Hot Space - a little gem

[QUOTE] [b]matt z wrote:[/b]

The only thing giving it any merit is the brass recorded (written as well?) By Arif Mardin.[/QUOTE]

Depends on how you define 'recording' and 'writing'. Arif scored it based on instructions from Fred and on the demo he sent. He then conducted six horn players and sent the tape back to Munich.

Who 'recorded' it?

The people who played it?
The engineer who pressed the red button?
The person who produced those sessions?

If you consider the third option, then it was Arif indeed. Otherwise, not really.

[QUOTE] [b]victorvortex wrote:[/b]

I can't help but love it , like the other albums it was part of my youth. As Freddie said " It's only a bloody record". ;)[/QUOTE]

yes. but that in essence is an apologetic cop-out.

Hot Space has some good tunes, Staying Power, Las Palabras, Life is Real, Pressure of course, Action this day. But some duffers, I never liked Dancer or Calling All Girls. I don't really get the hatred on this thread and others for The Works though. GaGa, Tear It Up, Hardlife, Hammer to Fall, Break Free, Machines, Is This The World, its a great album. The only song that kind of grinds on me now is Man On The Prowl, when it was obviously trying to recapture the CLTCL vide, and I was never a big fan of KPTOW. It was an album that brought Queen back to the masses in the 80's. If they didn't release The Works, which from a singles point of view had 4 top ten singles, they would never have done Live Aid, the Radio Gaga hand clap at Live Aid would never have happened. The Works had a massive effect on Queen and their popularity around the globe, I don't get the hatred for it.

Cheers,

Al.

^ perhaps because - as mentioned before
a huge amount of queen fans didn't like the lazy writing, playing and the sound production of the three albums released 82-86

Absolutely toon86, it's one of the great QZ mysteries, the works is phenomenal and important on Queens timeline. Would never have known of any apathy towards it if I hadn't happened upon QZ

I don't really see the point in justifying how it was allegedly essential for their development. Even if that were the case (which I'm not convinced of at the moment), that's not by any means an argument for liking it.

The death of Brian's dad was quite likely to have been a strong influence on some of the extraordinary songs he wrote for 'The Miracle', 'Innuendo' and 'Back to the Light', but that's not a reason to say 'oh, I'm glad the old man croaked.'

An awful album, especially by Queen standards, and more disappointing music would follow throughout the rest of the 80's. I wish they would have refrained from trying to make albums until they actually had gathered real motivation and ambition to write great music again.

if you'd never heard Hot Space before two things form this thread would tell you all you need to know

1] the OP's title: [b][i]Hot Space - a little gem[/i][/b]
2] Freddie's [b][i]"it's only a bloody record"[/i][/b] comment
both are trying to reduce the negative

if I was asked to sum up the album in two words and i was feeling kinder, I'd probably say
[b]"largely shit" [/b]
but as i'm not feeling kinder I'll say
[b]"dog dirt"[/b]

Oh, it's not *all* shit. But when a complete record offers you 10 minutes of good music and 30 minutes of crap, it's just not a good record.

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]

Oh, it's not *all* shit. But when a complete record offers you 10 minutes of good music and 30 minutes of crap, it's just not a good record.[/QUOTE]

well 30 out 40 minutes crap = dog dirt by any standards
perhaps i should revise "largely shit" to "almost all shit"

that's 75% crap Casper.

who in their right mind would buy a new car that only worked 25% of the time, or go out to a restaurant where only the dessert was good?

[QUOTE] [b]Togg wrote:[/b]I think you have to view Hot Space in the context of what was going on at the time with teh band and other music in the UK
It was a shock at the time coming from them, but it fitted with the current mood of what was in the charts so I understand why it was thought a sensible route to take.[/QUOTE]

firstly, the album was NOT about the UK alone - any band that thought so would be narrow and unambitious.

secondly, let's look at some of the biggest albums from '82

Iron maiden - Number of The Beast
Dexys - Too-Rye-Ay
Robert Plant - Pictures At Eleven
John Mellencamp - American Fool
Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Clash - Combat Rock
Macca - Tug of War
Human League - Dare
ABC - Lexicon of Love
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold

don't see any lazy writing or sell-outs there, nope

............you don't like HS do you Brenski?

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]

secondly, let's look at some of the biggest albums from '82...[/QUOTE]

The biggest album of all-time was also released in 1982. Its title starts with 'T' and ends with 'hriller'. Wonder which one it is... And, again, as you say, no lazy writing there at all.

Considering a large part of HS was recorded in 1981, it's worth looking at some of the top-selling albums from that year as well:

- ABBA: The Visitors
- ELO: Time (engineered by Mack)
- Foreigner: 4
- Journey: Escape (partly produced by Mike Stone)
- Meat Loaf: Dead Ringer
- Phil Collins: Face Value
- Styx: Paradise Theater
- The Moody Blues: Long Distance Voyager
- The Rolling Stones: Tattoo You

None of them lazy, none of them mediocre, all of them far better sellers than HS, and with good reason.

It's bad. Even trying my best pair of rose tinted spectacles I struggle to pick out positives. It was a risk, it didn't pay off. Body Language was the biggest error of judgement Freddie ever made. It must have been galling for a band who were known to be able to write lots of musical styles. They couldn't.

"the biggest error of judgement Freddie ever made"

Musically!