| The Miracle |
 |
| The Miracle, 1989 |
| Released |
5 June 1989 (UK),
6 June 1989 (US) |
| Recorded |
January 1988 - February 1989 at Olympic, Townhouse, and Mountain Studios |
| Length |
41:05 |
| Label |
Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US) |
| Producer(s) |
Queen and David Richards |
| Queen chronology |
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|
With an extended lay-off between the final date of the 1986 Magic tour (9 August) and commencement of recording sessions for Queen's thirteenth studio album, The Miracle, in January 1988, a lot had happened in that time frame, all of which was integral to the recording process. Solo work dominated the time off, with Roger forming The Cross and recording their first album, Shove It, while Freddie worked with Montserrat Caballé and Mike Moran on the Barcelona album. Meanwhile, Brian was working on his first solo album, which wouldn't be released until 1992 as Back To The Light. So, while Queen as a unit were largely defunct – except for the 1987 video anthology Magic Years and twelve singles being released on CD in 1988 – three of the four members were just as prolific.
The time away from each other was beneficial, for everyone came back to the recording sessions well-rested and bursting with enthusiasm and ideas. (However, some major strife happened during the break: Brian's marriage to wife Chrissy fell apart, though a budding romance with Anita Dobson turned into a relationship, while his father also passed away to lung cancer in June 1988. Of course, during this time, Freddie was diagnosed with AIDS, though he wouldn't tell anyone else about it until recording sessions for Innuendo.) Sessions for the new album alternated between Olympic Studios and The Townhouse in London, and Mountain Studios in Montreux, all of which had been used on Freddie's Barcelona album and Brian's as-yet unreleased solo album.
Originally titled The Invisible Men but changed to The Miracle three weeks before its release date, the album features a first for the band: each song is collectively credited to Queen, with individual credits omitted. However, it's easy to distinguish who wrote what: Freddie was the main instigator behind Khashoggi's Ship, The Miracle, the opening sequence of Breakthru, and Was It All Worth It, while Brian came up with I Want It All and Scandal. Roger wrote The Invisible Man and the main part of Breakthru, while John worked with Freddie on My Baby Does Me and Rain Must Fall, as well as composing the chord sequence for The Miracle. It would seem that Party was a genuine collaboration, albeit between all but Roger, while each band member contributed in some way to Was It All Worth It. The sessions were fairly prolific, with over thirty songs submitted, though not all were recorded; Hang On In There (Freddie and Brian), Stealin' (Freddie), Hijack My Heart (Roger), and My Life Has Been Saved (John) were all released as non-album B-sides (to I Want It All, Breakthru, The Invisible Man, and Scandal, respectively), while additional unreleased songs have since made the rounds in the collecting circles: Brian's I Guess We're Falling Out was lyrically unfinished, though the melody and music were well in place; Freddie's A New Life Is Born was used as the intro to Breakthru; and Too Much Love Will Kill You was re-recorded and released on Brian's Back To The Light and later on Queen's Made In Heaven.
Despite the enthusiasm, the album was met with largely mixed reviews. In pre-release publicity, the band were quick to call the album a return to their roots, though there were just as many synthesizers and programmed sequences as The Works and A Kind Of Magic. The band even explored such territories as funk (The Invisible Man), cool soul (My Baby Does Me), and calypso (Rain Must Fall); while these songs have divided fan opinion over the years, they have largely been considered substandard to what Queen are naturally able to pull off. Fans and critics alike were displeased with the album, and it wouldn't be until 1991's Innuendo that Queen were able to deliver an album that recalled their classic years.
Five singles (!) were released from the album, all reaching varying degrees of success: I Want It All (May 1989, #3), Breakthru (June 1989, #7), The Invisible Man (August 1989, #12), Scandal (October 1989, #25), and The Miracle (November 1989, #21). The videos for each of these singles were innovative and interesting, running the gamut from straightforward performance video to computer-enhanced trickery. Additional bonus tracks were issued for cassette and CD issues of the album, with Hang On In There, the orchestrated guitar workout Chinese Torture, and the extended version of The Invisible Man; the 1991 Hollywood Records CD release added the extended version of Scandal, though it wouldn't be until 1992's The 12" Collection that the third and most interesting extended version, of Breakthru, would be released. Reportedly, a mini album to be titled Another Miracle, set for release sometime in 1990, was to feature all non-album B-sides and extended remixes, but for reasons unknown, this idea was scrapped.
Tracklists
Credits
-
- Freddie Mercury - vocals, piano, keyboards
- John Deacon - bass guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards
- Roger Taylor - drums, percussion, vocals, keyboards
- Brian May - guitars, vocals, keyboards
- David Richards - programming, keyboards
- Brian Zellis - computer programming
- Queen and David Richards.
- January 1988 - February 1989 at Olympic Studios and The Townhouse, London, and Mountain Studios, Montreux.
Charts
| Country
| Release date
| First appearance in charts
| Peak position
| Chart run
| Weeks in chart
| Additional comments
|
| UK
| -
| 3 June 1989
| 1
| 1-2-5-5-10-10-9-8-10-14-20-20-15-12-13-19-27-39-41-
50-54-50-50-45-48-63-71-0-74-68-63-60-68
| 32
| 9 weeks in Top 10, 1 week at #1
|
| USA
| -
| 24 June 1989
| 24
| 83-31-24-28-36-46-53-65-87-108-121-129-142-176
| 14
| -
|
| Austria
| -
| -
| 1
|
|
|
|
| Finland
| -
| -
| 1
|
|
|
|
| Germany
| -
| -
| 1
|
|
|
|
| Japan
| -
| -
| 23
|
|
|
|
| Italy
| -
| -
| 3
|
|
|
|
| Netherlands
| -
| -
| 1
|
|
|
|
| Portugal
| -
| -
| 4
|
|
|
|
| Spain
| -
| -
| 4
|
|
|
|
| Sweden
| -
| -
| 6
|
|
|
|
| Switzerland
| -
| -
| 1
|
|
|
|
- Information supplied by Fedepeti, 24 August 2004
Singles
Liner notes
- Digitally remastered by Eddy Schreyer at Future Disc Systems, Hollywood.
- All tracks performed exclusively by Queen
- All songs written by: Freddie Mercury - Brian May - John Deacon - Roger Taylor
- Management: Jim Beach
- Album engineered by David Richards
- Assistant engineers: Andrew Bradfield, John Brough, Angelique Cooper, Claude Frider, Andy Mason, Justin Shirley-Smith
- Album recorded at Olympic Studios and The Townhouse Studios, London, England and Mountain Studios. Montreux, Switzerland. Mastered at The Townhouse Studios by Kevin Metcalf and Gordon Vickary
- Computer programming: Brian Zellis
- Studio equipment co-ordination: Martin P. Groves and Brian Zellis
- Computer keyboards: Passport Master Tracks Software
- Tannoy speakers by Tannoy Ltd.
- Album sleeve design: Richard Gray - based on an idea by Queen
- Quantel graphic paintbox operator: Richard Baker
- Original photography: Simon Fowler
- Make-up: Paul Kennington
- World publicity:Roxy Meade, Lipsey Meade PR, 95, Mortimer Street, London W1N7TA
- Special thanks to: Gerry Stickells, Julie Nash, Claude Nobs, Misa Watanabe, Gilbert Marouani, Peter Freestone, Joe Fannelli, Terry Giddings, Jacky Gunn, Nicola Froude, Anita Dobson, David Mallet, Jacqui Byford, Melanie Martin, Vicky Soder, Andre Gauchat, Peter Chant, Bryan Lask, Mike Silverstone, Coutts & Co, Robert Lee, Penny Robinson, Marjie Winter, Gwen, Sarah, Elena, all at EMI-Capital Records and EMI Music.
Additional info
- A working title for the album was 'The Invisible Men'
Reviews
- The Dallas Morning News, 1989
- Even though Queen often seems hopelessly over the top -- trapped between rock and an opera -- the band has thrived for 18 years, most of them in the upper reaches of popular music.
- Songs as diverse as Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites the Dust showed that the four members of this British act had talent and savvy enough to thrive in a rapidly changing market.
- While lead singer Freddie Mercury's flamboyant flourishes and operatic pretensions (he actually recorded with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe) have brought the band some deserved derision, Queen has been a pretty consistent rock attraction, particularly live. Over the last three years, solo projects have pushed the band's career to the back burner, but Queen returns with a new Capitol record, The Miracle, that shows the quartet reinvigorated and confident.
- Queen's musicianship often has taken a back seat to Mr. Mercury's strutting histrionics. But Roger Taylor is one of rock's fastest and most accurate drummers, and guitarist Brian May is a major talent. These two move toward center stage this time, as Queen muscles through a songlist that's remarkably varied for one album. Significantly, the music is all credited to the band as a whole, rather than to individuals members -- with Mr. Mercury usually getting the lion's share of the credits. The payoff is a record that rocks you, with a few twists.
- The album begins with Party, which sounds like familiar, Queenly dime-store operetta. But without so much as a pause, the song segues smoothly into the stadium rock of Khashoggi's Ship, with Mr. Mercury unleashing a snarling vocal in front of Mr. May's spiraling feeds. That kind of toughness pops up in a number of songs. Scandal is muscular rock with a hook. The first single, I Want It All, starts off with a Bowiesque guitar part, picks up a heavy cargo of steel, quickly lays down the hard line implied by the title, then takes flight along Mr. May's greased fretboard.
- Then there are the twists: The Invisible Man is a playful exercise in rock disco. Rain Must Fall is a light, bouncy and danceable tune with a Latin feel that could be programmed right between Sing Out Sister and Howard Jones. Breakthru is an upbeat song with a jittery, chugging synthesizer line. My Baby Does Me is a calm and collected power ballad with ethereal guitar fills and the attitude -- though not the sound -- of Paul McCartney's hit ballad, My Love.
- Mr. Mercury, of course, does get to indulge his classical bent. The title song, a simple (perhaps simple-minded) celebration of life's little triumphs, is not quite operatic, but it does offer lush orchestrations and celestial harmonies that duel intriguingly with Mr. Taylor's rapid time-keeping. And with Was It All Worth It, Mr. Mercury takes a lofty look at the band's lengthy career, "Living breathing rock n' roll.' The conclusion? Yes, it was worth it. But given the singer's rather fiendish chortle at the end, you're not sure if he means it.
- Additional Reviews
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