MiH and remasters

1991: Queen had a problem, two excellent albums in three years (The Miracle, 1989 and Innuendo, 1991), and a lead singer taking a permanent performance vacation. Generally death isn't too much of an impediment, without bothering to check, I think 2pac and Notorious BIG have released more while dead, than during their eventful lives.

Wot to do? After a tribute concert, of dubious quality, 75% of the band headed back to the studio to put together a new album. Freddie, before ambling off, had recorded as much as he could, and in the recent BBC doco Brian saying he'd hand Freddie lines, FM would sing them three times, and that allowed the band to work up tracks once he'd gone.

So how does Made in Heaven stack up? At the time I felt it could have been a brilliant EP, and I don't think I've changed from that. Possibly two EPs (new and re-imagined tracks).

FM's voice was still crystal clear and tone-perfect, although the power is absent from some of the later tracks. It's evident on some tracks of Innuendo, and is more evident on MiH. I think his lung power had gone too, the length of phrases in MiH is reduced compared to Innuendo. And in places, Innuendo has shorter lines/phrases than earlier Queen albums.

Opening with It's a beautiful day; it's good, but not great. There's a lack of passion or balls, in the track. I suspect it's been emasculated by Brian as the reprise is better, so why did they cut it for the opening? Odd.
MiH is an old FM solo track that had the accompaniment rewritten. Vocally it's great, but as FM recorded the solo album as a distinct break from Queen, it's a pop song that doesn't work too well within the rock band context.
LML, one of the vocal fragments. I like the track, it's new, and works well. Not upto Innuendo levels, but solid. Obviously one of the fragments, as verses are shared between FM, BM and RT. FM's love of gospel is carried through on this track (see Somebody to Love etc.).
Mother Love, really like this. Quite a change for Queen but works. Downbeat, but interesting. Until the end where their mixing of old sound samples, which could have been good, gets messy and even petty.
My Life Has Been Saved, was a bside to the miracle track 'Scandal'. The track was reworked, and lost a little with the retouches, but isn't too bad - although on any other album, it would have stayed a b-side.
I Was Born to Love You again from FM solo album. And again, not really fitting the Queen style. But the new backing track significantly improves the original.
Heaven for Everyone was originally a track from RT's 'other' band, The Cross. The US release featured a RT vocal, but in an effort to appeal to Queen fans in the UK, the UK release had the FM vocal. It is that vocal that was used here. The backing track has, again, been improved. Good, but not essential.
TMLWKY - originally recorded during the Miracle sessions, the song was rejected by the band, instead BM released it on his solo album. Not good. Although this version has more passion than the BM solo one, which suffers, as most his album does, of being over-produced.
You Don't Fool Me - good stuff, nice groove laid down, and good vocal track. Not sure when this dates from, but from the quality of the performance it may have been earlier in the Innuendo sessions.
A Winter's Tale - lovely sweet song, which fits as a companion piece to Bijou. Musically, lyrically, and guitar sound are all similar. Very much a looking back track, and, I suspect, one of the later tracks to be recorded.

It's a Beautiful Day (reprise) - is all the opening track should have been. Much better, ballsier, and a fitting end to the album.
Which begs the question, why wasn't it the end of the album? The ambient piece is nice, certainly not Queen, and certainly non-essential. Would have made a great bonus EP track.

I still stand by my initial comment that the album works better as two EPs, new and 're-imagined'. As an album, it's a poor end to a great career. The band should have finished with Innuendo, which was, ironically (given the circumstances), probably their best album since Jazz or News of the World. Go on,argue that one...

So the remasters, how are they going? It's not the first time the back catalogue has had a refresh, when Q signed with Hollywood Records (in the US) everything was remastered and released with bonus tracks, or remixes. Some of the these were good, I liked the Rick Rubin mixes, unlike everyone else...
there were the remastered tracks for the CD singles from MiH, and the Japanese remasters...etc etc. These new remasters are just that, new. Having not had any of the other remasters (I stuck to vinyl, aside from the bonus tracks) these are new to me. And they sound great.
I've got QI, II, Sheer Heart Attack so far, and they sound brilliant. Crystal clear, but without too much 'CD-ness', the warmth of the original vinyl has been kept.
The bonus tracks are good, also very clean, nothing essential so far, but some good live versions of tracks.
Yeah, just buy them. The first 10 albums (not live albums) have been released. If you don't want the 2CD version, they are also available as singles. It's definitely the sympathetic treatment the albums have been crying out for, and I'm hoping they release something special for b-sides etc later.

B