The discussion on songs that sound better live got me thinking about Hot space.
Staying Power got a few mentions on that thread as being much better live, and reminded me of a thought I've had often since Made In Heaven.
I sometimes wonder if Brian and Roger couldnt take some of the Hot Space masters and redo the songs as rockers instead of disco. They made a great job of Queenifying the Mr Bad guy tracks, Could they queenify a Queen album?
Just a thought.
GG
I would never want the band to redo any of their original studio albums. Made in Heaven was an entirely different situation. I want the band to either put together an anthology or keep looking toward the future. But yes, Hot Space sounds best live.
Interesting!
IMO, the 'dance' tracks on Hot Space sounded weak due to what I can only sum up as 'unenlightened production'. At that point in their career, neither Mack or Queen were awfully experienced with producing disco/dance tracks. When you compare those tracks to 'proper' dance tracks of the time, you'll know what I mean. Early 80s dance was all about the low-end - big drums, nifty percussion and distinctly funky bass lines (think Yazoo, Human League, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, as well as the emerging electro scene of NYC). If you look at the most blatant disco numbers on HS (Staying Power, Back Chat and Body Language), none of them stand the test of time because they lack those key attributes. None of them are even remotely danceable and ultimately, they come off as no-balls white disco.
Having said all that, Hot Space is an album with pretty good songs. If the band chose to work with a producer with experience in disco/funk/etc, those songs would've sounded very different.
The true testament to how good those songs really are is how much better they sounded live.
So yeah, it'd be an interesting exercise for the boys to go back and rework Hot Space rock-style, much in the same way they did with I Can't Live With You.