Queen - The Works (1984)

Tracklist:
1. Radio Ga Ga
2. Tear it Up
3. It's a Hard Life
4. Man on the Prowl
5. Machines (Back to Humans)
6. I Want to Break Free
7. Keep Passing the Open Windows
8. Hammer to Fall
9. Is This The World That We Created?




Synths & Commerce Combined – 4/10

If Hot Space was just a big departure from the things done before, then The Works was the return to their more trademark rock sound, this time accompanied with some leftover elements from Hot Space: synthesizers. Oh how I wish those things were never invented. But then again, only in the 80s people really knew how to kill music with them. The Works is such an album featuring a rock band doing what they do, but this time drenched in synths. Commercially, it brought them many big hits, yet these are not really timeless masterpieces. I guess commercial success is just another double-edged sword to be reckoned with.

Hot Space was just a synth-driven album, but not commercial in nature at all in terms of hits. I can appreciate an album at that level, but The Works, which has probably been in the works for a very short time, at least it sounds like that, seems like Queen desperately trying to come back and fill the record space with mindless pieces of music that mostly remind of works of the past. This album feels like it’s all been done before, but then ten thousand times better. For example “It’s a Hard Life”, though a good song, which is a rarity on this album, reminds heavily of “Play the Game”. “Man on the Prowl” links back to “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with its rockabilly styled composition. Also the other tracks have a kind of ‘heard before’-feel to them. The album begins with the synth-driven “Radio Ga Ga”. The first thing I noticed was the flat drumsound. Hey, these are synth-drums! They should’ve called this album The Synth-Works. The song itself continues along with even more synth-arrangements to create a synth-opener for a true synth-album. No more of that synth, as Roger Taylor would’ve sung in the 70s. What changed his mind? I don’t know, but he’s responsible for “Radio Ga Ga”. “Tear it Up” has some catchy parts but in fact just feels like an incomplete 80s rock song without too much content.

But there are some good sides to this album, even if that’s very hard to believe. “It’s a Hard Life”, though a remake of “Play the Game”, has the same magic of the original and is quite a good song. “Hammer to Fall” is a good example of the Philips slogan ‘sense and simplicity’. The riff is fairly simple, but oh so powerful. It has become one of my favorite Queen 80s songs. Especially Brian May’s solo really stands out. And furthermore I think “Keep Passing the Open Windows” could be a nice track, even though it’s synth-overloaded. Other tracks rank deeper into mediocre such as the famous hit “I Want to Break Free”, which is just another generic hit put together by John Deacon, who seems responsible for the lamer hits of Queen such as this one and “Another One Bites the Dust”. And let’s not forget “Machines (or Back to Humans)” by Brian May and Roger Taylor. The two worked hopefully on this track that pretends to be a potential track with lots of content, but in fact features more of the synth-covered cake we’ve already eaten, decorated with the occasional guitar chord on top. Oh and let us not forget the oh so epic closer ballad “Is This the World that we Created?”! Isn’t it oh so sensitive with Freddie crying about us having ruined this world full of murder and deceit? No it isn’t. I like songs with messages inside them, but I dislike them if they’re as superficial as this one, packaged in a quite boring song.

Need I say more? This album lacks quality in every corner, with the exception of a few songs. If you are really fond of synthesizers and everything that they dominate, and in the meantime don’t mind the extremely commercial, and thus simple, nature of the album, you should buy The Works. I think you’ll enjoy it. If you prefer quality music, then get “Hammer to Fall” and ignore the rest.

Strongest track: “Hammer to Fall”.
Weakest tracks: “Radio Ga Ga”, “Tear it Up”, “Man on the Prowl”, “Machines”, “I Want to Break Free” and “Is This the World That We Created?”.