Zack takes in some reading.

Yes, Zack would rather read in his crib than call for help.

Encroyable.

Queen for a Day - Rain Must Fall

Deacon/Mercury are back! And just as maudlin as ever. The musical cousin to "Who Needs You" and "I Want to Break Free" there is no song in the band's catalog that sounds more "80s" than this one.
In fact, it could be a third rate Culture Club song. And I don't mean that in a good way. This is MOR to the nth degree.

Lazy, uninteresting, this is where the band shows it's true age. Everyone is very good on the song. But, the all, each of them, end up just sounding like session men backing a familiar voice. A Queen cover band, if you will.

But this was happening to all of our heroes in the 80s. McCartney, Jackson. Hell, I can't even name all of them as our cutting edge scions of rock turned themselves into top 40 bands who provided the soundtrack to your cubicle.

Listen if you dare. Calling it "bad" would be an insult to some of the band's worst tracks.

It's worse than "bad". It's uninspired, by the numbers, songcrafting.

Grade: D+

Queen for a Day - Breakthru

So, it's pretty obvious that this is two different songs pasted together. But, I really don't mind, because I dig this song a lot. It's my favorite on the album and has been since the day I ripped into that oversized CD package and listened in the car in the parking lot of that bowling alley where I stage managed a show for an elderly theater company.

There's no reason for it to be two different songs, except that Freddie didn't finish "A New Life is Born". The opening of which is all harmony save for some simple piano. After that it crashes into a driving, supertrain of a rocker. Could it be written by anyone other than Roger? The difference between this and all of Roger's other tripe is that the band seems energized. Excited. Hopeful.

Wait. Hopeful? On a Roger Taylor song? Freddie must have reworked something. Part of it. Most of it. Or something.

In any case. It's a showcase for the band and a nice breath of life on a band that is facing death. John's bassline is on fire. The "Star Fleet Project" modulations are in full effect. Brian is having a blast. The band is finding new ways to incorporate their trademark harmonies.

Stellar.

Grade: A

Queen for a Day - The Invisible Man

One of the strangest tracks on the record for me. It's so obviously recorded in a studio. It's cold and it's electronic and produced and well, it's written by Roger.
But then it's got the call outs.
"Freddie Mercury!" Roger shouts before the vocals.
"John Deacon!" to highlight the bassline.
"Brian May Brian May!" "Rrrrrrrrrrroger Taylor!"

Now, I used to do this in my band. I would call out members' names during a song and we would highlight them. This way, however, it come across...as an affectation.

But, Allen, how is the song?

Um....fine? It's kind of dumb. But, it's got a hook. The lyrics are idiotic. But not offensive.

Really, this song is a Hot Space track, updated, less funky, on a wee bit more cocaine and buried so deep in the album that it doesn't bother me.

In reality, it's fine. Probably one of the better tracks on this hodgepodge of an album.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - I Want it All

Who doesn't?

One of the biggest metal tracks in the canon, "I Want it All" is a post-apocalyptic dust bowl, get in the ring, shred-tastic track.

In many ways it's the anthem they hadn't really written in years. Certainly not, "Friends will be Friends". Sadly, while this song should have been a crowd pleaser, it was never played live by Freddie. He would be too sick to bring it to life.

A shame. It really fits the bombast that the was the band's wheelhouse. The bridge, sublime with it's give and take between Freddie and Brian's vocals, crashes into one of Brian's best solos which itself turns dark metal and then, at once, speed metal.

It's a hodgepodge, sure, but a rollicking ride.

Grade: A

Queen for a Day - The Miracle

I'm on the fence about this one. Queen has always had a penchant for schmaltz but with Freddie in the throes of full blown AIDS they really seemed to step up the maudlin.

I think the nadir of this song (Besides lyrics like "the one thing we're all waiting for is peace on Earth and end to war") is Freddie's spoken word call and response that comes in the second half.

For latter day Queen this is also the apex, however, because by the late 80s nearly every bloated ROCK BAND had been infected with Live Aid, Farm Aid, Kampuchea-itis. It was everywhere. Rock was so socially conscious that it was inescapable. This was your father's rock. It had to die.

A shame, really. But, not unexpected. You can only re-invent the wheel once. Mayyyybe twice. But, eventually you get comfortable. Like in a marriage or a friendship.

I think the thing I like the LEAST about this song is how it starts to rock nera the end and, just when you have hope, the uptempo rocker portion of the song is overtaken by more schmaltz, a hand holdy chant of "A time will come, one day, you'll see, when we can all be friends..."

Yuck. And, surprise, surprise, it was written by Deacon and Mercury.

I guess I wasn't really on the fence after all.

Grade: D+

Queen for a Day - Khashoggi's Ship

Queen is rarely topical, but in the late 80s, Adnan Khashoggi and his ship were all over the news.

It's a big blues number that serves as an "I'm Still Here" anthem for Freddie. It's all sleaze and adventure. Perhaps it's a fever dream but, at some point, for me at least, it comes across as a stand off between Freddie and his disease. When he sings "No one stops my party", I'm pretty certain he's singing from the bowels of denial.

The song is a cavalcade of ideas and themes. It's a kitchen sink in less than 3 minutes.

So, like a good party it knows when it's over.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - Party

"Party" sounds like it fell off the Mr. Bad Guy sessions. Maybe it did. I don't know. Sure sounds like it.

Then again, it probably is what the lyrics say, what much of the lyrics on The Miracle are about: Freddie's dying.

Diagnosed with AIDS, it was thought that The Miracle would be the band's last album. Their last Party.

It's an invitation to play, to party, to rip and roar and have a good time.

The band sure sounds more vibrant than in recent, darker years. Brian's guitar work is spot on and reminds me of what the band could have been doing the whole decade.

The overproduction, at first listen, makes me realize just how sorely it's been missed. Except for "One Vision" (Which, like this one, came out of a jam session), there hasn't been much QUEEN in Queen.

"Party" rectifies that. And like great parties, it doesn't end. It just stops.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - Princes of the Universe

The ONLY other song on this record that sounds remotely like a QUEEN song (Aside from "One Vision") is the sole Mercury offering.

Weird that, isn't it? Freddie used to account for most of the songs or the lion's share and here he is, down to one solo track.

And it's a big one. A "Tear it Up", gothic metal, soaring vocals, multi layered harmony, barn burner.

Shifting tempos during what could only be considered the chorus, it abruptly stops and goes back to the original tempo before it reminds us, briefly of "The Prophet's Song" and then dredges it's own energy back up to Mark III Queen sound giving Brian REAL time to shred. And shred he does. The only thing that can stop him is the big layered vocals that restart the entire song.

It's breathless, confused, odd, huge and may as well be the "Seven Seas of Rhye" of Latter Day Queen.

It's not great, but in comparison to the rest of the record it's brilliant. It's more of a pastiche of ideas than a real song, per se, but it'll do. In a way, it's as though Freddie listened to the crapola like "Gimme the Prize" and "Don't Lose Your Head" and said, "Hey. Lemme show you how it's done, girls."

So, that makes it a real treat.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - Don't Lose Your Head

Roger Taylor, fresh from two, count em, TWO big hits for the band ("Radio Gaga" & "A Kind of Magic") has another offering, one that references, tongue in cheek (sort of) the fact from the movie that the only way to kill an immortal is to behead them.
It's "Don't Lose Your Head". Get it? Actually, it's a line in the movie. But that doesn't make it any less stupid.

Sigh. Okay, let's listen.

Electro-drums. Synths. More synths. So, Roger's obsession with cold, distancing techno-gadgets is intact.

The bridge....the bridge...is just awful. I don't have the energy to make it through this review.

It's a bag ful of "why?"
Why is Joan Armtrading on this? Did she lose a bet?
Why the frenetic drums? Programming isn't playing.
Why did anyone say yes to this mess?
What is Brian playing during his solo? Is he just noodling in the studio? Did anyone listen to what he laid down????

This is awful.


Grade: F