Queen - Made in Heaven (1995)

Tracklist:
1. It's a Beautiful Day
2. Made in Heaven
3. Let Me Live
4. Mother Love
5. My Life Has Been Saved
6. I Was Born to Love You
7. Heaven for Everyone
8. Too Much Love Will Kill You
9. You Don't Fool Me
10. A Winter's Tale
11. It's a Beautiful Day (reprise)


Heavenly – 8,5/10

After the release of Innuendo in 1991, Queen certainly did not do nothing. In the time remaining Freddie Mercury recorded as many vocal samples as he could for what would later become the posthumous release Made in Heaven. Whether it is ethically right or wrong to let a sick man give all his energy to vocals won’t be discussed here, only the result. And the result is nothing disappointing at all.

Where Innuendo was a bit dominated by the dark luring of the upcoming death, Made in Heaven focuses mainly on the beauty of afterlife, commonly believed to be heaven. There are also messages in the lyrics that reach further than just the simple “It’s a Beautiful Day”. Since this album is a bit of a reprise for Queen in the ways they existed, there are some familiar songs for people who explored solo careers. “Made in Heaven” itself was first released on Freddie Mercury’s solo album Mr. Bad Guy in 1985. They maintained the vocals but filled up the otherwise bland instrumental section. It now sounds like Queen. It has these powerful drums at the beginning and the strong guitar riff to make a difference to the 1985 version. “Heaven for Everyone” was first released on the album Shove It in 1988 by The Cross, a solo band of Roger Taylor. The Made in Heaven version also sounds a lot more filled up and a lot better than the 1988 version. “Too Much Love Will Kill You” was first released on Brian May’s solo album Back to the Light in 1992. A few re-recordings later and the Made in Heaven version was ready. It’s a very strong power ballad with a slight reference to the AIDS disease. Last, but not least, “I Was Born to Love You” also featured on Mercury’s Mr. Bad Guy, but as a dance song. Here, it is a fast-paced rock track and easily defeats the older version, as is the case with most re-recordings here. They have all been Queenified.

The genuine song material also does not disappoint. “Let Me Live” sounds like a bit of a gospel track with a rare lead vocal sharing by Freddie Mercury, Brian May AND Roger Taylor. Only for that this song is worth listening to a few times. “Mother Love” is a more sensitive ballad with Brian May singing a verse as well. It takes the theme to another level, like you are seeing your life fly backwards in front of your eyes. The ending is in that case even more fitting when you hear the baby cry. The end of the song is the beginning of a life. “My Life Has Been Saved” previously featured as a b-side to “Scandal” in 1989 but has also been reworked and has changed the otherwise lead guitar in the intro-melody to a calmer atmosphere with piano and mature synths. With its driving force and lyrics this song becomes one of my favorites off the album. “You Don’t Fool Me” is more of a dance track with its continuous beat-like backing track and vocals. It has a quite good guitar solo though. “A Winter’s Tale” is the last composition ever written by the late Freddie Mercury and is a great ballad with a slight swinging atmosphere. And of course there are the “It’s a Beautiful Day”’s. The first is the album intro with solely piano and vocals (and backing synths). Quite enjoyable I’d say, but there’s a party going on in the reprise version where they added a rock section to conclude the album, according to the tracklist. But the tracklist lies, there are hidden tracks! Track 12 features nothing but a sample of Mercury shouting “Yeah!”, but Track 13 is complicated. It’s a 22-minute piece of music of surprises and outbursts. It’s less loud than the rest of the album in terms of recordings, but worth listening to once or twice. There’s an interesting explanation about this song on wikipedia, if you’re interested.

All in all, Made in Heaven is a good Queen album. It’s not to be looked at as is looked at at A Night at the Opera or Hot Space, because it’s not a normal album. It’s the last studio album to feature Freddie Mercury’s voice and for that fact alone this album is worth having. Highly recommended.

Strongest tracks: “Let Me Live”, “Made in Heaven” and “My Life Has Been Saved”.