Can't disagree..

brENsKi wrote:

GreatKingFairyFeller wrote:To be fair to Queen the album that is considered their worst was a huge influence on the best selling album in the world Thriller, so I can’t ever say it’s a bad album. I think it’s just not good for Queen standards and Queen audience’s.

Not so sure about that. Jackson was already well into the "funk" zone by 1979 with Off The Wall. Thriller is a natural sequel to Off The Wall, in the same way Queen's Races followed Opera.

Most of Thriller is a more polished remake of Off the Wall.
Dance tunes feel more complete and "in your face".

The album has the usual ballads; The Lady in My Life/The Girl Is Mine/Human Nature - to change the tempo.
The dancers Baby Be Mine/Billie Jean/PYT/Wanna Be Startin' Something really wouldn't be out of place on Off the Wall.

Human Nature being written by Steve Porcaro (TOTO) , PYT by James Ingram (prob based only on the song title because that undated MJJ demo is a slow ballad and in virtually no way associated with the PYT known)

wanna be starting something demo is supposedly from 1978.... so damn near all of this claim falls apart.

BILLIE JEAN was based almost directly (*down to the strings being a replacement for the keys) on HALL & OATES "I can't go for that".

So yeah. It's just revisionist talk from Brian trying to create a positive vibe to the album....although it's possible MJJ cared about them "taking a risk" and "crossing lines".

BEAT IT originated as a vocal demo by Michael (by himself : go look it up it's all there)

Bringing in a guest guitarist yo pad it out was intentional to sell the album across demographics.

But production wise, i can't help but think that the album direction was more influenced by EWF, KOOL & THE GANG and TOTO's polished stuff that they'd done since backing up BOZ SCAGGS STEELY DAN and QUINCY himself.

The comparison is absurd.

Queen had ZERO rhythm on that album (Hot Space) and everything on it never influenced anything else.

The closest they came to something new were BACK CHAT and COOL CAT.

the rest was contrapuntal mess on STAYING POWER (that screech twang guitar intended to inspire off kilter stuff when SPACE is the biggest element of funk)

And on the wannabe POGO-ING dance craze ACTION THIS DAY riffing.


They didn't invent shit in terms of sounds. And if you don't know any of the group's listed above or even Roy Ayers or George Duke then you're pretty limited in your rationale that hot space "brought FUNK (*arguably an invention from Sly Stone/James Brown/George Clinton&Parliament - TWO DECADES PRIOR! ) to the white masses is beyond absurd.

Go listen to some stuff from the 70's. It was pretty deep.

http://youtu.be/eZeYw1bm53Y


Link to one "outed" vocal demo from MJJ: BEAT IT
*(in case you've lived under a rock and never heard it before)

GreatKingFairyFeller wrote:

Action this day- Pretty good song that was great live. 8/10
Put out the fire- Great song. 9/10
Life is Real- I actually really like it. 9/10
Calling all Girls- Pretty catchy, awful video. 7/10

If this is how highly people are rating these half baked songs, then everything from the first six albums should be a 10/10 or higher.

master marathon runner wrote:

Don't remember him apologising in Edinburgh a few days before.

Did you ever manage to dig up those photos you took that night ?

/\ Bob - how come ' server error' comes up when I try to pm you??
Shall I try e - mailing to your site ?

There's an opportunity for someone to take the HS tapes and rework a number of tracks into decent rock/pop songs.
The Love Kills ballad shows they have the capability to fundamentally change the sound and style of a track.
Not sure it would be worth the effort though.

It's neither a good pop/rock album and its very lacking as a dance/funk album.
There are two tracks on The Game, Dragon attack and AOBTD that would sit well on HS in terms of style, but they would be the best tracks on the album and that shows, for me, that it's not just the style of music that's wrong with the album but the songs themselves just aren't up to standard. The whole album is filler.
My least favourite Queen album by some distance.

(Every track on there is better than Man On the Prowl though)

HS isn't terrible, and fair play if you like it, there are definitely worse albums out there by other artists but for me, the songs just aren't that good.

I like it very much. It's very much its own 'thing'. I don't care if people think that makes me a lesser person than them. But please, no 'updating' of the album plz

master marathon runner wrote:

/\ Bob - how come ' server error' comes up when I try to pm you??
Shall I try e - mailing to your site ?

Because this forum has countless basic functionality issues that'll likely never be addressed.

[email protected]

Thanks !

The Real Wizard wrote:

GreatKingFairyFeller wrote:

Action this day- Pretty good song that was great live. 8/10
Put out the fire- Great song. 9/10
Life is Real- I actually really like it. 9/10
Calling all Girls- Pretty catchy, awful video. 7/10

If this is how highly people are rating these half baked songs, then everything from the first six albums should be a 10/10 or higher.

I'd actually rate CAG 8.5. Having suffered through side one, well...

and, yes, everything on the first six albums (other than the song SHA) are 10/10's and higher;-)

The video for CAG is fucking awesome

I agree with *goodco* average songwriting by talented songwriters.

Staying power great riff, average song better live
Dancer Freddie vocals and guitar solo are the only good thing in this song
Back chat this could have been a Thriller song
Body language no comment..... The main riff is from a disco song called searching

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_-JM08vVFSI

Action this day awfully bad, live is average
Put out the fire average rock song, only the solo counts.
Life is real a good example how good was Freddie as composer, he used the characteristics Lennon keys to paid a tribute, but is just a good song nothing more.
Calling all girls boring, below average
Las pallabras de amore, average even back then it was outdated, Freddie vocals make audible
Cool cat great bass playing, rhythm guitar and vocals. Even that things can't save this average song
Under pressure despite it is a rough mix, is one a best Queen songs, it can't save the album.

The only good thing with Hot Space is that has a flow and ofcourse Mack production which didn't save the average songwriting.

When they recorded Fun It, it sounded like Queen. But by the time of AOBTD and then the disco/funk styles of some of Hot Space it seems to me that Mack's production was more about recording a generic disco sound and style rather than recording a Queen version of it.

On previous albums, no matter the style of music, the Queen sound kind of came first and provided the building blocks. I think the problem with Hot Space is that they turned that process around. I'm naming Mack as the culprit but I don't know for sure. It could have been him and another band member or a number of band members or another outside influence.

A well trodden path is implying that Michael Jackson was an influence, I'm sure he was but I also think Rick James' music may have driven some influences too.

dysan wrote:

The video for CAG is fucking awesome

Yep, agreed. In fact, I'd say it's my favourite Queen video next to Breakthru.

The Real Wizard wrote:

dysan wrote:
The video for CAG is fucking awesome

Yep, agreed. In fact, I'd say it's my favourite Queen video next to Breakthru.

quite a few obvious references in there. also like the masks being an almost Mr Robot "prequel".