| liam 29.12.2006 01:14 |
I recently recieved these two albums and i want to know what people think of them here. Personally i think the mircale is a great album, with the opening six tracks being great, maybe 'the invisable man' to a lesser extent. I dont think much of 'rain must fall' or 'my baby does me', 'scandal' is good and 'was it all worth it' is ok. I think they over did it with the synths a bit though, the mircale wouldve have worked great has a piano song with more guitar rather than ordinary sounding synths. But overall i'd give it 4/5 Its a Kind of magic on the other hand i dont like. The 5 singles including the fantastic princes of the universe are the best songs. One year of love is ok, but it sounds like something Rod stewart would've released. So 80's sounding and corney as do the rest of the non single songs sound. Maybe except for gimme the prize, which at least has some guitar. Even the singles off this album, apart from the fantastic who want to live for ever and princes of the universe, sound weakly recorded and very 80's. I'll probobly get slammed for this, and much of my disapointment comes from the fact that the only good songs are the ones i already have. 3/5 whats everyone else think of these two albums. |
| deleted user 29.12.2006 01:40 |
I happen to find these two particular albums to be two of Queen's finest. First you have to remember that at this time in Queen's career their popularity had risen to such an extent that it was unimaginable for the band. Why you ask? Well, once Hot Space was released their career went down hill rapidly. After that Queen called it quits in 1983, but came back with The Works (one of my favorites). The Works was a pretty good album for Queen, however, I Want to Break Free killed them in the states (seemed the Americans didn't like drag). So once you put that into consideration you might look at A Kind of Magic a little differently...let me explain... A Kind of Magic (as we all know) contained songs from The Highlander movie and also included a few songs not from the movie (disregarding One Vision of course which was used for Iron Eagle). Now, my understanding is that this album came out at a time when Queen needed to be big and bold, after all, they wouldn't want to dissapoint their newly acquired fans who saw Live Aid. This album was rather diverse in the sense that it experimented with pop, rock, soul, and even metal. For that I commend the band's work on this album. The only complaint I have about the album is that it doesn't feel complete, even if all the songs (in my opinion) were outstandingly polished with that special Queen touch. The Miracle, in my opinion, was a great album...maybe even better than A Kind of Magic. For one, the album felt complete...it didn't end having you feel like you were missing an introduction and conclusion. Another thing is that every song is just plain catchy, I can never decide which song I like the most. Another thing you should take into consideration is that at this time Freddie's health was coming to an all time low. It was amazing and is still amazing to this day that this man was able to over come so many obstacles and boundaries...in this case certain death was the obstactle for Freddie. With that being said, this album gives me that shock and awe feeling...he had so much power and so much energy and was able to put his problems aside in order to produce an outstanding piece of art. As for the instrumentation regarding the lack of piano, I don't mind. As long as the music is quality I don't mind. In conclusion, both albums were great...I love both of them. |
| Sweetie 29.12.2006 02:06 |
I find Magic to be quite crap, ok I like a few tracks but most of it is shit in my opinion. I don't really know the miracle album but the songs I do know from it are pretty cool |
| john bodega 29.12.2006 02:32 |
I've always seen Was It All Worth It as easily being in their top ten, I rate it with Innuendo and their more outrageous songs in the 70's. |
| Elizabeth Knightson 29.12.2006 03:06 |
I love the guitar piece at the beginning of was it all worth it, good one in my opinion. Miracle is not my favorite but it's still very good: lots of new songs and sounds (compare it to the previous AKOM), really nice. I find it to be the 'together' album, they do seem really close on this one (don't ask me why, it's just a feeling). A kind of magic is for me the "funny rockin' album". I find Who wants to live forever and One year of love to be very moving songs, most of the other are simply great (One Vision, Gimme the Prize, A kind of magic),...the only one I still can't listen is Pain is so close to Pleasure... |
| Rick 29.12.2006 04:49 |
I think Rain Must Fall and My Baby Does Me are way underrated. They're pretty good actually. Both have very strong basslines. Just as Cool Cat, these songs are quite complex. And they are produced brilliantly. |
| Russian Headlong 29.12.2006 10:28 |
To be honest, I think Queen's output is far too patchy from the game up to the miracle. Too much synth and not enough of mr May's axe. It strated with aobtd as they tried to experiment with pop/dance/black sounds. All the 80's albums had a mix of tracks with a few anthems and rockers to keep the rockers and metal heads happy who were a large part of the queen fan base since the debut album. The 70's albums all seemed to experimental but without ever becoming saturated with synth/pop sounds. I remembered hearing One vison on akom and then found the rest of the album was really quite weak except for for wwtlf, potu, fwbf and gtp. The other stuff was poor. Likewise the miracle party, khashoggis ship, IWIA, The miracle, scanda and breakthru were fun as was wiawi but my baby does me and rain must fall, they are fucking terrible songs deleiberately aimed at the new pop fans the group now attracted since aobtd. The live versions of such things as akom, backchat, iwtbf all rocked where on record they sound tinny and poppy.You can't blame the band the game opened up a whole new fan base but it also alienated many of the hard rock and metal fams. I think some of this might have to do with John Deacon who came more to the fore as a songwriter after aobtd success. He and (to an extent FM) liked funk/soul/pop more than May and Taylor who were hard rockers and this came to the fore from the game onwards. Perhaps this is something the do with the fact that he never embraced the q+pr thing. I think RT was into synths heavily at times in the 80's from some of his solo stuff and akom and gaga but always remained concerned that Queen kept their metal roots. As for freddie he seemed to like to try anything at least once! |
| louvox 29.12.2006 10:32 |
As a die hard Queen fan in the USA let start by saying that Queen is in my opinion one of the all time great bands. That being said, those two albums you speak of are just plain crappy offerings. “A kind of magic” is their second worst. “The miracle” although had a few moments, it was basically the same tripe they have been producing since “Hot space”. They over used synthesizers to death and ended up sounding like just your average Euro pop synth band of that time. Instead of incorporating new sounds into Queen and making it their own, they simply copied what others were doing at time. Also just to clear things up about “I want to break free” in the USA, the reason most of us didn’t like that song is because it was a weak song with a crummy synthesizer solo that sounded like someone talking a shit. Not because of the video (contrary to popular belief in Europe.) It wasn’t until “Innuendo” that they finally made an album worthy of their greatness. |
| deleted user 29.12.2006 10:45 |
I have to say that The Miracle is my LEAST favorite Queen album. Just because of the amount of crap on there (sorry, but, in my opinion, it's true). Hang On In There - Crap. Khashoggi - Crap. Invisible Man - Double Crap. Party - Major Crap. Chinese Torture - Ew. This is of course my opinion. But as you people might know, in every Queen album, there is an essence of "good". So, just because these songs are awful (in my opinion) doesn't mean they are intolerable. I can bear them and listen to them without problems...but they lack "Queen" in them, if you know what I mean. But other than that, it's O.K. With masterpieces like Scandal, Breakthru, The Miracle, and I Want It All, it's rate is pulled up. There are also some mediocre songs on there, like Rain Must Fall and My Baby Does Me, which I think are underrated and deserve more credit than they are given. Favorite song? I would have to say Scandal. Bloody brilliant. Now A Kind Of Magic has never really been a favorite album of mine, but it's quite good, actually. A Kind Of Magic, Who Wants To Live Forever and Pain Is So Close To Pleasure, and One Year Of Love are probably the highlights to the album (even though some people can't stand PISCTP and One Year Of Love). The other songs are O.K. The worst song would probably would be Don't Lose Your Head. I just can't stand it, it's so repetitive and annoying....just a complete disaster...UGH. My favorite song is Pain Is So Close To Pleasure. I would also like to say that Friends Will Be Friends, Gimme The Prize, Princes Of The Universe and One Vision are seriously OVERRATED. My opinion of course. :D Sorry for my being redunant...lol. |
| Sebastian 29.12.2006 10:48 |
I don't like the 'Magic' album. It's well-written but not equally recorded. I mean I love 'One Year Of Love' as a song, but not their version; same for the title track and 'One Vision'. The only song that I actually like the way it's recorded is 'Who Wants To Live Forever': the duet works there for me, and Brian's solo is extraordinary. Miracle ... I admire the production, and I like the way acoustic, electric and electronic instruments interact (e.g. 'I Want It All'). But then there are some poor bits, and even though the singles are good, they're not even close to the quality of album tracks in the 70s. |
| deleted user 29.12.2006 10:51 |
Sebastian wrote: I don't like the 'Magic' album. It's well-written but not equally recorded. I mean I love 'One Year Of Love' as a song, but not their version; same for the title track and 'One Vision'. The only song that I actually like the way it's recorded is 'Who Wants To Live Forever': the duet works there for me, and Brian's solo is extraordinary. Miracle ... I admire the production, and I like the way acoustic, electric and electronic instruments interact (e.g. 'I Want It All'). But then there are some poor bits, and even though the singles are good, they're not even close to the quality of album tracks in the 70s.I'm gonna have to second this...lol. :P |
| brENsKi 29.12.2006 11:52 |
i never really liked Magic...but it ain't a queen album is it? it's a film soundtrack botched together to make an album with some other leftovers. perhaps that's what i don't like about it...it sounds like ANY 80s rock band...after all they ALL went for the Europe/Asia/Toto synth sound back then...and no offence but a whole album of synths is crap...and they really do not stand THE TEST OF TIME as for Miracle - i REALLY used to like this album. But. It started to dawn on me...the tunes sound like queen, and the vox/guitars sound like queen. but it just doesn't have the queen watermark running through it. the album is a triumph of quantity over quality, production over purpose and style over substance...and it ages extremely badly... |
| Adolfo and the spiders from Mercury 29.12.2006 13:05 |
I think liam should become a weezer fan |
| JoxerTheDeityPirate 29.12.2006 13:33 |
to state the blindingly obvious the albums sound 80ish because they were released in the 80's. however,for that period of time they were great pop albums released with the european market as their sole target,as the yanks didnt care about queen anymore. on another note.the intro to was it all worth it is a blatant rip off of the original battlestar galactica theme. i suppose you had to be in your teens in the 80s like myself to appreciate these albums more. |
| queen mercury 33542 29.12.2006 14:10 |
I like them both for different songs. I like the invisible man, I want it all, rain must fall, and the miricle off the miricle and a kind of magic's favorites are one vission, a kind of magic, who wants to live forever, pain is so close to pleasure and the instrumental of forever. Smile. Hope I didn't miss any. Lol. |
| cmsdrums 29.12.2006 17:07 |
I really like The Miracle, and it is certainly (in my opinion) a stronger album on the whole than both A Kind Of Magic and The Works. The Miracle covers varied musical grounds, but still seems to hold together as an album with a continuous feel and thread. AKOM seems to simply be a collection of songs written at various times with specific pre determined themes (ie The Highlander film) and the songs then don't hold together as an album. Both The Works and AKOM are far inferior soundwise, with drum machines, and poor drum sounds throughout (they are both very short too!!) Although a song such as Party may not sit well with people hankering for the harder side of Queen, there is actually a lot of very good guitar in it, and a lot of other things going on that actually make it one of my favourite Queen album tracks - it doesn't seem to fit into any category, and is equally dance, pop and rock in various parts. It is as unusual really as Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon or such earlier tracks. They also returned some of their finer harder moments, whilst still retaining a good melody, in songs such as Khashoggi's Ship, I Want It All and Was It All Worth It. Even the lesser tracks such as Rain Must Fall and My Baby Does Me (only in to ensure John had a fair share of songs??) have a bouyancy missing from the very staid, elerctronic feel of Pain Is So Close To Pleasure and One Year Of Love. Overall I definitely prefer The Miracle, but obviously this is objective, and really shows the beauty of Queen's catalogue in that you could play various songs to people who are into different styles of music, and they would all like at least one Queen song, and would pick a different song as their favourite. |
| k-m 29.12.2006 17:38 |
The Miracle is so much better than Magic. It is filled with hits and sounds very fresh to me. Magic was just an uninspired crap with only three or four decent songs on it (One Vision, A Kind Of Magic, Who Wants To Live Forever, Princes Of The Universe). Perhaps, I wouldn't even like these songs if not for the Wembley versions. I read an interview with Mack who mentioned AKOM sessions and he said the band had a few songs recorded for Highlander and they didn't have any other ideas and decided to release the songs as a new Queen album. Sad, isn't it? IMO it was Freddie's illness that pushed Queen to make two good albums - The Miracle and Innuendo. Miracle wasn't as brilliant as Innuendo, but it was well produced and the tunes were good, too. It showed a band which still can release five decent singles from an album and sound fresh after so many years on stage. A good step before everything that was to come. |
| bohemianrhap84 29.12.2006 18:43 |
The Miracle is a fantastic album. The only songs that aren't that great are My Baby Does Me and Hang On In There, but they are still ok songs. Was It All Worth It, Scandal, Breakthru, I Want It All and of course The Miracle are outstanding. The Invisible Man is alright but I would've chosen Was It All Worth It as the fifth single from the album instead of that one. A Kind Of Magic is one of my least favorite albums. Apart from the hits, the album is quite weak for Queen standards. Though it does have some high points like Who Wants To Live Forever, One Vision and Princes Of The Universe. I personally like Friends Will Be Friends and Pain Is So Close To Pleasure but I know some don't. I'm not a fan of the title track that much either. |
| Josh Henson 29.12.2006 22:02 |
Are you guys CRAZY? Hang On In There is a great rocker! The freakin' guitar at the end of the song is great. The Miracle, although a pop album, is great except for RMF and MBDM, in my opinion. AKOM album isn't all that great. 9 songs? What kind of crap is that? Pain, Don't Lose Your Head are very weak. One Year of Love is ok but not a good Queen song. I hate to say it, but Hot Space is better than this album. |
| deleted user 30.12.2006 19:41 |
I agree that Hot Space is much better than A Kind Of Magic, but I disagree about Pain Is So Close To Pleasure. It's actually one of the best on the album if you ask me. One Year Of Love I can hardly stand and Don't Lose Your Head I refuse to consider real music. As for The Miracle, Rain Must Fall is pretty good and tracks 3-6 all deserved to be as popular as they were. MBDM is one of Queen's worst, however, and Party/Khashoggi's Ship were never really my favorites either. Overall I think The Miracle was on of the best Queen albums, but A Kind Of Magic is without a doubt the worst (not considering Flash Gordon, of course). |
| Arnaldo "Ogre-" Silveira 30.12.2006 20:41 |
Zebonka12 wrote: I've always seen Was It All Worth It as easily being in their top ten, I rate it with Innuendo and their more outrageous songs in the 70's.Ditto. :) And sweden_man, Don't Loose Your Head is a great, fantastic "technopop" number, like Radio Ga Ga and Love Kills. Not to forget the incredible 12" instrumental for DLYH, A Dozen Red Roses for My Darling. As a fan of that particular style of music from the '80s, I can tell you Queen ruled in that field as well. It may not make that much sense for someone that wasn't a teenager back then, I reckon. Cheers, Ogre- |
| mike hunt 31.12.2006 05:03 |
I see magic and the miracle as two good but not great queen albums. Each album has it's gems, and some poor tunes. I personally can't stand don't lose your head and party. the song The miracle is brilliant, the guitars and vocal arrangments don't get the credit it deserves. also, "rain must fall" is underated, I think the lyrics and vocals are good and i love the guitars, drums and bass in this song. |
| ITSM 03.01.2007 12:56 |
<font color=blue>Rick wrote: I think Rain Must Fall and My Baby Does Me are way underrated. They're pretty good actually. Both have very strong basslines. Just as Cool Cat, these songs are quite complex. And they are produced brilliantly.I totally agree! At least "My baby does me" and "Cool Cat" are great! "Rain must fall" is okay.. But I'm one of the few who actually like "Pain is so close to pleasure".. Although I like the first 5 albums best, I think alot of the heavy "bass-stuff" from the 80's are great. I think "Delilah" also are fantastic.. I didn't listen to it the first 12 years I had Innuendo, but now I think it's one of the best from that album.. (The same for "Cool Cat" on Hot Space). ... |
| mike hunt 04.01.2007 00:04 |
ITSM wrote:I agree, most of these songs just plain grow on you after a while if you give them a chance. pain and pleasure and especially cool cat have become a favorite of mine. I also think Delilah is a nice ballad.<font color=blue>Rick wrote: I think Rain Must Fall and My Baby Does Me are way underrated. They're pretty good actually. Both have very strong basslines. Just as Cool Cat, these songs are quite complex. And they are produced brilliantly.I totally agree! At least "My baby does me" and "Cool Cat" are great! "Rain must fall" is okay.. But I'm one of the few who actually like "Pain is so close to pleasure".. Although I like the first 5 albums best, I think alot of the heavy "bass-stuff" from the 80's are great. I think "Delilah" also are fantastic.. I didn't listen to it the first 12 years I had Innuendo, but now I think it's one of the best from that album.. (The same for "Cool Cat" on Hot Space). ... |
| Gratzi 04.01.2007 03:26 |
Personally, I think The Miracle is kind of nasty... except :I Want It All, The Miracle & The Invisible MAn... (I don't even like Breakthrough - DON'T JUDGE ME!!!). as for AKOM, well... again, the singels make the difference... Actually the 80's Queen albums are quite annoying if you try to listen to them from the beginning to the end! |