As more promo material and the two new interviews with Mary have been released, especially the BBC TV interview where you can see Mary with Freddie's crown and cloak, I really wondered how they got all those tings that are going to be on display "back"? It's said that his Made in Heaven costume will be there too and we have already seen the crown and cloak now, and we know that both things have definitely been sold at the Sothebys auction back in 2023 (if I remember correctly, both things have even been sold to the same guy). Do you think they reached out to the buyers of the things they wanted to display or how is it possible that in the description of the exhibition it says that seven out of the eight looks displayed were loaned by Mary Austin..

I would love to own one of these jumpers, which I think this dates back to maybe 1980.

Anyone have the pattern for this or know where they can be bought?

It has been really fun writing all of these, and I'm glad I could share my journey with everybody. It was nice connecting with all sorts of Queen fans and sharing our love for the band as well as our takes on albums and songs that they have released. I also was put onto a lot of live performances that were amazing to watch, even if I wasn't around to see them live myself from many. The whole idea of writing these wasn't just to share my experience with their music, but to hear all about all of you's experience with it as well, to get to hear what you thought of them, and it made me happy to see all your takes and your support as well.

I'm really thankful to everyone for their support through this ride, and much like my Van Halen reviews, I'll be ending it off with a tier list of their work. I will definitely write more for other bands I enjoy too. Thank you for all of your support through this. I want to go out with a blast, So I put all my effort and love into this one.

As a side note, I will probably not be posting my review or thoughts on Made In Heaven out of respect for the band and the fanbase as its not a very positive one, and I know it'd be extremely controversial to post such content about an album that is posthumous and meant to be special. But anyways, I hope you enjoy this review.

Innuendo Review
---------------------------------------------------------
To this day, it's still insane to me how someone dying and very ill could pull off such stunning vocals. This album may not be as consistent as their first six albums, but it's genuinely terrific. It's Queen's last masterpiece, and definitely among the best albums of the 90's, and I'd put it as one of the best of all time too. There's plenty to enjoy here, and the band shifts the gear to full drive after their hit-or-miss 80's output. They make a case for their name for the first time since 1984's The Works and make a case for them deserving their status as a legendary and top tier band for the first time since 1977's News of the World.

Freddie did most of the vocals here while he was suffering and dying from the monstrous disease of AIDS, and according to Brian even performed the penultimate track with a swig of beer after being told he probably couldn't do it and said "Watch me, darling." and absolutely slayed them. In a way, I tend to liken this album to David Bowie's Blackstar, as it faces mortality with bravery and confidence and has their artists go out strong and passionate.

The title track is FINALLY an experimental and unique artistic number again for the first time in a long time, with the middle section featuring a flamenco solo by Yes' guitarist Steve Howe who came to them asking to be involved in it, followed by a classically influenced bridge, then the solo again but performed with electric guitars. It features a pattern of three bars in 5/4 time, followed by five in 3/4, and then the end with 6/4 time. The lyrics are by Roger Taylor and are about mankind's inability to live harmonically. It's a masterpiece from lyrics to music. This is followed by the cartoonish yet genius song "I'm Going Slightly Mad" which has delightfully fun but impressive metaphor use like "Banana tree" or "one needle" and is a wonderous work of synth-pop. It's got a feel to it that screams theatrical, and has some very playful vocals that add onto that feel. It's a genuinely incredible jam that holds its own very strongly. "Headlong" is a fantastic hard rocker by Brian May which absolutely rocks and swings with its loud yet melodic composition, and has some impressive vocals too. Brian's riff here is beyond epic and screams and wails with heaviness yet never loses its charm or goes directionless. Roger's drumming here also takes some great fills and holds the beat in a way to keep it interesting.

"I Can't Live With You" is a pretty decent pop song that combines Queen's always excellent harmonies with some personal lyrics from Brian. Originally, much like the previous song, it was meant for Brian's solo album, but the band loved it and so he recorded it with them. It continues with "Don't Try So Hard" which is a beautiful ballad by Freddie with a introduction sound of rain setting the mood before getting into the main melody which is nostalgic and sweet yet with a heart-wrenching spice to top it off, whilst "Ride the Wild Wind" is a disappointment of a fast song with beating drums and a rhythmic bassline that almost note-for-note directly rips off The Smith's "Shakespeare's Sister". "All God's People" is also a letdown that doesn't do very much and is a weak point of the album.

Luckily Roger Taylor makes up for the former song with "These Are The Days Of Our Lives", a nostalgic lookback at simpler times gone by, with a much more relaxed beat and absolutely gorgeous use of synthesizer combining well with the more chilled out percussion that makes this one feel like floating in a nice summer river and the music video has Freddie look at the camera whispering how he still loves all of us, knowing its his last appearance on video. It's one of the most beautiful songs of all time and it brought me to tears.

The thing about "Delilah" is that I get why it was made, it was Freddie's idea to write a song that was devoted to his cat who he loved very much and wanted to say goodbye to and in that way it is sweet. It was important to him and I think that it shows confronting mortality in the face of bravery, its beautiful. However, I don't really think it fits the album, and should have been left off it. The lyrics are a bit too bizarre and out there, and the talkbox is a bit irritating and makes me not care for it. I think it should've been a B-side, personally so that it still got out there as a letter of love for his feline friend and didn't interrupt the flow of this album.

"The Hitman" is pure metal and has some absolute ripper lyrics, being among the bands greatest work that showcases just why Brian May is indeed a guitar legend and deserves being on the same pedestal as someone like Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix while "Bijou" has a unique structure with guitar doing the verses and the vocal doing a break, making it inside out. The song is excellently constructed and another example of what Queen does best; be absolutely out there yet still sound amazing, while "The Show Must Go On" provides an absolutely beautiful curtain-closer to one of the most legendary, talented, and incredible bands of all time, with mercury's vocals being tip-top shape despite his condition and some melancholic yet hopeful synthesizer and guitar work. Its lyrics are very obviously about his illness and pushing through it.

In all honesty, I think that this album is one that deserves to be on the pedestal of the all time greats. I think that the band really brought back everything that made them special one last time, as well as keeping it more updated sounding, making the best damn record they could make at a time like what they were going through. Freddie went all out here, and its one of his greatest performances as well. If anything, this album is even inspirational, if Freddie could go all out and make something great, maybe we all can apply that to our daily lives too; to give everything our best. I will say that this doesn't exactly match up to the same level as Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera, Queen II, and News of the World, and its further down the ranking of all-timers than them, but it is most certainly up there.

Rating: ★★★★.5

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. Innuendo: ★★★★★
2. I'm Going Slightly Mad: ★★★★
3. Headlong: ★★★★★
4. I Can't Live With You: ★★★
5. Don't Try So Hard: ★★★★
6. Ride The Wild Wind: ★★
7. All God's People: ★★
8. These Are The Days Of Our Lives: ★★★★★
9. Delilah: ★
10. The Hitman: ★★★★★
11. Bijou: ★★★★★
12. The Show Must Go On: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY (Other Reviews):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)
Flash Gordon review (0/5 stars)
Hot Space review (2/5 stars)
The Works review (4/5 stars)
A Kind Of Magic review (2/5 stars)
The Miracle review (3/5 stars)

It's a perfectly nice book. Mary's personal commentary is worth reading but you aren't going to learn a massive amount unless you're new to the subject matter.

Quite a few new pics, but for the most part you've seen other pics quite a lot like them. I'm happy to have it of course, but is it essential? Maybe the fact that that question can be asked at all is itself an answer

This is my first post here on the subreddit and i apologize for the order of the songs as this is how i started exploring queen music. But this morning i woke up and all my queen songs on spotify have been reverting to different versions, some keeping the remastered 2011, some not, some keeping their 2024 and 2026 mixes, and some not (ex march of the black queen and doing alright) and some songs just being entirely unplayable ( greatest hits hammer to fall and one vision extended version) and for some songs my app will glitch out and not let them play. Has anyone else had this issue?

So when Queen Forever was released there were two versions released… a more concise 1cd and an overblown 2cd version.

If we were to to revisit Queen Rocks with a second edition what would would we add? Some of my choices….

- liar
- Brighton rock
- sweet lady
- dead on time
- dragon attack
- I go crazy
- was it all worth it
- the hitman

What would you add?

My band has just released a new version of one of our fave deep cuts.

Didn't catch what it was advertising as I was making a cuppa, I just caught the end and saw "coming soon" as the tag line, might have been for a new car? Not heard this song in an advert before

Also are Queen the most used artist in adverts in the UK ever?

I honestly didn't expect for the last album to be so unanimous with opinion, but it was nice hearing you guys' commentary as well on it still! Anyways moving onto an album I know polarizes a lot of people, I got to say that this one actually hit for me quite a bit. I hope you enjoy my write-up, and we are approaching the end of their discography too!

The Miracle Review
-------------------------------------------
Rather than following the fairly successful dabbling back into hard rock that the previous two albums (albeit, lesser on A Kind of Magic), Queen decided to go full on into pop rock territory for this album. The time that this album was recorded in was definitely one of turmoil and hardship; arguably as much as Hot Space was. Freddie had been diagnosed with HIV back in 1987 and chose to keep it closeted from the public especially considering how harsh people with it were treated, and how disgusting the media was towards victims of the disease. Brian May also had marital problems that year as well, and it was clear that a lot was holding them back. But rather than sit around, Queen came striking back with all they could, art is a form of escaping the chains that bound you back and let you be yourself, and that's no different for music.

While this album doesn't exactly reach grandiose heights, it is a solid pop rock record, and it knows what it is and goes with it, which is honestly completely admirable. Starting things off is a jam session-turned-song simply titled "Party". This is one of the band's weakest openers, featuring a disco-infused drumbeat that carries the beat, though besides the percussion there's nothing else going on. Originally apparently Freddie did this line on piano, which would have given this a bit more of something interesting. The chorus comes in with John on bass, though it doesn't help the very annoying lyrics of it that are very repetitive and dull. The guitar solo takes use of power chords but rather than feeling like they belong, they come out of nowhere as the guitar just goes away again. "Khashoggi's Ship" follows, and injects a little bit of life into the album with a very danceable bassline that gives this song a foundation for Brian to come up with a somewhat basic pop riff. Things take a very interesting turn with a bit of doo-wop influence with the bridge which changes the vibe up completely and sounds absolutely astonishing. The outro is the best part as everything gets to a heavy climax, though those are the best moments of the song and they kind of eclipse the rest which is just a pretty good pop one.

"The Miracle" is simply a great song, with some incredible synthesizer work that starts on a nice short chord strike that is meant to mimic pizzicato strings, the dotted rhythms flow nicely into the verse taking some unique uneven phrasing and chord progressions especially unique with the bassline of John Deacon. Brian lets his guitar work become heavier here to create a contrast that works well with the overall lightness of the song before it explodes in the solo which has one of Brian's fastest, its always fun when Queen does stuff like this. "I Want It All" follows with a ferocious fiery guitar riff that rips through your speakers to send the intro off with a blast. The main song combines acoustic and electric in such an effective way that really highlights Freddie's roaring vocals that push the lyrics about having ambitions and fighting for your own beliefs quite well. The speed-up in tempo is also absolutely wonderful and makes this among the best.

"The Invisible Man" is pure pop ear candy, with a really great bassline that feels like this could be a perfect dancefloor classic. John goes all out with making this a very groovy riff, and Roger's percussion is awesome when it shines through and isn't just the drum machine. His drum roll later on in the song is pleasant, and its honestly fun how every member of the band gets a mention here. Perhaps its not that relevant, but what makes me enjoy this song even more is that the bassline on it directly inspired the theme song for one of my favorite childhood cartoons, Danny Phantom.

Moving forward, what kicked off side 2 on the original vinyl is "Breakthru", which opens with barbershop quartet-like harmonies that give way to a crescendo that matches Freddie's piano work, and some nice hi-hat cymbals before exploding into an all-out rocker. The keyboard bassline gallops along a riff that sounds really great. The vocal melody here is among my favorites on the album as well, its just really memorable. Unfortunately what comes next is the definition of wasted potential in "Rain Must Fall" which begins with some promising percussion work taking influence from Latin music. What hurts this song is that while the bassline is nice at first, it ends up becoming a bit of a drag that drones on for four whole minutes without changing up or doing anything interesting, following the same formula nonstop which comes across as padding. Apparently Roger had most of his drumming taken off the final mix to leave room for the vocals and guitars, which as stated don't really do much. It's a shame because this could have been something great.

"Scandal" is a nice song, though its nothing you haven't heard done before by them, and much better and more capable at that in the past. "My Baby Does Me" is one of the absolute worst songs ever released by this band, and its surprising this is a John song when he's made mostly banger after banger. It's dull, the lyrics are among the very worst of the band's entire catalog and try and fail miserably to sound like every other artist of the time, it also is a lot more sparse in the instruments used which makes it really not fit the rest of the album.

"Was It All Worth It" is the masterpiece off this album, with a cascade of psychedelia-tinged synths and glissandos for the vocals and guitar in the intro, which then gives way to a miraculous second part with the synth-work outlining the harmony that was reversed in the first part, and the final subsection of the intro shifting the key abruptly yet working surprisingly well. That's when the lyrics that reflect on basically the entire career of the band comes in. In a way, this is Freddie's reflectance over his time with the band and his music overall, remembering the struggles and remembering the good times. It's beautiful and heart-wrenching, with Roger giving an astonishing drumbeat, the harmonies harkening back to their earlier work, and Brian's riff emotive and gorgeous. In a way, this feels much like a goodbye song and preparing for what's next with Freddie's AIDS diagnosis, giving out all they can during their final years. The orchestral section is also one of the best things the band has ever done, really. The original release ended here, but there is still some stuff to talk about as the version I listened to is the CD which has extra tracks that are considered part of the album nowadays on streaming platforms and releases.

"Hang On In There" is featured as a track on the newer releases of the album, and it really doesn't do much to separate it from other bands at the time, and it makes sense why this was a B-side originally; it doesn't do anything special and is boring. "Chinese Torture" is a brief, jarring instrumental that goes off using a harsh guitar riff that doesn't quite work at all and sounds very grating and hard to enjoy. It's very unpleasant.

Overall though, this album is pretty good. It doesn't do anything to put it in the running up of Queen's strongest albums, but it also doesn't do anything to make itself stand out as anything majorly negative. I think this one's a tad underrated, actually. It's just a good pop rock record that closes the most mixed period of their career on a positive note.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tracklist Rating:

1. Party: ★
2. Khashoggi's Ship: ★★★
3. The Miracle: ★★★★★
4. I Want It All: ★★★★★
5. The Invisible Man: ★★★★
6. Breakthru: ★★★★
7. Rain Must Fall: ★★
8. Scandal: ★★★
9. My Baby Does Me: 💥
10. Was It All Worth It?: ★★★★★
11. Hang On In There: ★★
12. Chinese Torture: 💥

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)
Flash Gordon review (0/5 stars)
Hot Space review (2/5 stars)
The Works review (4/5 stars)
A Kind Of Magic review (2/5 stars)

When II went to see Queen fronted by Adam lambert it was great experience.

He was excellent and certainly go again whe queen tours again.

What pressing of Sheer Heart Attack is this? Couldn’t find an exact match on “Discogs” (I was told it would help)

How much “lost” Queen content really is there? TV appearances, promotions, merchandise, live shows. They’ve all had to be documented properly and are just hidden in the “Queen vault” right…? Is some of this stuff actually lost forever?

I’m genuinely surprised that this isn’t any sort of release to commemorate what would have been Freddie’s 80th. I thought Sony would have wanted to cash in on it but the only “celebration” is the party in Montreux.

In remember when it was John Lennon’s 70th there was a dedicated tv channel for him and I think a new compilation.

Yes Freddie’s solo material has been released numerous times but it would be nice to get the solo collection back in print with all the b-sides remixes and demos.

Look at this first press of ADATR complete with its 1980s barcode for sale on a selling site 🤦🏻‍♂️😂

It was nice getting to write something positive again for the previous album, it'd been a bit since I was able to. I'm really glad to see that people also love that one for the most part! Though I also liked seeing some discussion from the people that didn't, it was neat seeing two sides.

Anyways moving on, this one was another studio album that was partially a soundtrack album; though this one has quite a few moments. Here are the final thoughts on it.

A Kind of Magic Review
---------------------------------------------
Queen falls into the trap of inconsistent material once more after hitting a much-needed home run, and also into the bland, slick 80's production. If you were to hear this without being told it was the band, you probably wouldn't even realize this was an album by them if not for Freddie's vocals on these tracks. Most of the songs don't hold a torch to the album before, or any of their 70's releases, but despite the inconsistency and the approach of duller, sometimes uninspired lyrics, it has a very slight appeal and sways on the edge of if it is solid or not. It actually manages to almost punt its way to a positive score; but the strikes on this inning were a tad too many.

The album starts off with "One Vision" which is a highly energetic great rocker that manages to work up genuine excitement. This is also one of the tracks you can enjoy without having seen the film this was made as a score to. The buildup crescendo that slowly introduces the synthesizer over a steady, pulsing beat, and Freddie's vocals coming in is impeccable. It gives way to some excellent guitar riff work from Brian, who gives it his all in flash with his guitar wizardry, especially in the solo which is the first time in a long time since Brian used the tapping technique he used on "It's Late". But then "A Kind of Magic" follows and recycles the exact same lyrical ideology that the former track had, making it too repetitive and it has a uninspired, boring 80's pop groove. It also recycles multiple lyrics from the previous song, and its quite noticeable considering its the very second one you listen to, the guitar solo this time also doesn't do anything unique and is something you end up forgetting.

There's a lot of wasted potential with "One Year Of Love". Freddie's overly-emotive wailing comes across as a lack of heart rather than actual feeling. It goes extremely overkill with his voice, the performance of which is much more fitting for a heavier song, especially since its on top of the string arrangement that was obviously meant for a much softer song. The thing is, I don't find myself hating the instrumental, actually its quite nice and takes obvious influence from classical music, I would have liked to hear some more of this style explored by the band, the saxophone work is amazing too, but this is the extremely rare instance where Freddie doesn't do the song justice, it'd of fit better with Brian on vocals for this one, or if he toned it down a bit.

Next up is a genuine highlight that isn't taken from the Highlander soundtrack, "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure", which despite being an easily radio-friendly pop song, and could have been done by anybody, it is a treat to the ears. Freddie's vocals going into falsetto exactly show what should have been done with the previous song, it would have worked much better. The bassline is the standout on this track, it sounds very akin to something you'd hear off a Motown album, and they absolutely nail this style, and the synthesizer is heavenly. Then unfortunately, "Friends Will Be Friends" has Mercury desperately try to convince you this is a deep song with incredible meaningfulness with his attempt at a heart-wrenching delivery, but it doesn't help the song as it is one that isn't worth much of your time. It feels like it is an attempt to be a more updated version of "We Will Rock You" or "We Are The Champions", but the spark those songs had doesn't even let this one come close. Much like those songs as well, it makes use of Brian's more melodic playing style to the point it feels like a ripoff of themselves. It flows in one ear and out of the other, like much of their 80's work.

On the other hand, "Who Wants To Live Forever" is actually moving and beautiful, making it the very highlight of the record. It's a masterpiece, and the idea to use inverted chords in the first verse, and to have a beautiful harmony is amazing, and Brian's vocals are heart-wrenching. Verse two hands the microphone to Freddie who gives a raw, vulnerable, and open performance that hits right in the heart, and the orchestration reaches a height with the repeat of the chorus before giving away to Brian's guitar solo, which is powerful and evokes a feeling of dramatic intensity despite being more slow.

Following what was probably one of the bands greatest achievements, the next two songs are aggressively directionless slabs of loud, guitar-wailing rock n roll with lyrics referencing Highlander and leaving those who haven't seen the film wondering what the fuck is going on. The latter song also repeats the same line over, and over, and over, and over, drilling "Don't Lose your head!" into your head to the point it made me want to actually lose my head with how obnoxious it is. If there's a form of torture that was made from music, this would be it. This is the only song I'd say is actually really atrocious on this album, because even the 'bad' songs are just mere missteps.

"Princes of The Universe" is another gem, being heavier and managing to sound good again at the same time, its surprisingly complex as well with an acapella three-four harmony in the first phrase, and rhythm guitars enter with the drums entering on the fourth beat in the intro before giving way to an instrumental break that builds up more hype, and the verses change some chords and change the harmonies as well. This feels very much akin to the experimenting and interesting things Queen used to do with their music, and its nice to see it come back.

Overall, this album is pretty hard to classify. Because on one hand, there's four songs here that are truly great pieces of work, and actually stick with you despite the production. On the other hand, there is also four songs that for the most part are just merely missteps missing a bit to turn them into being decent, and one song that just outright sucks. Track for track shows this is another bad album, but it comes very close to being pretty decent, and it does have quite a few stand-out moments. I would say this is the least bad of their lesser material, and definitely a step up over their other soundtrack album.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. One Vision: ★★★★
2. A Kind of Magic: ★★
3. One Year Of Love: ★★.5
4. Pain Is So Close to Pleasure: ★★★★
5. Friends Will be Friends: ★★
6. Who Wants To Live Forever: ★★★★★
7. Gimme The Prize: ★★
8. Don't Lose Your Head: ★
9. Princes Of The Universe: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)
Flash Gordon review (0/5 stars)
Hot Space review (2/5 stars)
The Works review (4/5 stars)

Shitty pic but THIS CANNOT BE OFFICIAL, right?? It's a puzzle😭

I've Bohemian rhapsody it so ironic song but one thing is wish I knew what is all about.

That song has everything rock and opera too that why I love it so much