Queen: The Miracle - 1989

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This was Queen's first album for three years and, although it stands as an example of the band's mid-late eighties material and has the faults that era inevitably brought with it, I actually quite like it (and I am firmly a seventies man). 

Roger Taylor blatantly steals the drum intro from Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' Going To A Go-Go for the lively, rocking Party. The track is vibrant and fun, full of great guitar, despite some of the synth-y backing at times. It segues straight into Khashoggi's Ship with a supremely heavy riff. This is an underrated Queen rocker. This is Queen rocking as they always should do. 

Now begins a run of four great hit singles in a row, the heart of this album.

The melodic, Mercury vocal-dominated, inventive and grandiose The Miracle came first. It is one that also features some typical Brian May guitar (not all Queen songs by now did). It is one of Queen's most beautifully-orchestrated songs, featuring some lovely plucked strings and sweeping passages too. Lyrically, it is hopeful and positive. A fine song. I love the bass, guitar and drum bit at the end too.

I Want It All was one of Queen's heaviest, chunky rockers, augmented after its first heavy burst by some attractive and melodic acoustic parts. It has a huge, stadium rock-friendly, fist-pumping chorus. It bristles with Queen power. This is how they should always have been. Check out the über-heavy drum and guitar freakout after about two and a half minutes. Great stuff. Let your speakers shake!

Roger Taylor's The Invisible Man is a stonking slab of Queen rock, with all four members name-checked as they solo powerfully. Despite its dance-ish rhythm it is infectious and rocks seriously at times. Well, actually, it is in its dance rhythm that its appeal lies - merged perfectly with rock. As I said earlier, Roger was coming up with some great songs in this period. That rumbling bassline is just awesome.

Breakthru is a fun, breathless romp when it eventually kicks in. It is another piece of dance/rock fusion and it works superbly. I love all these tracks. All of a sudden Roger Taylor started writing consistently good songs, didn't he? This latter couple being two more (although Breakthru was a collaboration with Mercury).

The quality fades somewhat now, however. 

Rain Must Fall is a lightweight, limp Deacon-Mercury collaboration. All very pleasant, but pretty unmemorable, really. Nice guitar solo in the middle though. Despite the programmed rhythms on a lot of this album's material, they still manage to fit in some pounding drums and killer Brian May guitar throughout, which is good. 

Scandal has a huge synth riff and an infectious vocal and feel, which again integrates some searing guitar in places. My Baby Does Me has a superb, muscular bass line and a great funk feel and quality vocal from Mercury. I love the ambience on this one. Proper Queen deep cut Heaven for you here.

Was It All Worth It is a powerful, riffy and heavy look back at the band's beginnings. It is an underrated , marvellously inventive track that samples a classical piece in its riff, but I can't think which one it is (something Russian). 

Despite my misgivings of some of Queen's Hot Space material, I feel this album has quite a good, appealing mix. Accepting that Queen had changed somewhat in the eighties, I have to say that as eighties albums go, it isn't a bad one. It is my favourite of their albums from that period.


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