The Royal QUEEN Discussion and Adoration Thread!

[toymaker]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

 

I have a confession to make. In my meticulous chronological and spaced out purchases of all of Queen's studio albums in order, I got impatient between The Game and Hot Space (probably cause The Game didn't turn out to be all I thought it would be) and decided to skip Flash just so I could have a bunch of actual songs instead of instrumentals (even if they were the songs of Queen's worst album, lol, least best more like), using the excuse that it was officially a movie soundtrack. I therefore have yet to listen to it and the only track I've heard from it is Flash, which is darn good of course. I might go listen to The Hero by itself at one point, but then I put myself in the dilemma of knowing both of the actual songs on the record before I get it, leaving me with no surprises but the plethora of instrumentals which you have claimed are annoying. Tough choice. I'll think on it.

[toymaker]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

 

I have a confession to make. In my meticulous chronological and spaced out purchases of all of Queen's studio albums in order, I got impatient between The Game and Hot Space (probably cause The Game didn't turn out to be all I thought it would be) and decided to skip Flash just so I could have a bunch of actual songs instead of instrumentals (even if they were the songs of Queen's worst album, lol, least best more like), using the excuse that it was officially a movie soundtrack. I therefore have yet to listen to it and the only track I've heard from it is Flash, which is darn good of course. I might go listen to The Hero by itself at one point, but then I put myself in the dilemma of knowing both of the actual songs on the record before I get it, leaving me with no surprises but the plethora of instrumentals which you have claimed are annoying. Tough choice. I'll think on it.

 

If you think Flash and The Hero are worth the cost of the album, that's cool. But the rest of the tracks . . . sort of beyond annoying, actually. Synthesizer and movie dialogue and sound effects. Actually . . . I guess the fact that I own Flash on CD, but I don't own Hot Space at all tells you how I feel about Hot Space. Performances of some of those songs on the Queen on Fire DVD are vast improvements, though.

[toymaker]

"Inhabitants refer to it as the planet . . . euhth"

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

 

I have a confession to make. In my meticulous chronological and spaced out purchases of all of Queen's studio albums in order, I got impatient between The Game and Hot Space (probably cause The Game didn't turn out to be all I thought it would be) and decided to skip Flash just so I could have a bunch of actual songs instead of instrumentals (even if they were the songs of Queen's worst album, lol, least best more like), using the excuse that it was officially a movie soundtrack. I therefore have yet to listen to it and the only track I've heard from it is Flash, which is darn good of course. I might go listen to The Hero by itself at one point, but then I put myself in the dilemma of knowing both of the actual songs on the record before I get it, leaving me with no surprises but the plethora of instrumentals which you have claimed are annoying. Tough choice. I'll think on it.

 

If you think Flash and The Hero are worth the cost of the album, that's cool. But the rest of the tracks . . . sort of beyond annoying, actually. Synthesizer and movie dialogue and sound effects. Actually . . . I guess the fact that I own Flash on CD, but I don't own Hot Space at all tells you how I feel about Hot Space. Performances of some of those songs on the Queen on Fire DVD are vast improvements, though.

 

I (nearly) always buy the delux versions on iTunes when I get new Queen albums, so my copy of Hot Space came with live renditions of Staying Power, Action This Day, and Calling All Girls, which are indeed better than the studio cuts. My main problem with the album is not the experimentation but the lack of passion for the experimentation. Freddie and John put their all into the dancey tracks, but Brian and Roger just weren't onboard. Meanwhile the rockers (if you can really call them that) weren't very good songs, probably caused by Brian and Roger being too distracted and upset with Freddie and John to put any real effort into writing them. I love the ballads though. Life Is Real is one of my fav Queen deep cuts, the emotions Freddie puts into Las Parablas Des Amors are palpable (though the synths kind of overtake the mix at times), Cool Cat was my favorite Freddie vocal moment on the album (Fred surprises me with his vocals at least once with each Queen record I buy, you'd think I'd be used to all his tricks by now, but he has a way of pulling a fast one when you don't see it coming), and (if you consider it a ballad of sorts) Under Pressure has always been perfect. I do find the dance tracks entertaining, just not as lovable as most of Queen's stuff (though I love the MJ vibes on Staying Power).

Edited January 25, 2016 by Entre_Perpetuo

[Lucas]

Brilliant band, to say the least

 

It is almost unfair to categorize Queen as "a band" as they have transcended that label like few have .

 

Freddie is one for the ages

 

Every time I hear the opening moments of Don't Stop Me Now I well up with tears, no matter what I am feeling prior

[toymaker]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

 

I have a confession to make. In my meticulous chronological and spaced out purchases of all of Queen's studio albums in order, I got impatient between The Game and Hot Space (probably cause The Game didn't turn out to be all I thought it would be) and decided to skip Flash just so I could have a bunch of actual songs instead of instrumentals (even if they were the songs of Queen's worst album, lol, least best more like), using the excuse that it was officially a movie soundtrack. I therefore have yet to listen to it and the only track I've heard from it is Flash, which is darn good of course. I might go listen to The Hero by itself at one point, but then I put myself in the dilemma of knowing both of the actual songs on the record before I get it, leaving me with no surprises but the plethora of instrumentals which you have claimed are annoying. Tough choice. I'll think on it.

 

If you think Flash and The Hero are worth the cost of the album, that's cool. But the rest of the tracks . . . sort of beyond annoying, actually. Synthesizer and movie dialogue and sound effects. Actually . . . I guess the fact that I own Flash on CD, but I don't own Hot Space at all tells you how I feel about Hot Space. Performances of some of those songs on the Queen on Fire DVD are vast improvements, though.

 

I (nearly) always buy the delux versions on iTunes when I get new Queen albums, so my copy of Hot Space came with live renditions of Staying Power, Action This Day, and Calling All Girls, which are indeed better than the studio cuts. My main problem with the album is not the experimentation but the lack of passion for the experimentation. Freddie and John put their all into the dancey tracks, but Brian and Roger just weren't onboard. Meanwhile the rockers (if you can really call them that) weren't very good songs, probably caused by Brian and Roger being too distracted and upset with Freddie and John to put any real effort into writing them. I love the ballads though. Life Is Real is one of my fav Queen deep cuts, the emotions Freddie puts into Las Parablas Des Amors are palpable (though the synths kind of overtake the mix at times), Cool Cat was my favorite Freddie vocal moment on the album (Fred surprises me with his vocals at least once with each Queen record I buy, you'd think I'd be used to all his tricks by now, but he has a way of pulling a fast one when you don't see it coming), and (if you consider it a ballad of sorts) Under Pressure has always been perfect. I do find the dance tracks entertaining, just not as lovable as most of Queen's stuff (though I love the MJ vibes on Staying Power).

 

Hmmm...I'm sort of inclined now to give it another listen. I'm pretty sure my vinyl copy was destroyed in some sort of ceremonial ritual about 20 years ago, so I'll see if I can find it on youtube.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

 

I have a confession to make. In my meticulous chronological and spaced out purchases of all of Queen's studio albums in order, I got impatient between The Game and Hot Space (probably cause The Game didn't turn out to be all I thought it would be) and decided to skip Flash just so I could have a bunch of actual songs instead of instrumentals (even if they were the songs of Queen's worst album, lol, least best more like), using the excuse that it was officially a movie soundtrack. I therefore have yet to listen to it and the only track I've heard from it is Flash, which is darn good of course. I might go listen to The Hero by itself at one point, but then I put myself in the dilemma of knowing both of the actual songs on the record before I get it, leaving me with no surprises but the plethora of instrumentals which you have claimed are annoying. Tough choice. I'll think on it.

 

If you think Flash and The Hero are worth the cost of the album, that's cool. But the rest of the tracks . . . sort of beyond annoying, actually. Synthesizer and movie dialogue and sound effects. Actually . . . I guess the fact that I own Flash on CD, but I don't own Hot Space at all tells you how I feel about Hot Space. Performances of some of those songs on the Queen on Fire DVD are vast improvements, though.

 

I (nearly) always buy the delux versions on iTunes when I get new Queen albums, so my copy of Hot Space came with live renditions of Staying Power, Action This Day, and Calling All Girls, which are indeed better than the studio cuts. My main problem with the album is not the experimentation but the lack of passion for the experimentation. Freddie and John put their all into the dancey tracks, but Brian and Roger just weren't onboard. Meanwhile the rockers (if you can really call them that) weren't very good songs, probably caused by Brian and Roger being too distracted and upset with Freddie and John to put any real effort into writing them. I love the ballads though. Life Is Real is one of my fav Queen deep cuts, the emotions Freddie puts into Las Parablas Des Amors are palpable (though the synths kind of overtake the mix at times), Cool Cat was my favorite Freddie vocal moment on the album (Fred surprises me with his vocals at least once with each Queen record I buy, you'd think I'd be used to all his tricks by now, but he has a way of pulling a fast one when you don't see it coming), and (if you consider it a ballad of sorts) Under Pressure has always been perfect. I do find the dance tracks entertaining, just not as lovable as most of Queen's stuff (though I love the MJ vibes on Staying Power).

 

Hmmm...I'm sort of inclined now to give it another listen. I'm pretty sure my vinyl copy was destroyed in some sort of ceremonial ritual about 20 years ago, so I'll see if I can find it on youtube.

 

Lol, "ceremonial ritual." That wouldn't have anything to do with tossing it into a bonfire out of disgust, would it?

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Brilliant band, to say the least

 

It is almost unfair to categorize Queen as "a band" as they have transcended that label like few have .

 

Freddie is one for the ages

 

Every time I hear the opening moments of Don't Stop Me Now I well up with tears, no matter what I am feeling prior

 

Transcending the label of "band" . . . That's one I haven't thought about before. Cool idea!

[toymaker]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

 

I have a confession to make. In my meticulous chronological and spaced out purchases of all of Queen's studio albums in order, I got impatient between The Game and Hot Space (probably cause The Game didn't turn out to be all I thought it would be) and decided to skip Flash just so I could have a bunch of actual songs instead of instrumentals (even if they were the songs of Queen's worst album, lol, least best more like), using the excuse that it was officially a movie soundtrack. I therefore have yet to listen to it and the only track I've heard from it is Flash, which is darn good of course. I might go listen to The Hero by itself at one point, but then I put myself in the dilemma of knowing both of the actual songs on the record before I get it, leaving me with no surprises but the plethora of instrumentals which you have claimed are annoying. Tough choice. I'll think on it.

 

If you think Flash and The Hero are worth the cost of the album, that's cool. But the rest of the tracks . . . sort of beyond annoying, actually. Synthesizer and movie dialogue and sound effects. Actually . . . I guess the fact that I own Flash on CD, but I don't own Hot Space at all tells you how I feel about Hot Space. Performances of some of those songs on the Queen on Fire DVD are vast improvements, though.

 

I (nearly) always buy the delux versions on iTunes when I get new Queen albums, so my copy of Hot Space came with live renditions of Staying Power, Action This Day, and Calling All Girls, which are indeed better than the studio cuts. My main problem with the album is not the experimentation but the lack of passion for the experimentation. Freddie and John put their all into the dancey tracks, but Brian and Roger just weren't onboard. Meanwhile the rockers (if you can really call them that) weren't very good songs, probably caused by Brian and Roger being too distracted and upset with Freddie and John to put any real effort into writing them. I love the ballads though. Life Is Real is one of my fav Queen deep cuts, the emotions Freddie puts into Las Parablas Des Amors are palpable (though the synths kind of overtake the mix at times), Cool Cat was my favorite Freddie vocal moment on the album (Fred surprises me with his vocals at least once with each Queen record I buy, you'd think I'd be used to all his tricks by now, but he has a way of pulling a fast one when you don't see it coming), and (if you consider it a ballad of sorts) Under Pressure has always been perfect. I do find the dance tracks entertaining, just not as lovable as most of Queen's stuff (though I love the MJ vibes on Staying Power).

 

Hmmm...I'm sort of inclined now to give it another listen. I'm pretty sure my vinyl copy was destroyed in some sort of ceremonial ritual about 20 years ago, so I'll see if I can find it on youtube.

 

Lol, "ceremonial ritual." That wouldn't have anything to do with tossing it into a bonfire out of disgust, would it?

 

Or nailed to the wall of shame along with Kilroy Was Here and a few others.

[toymaker]

Flash update: track seven, Execution of Flash, is kind of cool - a weird little guitar phrase followed by some string synths. Then track 8, The Kiss, has some eerie vocalizations that are very Queen like, followed by real symphony orchestration.

 

Edit: this is not helping me get my work done.

Edited January 25, 2016 by toymaker

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Okay Queen are of course nearly always epically amazingly supercalafrajalisticexpiali-awesome, but I just listened to A Kind of Magic on good headphones for the first time ever, and the title track became my new album favorite, One Year Of Love was an incredible emotional experience, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure finally felt like it flowed well with the album, the loudness and dense production issues of Gimme The Prize and Don't Lose Your Head magically disappeared, and I remembered why I like AKOM better than The Works. Headphones are madri-cal, absolutely. :D

 

Also I'm listening backwards through the studio albums (minus Flash) starting from The Miracle today.

 

Queen Reigns!

 

EDIT: OH ALSO! If Fred and MJ had sung One Year Of Love together, my heart would've died and come back to life again. Man I wish they had sung together more often. Perfect complimenting voices in my opinion.

 

Just curious about what you think of The Hero from Flash. Pretty simple riff, but damned rocking, no? The rest of the album is pretty annoying.

 

I have a confession to make. In my meticulous chronological and spaced out purchases of all of Queen's studio albums in order, I got impatient between The Game and Hot Space (probably cause The Game didn't turn out to be all I thought it would be) and decided to skip Flash just so I could have a bunch of actual songs instead of instrumentals (even if they were the songs of Queen's worst album, lol, least best more like), using the excuse that it was officially a movie soundtrack. I therefore have yet to listen to it and the only track I've heard from it is Flash, which is darn good of course. I might go listen to The Hero by itself at one point, but then I put myself in the dilemma of knowing both of the actual songs on the record before I get it, leaving me with no surprises but the plethora of instrumentals which you have claimed are annoying. Tough choice. I'll think on it.

 

If you think Flash and The Hero are worth the cost of the album, that's cool. But the rest of the tracks . . . sort of beyond annoying, actually. Synthesizer and movie dialogue and sound effects. Actually . . . I guess the fact that I own Flash on CD, but I don't own Hot Space at all tells you how I feel about Hot Space. Performances of some of those songs on the Queen on Fire DVD are vast improvements, though.

 

I (nearly) always buy the delux versions on iTunes when I get new Queen albums, so my copy of Hot Space came with live renditions of Staying Power, Action This Day, and Calling All Girls, which are indeed better than the studio cuts. My main problem with the album is not the experimentation but the lack of passion for the experimentation. Freddie and John put their all into the dancey tracks, but Brian and Roger just weren't onboard. Meanwhile the rockers (if you can really call them that) weren't very good songs, probably caused by Brian and Roger being too distracted and upset with Freddie and John to put any real effort into writing them. I love the ballads though. Life Is Real is one of my fav Queen deep cuts, the emotions Freddie puts into Las Parablas Des Amors are palpable (though the synths kind of overtake the mix at times), Cool Cat was my favorite Freddie vocal moment on the album (Fred surprises me with his vocals at least once with each Queen record I buy, you'd think I'd be used to all his tricks by now, but he has a way of pulling a fast one when you don't see it coming), and (if you consider it a ballad of sorts) Under Pressure has always been perfect. I do find the dance tracks entertaining, just not as lovable as most of Queen's stuff (though I love the MJ vibes on Staying Power).

 

Hmmm...I'm sort of inclined now to give it another listen. I'm pretty sure my vinyl copy was destroyed in some sort of ceremonial ritual about 20 years ago, so I'll see if I can find it on youtube.

 

Lol, "ceremonial ritual." That wouldn't have anything to do with tossing it into a bonfire out of disgust, would it?

 

Or nailed to the wall of shame along with Kilroy Was Here and a few others.

 

Oh Kilroy, if only, if only.

[toymaker]

Track 13, Battle Theme, rocks reasonably well - but it's basically The Hero riff, with added synths and movie dialogue. Still, those layered guitar symphony things are just so damned cool.

 

Track 14: the Wedding March done Brian May guitar symphony style. I wonder how many couples used this on their wedding day?

[toymaker]

Too bad The Hero is interrupted by the movie music - but it is rescued by a pretty emotive guitar solo.

 

They sure get a lot of mileage out of that "Flash! Ah-ah!"

[toymaker]

My Hot Space review, part one:

 

1. Staying Power. Awful, notwithstanding Freddie's powerful performance. As mentioned previously, the live version redeems it by making it more organic and heavier.

2. Dancer. Sort of awful and strangely compelling at the same time. The guitar is sweet when it comes in. Fine solo, with some inimitable May harmonies. The second solo is even better. Damn. I kind of didn't realize this fine lead work by May even existed. I must've blocked it.

3. Back Chat. Apart from the crummy drum sound, this has a bit o' life. Nice groove, ruined momentarily by the cheeseball Simmons, followed by a sort of throwaway May solo, although he does make that guitar sing as usual. Cheese song, maybe, but I can live with it.

4. Body Language. Nothing can redeem this. One of the singles, I believe? Brutal. Freddie sings his heart out as usual, but I mostly just think it's wasted on this "song," just like a guitar solo would have been. Music for robots. Not even cool robots.

5. Action This Day. Also a little robotic, but has more of a rock vibe, I guess. Terrible, boring percussion track. Sax solo? Sax solo??

6. Put Out the Fire. Not inclined to complain, but I've heard this kind of riff from May just a few too many times. Was this the track they put on so that older fans would have at least something to grab onto while the record spun them down into a synthdance inferno? The solo is inspired.

[toymaker]

Hot Space review, part two:

 

7. Life is Real. I have no memory of this song. Another organic song to appease the fans who dig tunes like Sail Away Sweet Sister. "Breastfeeding myself?" Did I hear that right? I guess there's a sort of a propos Beatles vibe here. Ultimately I find it sort of dull.

8. Calling All Girls. I have no memory of this song, either. Hardly surprising, I guess. It kind of reminds me of The Knack, or something. Real drums, guitars, bass - I should appreciate it for that reason alone, but I've always sort of been bored by repetitive riffs like this one.

9. Las Palabras de Amor. Queen meets ABBA, I guess. But . . . I kind of like it. It reminds me of Teo Torriatte, a bit - definitely the most "classic Queen" sounding of the bunch. I guess there are some songs (apart from the obvious) on this record that I can find some room for!

10. Cool Cat. Just when I thought there was some hope that the record would close out rocking, there's this . . . sort of sweaty, neon lights, get yer freak on thang.

11. Under Pressure. No comment needed. Brilliant track.

[Lucas]

I can't get thru this without having tears stream down my face

 

[Digital Dad]

Hot Flash can go hang. Not into this period of Queen at all. I would rather listen to Day At the Races on infinite loop

For The rest of my life

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

Hot Space is marvellous. Unstoppable. It has the tunes, the camp, it's got the lot.

 

As an OST, Flash Gordon is off the scale. The album gets away with it, the dialogue is hilarious, and stuff like Football Fight, Vultan's Theme & Battle Theme are just knockout.

 

Their ambition on both projects is jaw-dropping in its scope. They just didn't give a f**k what anyone thought. We'll never see their like again.

[ReRushed]

Yeah, Queen is the King of Camp! How could it not be a part of their appeal? A sense of humor goes a long way.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

This week in 1991, Innuendo was number 1 in the UK singles chart. Little were we to know....... :(

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Listened to Hot Space on headphones last night, and there wasn't a vast improvement. As much as I really do like the album, I think, really, it all boils down to whether or not it has the songs, and aside from a select few, it really doesn't. I'm a big fan of Staying Power, but it's not necessarily great, I just dig it's jam. After that the only songs I really love are Life Is Real and Under Pressure (and I might toss in Las Parablas Des Amor and forgive it some underwhelming dynamics), which I consider invaluable additions to Queen's catalogue and to my knowledge of Queen's work. It's not even that I don't like the other songs (heck, as nuts and unnecessary as it is, Body Language can be a good bit of fun if you don't worry about the lyrics), they just aren't great Queen songs. And while Queen proved countless times before and after the Hot Space incident that greatness has no predetermined formula and experimentation often had unimaginably excellent results, Hot Space really feels like one big studio experiment that went too far, too fast, and without enough class. But I enjoy it, and it doesn't suck. Once again I say Life Is Real is a true hidden gem, a diamond in the rough, maybe one of the most impassioned odes ever written to John Lennon (as I understand it there have been many), and a great Queen song, suitable for any album from Hot Space to A Night At The Opera.

 

 

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Another thought, with bands like Queen especially, a great album isn't necessarily great because it's filled with only/mostly great songs, and a bad album isn't necessarily bad because it's filled with only/mostly bad songs. I think an album's quality depends on many more factors than the strength of each individual song. A lot of Beatles albums are filled with what I would call great songs, but they can get monotonous, or they can suffer from bad production, or they can be etc. which makes me not go crazy for an album like Revolver. However, I have a lot of fun listening to Hot Space because, even though I don't consider most of the songs great, it certainly creates a very specific and fun, funky atmosphere, plus it has hooks to spare and experimentation galore, other qualities I love in an album. On most days I'd prefer to listen to Hot Space over Revolver I think, but on many days I might also prefer to listen to Taxman or Elenore Rigby over Life Is Real or Under Pressure. A lot more goes into an album than just songs, but as I stated in my last post, good songs do make a difference.

[MusicHead]

Sounds like synergy...

 

"Seems to me/it's chemistry..."

 

Pratt

[Lieutenant Dan]

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).