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 I really think it is a shame that Freddie had to die, because I think they(Queen) had a lot of great songs still left to put out. A good stand out on the Disc is "let me live" and "made in heaven". As I write this I am listening to the cd . "mother love" is also a great song as well. All in all a great add on to queen's collection regardless to what anyone else says. My first "album"(theme from Flash Gordon&Hero) was a queen album at age 6 so I am a little biased.Regardless of what I am in the mood to listen to Queen WILL always be in my collection.
This has to be the worst time EVER for rock music. And for all the attacks, hatred and backlash disco suffered, rock music may be getting some it's own backlash coming up because of the rut it is in. (I think Elvis Costello said it best "Anyone can do punk, but that doesn't mean anyone can do it and be good") It's all my fault of course, but in the meantime, hear the beautiful, unrestrained muse in the title track and the remaining Queen members amazing reworking of this 1985 Freddie solo song. It sounds better and more original than ever. And the '95 version of the Roger Taylor's "Heaven For Everyone" would've easily been a Top 40 hit in another era and brightened up the radio with it's irresistable melodies and calls for world peace. A rare 1988 Queen B-side is also rerecorded here, as is some Freddie solo material, a Brian May solo track sung by Freddie from the late '80s is here, the ironically titled "Too Much Love Will Kill You", but the most chilling music, the NEW music recorded when Freddie was sick with the disease, is unbelieveable. You can hear the strain in Freddie's voice in songs like "Mother Love", "You Don't Fool Me" and "A Winter's Tale". It would almost be unlistenable if Queen weren't such a great band to listen to. (Brian May once said that the Freddie's vocals were recorded at a snail's pace. Because of his illness, a half hour per week was all that Freddie was able to do) There's alot missing, creative wise, from them of course. It's been that way since their late '80s albums progressively got more and more light, harmless and adult oriented. There's none of the hyper-literate, impossibly complicated and diverse sounds of "Queen II" and "Sheer Heart Attack" or the modern (in the '70s at least), encyclopedic epics like "A Night at the Opera" or "A Day at the Races" and they seem completley out of touch with the current sounds, but fans have been used to that for some time but have gotten cozy with their more low-key, "mainstream" sounds. With this release, as with anything connected with them, there only comes a sigh of ecstatic relief at glimpsing at the heavenly possibilities that still are a potential in rock but stay confined to those outsiders who still wish to try. Oh hell, Queen is not the last word. Great music will always be made. You just have to look for it or create it. But "Made In Heaven", at times, takes you places you forgot it was possible for rock to go. And it's the much needed missing link that completes one of the most unbeatable album catalogues in rock and has their hero go out in style. Don't miss it.
The history is a little convoluted, not every track is brand new, a couple were from Mercury's original Mr. Bad Guy solo album (Made in Heaven, I was born to Love You), others were outtakes from The Miracle (Life has been Saved, Too Much Love will Kill You), Made in Heaven was original a Roger Taylor solo song that Mercury re-recorded in '88-89, but the rest of the material here is Mercury's dying days basically set to tape. Even the older material is given the full Queen treatment by Brian May and company, so it all sounds fresh and new. The sound of the album is very uplifting as opposed to the overall wistful, dark overtone of Innuendo. It's a Beautiful Day, Made in Heaven, and Let Me Live make one heck of an opening trio, the latter also sung by Roger and Brian, backed with a gospel choir. I Was Born to Love You is given full Queen rock treatment with one of Brian May's better guitar solos, and the lead-off single Made in Heaven flows as only Queen's best songs do. You Don't Fool Me is a great dancey tune, harkening back to Hot Space. Too Much Love will Kill You and A Winter's Tale are two beautiful ballads, the latter a hit in the U.K., and the album 'closes' with a stunning reprise of It's a Beautiful Day, followed by an unmercifully long instrumental (over 22 minutes) that is really pretty unneccesary. It never really gets going until the final minutes, and it's reminiscent of a new-age moods instrumental. It tries to set a mood of peacefulness but doesn't quite work. The most telling work on this album, however, is the final song Mercury recorded, Mother Love. From the second he opens his mouth until he closes it for the final time, you can hear the utter pain and longing in his voice. He's through with this life, he has no more hope, he just wants to die in peace. Brian May keeps a lonely guitar circling overhead. And as Mercury sings the second chorus, and whispers 'Mother Love', it's almost as if he died immediatley after uttering those words, and ingeniously, Brian May finishes off the song himself. After that is a quick snippet of numerous Queen concerts, followed by a baby's cry, symbolizing Mercury's rebirth into his new life. It's enough to make any Queen fan break down and cry; why the album didn't end with THIS song I have no idea, instead it's thrown smack into the middle. Made in Heaven is among Queen's best works, even if most people dont' count it as a 'real' album because half of it has been done before, it's simply beautiful in context and Mercury proved that he had the greatest voice in rock right up until his all-too-soon death.
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Queen's recording history reads like a good book, and if Innuendo was the last Chapter (Indeed, it's last song 'The Show Must Go On' was as fitting a tribute to Mercury as anything they've tried since), Made in Heaven is the epilogue, taking the material Freddie Mercury recorded after Innuendo, and peicing it together into a comprehensive, final Queen album.
