The Miracle album: Criminally underrated?

I hadn't given this album much of an airing in years but I listened to it on holiday recently and was amazed how vibrant and textured the first side is. Party and Khashoggi's ship make for a great one-two punch at the start of the album... It has at least three splendid singles (Yes, I'm counting The Invisible Man) and some well produced filler on the second side.
I do think that Was It All Worth It strives to be epic and falls way short but it's still a nice closer (Discounting the bonus material on some CD releases).
I'm pleased it wasn't their last outing (Too lightweight perhaps... certainly in terms of tone, minus Scandal) but I think it's a far better album than A Kind Of Magic. The singles may not be quite as strong, and the music videos weren't the best around this time, but it's a solid addition to the catalogue.
Anyone place it near the top in terms of Queen albums? I'd certainly have it in the top half.

Underrated? I don't agree with you.

My personal rating

Party - 0/10
Khashoggi's Ship - 2/10
The Miracle - 2/10
I Want It All - 7/10
The Invisible Man - 2/10
( actually album version 2/10, extended version 0/10 only because I don't want to give it a negative rating, video version 5/10, demo version 6/10)
Breakthru - 6/10
Rain Must Fall - 0/10
Scandal - 7/10
My Baby Does Me - 0/10
Was It All Worth It - 9/10


All together 3.5/10

I think the weakness of this album is the fact that it's "unbalanced" (hope that's the correct word). I mean it has 2 wonderful songs (Scandal, Was It All Worth It), 2 fine rockers (I Want It All, Breaktrhru), but the rest is just half-finished (The Miracle, Khashoggi's Ship) or simply crap.

It sounds like a first album of a new band, which it basically is from a certain point of view. The guys didn't see each other for more than 2 years so they basically had to learn how to enjoy playing together again, I guess that's the reason why they included songs which were basically jam sessions.

Sorry, not an album for me. My "top half" as you called it is reserved for the first 5 albums. But the beauty lies in the fact that everybody has a different opinion :)

You're giving the song The Miracle 2 out of 10? Wow!
I can't make a case for it being in the band's top tier of work but there's a lot to recommend here. Sure, The Invisible Man (The 12" is awful) isn't one of their must have single releases, but it's a fun, lively little number that I enjoyed immensely when I was a kid.
I'd say that there are 2 filler songs on this album, and we all know which ones those are, right?
I think the track listing is a problem. I Want It All should have opened the album. Party should have opened side two, but... nah, I'm sticking to my guns. This is a solid outing from the boys. I'd say the title track is one of their most imaginatively arranged songs and even though it is covered in five types of cheese it is still a beautiful song.
Horses for courses I guess.
Now, the cover... that is hard to defend.

Actually I love the cover and I was surprised that it made to various "worst album covers" lists. It was really innovative for 1989 and it looks visually interesting even now in 2014.

The SONG Miracle - it really sounds to me like it's something just "half finished". You know, like they said to themselves at one point - "OK, let's leave it this way and we'll polish it later" but they never actually got to the polishing part. The structure is problematic for me too - it's like Freddie wanted to do a cheesy 80's pop song, but Brian wanted something more rock oriented - I don't know, I'm just guessing. The main part of it sounds like a completely random 80's tune, then in the end it starts to get faster and heavier, but the fast and heavy part suddenly stops before it actually managed to develop into something and is crossfaded with another cheesy 80's tune ... I don't know, I just don't like the structure of the song and the fact that the majority of it sounds like a completely random 80's band who hired Freddie as their guest singer. Well even when it was maybe their intention :) I don't know, maybe it would help if they'd cut off the ending completely

Party - 5/10
Khashoggi's Ship - 5/10
The Miracle - 8/10 (Love the guitar part at the end)
I Want It All - 6/10 (Rocks Version 9/10)
The Invisible Man - 4/10 (Video Edit 8/100
Breakthru - 7/10
Rain Must Fall - 4/10
Scandal - 8/10
My Baby Does Me - 3/10
Was It All Worth It - 10/10 (the Best! Must have been a single instead of The Invisible Man)

I love the album. It's a weird mix though and agree with the points about the tracklist (a problem with many Queen albums). 10 songs seems a bit thin, but I do count in the bonus material on the original CD too as that formed part of how I first heard the album. Hang On In There is fun (although sounds unfinished like some other key tracks here).

I guess Queen's sound didn't translate well in to the contemporary 1989 pop landscape. I do remember IWIA premiering on the radio and it being hailed as a return to their 70s sound (Mark Goodier on Radio1!). MBDM is one of the worst songs Queen have done, but I really do think WIAWI is one of the best. I love TIM and Breakthru but I never understood why until I read that Unofficial Queen book a couple of years ago when The Miracle (song) is called 'the maddest song on their maddest album'. Looking at the collection objectively I think it's a really bonkers album - sooooo Queen. May is playing like a man half his age and they're all having fun. It's an 8 / 10 for me.

It certainly isn´t underrated by me. It´s a mixed album, with great pop and Rock songs. The Miracle song is one of the best songs ever written by Freddie. The chord progression is just heaven, and Brian has stated in the past that this song is a good exemple of Freddie´s sense of melody. Pure heaven!

Here´s the backing track (real Queen music). One of the most beautiful backing tracks i have ever heard. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4GGEla2__Y

One of my favorites from this album is "Kashoggi´s ship". A great rocker!

The Miracle and AKOM are both IMHO, HORRIBLE. While just about everything else Queen did were close to great to classic.

The Miracle has a few really good songs and the rest just remind of cheap, 80's time capsule cheese. It's such a waste from great musicians. The cheesy sound effects and syntheisizers really ruin it but there are a few songs on there that simply seem like B side material at best.

When the two songs are added to the album (Chinese Torture and Hang on in There)... the album seems a little more complete and listenable. I actually enjoy those two tracks significantly more than about 4 or 5 tracks on the album.

The Invisible Man just sounds God awful. One of Queen's worst moments.

I've always liked Hijack My Heart too. I can't let 12 year old me down but will admit that it's a bit duff :)

Hasn't Freddie or Roger stated that they recorded about 40 songs during the Miracle recording sessions ? If we would exchange A Winter's tale and Too much love will kill you, I Guess we're falling out (finished) // Affairs (finished) with 3 weak tracks from the Miracle then it would be a very good album.
My Baby does me is the only track which I didn't like upon my first listening of the whole album and it didn't change, I still don't like it and to my ears it is the most un-Queenish track. It really sounds like an idea or demo but not a finished proper track. Of course the track itself contributes to the variety of the album. They did not play safe and tried something else (genre-wise).

I wouldn;t be as harsh as you but overall I think you're spot on. I;m glad I;m not the only one who thinks the first two tracks are little better than jam sessions. Chinese Torture is possibly the worst song Queen ever released. It's like listening to a cat going under a steamroller.

[QUOTE] [b]pittrek wrote:[/b]

Underrated? I don't agree with you.

My personal rating

Party - 0/10
Khashoggi's Ship - 2/10
The Miracle - 2/10
I Want It All - 7/10
The Invisible Man - 2/10
( actually album version 2/10, extended version 0/10 only because I don't want to give it a negative rating, video version 5/10, demo version 6/10)
Breakthru - 6/10
Rain Must Fall - 0/10
Scandal - 7/10
My Baby Does Me - 0/10
Was It All Worth It - 9/10


All together 3.5/10

I think the weakness of this album is the fact that it's "unbalanced" (hope that's the correct word). I mean it has 2 wonderful songs (Scandal, Was It All Worth It), 2 fine rockers (I Want It All, Breaktrhru), but the rest is just half-finished (The Miracle, Khashoggi's Ship) or simply crap.

It sounds like a first album of a new band, which it basically is from a certain point of view. The guys didn't see each other for more than 2 years so they basically had to learn how to enjoy playing together again, I guess that's the reason why they included songs which were basically jam sessions.

Sorry, not an album for me. My "top half" as you called it is reserved for the first 5 albums. But the beauty lies in the fact that everybody has a different opinion :)[/QUOTE]

The Miracle album is one of my favourite albums, Party and Kashoggi's Ship are absolute crap songs but the rest are great songs, The Miracle song like someone stated it's one of Freddie's best songs of the 80's his voice sounds incredible and Scandal is a great song I think the 12in version is far better though, The Miracle album is a good strong album with some of there best videos for single releases etc. I remember back then how the album cover was state of the art graphics.

I used to hate the cover... thought it looked a bit cheesy but looking at it now I think it's wonderful. Makes perfect sense too. This was Freddie's Dali period... he gets a mention in the title track. It's all very surreal. I think those that aren't in love with Party and Khashoggi's Ship are insane. There are about thirty little song ideas in there.... garbled up... seamlessly made.
"This one's on me so let us do it just right..."
That little melody alone is pure genius.
The quieten down. Freddie sings it. A roll of thunder from Roger. Full steam!
The way all the band members get a shout out on The Invisible Man.
"Watch me now."
Who are these people who think these songs are pieces of crap?
Is it perfect?
Far from it. But these are great tunes. The production doesn't always work for me. It should be far grittier, but instead it sounds clinical... digital.
A winner for me though.

Breakthru and The Invisible Man videos is what introduced me to Queen. Quite a bit of nostalgia there.

In every Queen album there are 4-5 songs that I like too much and1-2 that I don't like at all or that I find very weak at the best. ( with the exceptions of Innuendo, Made in Heaven and ANATO - I like all the songs in those albums). That is the case for me with The Miracle as well. I ignored Party, Khashoggi's Ship and My Baby Does Me for many years. However I like Was It All Worth It, Scandal, The Miracle and Breakthru too much. As for I Want It All, I rank it as one of the top 3 Queen songs along with Innuendo and Bo Rap. I like the album version more than the single version. That is me of course but as a whole, I find The Miracle album very successful and actually the best album Queen released in the 80s, largely due to inclusion of I Want It All and Was It All Worth It. ( and yes those 2 songs IMHO are much better than all the singles from Under Pressure to Who Wants To Live Forever)