Slightly Mad video is great fun, and despite Freddie's obvious physical deterioration cleverly masked beneath heavy make-up, has become a great favourite. Brian May's Headlong one of two songs originally intended for his solo album of the time but ultimately hijacked by Queen for this album (the other being I Can't Live With You) became the third single taken from Innuendo.

 

　

 

Released on May 13th, and partnered with the greatly underrated Freddie Mercury/Mike Moran All God's People, the disc reached No 14 in the UK, but faired less well in America, where it was coupled instead with Under Pressure. The CD single and 12" vinyl releases had the addition of a long forgotten classic Queen/Roy Thomas Baker recording from way back in 1973, in Freddie's intriguing Mad The Swine a song intended for the first Queen album but ultimately left off because, it is rumoured, of differences of opinion between the band and Producer.

 

　

 

It was a curious title to suddenly pull from the archive, but from the fans point of view, a hugely appreciated one.

 

　

 

The Headlong video, featuring an extra guitar line that was not available elsewhere, was directed by the Do-Ro partnership and was filmed in April 1991 at Metropolis recording studios in London, where the band had just completed work on the album.

 

　

 

The penultimate single from Innuendo, and the last to be released in Freddie's lifetime, came on October 14th, with The Show Must Go On.

 

　

 

The choice of B-side was something of a mystery at the time, provoking much discussion and debate among fans, and still to this day the speculation has been neither denied or confirmed. Brian May's Keep Yourself Alive, from the 1973 debut LP, was of course Queen's very first single, and thus it has been suggested that pairing the song with The Show Must Go On may have been because the band knew it would be their last single with Freddie.

 

　

 

Though entirely plausible, it has never been established for certain one way or the other.

 

　

 

Regardless of speculation, The Show Must Go On did prove to be the final single in Freddie's time, and did also have as its flipside the first ever single.

 

　

 

Whatever the origins, and whether or not there was some design to it, it was a greatly fitting merging of songs, with equally fitting lyrics, and it reached No 16 in the UK charts. Following Freddie's death at the end of November, the song re-entered the charts and spent longer in the top 75 second time around than in its debut appearance.

 

　

 

The Dolezal/Rossacher accompanying video is that of a beautifully edited compilation of Queen footage from the 1980s, containing some wonderful larger than life images of Freddie during happier times, and celebrating the launch of Queen's Greatest Hits II and Flix II packages, also released in this month.

 

　

 

In America, Hollywood Records instead put out Roger Taylor's exquisite and uncommonly reflective These Are The Days Of Our Lives.

 

　

 

Featuring one of Freddie's most gorgeous and heart-wrenching vocals ever, matched by equally emotive words, the song was paired with Bijou and released on September 5th 1991, the day of Freddie's 45th birthday.

 

　

 

Following Freddie's death in November, and largely as a result of public demand or at least persuasive suggestion EMI issued Bohemian Rhapsody c/w These Are The Days Of Our Lives (a double A-side) as a tribute to the great man on December 9th 1991.

 

　

 

Partnered by the last video Freddie filmed, in which of course he is physically a shadow of his former self, and which many fans feel unable to watch, the disc stormed to the top of the UK chart and followed suit in numerous other territories too, including Ireland, Poland and Portugal.

 

　

 

The single was the UK's Christmas number one of 1991. Hollywood in America instead released Bohemian Rhapsody c/w The Show Must Go On, in February of 1992, where the single reached No 2.

 

　

 

Producers: Queen and David Richards Engineers: David Richards. Assistant engineers: Noel Harris & Justin Shirley -Smith Recording Studios: Metropolis and Mountain Studios Date Recorded: January 1989 Novemeber 1990 Artwork Concept: Queen and Richard Gray Award Status: Platinum (UK) Gold (US)

 

Did you write all this yourself?

I could read your essays all day if so!

[The Cat 3]

Segue...

 

At the top you can see it was written by Greg Brooks and Gary Taylor.

 

I pinched it from Queen's website.

 

http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/discography/innuendo/

 

They've got a history of each of their albums such as this.

 

Really worth reading.

[Segue Myles]

Segue...

 

At the top you can see it was written by Greg Brooks and Gary Taylor.

 

I pinched it from Queen's website.

 

http://www.queenonli...raphy/innuendo/

 

They've got a history of each of their albums such as this.

 

Really worth reading.

Coo

CoolCool!

 

I like three albums now so fingers crossed!

[goose]

I have to say that 'News of the World' is just tremendous to me, and 'It's Late' has quickly shot to the top of my favorite Queen songs. Just stunning!!!

 

:dweez: :dweez: :dweez: :notworthy: :7up: :7up: :7up: :ebert: :ebert: :ebert: :clap: :clap: :clap: :yay: :yay: :yay: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Entre_Perpetuo]

I Can't Live With You keeps popping back in my head. If that's not one of the catchiest things they've ever written, dang! I love it, it gets a real Jackson 5 feeling right at the end with the descending baseline and Fred's "kid MJ like" improv. Greater track than I first gave it credit for. Also, the neat electronic guitar stuff in Headlong is helping make that song more interesting for me now, another great one. I still don't know where this thing is going in my ranking, but I'm pretty darn sure it only goes up from here.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Innuendo gets better every day. I'll post that second half sometime over the weekend. (Nearly posted it a couple days ago, but I changed pages right as I was finishing it and when I came back it had disappeared)

 

Actually I might even redo the first half, because the sheer mamosity of the first two tracks really left me less able to fully enjoy the more simplistic nature of the next two upon my first few listens . . . And really everything else but Days and Show.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Sorry this took so long, I'll try to be breif.

 

All God's People: I love this one, I'd love to hear an a Capella rendition of it as well. Here's an obvious one of Freddie's compositions. Fred kicks off side 2 more whimsically than side one, but with the same tones and feelings of impending doom as his other tracks so far. Not direct, no, but I find so much to read between the lines on this record, I'm sure you've already noticed. This track is like Fred's last plea to humanity to be, well, more human. Like earlier songs such as "Is This The World We Created... ?" and "The Miracle," Freddie is obviously more and more moved by the plights of all the disadvantaged people struggling in the world as he reflects on his life and fame and nears the end of it (his life anyway, never the end of his fame). But woven inside this proggy little gem (which I adore) is a short bluesy interlude where he takes the first person and speaks of going into a dream (that's a Beatles quote btw). Amazingly, it blends rather seamlessly with the rest of the song, which is awesome as the African vibes of the moodier sections of the tune are matched in the bluesy midsection by its African-American bluesiness, which sounds wonderful. I was very disoriented the first time I heard this one, as the initial vocals don't seem to imply the same tempo as the percussion, which left me struggling for the beat, but I suppose this helps it create that very acceptingly pessimistic vibe which Fred has been painting all over this record so far. The vocals are of course wonderful, especially Roger's high notes towards the end. Definitely harkens back to 70s Queen opretic-progginess while remaining a firmly late-period Queen song. Fred's been winning

The Game of this album so far, the epic battle between hopeful remniscence and accepting pessimism, but Roger's about to give him a run for his money...

 

These Are The Days Of Our Lives: The African drum intro segues naturally from the Afro vibes all over the last little gem, but quickly the music turns to stereotypical eighties fare...or so one might be tempted to think. As soon as Freddie starts singing, the dated or cliched music matters not at all, because this is one of the best songs of their long and storied career, and the climax of the album's unwritten story/concept. Roger has played a vital role in establishing this albums main theme with his contributions to Innuendo, and also in fighting on the side of Brian with the distracted and carefree "Ride The Wild Wind," but he must've recognized his earlier song was lacking something to really beat the pessimism and foreboding out of Freddie, so he concocted something else, something with more purpose, more emotion, more empathy. He wrote These Are The Day's Of Our Lives for Freddie, to get him to focus on the positive aspects of his situation and celebrate his greatest joys in life. Freddie is miraculously convinced. Hope, optimism, positive reflection, happiness can prevail indeed in this time of struggle and doubt and foreboding darkness. In possibly Roger's greatest ever composition (though I hold out for personal favorite "Breakthru"), the battle between light and darkness finally turns in favor of light and this album takes a whole new direction...only Brian gets in the way. Brian, the main proponent of the happiness and remniscence and distractions in this struggle, seems to be losing that very same battle within his own heart, as Fred's superior compositions have started winning him over to the side of foreboding. Brian's contribution to this track is a minor tinged, emotive, and ultimately bittersweet guitar solo focusing more on the bitter, fitting into a major tinged, emotive, and bittersweet song, focusing on the sweet. But Freddie is still convinced, and he has the last say in things with his famous final moment on camera, "I still love you." Excellent, excellent song. One of their all time best, and it convinces Freddie to be happy, which leads him to...

 

Delilah: Ah yes, the infamous ditty about Freddie's favorite feline. I love it. It's exactly the kind of thing this album needed, a strong reminder of its sense of humor in a positive light (as opposed to the sheer ticking insanity on I'm Going Slightly Mad earlier). It's light, almost entirely Freddie, catchy, funny, and a breath of fresh air in this densely populated record. Even after his doubts on the last song, Roger's masterwork seems to have convinced him back the other way again as his guitar work is at it's most playful and joyous since the previous album, even coaxing meows out of his red special. Not much can really be said for this track other than it follows up its predecessor quite nicely and really breathes some new life into the album. But its lack of remarkability means it cannot sustain the happiness of the previous song past its own run time, and the space between sides which connects it to the next track leaves plenty of room for someone to go doubting again.

 

The Hitman: I don't know who's the culprit here, but somewhere between Delilah and The Hitman, someone lost their faith in happiness and remniscence in favor of foreboding and realism again. Perhaps they all finally took a second to realize John wasn't writing much and discovered the darkness emanating from his lack of major presence on the record. This wasn't just Deacy being quiet, he was too shaken up and distraught by Freddie's impending death to follow Brian and Roger's attempts at happiness or distraction in the face of it all. The dark forces found a way back into the band somehow, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was Deacy's totally understandable behaviors which led the others back down the path of darkness. Brian had already started doubting, Roger had helped to establish the darkness in the first place, and Fredde of course had been its major proponent throughout most of the record so far. So here we have it, the band chooses to rock out again, but the darkness worms its way back in, and instead of another rollicking classic rocker like Headlong, they display their anger and foreboding and fear in much the same style as "Great King Rat," "Gimme The Prize," or "White Man." Positive sides though, this is an excellent rocker, I like it better than Headlong. Queen are at their heaviest or second heaviest levels again and refuse to turn down the volume. The Hitman in the song may be Freddie, sure, but I garner that he's personifying the darkness on the album, the AIDS and pneumonia which are breathing down his neck at every corner, leaving him nowhere to run. Fred's back voicing the darkness again, more directly than ever.

This time he doesn't mask it or imply it or play games with it, he just speaks directly for it and embodies the sheer power it has over all of its challengers. "Here I am, I am death. I will find you, and I will kill you." But now the whole band is behind him, the power of the darkness eats up the positivity and distracted happiness of the light which Roger and Brian momentarily succeeded in establishing. But when the darkness consumes the light, it cannot remain uneffected. Here's where we enter the final scenes of the final act of this totally implied and totally real rock opera. And it kicked off with a bang.

 

Bijou: So has darkness won out then? Heck no! Freddie's gotten worse, but in the face of impending doom and death, the band finally united and rocked like it was 1973 again. So now Brian, really the most dynamic character of this whole show, has a heart to heart with his dying friend Freddie. They reverse the usual structure of a song, showing Freddie's part here is less important, though still vital. This song though is about Brian, overcoming his demons and accepted Freddie's imminent passing. He's gotten distractions and remniscence out of his system, he's gone throug his many doubts and fears, and now he writes a love letter to his dear friend, also speaking for the whole band through his emotive guitar solo performance (finally John getting to have somewhat of a voice via the introspective and personal nature of Brian's soloing). Freddie comes in and replies in the middle, affirming the love and brotherhood between the two and really between the whole band, but Freddie's not had much of a lesson to learn on this record. His character was complete by the sheer work ethic and bravery he had already put into every single song, singing for both sides all the way though, though his mind was often firmly rooted in the foreboding, as a response to the lack of acceptance of Brian and Roger. Freddie already had it all figured out, and though he played along with Roger and Brian's reminiscences and distractions for a couple tunes, once they began accepting the darkness Fred slipped back into his previous role, master of the album's themes of foreboding and acceptance and finality. This late night conversation and conversion between Freddie and Brian, the story's two most important characters, sets the stage for what is to come in the perfect calm before the perfect storm. So now John's been working with Roger on a new chord progression, which falls firmly in the minor key of impending death, but he does finally start to contribute. Roger has satisfied himself with that climax of happiness and remniscence he provided and now is willing to accept the finality of it all. Freddie has at last gotten to his endgame and the point where he will make the real truth of his whole life clear, and Brian has fundamentally changed from the start of the album, his heart to heart with Freddie inspiring the lyrics which Fred is too weak to write but perfectly sum up everything which has passed and which must be learned from the story of Queen. Here it comes ladies and gentlemen, the final scene...

 

The Show Must Go On:

John's and Roger's keyboard progression sets the stage: moody, minor, but sure of itself and its decent and its finality. Roger checks his drums with one simple fill as a last check before his last performance of this kind. Brian talks to Freddie backstage just before they go on and Fred directly reassures him that he has got the strength to do this. Fred starts singing, and Brian leans into the song with a bit of guitar violiniing, turning up his volume to set himself for the final scene, and John leaves the keys running to grab his bass. Fred begins assuredly, dramatically, and questioning "empty spaces, what are we living for? Abandoned places, I guess we know the score. On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?" Here he is fully himself, returning to the grand scale questions of Innuendo (title track) to sharpen the finality of his message, expressing his weariness with the sufferings of the world, his tone almost sarcasticly disgusted, but too assured and driven to be just that. He's only setting himself up, then he cries momentarily "hold the line!" and asks as if he's rallying an army of humanity to his side "does anybody want to take it anymore?" ...BOOM!!! The stage is lit from every angle, the instruments collectively roar, like the lions on Queen's own crest, summoning a Phoenix with their thunder. "The Show Must Go On!" Freddie demands, repeating! He cries for the world, the audience, the performers, the crew, for all to continue on, even as their hearts break and their make-up falls away, to continue smiling and creating the magic of the performance, just as he is doing in the very moment. Next a key change, he has another idea to address, of greater importance than the last verse. "Whatever happens, I leave it all to chance. Another heartache, another failed romance." He harkens back to the weary tone of the previous verse but with a newfound acceptance. Then he questions again "does anybody know what we are living for?" Once again in the same vein as his cries for meaning in the title and opening track. Then he begins to connect the verses and the choruses by reflecting on his own experience. "I guess I'm learning, I must be warmer now. I'll soon be turning, round the corner now," he goes from finding his own answers to warning the world of his short time left in the world. And if that didn't show them he was dying, the next line, sung quickly and without much time to consider its meaning, should've made it abundantly clear "outside the dawn is breaking, but inside in the dark I'm aching to be free." He's bedridden, already separated from the life and renewing energies of free life on earth, in a much darker state. Then the chorus explodes again, seemingly louder this time, Freddie crying out that he mustn't give up, and neither can we. Then the bridge, the synths go into arpeggios and open the curtains to reveal a major key, a rainbow of color and light floods the stage as Mercury reflects on his vast and varied experiences "my soul is painted like the wings of butterflies, fairy tails of yesterday they grow but never die!" Here he does almost his final bit of reminiscing, borrowing the light and major key from the lesson Roger taught him at the album's climax, musing that his legend will live on long after him. But then he finished his optimism with a reassurance not to worry about him "I can fly my friends!" He's lived a full and colorful life, which will be forever remembered, and now he can soar onto the next stage of existence, leaving this stage (I'd imagine him soaring above the stage at this point reaching for heaven). But then the band thrusts it back into the minor chorus, affirming Freddie's sentiment with their choir of backing vocals, and Freddie reaffirming himself and them with a classic "Yeah!" Now he's really coming to the end, and every step becomes harder, but he cries out, tears welling in his eyes "I'll face it with a grin, I'm never giving in. On with the show!" And fittingly, he doesn't stop there as the chorus continues for one final round. As a closing affirmation, Fred declares one last time "I'll top the bill, I'll overkill, I have to find the will to carry on," sounding like the last words of a man who's conciousness is slipping as if into a dream and who's life is fading fast. And here we have it, one last time. Freddie's last sung words to the world, he screams his heart out, "The show!!!!"...and drops out, implying his valiant death, fighting till the bitter end, and his choir of comrades finish the final phrase, letting it echo on nearly ad infinitum as a plea to the world. "The show must go on. Go on. Go on. Go on." And with that Queen's career with Freddie is summed up. The battle is over. Death may have won, but that one fallen soldier provided enough inspiration to sustain those who carry on the show for the rest of all time. No final message better suited Freddie, not even his own closing words in Queen's all time masterpiece, Bohemian Rhapsody. That was another character's life, one who didn't care when he was dead. And while that still represents Freddie, Mecury's real final moments bring to him the realization that he must ask the world to move on and to continue without him in it. To assure them his inspiration will live on and to ask them never to forget it is just another way of saying, "it doesn't really matter when I'm dead, nothing really matters to me then/I leave it all to chance, whatever happens/anyway the wind blows, but just because I'm gone doesn't mean you should stop the show, it must go on." (Ficticious quote btw). This final track just restates and finishes saying what Freddie must've hoped was common sense when he wrote Bohemian Rhapsody all those years ago, but it does so masterfully and perfectly concludes the legend's career. Mercury is one of my biggest heroes, always will be, and this album and the story behind it are one of the biggest reasons why.

 

 

All that said, I'm having a lot of trouble placing it writhing my ranking of Queen's albums, because I do have some production complaints, some of the songwriting is not their best stuff, and Deacy is not as adequately replaced by the other three on this record as he was on Queen and Queen II, so his large level of absense is really felt. But it is an epic story if you read between the lines like I have, and most of the songs are great, with a few among the greatest of Queen's career. Also, I don't claim that any of the stuff I put in here about an epic battle between the light and the dark ideas circulating Freddie's then impending death is actually real or was really intended, but it's what I see, and as my favorite Freddie quote goes "if you see it, darling, then it's there." Hope you enjoy reading, sorry it's soooooooooo long.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

Sorry this took so long, I'll try to be breif.

 

All God's People: I love this one, I'd love to hear an a Capella rendition of it as well. Here's an obvious one of Freddie's compositions. Fred kicks off side 2 more whimsically than side one, but with the same tones and feelings of impending doom as his other tracks so far. Not direct, no, but I find so much to read between the lines on this record, I'm sure you've already noticed. This track is like Fred's last plea to humanity to be, well, more human. Like earlier songs such as "Is This The World We Created... ?" and "The Miracle," Freddie is obviously more and more moved by the plights of all the disadvantaged people struggling in the world as he reflects on his life and fame and nears the end of it (his life anyway, never the end of his fame). But woven inside this proggy little gem (which I adore) is a short bluesy interlude where he takes the first person and speaks of going into a dream (that's a Beatles quote btw). Amazingly, it blends rather seamlessly with the rest of the song, which is awesome as the African vibes of the moodier sections of the tune are matched in the bluesy midsection by its African-American bluesiness, which sounds wonderful. I was very disoriented the first time I heard this one, as the initial vocals don't seem to imply the same tempo as the percussion, which left me struggling for the beat, but I suppose this helps it create that very acceptingly pessimistic vibe which Fred has been painting all over this record so far. The vocals are of course wonderful, especially Roger's high notes towards the end. Definitely harkens back to 70s Queen opretic-progginess while remaining a firmly late-period Queen song. Fred's been winning

The Game of this album so far, the epic battle between hopeful remniscence and accepting pessimism, but Roger's about to give him a run for his money...

 

These Are The Days Of Our Lives: The African drum intro segues naturally from the Afro vibes all over the last little gem, but quickly the music turns to stereotypical eighties fare...or so one might be tempted to think. As soon as Freddie starts singing, the dated or cliched music matters not at all, because this is one of the best songs of their long and storied career, and the climax of the album's unwritten story/concept. Roger has played a vital role in establishing this albums main theme with his contributions to Innuendo, and also in fighting on the side of Brian with the distracted and carefree "Ride The Wild Wind," but he must've recognized his earlier song was lacking something to really beat the pessimism and foreboding out of Freddie, so he concocted something else, something with more purpose, more emotion, more empathy. He wrote These Are The Day's Of Our Lives for Freddie, to get him to focus on the positive aspects of his situation and celebrate his greatest joys in life. Freddie is miraculously convinced. Hope, optimism, positive reflection, happiness can prevail indeed in this time of struggle and doubt and foreboding darkness. In possibly Roger's greatest ever composition (though I hold out for personal favorite "Breakthru"), the battle between light and darkness finally turns in favor of light and this album takes a whole new direction...only Brian gets in the way. Brian, the main proponent of the happiness and remniscence and distractions in this struggle, seems to be losing that very same battle within his own heart, as Fred's superior compositions have started winning him over to the side of foreboding. Brian's contribution to this track is a minor tinged, emotive, and ultimately bittersweet guitar solo focusing more on the bitter, fitting into a major tinged, emotive, and bittersweet song, focusing on the sweet. But Freddie is still convinced, and he has the last say in things with his famous final moment on camera, "I still love you." Excellent, excellent song. One of their all time best, and it convinces Freddie to be happy, which leads him to...

 

Delilah: Ah yes, the infamous ditty about Freddie's favorite feline. I love it. It's exactly the kind of thing this album needed, a strong reminder of its sense of humor in a positive light (as opposed to the sheer ticking insanity on I'm Going Slightly Mad earlier). It's light, almost entirely Freddie, catchy, funny, and a breath of fresh air in this densely populated record. Even after his doubts on the last song, Roger's masterwork seems to have convinced him back the other way again as his guitar work is at it's most playful and joyous since the previous album, even coaxing meows out of his red special. Not much can really be said for this track other than it follows up its predecessor quite nicely and really breathes some new life into the album. But its lack of remarkability means it cannot sustain the happiness of the previous song past its own run time, and the space between sides which connects it to the next track leaves plenty of room for someone to go doubting again.

 

The Hitman: I don't know who's the culprit here, but somewhere between Delilah and The Hitman, someone lost their faith in happiness and remniscence in favor of foreboding and realism again. Perhaps they all finally took a second to realize John wasn't writing much and discovered the darkness emanating from his lack of major presence on the record. This wasn't just Deacy being quiet, he was too shaken up and distraught by Freddie's impending death to follow Brian and Roger's attempts at happiness or distraction in the face of it all. The dark forces found a way back into the band somehow, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was Deacy's totally understandable behaviors which led the others back down the path of darkness. Brian had already started doubting, Roger had helped to establish the darkness in the first place, and Fredde of course had been its major proponent throughout most of the record so far. So here we have it, the band chooses to rock out again, but the darkness worms its way back in, and instead of another rollicking classic rocker like Headlong, they display their anger and foreboding and fear in much the same style as "Great King Rat," "Gimme The Prize," or "White Man." Positive sides though, this is an excellent rocker, I like it better than Headlong. Queen are at their heaviest or second heaviest levels again and refuse to turn down the volume. The Hitman in the song may be Freddie, sure, but I garner that he's personifying the darkness on the album, the AIDS and pneumonia which are breathing down his neck at every corner, leaving him nowhere to run. Fred's back voicing the darkness again, more directly than ever.

This time he doesn't mask it or imply it or play games with it, he just speaks directly for it and embodies the sheer power it has over all of its challengers. "Here I am, I am death. I will find you, and I will kill you." But now the whole band is behind him, the power of the darkness eats up the positivity and distracted happiness of the light which Roger and Brian momentarily succeeded in establishing. But when the darkness consumes the light, it cannot remain uneffected. Here's where we enter the final scenes of the final act of this totally implied and totally real rock opera. And it kicked off with a bang.

 

Bijou: So has darkness won out then? Heck no! Freddie's gotten worse, but in the face of impending doom and death, the band finally united and rocked like it was 1973 again. So now Brian, really the most dynamic character of this whole show, has a heart to heart with his dying friend Freddie. They reverse the usual structure of a song, showing Freddie's part here is less important, though still vital. This song though is about Brian, overcoming his demons and accepted Freddie's imminent passing. He's gotten distractions and remniscence out of his system, he's gone throug his many doubts and fears, and now he writes a love letter to his dear friend, also speaking for the whole band through his emotive guitar solo performance (finally John getting to have somewhat of a voice via the introspective and personal nature of Brian's soloing). Freddie comes in and replies in the middle, affirming the love and brotherhood between the two and really between the whole band, but Freddie's not had much of a lesson to learn on this record. His character was complete by the sheer work ethic and bravery he had already put into every single song, singing for both sides all the way though, though his mind was often firmly rooted in the foreboding, as a response to the lack of acceptance of Brian and Roger. Freddie already had it all figured out, and though he played along with Roger and Brian's reminiscences and distractions for a couple tunes, once they began accepting the darkness Fred slipped back into his previous role, master of the album's themes of foreboding and acceptance and finality. This late night conversation and conversion between Freddie and Brian, the story's two most important characters, sets the stage for what is to come in the perfect calm before the perfect storm. So now John's been working with Roger on a new chord progression, which falls firmly in the minor key of impending death, but he does finally start to contribute. Roger has satisfied himself with that climax of happiness and remniscence he provided and now is willing to accept the finality of it all. Freddie has at last gotten to his endgame and the point where he will make the real truth of his whole life clear, and Brian has fundamentally changed from the start of the album, his heart to heart with Freddie inspiring the lyrics which Fred is too weak to write but perfectly sum up everything which has passed and which must be learned from the story of Queen. Here it comes ladies and gentlemen, the final scene...

 

The Show Must Go On:

John's and Roger's keyboard progression sets the stage: moody, minor, but sure of itself and its decent and its finality. Roger checks his drums with one simple fill as a last check before his last performance of this kind. Brian talks to Freddie backstage just before they go on and Fred directly reassures him that he has got the strength to do this. Fred starts singing, and Brian leans into the song with a bit of guitar violiniing, turning up his volume to set himself for the final scene, and John leaves the keys running to grab his bass. Fred begins assuredly, dramatically, and questioning "empty spaces, what are we living for? Abandoned places, I guess we know the score. On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?" Here he is fully himself, returning to the grand scale questions of Innuendo (title track) to sharpen the finality of his message, expressing his weariness with the sufferings of the world, his tone almost sarcasticly disgusted, but too assured and driven to be just that. He's only setting himself up, then he cries momentarily "hold the line!" and asks as if he's rallying an army of humanity to his side "does anybody want to take it anymore?" ...BOOM!!! The stage is lit from every angle, the instruments collectively roar, like the lions on Queen's own crest, summoning a Phoenix with their thunder. "The Show Must Go On!" Freddie demands, repeating! He cries for the world, the audience, the performers, the crew, for all to continue on, even as their hearts break and their make-up falls away, to continue smiling and creating the magic of the performance, just as he is doing in the very moment. Next a key change, he has another idea to address, of greater importance than the last verse. "Whatever happens, I leave it all to chance. Another heartache, another failed romance." He harkens back to the weary tone of the previous verse but with a newfound acceptance. Then he questions again "does anybody know what we are living for?" Once again in the same vein as his cries for meaning in the title and opening track. Then he begins to connect the verses and the choruses by reflecting on his own experience. "I guess I'm learning, I must be warmer now. I'll soon be turning, round the corner now," he goes from finding his own answers to warning the world of his short time left in the world. And if that didn't show them he was dying, the next line, sung quickly and without much time to consider its meaning, should've made it abundantly clear "outside the dawn is breaking, but inside in the dark I'm aching to be free." He's bedridden, already separated from the life and renewing energies of free life on earth, in a much darker state. Then the chorus explodes again, seemingly louder this time, Freddie crying out that he mustn't give up, and neither can we. Then the bridge, the synths go into arpeggios and open the curtains to reveal a major key, a rainbow of color and light floods the stage as Mercury reflects on his vast and varied experiences "my soul is painted like the wings of butterflies, fairy tails of yesterday they grow but never die!" Here he does almost his final bit of reminiscing, borrowing the light and major key from the lesson Roger taught him at the album's climax, musing that his legend will live on long after him. But then he finished his optimism with a reassurance not to worry about him "I can fly my friends!" He's lived a full and colorful life, which will be forever remembered, and now he can soar onto the next stage of existence, leaving this stage (I'd imagine him soaring above the stage at this point reaching for heaven). But then the band thrusts it back into the minor chorus, affirming Freddie's sentiment with their choir of backing vocals, and Freddie reaffirming himself and them with a classic "Yeah!" Now he's really coming to the end, and every step becomes harder, but he cries out, tears welling in his eyes "I'll face it with a grin, I'm never giving in. On with the show!" And fittingly, he doesn't stop there as the chorus continues for one final round. As a closing affirmation, Fred declares one last time "I'll top the bill, I'll overkill, I have to find the will to carry on," sounding like the last words of a man who's conciousness is slipping as if into a dream and who's life is fading fast. And here we have it, one last time. Freddie's last sung words to the world, he screams his heart out, "The show!!!!"...and drops out, implying his valiant death, fighting till the bitter end, and his choir of comrades finish the final phrase, letting it echo on nearly ad infinitum as a plea to the world. "The show must go on. Go on. Go on. Go on." And with that Queen's career with Freddie is summed up. The battle is over. Death may have won, but that one fallen soldier provided enough inspiration to sustain those who carry on the show for the rest of all time. No final message better suited Freddie, not even his own closing words in Queen's all time masterpiece, Bohemian Rhapsody. That was another character's life, one who didn't care when he was dead. And while that still represents Freddie, Mecury's real final moments bring to him the realization that he must ask the world to move on and to continue without him in it. To assure them his inspiration will live on and to ask them never to forget it is just another way of saying, "it doesn't really matter when I'm dead, nothing really matters to me then/I leave it all to chance, whatever happens/anyway the wind blows, but just because I'm gone doesn't mean you should stop the show, it must go on." (Ficticious quote btw). This final track just restates and finishes saying what Freddie must've hoped was common sense when he wrote Bohemian Rhapsody all those years ago, but it does so masterfully and perfectly concludes the legend's career. Mercury is one of my biggest heroes, always will be, and this album and the story behind it are one of the biggest reasons why.

 

 

All that said, I'm having a lot of trouble placing it writhing my ranking of Queen's albums, because I do have some production complaints, some of the songwriting is not their best stuff, and Deacy is not as adequately replaced by the other three on this record as he was on Queen and Queen II, so his large level of absense is really felt. But it is an epic story if you read between the lines like I have, and most of the songs are great, with a few among the greatest of Queen's career. Also, I don't claim that any of the stuff I put in here about an epic battle between the light and the dark ideas circulating Freddie's then impending death is actually real or was really intended, but it's what I see, and as my favorite Freddie quote goes "if you see it, darling, then it's there." Hope you enjoy reading, sorry it's soooooooooo long.

 

Well done chief. That was a wonderful critique. Probably the only long post I've ever fully read on TRF.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Sorry this took so long, I'll try to be breif.

 

All God's People: I love this one, I'd love to hear an a Capella rendition of it as well. Here's an obvious one of Freddie's compositions. Fred kicks off side 2 more whimsically than side one, but with the same tones and feelings of impending doom as his other tracks so far. Not direct, no, but I find so much to read between the lines on this record, I'm sure you've already noticed. This track is like Fred's last plea to humanity to be, well, more human. Like earlier songs such as "Is This The World We Created... ?" and "The Miracle," Freddie is obviously more and more moved by the plights of all the disadvantaged people struggling in the world as he reflects on his life and fame and nears the end of it (his life anyway, never the end of his fame). But woven inside this proggy little gem (which I adore) is a short bluesy interlude where he takes the first person and speaks of going into a dream (that's a Beatles quote btw). Amazingly, it blends rather seamlessly with the rest of the song, which is awesome as the African vibes of the moodier sections of the tune are matched in the bluesy midsection by its African-American bluesiness, which sounds wonderful. I was very disoriented the first time I heard this one, as the initial vocals don't seem to imply the same tempo as the percussion, which left me struggling for the beat, but I suppose this helps it create that very acceptingly pessimistic vibe which Fred has been painting all over this record so far. The vocals are of course wonderful, especially Roger's high notes towards the end. Definitely harkens back to 70s Queen opretic-progginess while remaining a firmly late-period Queen song. Fred's been winning

The Game of this album so far, the epic battle between hopeful remniscence and accepting pessimism, but Roger's about to give him a run for his money...

 

These Are The Days Of Our Lives: The African drum intro segues naturally from the Afro vibes all over the last little gem, but quickly the music turns to stereotypical eighties fare...or so one might be tempted to think. As soon as Freddie starts singing, the dated or cliched music matters not at all, because this is one of the best songs of their long and storied career, and the climax of the album's unwritten story/concept. Roger has played a vital role in establishing this albums main theme with his contributions to Innuendo, and also in fighting on the side of Brian with the distracted and carefree "Ride The Wild Wind," but he must've recognized his earlier song was lacking something to really beat the pessimism and foreboding out of Freddie, so he concocted something else, something with more purpose, more emotion, more empathy. He wrote These Are The Day's Of Our Lives for Freddie, to get him to focus on the positive aspects of his situation and celebrate his greatest joys in life. Freddie is miraculously convinced. Hope, optimism, positive reflection, happiness can prevail indeed in this time of struggle and doubt and foreboding darkness. In possibly Roger's greatest ever composition (though I hold out for personal favorite "Breakthru"), the battle between light and darkness finally turns in favor of light and this album takes a whole new direction...only Brian gets in the way. Brian, the main proponent of the happiness and remniscence and distractions in this struggle, seems to be losing that very same battle within his own heart, as Fred's superior compositions have started winning him over to the side of foreboding. Brian's contribution to this track is a minor tinged, emotive, and ultimately bittersweet guitar solo focusing more on the bitter, fitting into a major tinged, emotive, and bittersweet song, focusing on the sweet. But Freddie is still convinced, and he has the last say in things with his famous final moment on camera, "I still love you." Excellent, excellent song. One of their all time best, and it convinces Freddie to be happy, which leads him to...

 

Delilah: Ah yes, the infamous ditty about Freddie's favorite feline. I love it. It's exactly the kind of thing this album needed, a strong reminder of its sense of humor in a positive light (as opposed to the sheer ticking insanity on I'm Going Slightly Mad earlier). It's light, almost entirely Freddie, catchy, funny, and a breath of fresh air in this densely populated record. Even after his doubts on the last song, Roger's masterwork seems to have convinced him back the other way again as his guitar work is at it's most playful and joyous since the previous album, even coaxing meows out of his red special. Not much can really be said for this track other than it follows up its predecessor quite nicely and really breathes some new life into the album. But its lack of remarkability means it cannot sustain the happiness of the previous song past its own run time, and the space between sides which connects it to the next track leaves plenty of room for someone to go doubting again.

 

The Hitman: I don't know who's the culprit here, but somewhere between Delilah and The Hitman, someone lost their faith in happiness and remniscence in favor of foreboding and realism again. Perhaps they all finally took a second to realize John wasn't writing much and discovered the darkness emanating from his lack of major presence on the record. This wasn't just Deacy being quiet, he was too shaken up and distraught by Freddie's impending death to follow Brian and Roger's attempts at happiness or distraction in the face of it all. The dark forces found a way back into the band somehow, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was Deacy's totally understandable behaviors which led the others back down the path of darkness. Brian had already started doubting, Roger had helped to establish the darkness in the first place, and Fredde of course had been its major proponent throughout most of the record so far. So here we have it, the band chooses to rock out again, but the darkness worms its way back in, and instead of another rollicking classic rocker like Headlong, they display their anger and foreboding and fear in much the same style as "Great King Rat," "Gimme The Prize," or "White Man." Positive sides though, this is an excellent rocker, I like it better than Headlong. Queen are at their heaviest or second heaviest levels again and refuse to turn down the volume. The Hitman in the song may be Freddie, sure, but I garner that he's personifying the darkness on the album, the AIDS and pneumonia which are breathing down his neck at every corner, leaving him nowhere to run. Fred's back voicing the darkness again, more directly than ever.

This time he doesn't mask it or imply it or play games with it, he just speaks directly for it and embodies the sheer power it has over all of its challengers. "Here I am, I am death. I will find you, and I will kill you." But now the whole band is behind him, the power of the darkness eats up the positivity and distracted happiness of the light which Roger and Brian momentarily succeeded in establishing. But when the darkness consumes the light, it cannot remain uneffected. Here's where we enter the final scenes of the final act of this totally implied and totally real rock opera. And it kicked off with a bang.

 

Bijou: So has darkness won out then? Heck no! Freddie's gotten worse, but in the face of impending doom and death, the band finally united and rocked like it was 1973 again. So now Brian, really the most dynamic character of this whole show, has a heart to heart with his dying friend Freddie. They reverse the usual structure of a song, showing Freddie's part here is less important, though still vital. This song though is about Brian, overcoming his demons and accepted Freddie's imminent passing. He's gotten distractions and remniscence out of his system, he's gone throug his many doubts and fears, and now he writes a love letter to his dear friend, also speaking for the whole band through his emotive guitar solo performance (finally John getting to have somewhat of a voice via the introspective and personal nature of Brian's soloing). Freddie comes in and replies in the middle, affirming the love and brotherhood between the two and really between the whole band, but Freddie's not had much of a lesson to learn on this record. His character was complete by the sheer work ethic and bravery he had already put into every single song, singing for both sides all the way though, though his mind was often firmly rooted in the foreboding, as a response to the lack of acceptance of Brian and Roger. Freddie already had it all figured out, and though he played along with Roger and Brian's reminiscences and distractions for a couple tunes, once they began accepting the darkness Fred slipped back into his previous role, master of the album's themes of foreboding and acceptance and finality. This late night conversation and conversion between Freddie and Brian, the story's two most important characters, sets the stage for what is to come in the perfect calm before the perfect storm. So now John's been working with Roger on a new chord progression, which falls firmly in the minor key of impending death, but he does finally start to contribute. Roger has satisfied himself with that climax of happiness and remniscence he provided and now is willing to accept the finality of it all. Freddie has at last gotten to his endgame and the point where he will make the real truth of his whole life clear, and Brian has fundamentally changed from the start of the album, his heart to heart with Freddie inspiring the lyrics which Fred is too weak to write but perfectly sum up everything which has passed and which must be learned from the story of Queen. Here it comes ladies and gentlemen, the final scene...

 

The Show Must Go On:

John's and Roger's keyboard progression sets the stage: moody, minor, but sure of itself and its decent and its finality. Roger checks his drums with one simple fill as a last check before his last performance of this kind. Brian talks to Freddie backstage just before they go on and Fred directly reassures him that he has got the strength to do this. Fred starts singing, and Brian leans into the song with a bit of guitar violiniing, turning up his volume to set himself for the final scene, and John leaves the keys running to grab his bass. Fred begins assuredly, dramatically, and questioning "empty spaces, what are we living for? Abandoned places, I guess we know the score. On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?" Here he is fully himself, returning to the grand scale questions of Innuendo (title track) to sharpen the finality of his message, expressing his weariness with the sufferings of the world, his tone almost sarcasticly disgusted, but too assured and driven to be just that. He's only setting himself up, then he cries momentarily "hold the line!" and asks as if he's rallying an army of humanity to his side "does anybody want to take it anymore?" ...BOOM!!! The stage is lit from every angle, the instruments collectively roar, like the lions on Queen's own crest, summoning a Phoenix with their thunder. "The Show Must Go On!" Freddie demands, repeating! He cries for the world, the audience, the performers, the crew, for all to continue on, even as their hearts break and their make-up falls away, to continue smiling and creating the magic of the performance, just as he is doing in the very moment. Next a key change, he has another idea to address, of greater importance than the last verse. "Whatever happens, I leave it all to chance. Another heartache, another failed romance." He harkens back to the weary tone of the previous verse but with a newfound acceptance. Then he questions again "does anybody know what we are living for?" Once again in the same vein as his cries for meaning in the title and opening track. Then he begins to connect the verses and the choruses by reflecting on his own experience. "I guess I'm learning, I must be warmer now. I'll soon be turning, round the corner now," he goes from finding his own answers to warning the world of his short time left in the world. And if that didn't show them he was dying, the next line, sung quickly and without much time to consider its meaning, should've made it abundantly clear "outside the dawn is breaking, but inside in the dark I'm aching to be free." He's bedridden, already separated from the life and renewing energies of free life on earth, in a much darker state. Then the chorus explodes again, seemingly louder this time, Freddie crying out that he mustn't give up, and neither can we. Then the bridge, the synths go into arpeggios and open the curtains to reveal a major key, a rainbow of color and light floods the stage as Mercury reflects on his vast and varied experiences "my soul is painted like the wings of butterflies, fairy tails of yesterday they grow but never die!" Here he does almost his final bit of reminiscing, borrowing the light and major key from the lesson Roger taught him at the album's climax, musing that his legend will live on long after him. But then he finished his optimism with a reassurance not to worry about him "I can fly my friends!" He's lived a full and colorful life, which will be forever remembered, and now he can soar onto the next stage of existence, leaving this stage (I'd imagine him soaring above the stage at this point reaching for heaven). But then the band thrusts it back into the minor chorus, affirming Freddie's sentiment with their choir of backing vocals, and Freddie reaffirming himself and them with a classic "Yeah!" Now he's really coming to the end, and every step becomes harder, but he cries out, tears welling in his eyes "I'll face it with a grin, I'm never giving in. On with the show!" And fittingly, he doesn't stop there as the chorus continues for one final round. As a closing affirmation, Fred declares one last time "I'll top the bill, I'll overkill, I have to find the will to carry on," sounding like the last words of a man who's conciousness is slipping as if into a dream and who's life is fading fast. And here we have it, one last time. Freddie's last sung words to the world, he screams his heart out, "The show!!!!"...and drops out, implying his valiant death, fighting till the bitter end, and his choir of comrades finish the final phrase, letting it echo on nearly ad infinitum as a plea to the world. "The show must go on. Go on. Go on. Go on." And with that Queen's career with Freddie is summed up. The battle is over. Death may have won, but that one fallen soldier provided enough inspiration to sustain those who carry on the show for the rest of all time. No final message better suited Freddie, not even his own closing words in Queen's all time masterpiece, Bohemian Rhapsody. That was another character's life, one who didn't care when he was dead. And while that still represents Freddie, Mecury's real final moments bring to him the realization that he must ask the world to move on and to continue without him in it. To assure them his inspiration will live on and to ask them never to forget it is just another way of saying, "it doesn't really matter when I'm dead, nothing really matters to me then/I leave it all to chance, whatever happens/anyway the wind blows, but just because I'm gone doesn't mean you should stop the show, it must go on." (Ficticious quote btw). This final track just restates and finishes saying what Freddie must've hoped was common sense when he wrote Bohemian Rhapsody all those years ago, but it does so masterfully and perfectly concludes the legend's career. Mercury is one of my biggest heroes, always will be, and this album and the story behind it are one of the biggest reasons why.

 

 

All that said, I'm having a lot of trouble placing it writhing my ranking of Queen's albums, because I do have some production complaints, some of the songwriting is not their best stuff, and Deacy is not as adequately replaced by the other three on this record as he was on Queen and Queen II, so his large level of absense is really felt. But it is an epic story if you read between the lines like I have, and most of the songs are great, with a few among the greatest of Queen's career. Also, I don't claim that any of the stuff I put in here about an epic battle between the light and the dark ideas circulating Freddie's then impending death is actually real or was really intended, but it's what I see, and as my favorite Freddie quote goes "if you see it, darling, then it's there." Hope you enjoy reading, sorry it's soooooooooo long.

 

Well done chief. That was a wonderful critique. Probably the only long post I've ever fully read on TRF.

 

Thanks dude! Means a lot! :)

[Entre_Perpetuo]

A Day At The Races easily has some of Queen's best ever production and always reminds me of spring, which is not my favorite season, but always has me excited since it leads to summer. A very springy album indeed. Sounds super impressive on a stereo.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Bought Innuendo on vinyl (the rerelease with two discs and no track edits) while I was I Ireland last week. Sounds perfect, definitely moved the album up in my Queen discography ranking (even though I still haven't decided where it actually ranks). Interesting that they switched TATDOOL and ICLWY for this release. I think I still dig the old order better, but this order oddly seems slightly more balanced, so I can roll with it. The artwork is absolutely incredible by the way. If there were ever a Queen release which must be owned on double disc, gatefold sleeved vinyl, this is the one.