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?

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

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
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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)

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?

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..

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