Late Period Queen albums

Kind of torn between "A Kind Of Magic" and "Innuendo" myself, but went for the former because I sort of expect the latter to win. Hard to argue with a hitlist consisting of "Radio Ga Ga", "I Want To Break Free", "It's a Hard Life" and "Hammer To Fall". Some may argue that the rest of the album doesn't quite hold up, but "Is This The World We Created" is beautiful and "Tear It Up" may be one of their best rockers.

I actually love late-period Queen almost as much as I love mid-70s Queen. Just so it's said. :)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

hahaha wait you expect innuendo to win?

the works, followed by kind of magic, followed by listening to someone else

I've always liked "Innuendo"--it came out right when I was learning about the band (and classic rock in general) in tenth grade. I remember seeing the video for the title track on MTV really early one Sunday morning, as I was getting ready to deliver newspapers.

never bothered w/ this period.

When you tell people you like Queen, they automatically assume you mean this period rather than The Fairy Fellers Master Stroke etc. Maybe it's a UK thing, but these albums turned them into light entertainment family favourites. I think The Works was the last one I bothered with, and that was pretty terrible.

Don't care about any of these albums. A couple of tracks on The Works are classic and that's it. This is the period where Queen earned their rep as "worst fucking band in the world", starting with the Sun City debacle in 1984. Plus there was the rise of US hair bands who were heavily Queen influenced. Van Halen in 1985 were a million times better than the shower of shite that Mercury & Co had become by then.

ahh Fairy Fellers Master STroke. that slide whistle at the beginning....

I do of course like their mid 70s albums better, but I love this period too. What I consider their weakest period is the period between 1977 and 1982 when they tried to tone down the bombast and become "funky". This even though "Jazz" was a great album.

Between this thread, the reissues, and the upcoming biopic with SBC, it looks like Queen will be getting plenty of love in the next couple of years.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

missed this poll but woulda gone for Innuendo. The Show Must Go On is bloody heartbreaking :(

No idea how I would've voted in this -- haven't listened to any of these in forever -- but here's what I wrote about Innuendo when it came out:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/innuendo-19910307

missed this poll but woulda gone for Innuendo. The Show Must Go On is bloody heartbreaking :(

OTM! surprised at how people are hating on this period of Queen. On the other hand: xhuxk otm:

Innuendo is so lightweight you'll forget it as soon as it's over — which, with this band, should go without saying anyway — but there's nothing cynical about it.

It sort of slides right by, it's true

omg you called Under Pressure "passable"

Was being generous, maybe. (Just kidding. It's okay. But "passable" still seems right to me.)

'Under Pressure' brings out some of the worst lyrical and vocal excesses of both Bowie and Mercury. It's a track that I usually skip unless I'm feeling particularly maudlin.

challops
pushing down on me
pressing down on you
no man ask for

Some dude otm. Under Pressure was great.

Also, contrary to revisionist belief, Queen were very much an album band early on (who also had great singles).

I'd say most of their album tracks became bland around Jazz (altho Mustapha is great), News of the World was solid tho.

I have never really gotten the grips on "Under Pressure". It's OK and all that, but not much more to me.

That is particularly weird as it was a cooperation between two of my favourite acts, but neither Bowie nor Queen were at their prime at the time.

coming like a year after "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Ashes To Ashes" is not exactly a late career wasteland

xpost and yet it's probably my fav Queen track.

One for the Queen dislikers, I guess..

as in "If you don't like Queen,you may well like "Under Pressure", and if you do, you may well not".

coming like a year after "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Ashes To Ashes" is not exactly a late career wasteland

I consider Queen's "funky" period to be a huge wasteland. "Another One Bites The Dust" doesn't sound like Queen, and isn't Queen to my ears. It lacks all the operatic pomp that I love about them.

But, sure, Bowie did make his last great album in 1980. "Let's Dance" was not quite up to his 70s standards though, and later he would enter a really bad phase.

Another One Bites the Dust is grebt.

Besides it's not like Queen had one static sound anyway

No, but Queen at their best are sort of supposed to be pompous and operatic. That is what Queen is all about. That is what made them so fantastic and wonderful.

So you didn't like their ragtime songs then?

In the late Seventies, Emerson, Lake and Palmer released two albums called Works, as in "works of art," but in 1984, Queen put out an album called The Works, as in the stuff you pile on hamburgers.

Totally remembered this line from reading it as a kid, had no idea you wrote it, Chuck.

I'm terrified of this period of Queen, maybe I should reconsider.

So you didn't like their ragtime songs then?

Their ragtime songs had some of the pomp in them, like the backing vocals and all. I think that is part of my problem about Queen's funk songs, that some of the elements they stripped away for them were those wonderful backing vocals.
(That is also my main problem about the "Made In Heaven" album - Freddie sadly didn't have time to record a lot of backing vocals before he passed away)

Wasn't it around that "Hot Space" and "Body Language", etc.

I don't think *anybody* liked that period, Freddie himself excepted (prob)

"Las Palabras De Amor" is a great song though. :)

The rest of "Hot Space" was largely an attempt to re-write "Another One Bites The Dust" though.

I think it was a fair reflection of where Fred's head was at, to be, um, fair.

'Back Chat' was kind of great.

"Back Chat" is IMO perhaps their best attempt at this funk/disco thing (yes, much better than "Another One Bites The Dust"). But still not Queen at their typically best.

Hot Space is a great albummm, ya bonkers hatahs ya! :) No, I'm serious.
And add my vote to Innuendo. - Which 'll make it how many? 4 votes? And thus Innuendo 'll rise above A Kind of Muckage anyway, yay.

i'm dreaming of a fine day in maybe 2031 when hot space is finally due to get a (very well deserved) mention in the 'Albums for which critical opinion has changed the most over time'-thread. just listen to Las Palabras De Amor for god's sake.

"Las Palabras De Amor" is a great song, but very atypical of "Hot Space". It may well be the one track in there pointing forward to "The Works" and "A Kind Of Magic" the most though, which its mix of new wave/new romantics influenced synths and the good old mid 70s Queen bombast.

Cool Cat is great! Is it a Prince rip off do we think? It's damn early if so. Can't be i.. guess.

lol i also totally remember that line about the works (actually was first thing i thought of when i saw this thread), also had no idea chuck wrote it.

geir so wrong again. jazz/the game are their best albums.

The Works.

Then Play Long reaches A Kind of Magic to find that it's, uh, not really all that: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/queen-kind-of-magic_27.html

Damn, I thought this would be about a band called Late Period Queen.

irl lol

Then Play Long reaches The Miracle and finds that rock isn't the magical elixir, always: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/queen-miracle.html

I kind of like The Miracle. Was It All Worth It? is their last flash of brilliance imo.

Geir seems to have confused The Works with A Kind of Magic and nobody caught it.

just finally heard The Works for the first time. really solid album.