The Miracle

Well having listened to it from start to finish for the 1st time in years here in 2010

Party/Khashoggi's Ship (Always really classed as them as one) 7/10 - for me they were better as duo than as individual songs, although Party is the weaker of the two for me
The Miracle 8/10 - I really love Freddie's lyrics, melody & the outro - what annoyed me was the jam section right before it ruins it
I Want It All 9/10 - One of my favourites from Brian, would have been great to hear live with Freddie as many have said
The Invisible Man 6/10 - Not my favourite from Roger, I like the guitar but when I listened to it more frequently was the one I always skipped
Breakthru 8/10 - Better from Roger, always reminds me of summer (the video is most likely the reason with 21 years of hindsight)
Rain Must Fall 6/10 - Filler, surely a bit more work on I Guess We're Falling Out would have been better, but maybe that turned into Hang On In There either would have been stronger on the vinyl release, or thinking about it Too Much Love Will Kill You. The only thing I do like is Freddie's vocal & how its delivered
Scandal 7/10 - Works better as an album track , weak single & boring video
My Baby Does Me 6/10 - Again its filler (aka Rain Must Fall) but I do like Freddie's vocal & the harmony vocals towards the end
Was It All Worth It 9/10 - The strongest song on the album by a country mile & still stands up in 2010

extra tracks
Hang On In There 8/10 - Always liked it would have easily put it on the album instead of either R.M.F or M.B.D.M
Chinese Torture 0/10 - Honestly its a waste of time & space, which is shocking considering the beautiful Forever on A Kind of Magic comparing two "instrumental" pieces of music
The Invisible Man 5/10 -  based on other 12" versions later released  - Breakthru & Scandal are better

In conclusion I went from listening to it all the time, to putting it on the shelf and leaving it there. With the advent of technology I could have created my own track listings but I wanted to listen to it as I did in 1989.

Totting up my own points (having the opener as one complete piece) it scores 73/120 which probably equates to 7/10 which I think is fair. I have some music which isn't as old as The Miracle & would possibly score lower.

Steven wrote: Strong album.  It sounds very optimistic and bright, which, believe it or not, I was never too thrilled about.
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That's 'cause it's missing Freddie's and maybe Brian's "sad, love ballads"

Either way... I think as the 1980s went on, Queen knew how to be commercial and catchy... a hard rock version of The Beach Boys. I don't think that's bad though. I love 'The Miracle' album. I have in on CD and cassette. When I first heard some of the songs, I thought Freddie's changed quite a lot from 1986. It was odd, but it was pretty interesting. A husky voice, he was still smoking cigarettes. But the songs are great. Breakthru' is a nice pop rocker... nice bass driven song. The title track is beautiful, and I love the ending... I wish they had the ending lyrics go on for like an extra minute or two, honestly. I Want It All is Brian's heavy side which I enjoy (Hammer To Fall, Put Out The Fire, Gimme The Prize). It's not "Classical Queen" like their '70s albums, but it is a very enjoyable album. I enjoy the whole album. As for the extra stuff... Hang On In There, boring! Chinese Torture? Interesting but nothing I'd be cruising the highway to. Stealin'? It's alright. I'll do the rest of the rating later.

There's one thing that pissed me off. The Invisible Man. The video version's intro (and extended versions intro) is great... I wish it was on the album version. The rest of the extended version, sucks.

with exception of "party" (worst track of the album) there to be some very strong material.  they had a great philosphy when to make this album - of making the songs into great performances, done most live, before adding to them the other things, playing as a live band first makes the tracks more alive than shit say might have been on Innuendo and done to programmed drums.

maybe my least favorite queen album, though I change my mind on that a lot.....My rankings for each song..

Party-  4/10  (worst Queen opener by far)
Khashoggi- 6/10  (a little better, not a bad tune at all)
The miracle-  8/10  (Not a classic, but a good song)
I want it all-  9/10  (solid rocker)
Invisible man-  5/10  ( Not very good, but thank god for the guitar solo)
Breakthru-  8/10  (nice pop song)
rain must fall- 6/10  (sometimes i like it.....nice guitar and vocals here)
Scandal-  8/10  (should have been better and heavier, still good though for only freds voice)
my baby does me-  5/10  (not my favorite, though it's saved by it's charm)
Was it all worth it- 10/10  (favorite on the album)
Hang on in there-  5/10 (was left off the album for a reason)

Party - 6/10 - nice jam but nothing else
Khashoggi's Ship - 7/10 - it's ok
The Miracle - 8/10 - more progressive rock side of Queen, and that's why I like this
I Want It All - 9/10 - very nice indeed though I prefer the album version
The Insivible Man - 7/10 - it's few of fun, but I hate the guitar solo
Breakthru - 9/10 - actually one of my favourites from 80's era
Rain Must Fall - 7/10 - ok
Scandal - 8/10 - very nice actually
My Baby Does Me 7/10 - it's ok
Was It All Worth It - 9/10 - magnificent, the best song of the album, the keyboard orchestra part by Freddie is so powerful, enjoyable and is one of the finest moments of Queen IMO

I love this album! One of my favs! Better that any 80s album
1-Party ...7 Its a funny song, but kinda poppy or dancing
2-Khashoggy's Ship ...9 ! Really love it
3-The Miracle...9 Awesome!!
4-I Want It All...10 Classic!!!
5-The Invisible Man... 8 Cool one
6-Breakthru... 1000000000000!!!!!!!! Top 3 song for me !!!! My favorite video!!
7-Rain Must Fall.... 7 Its funny
8-Scandal... 9.5 I just adore it!!
9-My Baby does Me...7 Like Party of Rain Must Fall, its a funny song
10- Was It All Worth It...10!! I love it!

Yes I do enjoy listening to the Miracle. It's fun, uplifting and quite powerful at times. I prefer it to The Works as the album seems to have the band working together as a band more than they had done earlier in the decade, and it payed off creating some good tunes. I don't know, but I think The Miracle in itself is an era of Queen's career. The sound is totally different from A Kind of Magic, and three years after Magic, the Miracle sees Queen become a bit more experimental and or even a little bit more excentric. I would have preffered that some of the unreleased songs from the Miracle Sessions replaced My Baby Does Me on the album.

Here is what I think of the Miracle:

Party - 5/10 - Definatley one of the worst Queen songs ever. But It's not absolutely shocking and it's fun.
Khashoggi's Shop - 8.5/0-Very underrated Queen Song. The latter part of the track is excellent
The Miracle - 8/10 - Good, fun feel about. Brian May expressing his solos, great lyrics. Some fans see it as one of Queen's greatest, some see at as one of their worst.
I Want It All - 10/10 Powerful, truimphant, a definite return to Queen's 70s sound. Brian's guitaring is fab.
The Invisible Man - 8/10 - A FUN song, with a catchy bass line. Great Guitar Solo.
Breakthru - 10/10 - Fantastic track, and one of my favourite Queen songs.
Rain Must Fall 7.5/10 - Fun, good to listen to, fantastic solo and good singing by Mr Mercury.
Scandal 8/10 - Another good song, with a good feel.
My Baby Does Me 5/10 - Unfortuantly, Queen experimenting also lead to this poor track, not exciting.
Was it All Worth It 10/10 - Easily the best of the bunch, and one of Queen's greatest songs. It may be their greatest song of the 80s era (EXCLUDING WORKS FROM THE GAME).

Well the Miracle was worth it and as it produced a very unique and exceptional group of new material. I do think Was it All Worth it could have been worth a  single release.

Party — 7/10 (I don't understand why this song is so underrated!)
Khashoggi's Ship — 8/10 (good rocker)
The Miracle — 7/10 (reallly overrated)
I Want It All — 10/10 (my favourite from this album, a really good rocker)
The Invisible Man — 6/10 (very overrated song)
Breakthru — 10/10 (another one great Roger's song)
Rain Must Fall — 7/10 (nice song)
Scandal — 9/10 (one of best songs on this album)
My Baby Does Me — 6/10 (not as bad as it seems, but not as good as it could be)
Was it All Worth It — 10/10 (great song, bit why this one wasn't released as a single?)

Hang on in There — 7/10 (not so catchy)
Chinese Torture — 1/10 (I hate gutars in this instrumental)

Hijack My Heart — 9/10 (great Roger's song)
Stealin' — 8/10 to single version and 10/10 to demo (good and funny song)
My Life Has Been Saved (Single Version) — 9/10 (good mix of good song)

The Miracle hmm. Trying too hard with limited material sums it up really.
On another thread I listed three songs from this Album as my 'worst of' ;
Invisible Man - Nasty horrendous Ray parker Ghostbusters retread with irritating electro bass.
My Baby does me - Less than half a song - not saved by cute bassline.
Was it all worth it - "we bought a drumkit - thought we were perfect" -not with lyrics like that they weren't and nor was      it "worth it".
Lyrics seemed to be a big problem elsewhere on this album - they seemed either cheesy (Miracle) or mundane (Breakthru) though the latter is one of the albums best moments.
Should say, however, that I Want it All is one of their best 80's songs.
Ironically one of the most interesting songs from these sessions (Hang on in there) was left off the original vinyl release.