A Masterpiece

No words can describe this wonder of the world. One of the best albuns of all time, the best of all i own. 13 years after Freddie's death, it's hard to believe he's gone, however we still can feel his presence when we hear something like this, simply the greatest Queen album, along with A Night At The Opera. That's why they're the greatest band of all time, due to their own style, originality and feeling. The most touching of all their albuns, with some of the best lyrics ever written.

Queen's swansong

Innuendo (1991.) Queen's fourteenth album.



As the eighties drew to a close, Queen began to rediscover the rock and roll sound that had been so vital to their success in the seventies and early eighties. The band had finally cast aside its disgraceful eighties pop transformation, and got back to what was important - rocking. Unfortunately, just as the band was getting back on track, disaster struck. On November 24, 1991, Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. Just a few months before his tragic passing, the band had released what would ultimately be their final true album - Innuendo. Read on for my review of Queen's swansong.



This was the final Queen album (unless you count the posthumous 1995 release, Made In Heaven), and in my opinion, Queen couldn't have gone out a whole lot better. The sound the band uses on this album is one of their finest - this is definitely one of the band's strongest post-seventies LPs. The band takes on an excellent sort of a melodic rock sound that doesn't really sound anything like their other material - but I mean that in a good way. The guitar stylings are similar to what you'd find an eighties hard rock band doing, and the general musical styles used on the album are very similar to power ballads (the best kinds of them, fortunately.) Although many of the tracks are slower-paced, more melodic-sounding ones, there are plenty of hard rockers, too. It's a miracle Queen rediscovered their rock and roll form just prior to Freddie's passing. Although I wouldn't say this LP is better than its predecessor, 1989's The Miracle (it's no worse either), I would definitely say that Innuendo is the more polished release of the two. No Queen collection is complete with the band's unfairly-overlooked 1991 swansong.



The Queen catalogue was remastered and rereleased. The remasters feature rare album/band/discography photos along with lyrics and bonus tracks, but in most cases, the bonus tracks are just remixes that don't differ substantially from the normal versions. In other words, if you've already got the older CD issue, it's not worth shelling out the cash for the remaster.



Innuendo was an excellent final album for Queen. It's just a shame that it was also their last. The death of Freddie Mercury truly is one of rock and roll's greatest tragedies, and just by listening to this album, you'll see just how great of a musician the late Freddie really was. If you're a Queen fan, there is no excuse for not owning this - Freddie Mercury's final recordings, and some of his best.

The perfect Swan Song

Fred Mercury's voice seemed to have gotten better and better with time. He undoubtedly has one of the best voices in Rock N'Roll. While the album doesn't draw as strong reviews as classics like "A night at the Opera" and "News of the World", this album is miles ahead of its predecessor "The Miracle". Innuendo starts with its title track, a tune with great percussion and minor-scale tones, has some deep lyrics are about the endless madness that is evident throughout man's history; but how the human spirit will just hang in there and keep on trying in spite of it all. The song turns into a fantastic fusion of Flamenco and Hard rock at the end (Following a similar structure with Bohemian Rhapsody). It's an incredible piece. The album has good rockers like "Headlong" and others, but the main feature of this album is the lyrics and Freddy's unique voice such as in "I'm going slightly mad" and the final note "The show must go on", where the same theme from Innuendo resonates - The glorious triumph of the spirit over the inevitable circumstances of the material world. He delivers this in a non-religious way, yet increbigly spirit-empowering, just like "We are the champions". Any true Queen fan just have to have this album.