Am I Alone? (late-era Queen)

Dyson- Yeah, i had and loved the old Live Magic cassette too! Short, Powerful and well edited, even if its not a "true" real life concert experience, it was a great sonic blast in the ears.
I`ve similar complaints listening to the Brothers In Arms CDs these days. I grew up with the vinyl LP, with much shorter versions of most songs. The CD songs just go on and on and on....

Finally! Another Live Magic fan!

I have a fond schoolyard memory of lending the LiveMagic tape to my best mate. A few days later he says to me, "Yeah its good, but geez, there some dude in the crowd that sings really loud...."
I then had to tell him, that "dude" is probably Roger Taylor! lol

Ah, great memories discovering good music!

Brilliant. Because I was little it just blew my mind - I'd seen the Wembley gig when it was TV so could picture what was going on on stage, but there was some bits that I still go 'Whaaaaa?' when I listen to it - which I don't get with other '86 concert recordings.

First and foremost, Queen is one of the greatest artists of all time. They made some of the most amazing music ever recorded. Unfortunately they were not able to sustain it throughout their entire career. Their early efforts had uniqueness, style and pristine production. The qualities of their songs were outstanding and original. Then that all changed in the 80’s. They became lazy, predictable and worst of all compromising. Instead of setting new trends, they ashamedly followed them. Instead of taking in what was new and making it their own, like they have done in the past, they simply copied what everyone else was doing. Their work became bland, boring and sterile to the point that they became unrecognizable.
I know that they continued to have success in Europe, but in the USA they became a joke. The string of records from “Hot Space” to “The Miracle” were sad glimpse of their former self’s. Innuendo was brave attempt regain their former glory, but it was too little, too late. Even that CD has some skin cringing moments on it (Delilah & Ride the wild wind)
You’re not odd. You reflect what the majority of Queen fans feel in the USA. So your not alone

I'm an American fan...and I may be alone in this...but Innuendo was never "too little, too late".  The title track, "Don't Try So Hard", "Bijou" and "The Show Must Go On" easily rank with their '70's output.

"Ride The Wild Wind" is hardly "cringeworthy".

The Works had "Radio Ga Ga" and "Hammer To Fall".  Hot Space had "Staying Power".  A Kind Of Magic had "Who Wants To Live Forever".  The Miracle had "I Want It All" and "Was It All Worth It?".,

No, my fellow American, they never became a "joke" in my eyes.  Somewhat diminished?  Yes.

Totally lost and irrelevent?  Hell no.

Bowie fans have the same discussion about his 80's stuff. Believe me, Queen were still in another league during their 'bad' era.

Nice thread. I re-listened to The Miracle over and over again when writing the review/article for The Illustrated History. Here are a the final perhaps relevant paragraphs, FWIW. Keep in mind this is for a more general Queen-curious audience:

In the final analysis, if we’re to rate The Miracle, Queen’s 1989 thirteenth studio album after 19 years together as a four-piece unit, an interesting exercise might be to compare it alongside other bands’ thirteenth albums, and see how it stacks up. The Beatles never hit 13—Let It Be, the band’s swan song, is number 12.  The Who’s notoriously meager studio output holds at 11 with Endless Wire. There’s Genesis’s Invisible Touch, Aerosmith’s Just Push Play, Deep Purple’s Slaves and Masters
(1990), Kiss’s Asylum (1985), and Judas Priest’s Jugulator. The list of mediocrity goes on.

But if we’re to be truly fair, we might look to those bands that retained the same line-up over their careers—no mach 1 and mach 2 line-ups, no tribute band lead singers. And for that sort of comparability
we’re left with Queen’s The Miracle and Rush’s Presto, also from 1989. Presto is a synth-heavy affair. The band sits poised to go back to its rock roots, but the band’s experimental side isn’t quite there yet.

Sound familiar? This might be just the sort of charitable review we could give The Miracle.  Especially considering the follow-up album would be their last and one of their best.

@Daniel I think you mean Mark 1 and Mark 2 rather than Mach 1 and Mach  2.

Colour me pedantic... :-)

Martin

Good catch! They fixed it in the book, I think/hope.  This an early Word hard drive version.

Update: yep, they fixed it!  I have a mental block with that term, ever since I first heard of it in This is Spinal Tap.

It was songs like Radio Ga Ga and I want to break free which first got my attention (I was 8 at the time).

The Miracle was the first Queen album I had the excitement of buying on release day (Too young to get aKoM, though I do remember -and still have- taping I want it all from the radio onto the space on the end of side 2 of my aKoM tape). I bought the vinyl album, loved all the singles (to be) didn't care for Party/Khashoggi's ship or My baby does me, I even liked Rain must fall.
(I also liked Freddie's new stubble image -without moustache- much more respectable!)

I loved Innuendo, I bought the vinyl (so took many a year before I heard the full versions of all the songs) and loved even All God's people (just so different from anything else). I guess you like what you grow up with. Now I'm older it's hard to say, I probably prefer the first five albums as pieces of art to listen to as a whole but like the singles mainly from later albums.

First one I bought as a new release was Hot Space.

Heavy sigh.

Finally dug out my Live Magic tape. I'd forgotten about the dolby tonebrust at the start. Somehow that made it even cooler to me aged 10.

personally I discovered Queen back at 1989 with The Miracle LP,I Want it All was the first Queen track that I heard,and since then I become a fan.To me,those 2 records restored Queen's reputation,and Innuendo sure was the best record they made since The Game,too bad it was their last....

Should I be ashamed? I love Ride The Wild Wind. Love it alot.  I like the sense of building excitement the songs builds, and I love Freddie's relaxed vocal.

I loved Queen's music right on into the eighties, though I admit there was a period where I lost track. Didn't listen to music a great deal.  I didn't listen to Innuendo until after Freddie's passing, but I loved it. I noticed something was missing...but couldn't put my finger on it until I realized it was the rich vocal overdubs. FreddieOverFreddieOverFreddie. Otherwise, I found the album quite satisfying, and very Queen like.

What I remember about Queen in the eighties was that they never lost those rich melodies, which is always what drew me to Queen in the first place. From the very beginning. Those rich melodies. And that wasn't lost in the eighties, in my opinion.

The Miracle is not my favorite Queen album, but I don't hate it. And Hot Space has actually grown on me a bit. I admit I wasn't wild about it when it came out, but bought and listened, anyhow. Made In Heaven is not my favorite, either, though I do appreciate the concept and effort put into it.

There is a reason I'm a Queen fan. I love their music. Not every song, but overall.  I suppose, though, that my taste may be questionable, since I love Ride The Wild Wind.  Alot.