Line-Up
Freddie Mercury - vocals, piano, keyboards
John Deacon - bass guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards
Roger Taylor - drums, percussion, vocals, keyboards
Brian May - guitars, vocals, keyboards.
Tracklist:
1. Party 2. Khashoggi's Ship 3. The Miracle
4. I Want It All 5. The Invisible Man 6. Breakthru 7. Rain Must Fall
8. Scandal 9. My Baby Does Me 10. Was It All Worth It 5:47
I just saw the first trailer for the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody and it looks really good. This got me thinking, I haven’t reviewed many Queen albums. In all honesty, I could have gone back and reviewed their entire catalogue, but that has been to death. Truth be told, Queen gets a lot of praise for their albums from the 1970’s, but for whatever reason their material from the 1980’s and onward has become unjustly ignored and forgotten. So, I let’s go against the grain and look at some of the underappreciated or forgotten jewels from the Queen catalogue.
In my opinion, here is another hidden jewel in the Queen’s crown that never had its time to shine, Queen’s thirteenth studio album, The Miracle. The album was released on 22 May 1989 and was produced by Queen and David Richards (David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Chris Rea).
Queen struggled during the 80’s with the musical departure of The Game, Hot Space and The Flash Gordon soundtrack. It confused not only their fan base, but radio and video stations in North America. Because of that, some of Queens’s 80’s albums weren’t getting any type of airplay or promotion. Because of that, the albums struggled to make an impact with the music buying public.
In my opinion, The Miracle is one of the most underrated records in the Queen catalogue. The groups 13th studio album brought back the band’s clever amalgamation of light opera, dance, folk and vaudeville into radio friendly pop/rock songs.
Maybe its just me or did the album's cover of the four band members merging and becoming one, and that of all songs were credited as being written by the band collectively, it really gave me a sense that The Miracle was truly a collaborative effort. It looked and sounded that Queen were back.
The Miracle is one of those albums that you really need to listen to all the way through even though there a couple of weak tracks. The album has a lot to offer. Honestly, it needs a few listens before “getting it” but The Miracle is one of those albums that keeps rewarding the listener after each and every listen. The playing, the production, those incredible vocals and killer harmonies are just amazing.
The Miracle has numerous highlights, but if I had to choose it would be the following: the anthemic first single, I Want It All; the atmospheric/reflective mid tempo title track; the pop/rocker, Scandal and the epic retrospective album closer, Was It All Worth It.
Queen’s 13th studio album has been criminally forgotten, and really needs to be rediscovered by not only Queen fans, but for those who love music, period! -