The Deacon/Mercury Funk Dance Thing Revisited?

With the risk of oversimplifying, I think Roger was the one getting new 'sounds' to the band in the late 70's, early 80's.
It was his Telecaster Brian used to play CLTCL, he "brought the funk" with tracks like Fight from the inside and Fun it, his 1977 solo single had some funk guitar vibe, he introduced e-drums on Jazz. Not sure about the synths in The Game but I wouldn't be surprised!

He did introduce them to synths, and it was his synth that they all used on The Game and Flash.

Well there you go. He really can't complain about their delving into different sounds then, even though he does.

But there's a difference between introducing new sounds and writing "rubbish" songs! Just because he introduced a synth and synth drums, doesn't mean they couldn't have still produced "better" songs (i.e. The Game).

If the leaning of the album was towards a more funk/black category, then it would seem silly if those in the band who weren't into it would write wholly different songs, as they just wouldn't fit the album. Hence Brian's contributions are still generally the most rocking, and Roger's compositions still have his highly rhythmic touch, as this is what they do, but they still hold the more synthetic touch as per the rest of the album.

Still maintain that if Hot Space had a more stripped-back feel like The Game, it would have been a class album.

Hi GreatKing Sam
Hot Space definitely has its moments, which of a very high quality to my taste. Problem for me was there weren't enough of them. And for me the non dance/funk songs are the more uninspired ones. For me Put Out The Fire, Life is Real aren't bad, but Calling All Girls and Las Palabras De Amour leave me relatively cold as Queen songs, although even they have their moments. And I much prefer the version of Calling All Girls on the bonus EP of the latest Hot Space rerelease.

To me, Hot Space suffers more from bad choices regarding instrumentation than uninspired writing, production or even the 'funk' element.
The funkier tracks are better in some ways.

Think about it for a second. Replace some of the crappier synths with 'human' bass and guitar, probably speed up the tempo in some tracks and you've got yourself a winner.

I partly agree. Imagine ANATO with awful synths and drum machines instead of the human element ... not too far from what HS is.

OTOH, I still think songwriting was weak. LPDA and POTF are IMO the strongest tracks on the album... but Brian wrote at least fifty better songs throughout his career. Literally!