How The Works could have ruled 1984

Queen, and the respective members, were pumping out tons of great material in 1983 & 1984. Just think of how big The Works could've been if Roger, Brian, and Freddie had harnessed some of their solo efforts into The Works....
Possible tracklisting of The Works:

Radio Gaga
Let Me Out
It's a Hard Life
Strange Frontier
Made in Heaven
Hammer to Fall
I Want to Break Free
Man on Fire
I Was Born To Love You
Is This The World We Created
I Go Crazy
Tear it Up
Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow
Keep Passing the Open Windows

songs to be used as B-sides: Man on The Prowl, Machines,
Thank God It's Xmas, and Man Made Paradise

wow! It might have been hailed as a pop masterpiece (although I doubt critics would say that about Queen) and definitely would have been a major comeback from Hot Space.
Who knows, maybe even America would have caught on and the boys could've toured here. It's all a big "what if".
Regardless, I love the Works as it is, as well as Star Fleet, Mr. Bad Guy and Strange Frontier.

Indeed that would be one hell of an album. Only problem is by that point Freddie was singing everything and 'Man On Fire' and 'Strange Frontier' just wouldn't be the same without Roger!

One thing, in my opinion, that could have improved "The Works" was better production. I feel that the whole album sounds "flat", like when you put your eq on flat. No punch, no power. "The Miracle" sounds much better, and not just because of advances in technology. "News of the World" sounds better and it came out seven years earlier.

Sorry to say this but the 'Made In Heaven' versions of the Mr Bad Guy songs are way much better than the ones originally recorded Freddie as a solo artist.

I love 'The Works' but I feel it was too much of a "singles" album, rather than an album as a whole.

"Radio Gaga
Let Me Out
It's a Hard Life
Strange Frontier
Made in Heaven
Hammer to Fall
I Want to Break Free
Man on Fire
I Was Born To Love You
Is This The World We Created
I Go Crazy
Tear it Up
Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow
Keep Passing the Open Windows

songs to be used as B-sides: Man on The Prowl, Machines,
Thank God It's Xmas, and Man Made Paradise"

It could be better than "Triller"
Definitively

Maybe with that tracklist I would actually sometimes have listened to the album.
To me, The Works sounds VERY dated like it is, I almost forgot it exists.

Also don't listen to it anymore... Same with AKOM- I really, really don't like production on those two- IMHO they sound awful...

My only changes to The Works would have been to make it slightly longer. (it's roughly 35 mins. I think) Perhaps utilizing some longer versions, particularly if they had seen the potential for "I Want To Break Free" a little sooner and used the extended mix on the album (minus the montage at the end!)

I also think 'I Go Crazy' is a fun song and could have been added. So I'm particularly fond of the Hollywood Records version since it adds this plus 2 of the 12" versions.

The problem with The Works is that although the songs are great songs (as proved in their live performances, especially Radio GaGa and Hammer To Fall) they suffer on record because they're too slow and too well-produced. A song like Hammer To Fall needs some of that raw energy that goes right through something like Stone Cold Crazy, and Radio Gaga relies too strongly on synthesisers.

With a bit of re-working, and the addition of the odd track here and there, it could have been a much better album, but as it is, I find it quite disappointing.

I tend to agree with that, Mack is a wonderful producer if you are after a great 'studio album sound' he did some magnificent stuff with ELO, but for a 'live' sound you can't beat Roy Thomas Baker and the early stuff, I think both The Game and Hot Space work well as Mack influenced works, but I remember at the time being rather bored with that sound by the time The Works came out.

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I think further proof that Mack's production was growing stale is the fact that Queen brought in David Richards for part of the "Kind of Magic" album. I think the group must have been disappointed when "The Works" failed to do better, sales-wise. They had recorded in L.A. and used the latest technology, and were rejuvenated by a new record deal, yet the album is just flat.

and don't forget, back in 1984 you could get away with only 9 tracks on an album!

Definitely should have had I Go Crazy on there, but it really wouldn't have fitted on the album anywhere. I'd have said re-vamp the whole thing, dump whoever it was produced Hot Space, and jack up Roy Thomas Baker and get him to do his stuff again.

But then again I'm a nostalgia fan, although it's not what it used to be.

&quot;dump whoever it was produced Hot Space&quot;

That's a little premature. It was Queen! Duh... Mack helped - but you can't dump the blame on someone else. He was on The Game too, wasn't he?

Peace,
Adam.