The Works!

I'm posting my second Queen album review (see "The Miracle Rules" thread). I decided to rate the songs 1 out of 5 stars.

1. Radio Ga Ga - Great song to kick off the album. Message oriented telling about the visual taking over radio. Great to watch and listen to live with the crowd doing the famous clap along. 5 stars.

2. Tear It Up - Indeed this song does just that. Hard rocking song which made for a great opener on The Works tour. 4 Stars

3. It's A Hard Life - Beautiful song by Freddie (although the video ruins it somewhat). Talking about the ups and downs of falling in love. One of the best lyric wise by Queen. 5 Stars

4. Man On The Prowl - Fun song about a man who has been "done dirty" by someone and now is prowling for someone new. Great piano work at the end as well. 3 Stars

5. Machines (or 'Back To Humans') - Discussing the battle between humans and machines. Interesting track worth a listen. 4 Stars

6. I Want To Break Free - Great song with synths. I'm not a big fan of synth heavy songs but this one is good. Video makes me laugh every time (It's a shame though that some people don't get that it was meant to be a joke). John's best lyrics since Spread Your Wings. 4 Stars

7. Keep Passing The Open Windows - My personal favorite on the album. Talking about someone who just has it rough and just when things are starting to look good, they go bad again. Great positive message "get yourself together, things are looking better everyday." 5 stars

8. Hammer To Fall - Great rock song. Another message oriented song but still great. Even better when played live. Freddie really performs this song. 4 stars

9. Is This The World We Created - Touching song by Freddie and Brian. Talking about the suffering of poor people and the overall greed of rich people. "Somewhere a wealthy man is sitting on his throne waiting for life to go by." Wonderful but short song. 5 stars

10. I Go Crazy - I included this although it's not an original album track. For those of you who don't know it's on the 1991 re-release of the album. Doesn't really seem to fit though like the other tracks but still it has it's good points. 3 stars

There you have it. Please feel free to post your reviews of the album as well as any feedback or disagreements you have with my review. Later.

I rate this album a perfect 10

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]bohemianrhap84 wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I rate this album a perfect 10[/QUOTE]

Even though not all tracks received a 5?
:P

Actually he gives it a perfect 4.2.

yeah i rated the songs separately. but as a whole the album is a 10. flows well and sounds great. that's why it's a 10.

I Go Crazy is arguably the best among the non-album tracks.
It doesn't really fit in anywhere, but it stands in stark contrast to Radio Gaga and IWTBF's synthy goodness.
Plus, I doubt anyone would mistake Freddie for a rock-n-roll clone.

I'm afraid to say that I really don't rate this album. There are some great tracks, but in my opinion they are let down by crap like Radio Gaga and Machines. A Definite low point as an album.

ok, so what your trying to say is "the works" is better than "a night at the opera" keep dreaming.


radio ga ga - 10
tear it up - 6
hard life - 10
prowl - 7
machines - 6
IWTBF - 10
open windows- 10
hammer to fall-9
world we creat-10

Apart from Keep Passing The Open Windows, the whole thing is a mess. Best two tracks didn't make it on to the album:

I Go Crazy
Hammer To Fall (Headbangers Mix)

1/10

The lowest point in their career- together with AKOM. Album is a mess- as put by Benn. It's just a bunch of songs put together. Not very good songs, I should add... I agree with Benn about two best- unused tracks- why I GO CRAZY is only a B-side is beyond me. Why Man On the Prowl went any further than home demo- is also beyond me... The production sucks big time- it's the most dated album in Queen catalogue. Machines could be a half-decent song but the "sound" makes it worse than it really is. I must admit I kind of like "It's A Hard Life" (but I'm not crazy about the intro) and "The World We Created"- the rest is just bad... Big hits included- yes, they were huge. So was Westlife. The chorus of radio Ga-Ga makes me cringe. IWTBF worked live, but it's just too clean on the album and the whole power and energy is... not there. Good video's not enough for me...
Rate it? 2/10

Not my favorite album, but it's nice to listen to. I can't stand the album version of IWTBF. Why not the great single intro? This album should be remixed properly, maybe as DVD audio, so we could hear what it should have been. However, I like It's A Hard Life and the live versions of Radio Gaga, IWTBF, Hammer To Fall (an instant classic!) and TIU. I agree with those who say I Go Crazy should have been on the album. 4/10

EDIT: I can't stand the collage at the end of the 12" mix of IWTBF either... Headbangers mix is better than the album version.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME][ Wybren™ ] wrote: [/QUOTENAME]EDIT: I can't stand the collage at the end of the 12" mix of IWTBF either... Headbangers mix is better than the album version.[/QUOTE]
Agree and agree :)
Although there is one thing that annoys me about Headbangers Mix- you can easily notice when starts the added part- there's a huge difference in sound... A bit annoying- still, far, faaar better... And if you comapre it to a single edit- now THAT is a difference :)

It`s one of those albums that i can`t really explain, because i like to hear all the songs (except "Machines" and "Tear it Up") but i can`t stand the album. I know this sounds stupid but it`s true. If i listen to the Hits on the radio i love it, but don`t expect me to put that Cd runing on my sterio.

TAke care

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Bobby_brown wrote: [/QUOTENAME]It`s one of those albums that i can`t really explain, because i like to hear all the songs (except "Machines" and "Tear it Up") but i can`t stand the album. [/QUOTE]

I know exactly what you mean. There are several good songs on there but as an album it sucks. It's too short and the songs don't flow well together.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Suigi wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I Go Crazy is arguably the best among the non-album tracks.
[/QUOTE]

I'll go a step further and say that it's better than anything on the actual album. I'm weighing in with the others that say this album was a mess. The only thing that made it seem good at the time was the fact that it followed Hot Space!