| steven 35638 29.08.2007 17:51 |
'Made In Heaven' is one of my favorite records of all time and lately has been regarded as something that is not up to par with other Queen records. Here you will find my personal views on each composition of the album and even some brief, yet notable, facts. I'm looking forward to your responses! IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY Years before Freddie Mercury started recording solo material, he made this beautifully arranged sound clip of him messing around on the piano in 1980. It was later, for the use of this album, that the song was extended to two minutes and thirty-two seconds. The more classical section, without Freddie's amazing improvisation, was put together by the one and only John Deacon. This song, as far as I'm concerned, is not a rip off or cheesy recording; it is in my eyes to be a genuine Queen recording, a collaboration if you will. MADE IN HEAVEN This song, along with the other Freddie solo track 'I Was Born To Love You', was given special treatment by Queen for this posthumous album. Many of you feel that this song should never have been touched by Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon, especially because Freddie Mercury tried to get away from the Queen sound when he originally recorded 'Made In Heaven' in 1984-1985. However, anyone who is willing to admit it will say that the polished Queen version is more timeless than the original version on 'Mr. Bad Guy'. LET ME LIVE In 1976, with the assistance of Rod Stewart, this song began life under the title 'Another Little Piece Of My Heart'. It was later resurrected during the recording sessions of the 'The Works' with the help of Rod Stewart in Los Angeles. The band were left with only a roughly 90 second recording of Freddie Mercury, however, with the patience and creativity of it's remaining members this song became a four minute and forty-five second gospel track for 'Made In Heaven'. I don't know how you all feel, but in my opinion this is yet another genuine Queen composition. MOTHER LOVE This compostion is notably one of Freddie Mercury's final vocal performances. The song was written by Brian May and then further arranged by Freddie Mercury. It was never finished while Freddie was still alive in the spring of 1991, so Brian May respectfully sung the final verse that his friend wasn't able to finish before his death. This beautiful composition which centers around the desire to return to the womb and shelter of one's mother is yet another genuine Queen recording on 'Made In Heaven'. 'Mother Love' has to be one of Freddie Mercury's most passionate vocal performances. MY LIFE HAS BEEN SAVED 'My Life Has Been Saved' was composed by John Deacon for 'The Miracle' album, however, it was only released as the B-side to the October 1989 'Scandal' single at the time. Six years later, however, Queen, without Freddie Mercury, reworked the song for 'Made In Heaven'. This is yet another genuine Queen song that in no way interfered with Freddie's solo career or well being for that matter. I WAS BORN TO LOVE YOU This song is without a doubt the most rock-oriented composition on 'Made In Heaven' which is a welcome sight indeed. This song is the second of two Freddie Mercury solo songs that was reworked and treated with the genuine Queen touch. Whether or not Queen's fans, or in particular the Freddie freaks out there, appreciated it is up to them, but when it's all said and done this song simply rocks. Initially Freddie didn't think much of the track in 1985, but today, in my opinion, he would have been proud of Queen's version. Especially because during the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour in 2005 Roger Taylor sang the song live along with acoustic guitars. It became an unexpected highlight of the tour. HEAVEN FOR EVERYONE 'Heaven For Everyone' is probably one of Roger Taylor's most outstanding compositions and is frequently unmentioned by the general public or even the Queen fan community for that matter. On 'Made In |
| Pim Derks 29.08.2007 18:01 |
OK. |
| Leaky Luke 29.08.2007 18:13 |
<font color=FF0033 face=symbol>Freddie wrote: YEAH 'Yeah' can hardly be considered a Queen composition or even titled as a track for that matter. The reason behind it is to my knowledge unknown. The spoken word 'yeah' was extracted from 'Action This Day'.Nice review.. only I read the word genuine too often. I think the problem with track 12 or "yeah" was that it was cut from It's a beautiful (reprise) so it ended up as a stand alone "track" while it should've been a part of It's a beautiful day reprise. Which would make sense.. cause then track 13 would be the only hidden track |
| TheGame 29.08.2007 18:20 |
Yeah, nice reading actually! |
| Maz 29.08.2007 18:29 |
Who says it's not up to par? |
| Marcelo_argentina 29.08.2007 21:54 |
C'amon..Made In Heaven is not a real Queen Album!...let me live...mother love...a winter's tale..and you don't fool me...four songs? is not an album! |
| Lester Burnham 29.08.2007 23:32 |
This was the first true Queen album I had ever bought. I was only 12 at the time, but had been a fan for two years. One day I walked into my local record store and looked in the 'Q' section as a joke, and saw this new album there. I was really excited, because by the time I became a fan it seemed like there'd be no hope of any new Queen material coming out. I still remember listening to the whole thing on cassette, and listening to it now conjures up really great memories of the winter of 1995, which I think is reflected in the music: it's a wonderful, wintery album, definitely not something you'd listen to in the summer with the windows rolled down. (As an aside, I consider most of Queen's music to be wintery, though there are exceptions, mostly the albums from The Game through The Miracle. That's neither here nor there.) I don't listen to much Queen anymore, but as soon as I hear that keyboard introduction on It's A Beautiful Day, I am instantly transported back to the winter of 1995, when I was carefully unwrapping the cellophane of the album and reading the track list and lyrics over and over and over and over again, before I even had a chance to listen to it. Wondering what a song titled Mother Love would sound like (at first, I thought it was going to be a dance song). And then just being blown away by the whole thing. In a way, I wish I had never learned that only three of the songs had been previously unreleased, and that Let Me Live (still my favorite song on that album) had been a bare scrap of a jam. It kind of cheapened the whole effect for a while, but I don't let it bother me anymore. It's still a damn good album, and a fine epilogue to the final chapter ("Innuendo"). |
| onevsion 30.08.2007 04:27 |
Lester Burnham wrote: This was the first true Queen album I had ever bought. I was only 12 at the time, but had been a fan for two years. One day I walked into my local record store and looked in the 'Q' section as a joke, and saw this new album there. I was really excited, because by the time I became a fan it seemed like there'd be no hope of any new Queen material coming out. I still remember listening to the whole thing on cassette, and listening to it now conjures up really great memories of the winter of 1995, which I think is reflected in the music: it's a wonderful, wintery album, definitely not something you'd listen to in the summer with the windows rolled down. (As an aside, I consider most of Queen's music to be wintery, though there are exceptions, mostly the albums from The Game through The Miracle. That's neither here nor there.) I don't listen to much Queen anymore, but as soon as I hear that keyboard introduction on It's A Beautiful Day, I am instantly transported back to the winter of 1995, when I was carefully unwrapping the cellophane of the album and reading the track list and lyrics over and over and over and over again, before I even had a chance to listen to it. Wondering what a song titled Mother Love would sound like (at first, I thought it was going to be a dance song). And then just being blown away by the whole thing. In a way, I wish I had never learned that only three of the songs had been previously unreleased, and that Let Me Live (still my favorite song on that album) had been a bare scrap of a jam. It kind of cheapened the whole effect for a while, but I don't let it bother me anymore. It's still a damn good album, and a fine epilogue to the final chapter ("Innuendo").Same thoughts here. I was also 12 y/o in 1995. Feel the same about the album. Bought it on black vinyl in London in 1995. Great memories. |
| rmtaylor 30.08.2007 05:43 |
I always thought that "Too much love" was completed before "The Miracle" album, and then they decided not to put the song in. Are you sure they only did a demo in 1989 and finished the song in 1994? |
| pittrek 30.08.2007 06:00 |
A great album and great memories. I remember how shocked I was to find out that they're having a new album, but also excited. I've been a big fan since the songs from "The Miracle" started to air on our radio in Slovakia (in that time Czechoslovakia). I was 14 when MIH was released and I still remember begging my parents to buy me the MC (I didn't even dream about CDs then). And the first kiss during You Don't Fool Me make the song very special for me :) And of course a nice review |
| The Fairy King 30.08.2007 06:16 |
wooooooooooooooooooooooooosh... "fab" |
| Regor 30.08.2007 07:52 |
I agree with Lester about the wintery feel, kind of eerie and gleamy at the same time. It’s a great album to listen to, in terms of the overall atmosphere. But I still have problems with it, but at least this has often lead to very interesting discussions here… It’s a beautiful day: Great idea to revive the old demo, and make it the frame for the album. What bothers me is the inclusion of tweeting birds. I mean... tweeting birds! :-) Queen always managed to nicely balance their way between their kitschier and “dryer” side, and Freddie brought a sense of humour into it - as a german rock critic once put it: “Queen are the kind of humour that Led Zeppelin never had”. But on some MIH-tracks, the sound effects or samples of Freddie ad-libbing from other, older songs just go to far in one direction, as if we had to be reminded every 8th bar that this is a posthumous record. And by the way, I think the album should’ve been called “A beautiful day”. “Made in heaven” was again just too… obvious. Stretching it too far. Made in heaven: That track was wonderfully orchestrated on Mr. Bad Guy, it did not need a “rock”-treatment. It still doesn’t feel right to me, although I would never ever doubt the boys’ best intentions. Let me live: Great track, but I was disappointed about the inclusion of the backing singers - for me it would’ve been perfect with Fred, Rog and Bri singing one verse each, and Bri and Rog doing the choruses the old “Queen-way”. They could’ve used the one chorus that Freddie had recorded as a basis for that. Mother Love: Undisputable a great track and of special significance with it being one of the last recorded performances of Freddie. But the fade-out… the crying baby is a bit too much for me (see “tweeting birds”), and the references to the past again - I would have preferred a more subtle way, again we did not need to be reminded that he’s dead. Let the songs as such take effect. My life has been saved: The B-side (!) to the fifth (!) single of “The Miracle”! Lyrically not their best effort, and the first verse is even repeated in the end. A nice pop song, but on THE last album? Dunno, still can’t see any reason for it’s inclusion. I was born to love you: Even though the new arrangement is much, much better than the cheap, eurodance arrangement on Mr. Bad Guy, it’s still… you know… Heaven for everyone: I once read that Freddie himself wanted to persuade Rog to record it with Queen (can someone confirm?). The new arrangement is okay. I don’t see it as difficult as Freddie’s solotracks, as Roger could decide himself. Too much love will kill you: Great song, had to be on there, and for the right reasons, as a Queen-version existed. You don’t fool me: Believe it or not, one of my favourite Queen-songs ever. The lick is just mesmerizing and irresistible, Brian’s solo (which IMO is the longest on any Queen track bar Brighton Rock?) is superb, and what David Richards made out of what must have been just a bunch of randomly sung lines is truly stunning. A winters tale: An beautiful song, and Freddie’s last composition. ‘Nuff said. It’s a beautiful day (reprise): This second part rocks like hell, but I could’ve done without the samples of SSOR – mainly because I would have liked to see MIH as an album that draws it’s power and magic only from it’s own music, not from references to the past. Yeah: Come on, it’s a joke! Track13: Interesting piece, and for me this should have been the only obvious sign that this is a special album. For the rest, let the music speak for itself. I would’ve liked the album to consist of just the three tracks recorded after Innuendo, IABD (still as a frame), LML, HFE and TMLWKY. Including Track 13 this would have made an album with either all new (unknown in that sense), or all genuine and at least lesser known Queen-Material, with the only exception of HFE. 8 tracks, perhaps plus “I guess we’re falling out” as it is almost fin |
| pittrek 30.08.2007 08:13 |
What do you have against tweety birds ? "I tot I taw a putty cat" |
| steven 35638 30.08.2007 10:36 |
rmtaylor wrote: I always thought that "Too much love" was completed before "The Miracle" album, and then they decided not to put the song in. Are you sure they only did a demo in 1989 and finished the song in 1994?I'm positive. It was recorded at Allerton Hill in 1994 and was based around the original demo from 1989. |
| steven 35638 30.08.2007 10:55 |
Regor wrote: Mother Love: Undisputable a great track and of special significance with it being one of the last recorded performances of Freddie. But the fade-out… the crying baby is a bit too much for me (see “tweeting birds”), and the references to the past again - I would have preferred a more subtle way, again we did not need to be reminded that he’s dead. Let the songs as such take effect.I agree that the ending of 'Mother Love' could have done better without the whining baby, but there is reason behind this. The main theme of 'Mother Love' is for the character to travel back into his mother's womb where he feels secure and at peace away from a horrible world. That being said, the song ends with first Freddie singing at Wembley in 1986, then going back in time to roughly 1973 with 'Going Back' ("I think I'm going back, to the things I loved so well in my youth"), and then finally back to the comfort of his own mother where you hear a baby crying. In my opinion, as weird of an ending as it is, it's quite fitting in its own respect. Regor wrote: Heaven for everyone: I once read that Freddie himself wanted to persuade Rog to record it with Queen (can someone confirm?). The new arrangement is okay. I don’t see it as difficult as Freddie’s solotracks, as Roger could decide himself.I'm not entirely sure if that's true, but all I know of this is that Freddie did record his own lead vocal track for the song which must have meant he liked the song. Regor wrote: Too much love will kill you: Great song, had to be on there, and for the right reasons: after all, it started as a Queen-TrackThat is incorrect. Before ever being turned over to Queen 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' was written and recorded for Brian's solo project in 1988. |
| steven 35638 30.08.2007 10:58 |
Maz wrote: Who says it's not up to par?You'll find people on this thread along with others on other various threads throughout Queenzone's history. |
| Regor 30.08.2007 11:37 |
<font color=FF0033 face=symbol>Freddie wrote:Regor wrote:Did not know that. I already edited it in my post. Thanks for the info.Regor wrote: Too much love will kill you: Great song, had to be on there, and for the right reasons: after all, it started as a Queen-TrackThat is incorrect. Before ever being turned over to Queen 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' was written and recorded for Brian's solo project in 1988. |
| Sebastian 30.08.2007 12:22 |
Nice review, but there are some mistakes: > The song was written by Brian May and then further arranged by Freddie Mercury. Actually, it's with music from Brian and lyrics by Freddie (there's a manuscript). > Queen initially made a demo recording of 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' for a possible inclusion of it on 'The Miracle' album Are you sure? Because it sounds like Brian + Freddie, not Queen. Same old story... |
| roy_fokker 30.08.2007 12:55 |
I agree with your general opinions about the album, with only a couple of differences. - I used to like the original Heaven for Everyone, especially the arrangement of the version sung by Roger. In my opinion, the MIH version is 'no fish-no meet'... it could have come out better if it was smoother (for instance, Brian's repeated 'bendings' in the "what people do to other souls" part is quite annoying). - Too much love will kill you... such a great vocal performance and such a horrible arrangement. With such a beautiful song and Freddie's voice, the keyboard-pad sounds really awful, the drums arrangement is so flat that it could have been done better even with an automatic arranger. I would have preferred it arranged with a real Strings section, a real piano, and a huge final with quite a more powerful general sound. I mean... Made in Heaven and I was born to love you sounded really empowered... I don't really understand why they lost such an opportunity with Too much love will kill you. This said, MIH is an honest album, and I'm really glad it's been released. Roy. ps.\\ another question to you all... why do you think they left aside other material? (just to give an example, Love making love; It's so you or songs like Face it Alone that - for what is rumored around - was already quite complete? |
| steven 35638 30.08.2007 13:01 |
Sebastian wrote: Nice review, but there are some mistakes: > The song was written by Brian May and then further arranged by Freddie Mercury. Actually, it's with music from Brian and lyrics by Freddie (there's a manuscript).It might be possible that when Freddie 'arranged' Brian's song he might have tweaked the lyrics here and there or changed it all. After all that wasn't too uncommon for Queen to do because quite often they'd mess around with each other's songs. Sebastian wrote: > Queen initially made a demo recording of 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' for a possible inclusion of it on 'The Miracle' album Are you sure? Because it sounds like Brian + Freddie, not Queen. Same old story...I have no detailed information on who was there for the demo recording, but from my sources it simply says 'Queen' were there. |
| Micrówave 30.08.2007 16:09 |
<font color=FF0033 face=symbol>Freddie wrote:That would be me. I can't believe that people actually consider this more of a Queen album than Flash Gordon. Actually it's more similar to GH3.Maz wrote: Who says it's not up to par?You'll find people on this thread along with others on other various threads throughout Queenzone's history. And Track 13 and Yeah? I thought I had a defective CD for a while. No explanation in the liner notes either. Tribute to Freddie? Hmmm. I don't think so. Fake birds? Or at least a synthesized loop I think. Or maybe they just happened to be repeating the same "Bird phrase" over and over. There's nothing wrong with the new tracks. I can even appreciate the half-baked Let Me Live because of its conditions being recorded. But going back into the studio and "re-mixing" a new album? 4 years later? Oh, that's for Freddie. Right. Now I know these were Fred's closest associates, professionally, but they put their creative touches on Freddie's song. It no longer is the way he intended it... unless maybe someone was in contact with the immortal spirit of Freddie during mixdown saying, "no, I don't think that needs to be there on the bridge". Freddie wanted his final recordings released. Great. And they did that. Did Freddie also want them to go in and totally re-work his "finished projects" as well? I don't think any artist would. |
| PieterMC 30.08.2007 16:32 |
Micrówave wrote: Freddie wanted his final recordings released. Great. And they did that. Did Freddie also want them to go in and totally re-work his "finished projects" as well? I don't think any artist would.Nobody knows what conversations Freddie had with the rest of the band. For all we know he may have given them his full blessing to reuse old songs of his. To speculate as to what Freddie would have wanted is just a waste of time. |
| FriedChicken 30.08.2007 16:57 |
I still blame them for not including Two Worlds Apart. As they tried to put it on an album 2 times before.. But abandoning the idea every single time.... Grr! |
| drwinston 30.08.2007 18:29 |
Are you sure about Deacy doing the orchestral bit in IABD? That seems a tad beyond him, but maybe. References? |
| galileufigaro 30.08.2007 18:30 |
great album, great review. Good times. I miss another surprise like that in 1995... |
| steven 35638 30.08.2007 23:32 |
drwinston wrote: Are you sure about Deacy doing the orchestral bit in IABD? That seems a tad beyond him, but maybe. References?You can check out 'Queen Complete Works' which is one of my primary sources, and also one of the most reliable! I believe the author of the book, Georg Purvis, came by on this thread earlier. In that case I'd like to say great work, Mr. Purvis!!! It was worth every penny! |
| Lester Burnham 31.08.2007 00:37 |
<font color=FF0033 face=symbol>Freddie wrote:I thought a lot of your initial review looked familiar... ;)drwinston wrote: Are you sure about Deacy doing the orchestral bit in IABD? That seems a tad beyond him, but maybe. References?You can check out 'Queen Complete Works' which is one of my primary sources, and also one of the most reliable! I believe the author of the book, Georg Purvis, came by on this thread earlier. In that case I'd like to say great work, Mr. Purvis!!! It was worth every penny! Thank you for your kind words, too! Glad you enjoyed it. Tell all yer friends!! |
| steven 35638 31.08.2007 11:16 |
Lester Burnham wrote:You're very welcome and I've already spread the word. I mean it, though, I've read your book inside out and have enjoyed it immensely! It really is "the ultimate reference to the expansive career of Queen!"<font color=FF0033 face=symbol>Freddie wrote:I thought a lot of your initial review looked familiar... ;) Thank you for your kind words, too! Glad you enjoyed it. Tell all yer friends!!drwinston wrote: Are you sure about Deacy doing the orchestral bit in IABD? That seems a tad beyond him, but maybe. References?You can check out 'Queen Complete Works' which is one of my primary sources, and also one of the most reliable! I believe the author of the book, Georg Purvis, came by on this thread earlier. In that case I'd like to say great work, Mr. Purvis!!! It was worth every penny! |