Following the tour, the band had a 12 month hiatus. During this time May worked on a project called “Star Fleet Project”, where he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen. Taylor and Mercury both worked on solo projects, with Taylor’s “Strange Frontier” album eventually released later in 1984 and Mercury’s “Mr Bad Guy” album coming out in 1985. All used different levels of electronica and synth in their music, the basic ingredient of that age of the early 1980’s.
After nine months the band came back together and prepared to write and record their follow up album, which was titled “The Works” apparently after a line used by Taylor in the early sessions where he suggested that for the fans they should ‘give them the works!’ On the new album, Queen continued to push ahead with their trailblazing feats, one that mixed radio hits that reclaimed their identity as one of the world's biggest bands, but mixed style and substance with a variety of music genres that continued to allow them to market themselves to the widest possible audience. It probably did not win back all of those disgruntled fans, the ones that had been with the band since their inception. However, a new crowd of teenagers climbed on board with their radio hits, and then absorbed the approach of the songs that make up the whole album.
Kicking off with the unapologetic pop anthem "Radio Ga Ga", this is very synth based in a similar style of the previous album, but comes through tougher in the chorus with a crowd-like chant which gives it a rock feel that defies its musical background. This kicked goals for Queen on the radio as it was given huge airplay, and was the perfect anthem for the times, with its nostalgic view of the importance of radio in the past and how it was being overtaken by visual media in the present. "Tear it Up" follows and is Brian May's attempt to revive the hard rock edge of Queen, hailing back to a style more reminiscent of their earlier albums. This May and Taylor at their best with the hard riffing guitar and heavy hitting drums. It is the first noticeable effort by May to reclaim the harder edge of Queen and it does the job well. This is replaced by Freddie Mercury's "It's a Hard Life", which is dominated by his soaring vocals and melodies, only broken up by May's wonderful guitar solo in the middle of the song. Once again there are no synths in this song, just the guitars, drums and Freddie’s piano, and again is a more traditional Queen song that older fans could relate to. This is one of many underrated Queen songs that those who only know the ‘greatest hits’ should be listening to. Everything about this track is superb, from the building of May’s guitar through the middle of the song, to the chorused backing vocals behind Freddie’s main vocal. It still send shivers down the spine listening to Freddie sing it.
"Man on the Prowl" is reminiscent of another of Freddie's rockabilly songs, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". However, on an album where I find every other song has an impact and a place, this has always been the one song which makes me a little less enthused. Even on an album that has this much variety in its song structure, I still find this is out of place. That doesn’t mean that I dislike the song, but I would suggest this is the weakest track on the album and to close out side one of the album.
This is recovered immediately as you flip the vinyl by the unique and brilliant "Machines (Back to Humans)", a song that again has a heavy use of synths to create the robotic performance the song was looking for. I love the way that Taylor has created this song, with both Freddie and Brian singing harmony vocals throughout, while Roger himself provides the ‘robotic’ voice through his vocoder. This is still experimental, but for me retains a heavier side of the song that differentiates it from the songs of the previous album.
John Deacon steals the show again with his hit single "I Want to Break Free", which got mega air time on music video channels with the video for the song. Like his best songs, "I Want to Break Free" juts along with his terrific bass line, while the others fall into line around it. It was the music video, with the four members of the band dressing up in a parody of the British hit series “Coronation Street” that caused some rumblings for them in the US. Why? Well, some people have unusual views on music and art. This was Deacon’s only contribution to the album, and once again it proved to be a hit single.
Then we move into the part of the album that I still consider to be one of the best of the band’s career.
"Keep Passing the Open Windows" is another Freddie special, where he again writes spectacularly for his own vocals, which convey all the right emotions of the song. Initially it was composed for a movie called “The Hotel New Hampshire”, which the band had initially agreed to write the soundtrack for. Apparently, this was the only song that was completed. This another of those underrated Queen songs that the ‘Greatest Hits’ listeners don’t know, and it is a shame. It has always been my second favourite song on this album. My favourite, perhaps obviously, is the thundering "Hammer to Fall", which, while always sounding great in this studio version, has always been a live song, and one that grows in stature in that environment. This is May’s second true hard rock song of the album, his response to the composing of the previous album, and it is a belligerent one. Everything about it is magnificent, from the opening riff to Freddie’s anthemic vocal rising, to Brian’s brilliant guitar solo that is then followed by the softer call that rises to the vocal of the masses. Another shivers down the spine track, and hearing and seeing it at Live Aid on TV the following year was one of those life moments that you never forget. The album then concludes with the beautiful thought piece "Is This the World We Created?", which was written about the poverty in Africa, where Freddie and Brian again find a way to compose a magnificently perfect song, that was subsequently played at Live Aid as an encore.
I recognise that Queen built their following through the 1970’s, where they just kept releasing albums that caught the imagination of their fans, and writing amazing songs that became huge radio hits. For those that grew up during the 1970’s the band’s finest era was then, and their output in the 1980’s was barely worthy of mention. I respect those views, because I agree that those albums are for the most part spectacular.
But I grew up in the 1980’s, from the age 10 to 20. And while I knew the songs from Queen that were singles on the radio up to that time, I didn’t own or know any of their albums. That changed when “The Works” became one of the first albums I ever bought, and my music world changed with it. Everything fit for me, and this is one of those albums that taught me how important it was to buy albums of bands and listen to all the music they compose at that time, and not just rely on listening to songs written and released as singles. And that is a very important lesson to learn.
Man, I used to listen to this album. I’d come home from school and listen to it over and over. I’d have the mic and swing around my bedroom singing like Freddie Mercury – well, nothing like him actually, but singing nonetheless – and playing air guitar and the whole shebang. And to be honest the past few weeks having it on again hasn’t been much different, just a lot older and a lot worse singing. And this is still an album that rarely goes too long without being placed back on the turntable or in the CD player, because it is an album that I not only love, but WANT to listen to, time and time again.
I’m occasionally asked which Queen album I believe is my favourite. There are always several reasons why someone would choose an album to be number one on a list, and for me any of four or five Queen could easily rank as my favourite.
For me it comes down to quality and memories. The singles were prominent on the radio on their release and became favourites, especially with the video for "I Want to Break Free" on MTV and other music video platforms. It was also released at a time when I was first becoming interested in albums as a whole rather than just individual songs, and at that time this grabbed my attention. It also has a mix of the synth, keyboard and drum machine style that was popular with the new wave bands of the time, and the hard rock guitar and drums that was becoming more important to me as I moved through my teenage years. The songs had great 'sing-along" parts and anthemic qualities, and every song plays its part in the continuity of the album. Nothing proved this more than the band's appearance at Live Aid, and their performance of both "Radio Ga Ga" and "Hammer to Fall" still send shivers down the spine. Both are all time favourites for me, with "Hammer to Fall" perhaps my favourite Queen song. As with all great albums, the supporting cast have to do their job as well, and I think that occurs here with underrated and somewhat maligned songs such as "Tear it Up", "It's a Hard Life" and the quite brilliant "Keep Passing the Open Windows" being great strengths.
Favourites aren't always bests, because bests can be argued from different angles. But this is my favourite, the Queen album that not only gives us 80's popular music but 80's hard rock, touching songs and anthems. Freddie's vocals reign supreme, John's bass lines hold the rhythm together with Roger's great drumming, and Brian's guitar is superb, showcasing everything he is best at.
This for me was the start of a four album run that is as amazing as it is emotionally charged given the reason that album run came to an end. Tie as it is to my growing from age 14 to 21, that probably isn’t a great surprise.
No comments:
Post a Comment