Just finished listening to the album Innuendo from Queen and the title track still blows me away after all these years

This track is like a melting pot of Queen, Led Zeppelin, Yes and a little bit of magic all thrown together....god, I love this band....who's with me?

I love Queen...Freddie Mercury...love Innuendo. I used to play it constantly...think I'm going to play it now.

Yeah Steve Howe of Yes does that great solo in the middle of it. Great track indeed. Love it!

I have a love/hate relationship with this record.

I think songs like the Headlong, The Hitman & I Can't Live With You are absolute trash. Right at the bottom of their amazing catalog.

But songs like I'm Going Slightly Mad, Delilah, The Show Must Go On and even parts of All God's People are absolutely brilliant.

I used to worship the title track but now find parts of it are just OK.

One things for sure, Freddie definitely gave it all for this album. The videos are just haunting with how frail he looks.

Fenwick said:

me too i used to think it was like, the greatest song ever but now i hardly ever listen to it.

i still think it's great though.

Innuendo is great, I love the whole album....

thedance said:

Fantastic album.

While far from their best, I would argue it may have been Freddie's best vocal performance. The fact that he was able to squeeze that out of himself, when clearly very ill, is nothing short of amazing.

I will forever be in complete awe of Freddie's vox in; The Show Must Go On, Innuendo, Don't Try So Hard, The Hitman, & (The tail end of) I Can't Live With You.

Guess what I'm listening to now.....

Without doubt the greatest album they made was Queen II.

But I guess it depends on how old you are, how heavy you like your music and whether you can cope with early material from bands.

But Queen are peerless regardless of which era is your favourite. And as for Brian May? Well... "gush". The guy that made me want to start playing. He always sounds new to me no matter the song.

Currently listening to The Cult's "Fire" and "She Sells Sanctuary". About as goth as I ever got in my youth. Although I did paint my nails black. That funnily enough was nothing to do with goth but to do with Freddie. Funny how even my two posts have gone full circle.

PS: I'm a bit trashed.

iloveannie said:

Nice!!!

I actually am just barely partial to Sheer Heart Attack over Queen II. But they are definitely neck and neck.

I think Flick of the Wrist and Lap of the Gods revisited are my two favorite Queen songs of all time, so I have to give the nod to Heart Attack.

That being said, good God is March of the Black Queen pure genius...

I'm not a huge fan of that album (even if it's their best since The Game) but the title-track is AMAZING.

This album is VERY underrated.

Great track! Very underrated. Never been performed live (by Queen). A contestant performed it on American Idol a few years back.
[Edited 3/30/10 12:13pm]

Fenwick said:

Good point. Very hard to choose now I have second thoughts about it. The prog-rock had gone from Sheer Heart Attack. And how heavy is that guitar on the title track!?

Fenwick said:

Agreed. IMO Sheer Heart is their most consistent and enjoyable record, for me followed by A Night at the Opera and Innuendo.

As to early Queen, I loves me some Liar off the first album (definitely an under rated record that) and Ogre Battle from Queen II is just uniquely awesome and ridiculous simultaneously, as much of the best of Queen is I'd say it was the heaviest thing they ever released.

Am also partial to most of The Miracle and Made in Heaven. A Winter's Tale, from the latter, is another heroic performance from Freddie and a beautiful track and one of the very last things he recorded.

I definitely think Queen started at a high level, went into a bit of an artistic rut (aside from some great singles here and there) from 1978-ish to 86-ish, and then had a late career renaissance.
[Edited 4/8/10 15:04pm]

Great album.

Miles said:

Live Aid. Simple as that really. Was it Marti Pellow that was stood off stage looking out over the tens of thousands of people all with their fists in the air while Queen played We Will Rock You and said, "I wish we had a song as good as that."

Its blows me away too, a lot like a 90s version of Bohemian Rhapsody (The greatest song ever written).
I can't wait for the 70s poll as Bohemian Rhapsody will be at the top of my list.

I've said it in other threads before, had Freddie lived, they would have rivaled the Rolling Stones on the touring circuit.

Their later albums were a bit of a cruel irony: They were just getting their rock mojo back as Freddie was losing his life

To this day, the video to "These are the Days of our Lives" is hauntingly beautiful

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

Oh God yes. One of my favourite Queen songs aswell. The video was the prefect way to go though LOL. So heartbreaking, but what a way to go. I think his final line in the video/song is "I still love you", and it always tears me up a little.

thesexofit said:

For me, it was courageous (in its own way).It showed how the disease ravaged his body but nothing could steal Freddie's voice. I dig the album

There aren't many stars whose final act is to tell their fans that they love them with such heartfelt sincerity. In fact I think this may be the only instance.

Miles said:

This is why I love the Org. Coming in here and talking with people about obscure Queen tracks.

The first time I heard Ogre Battle I HATED it. I thought the crazy backgrounds matched with the keyboard was a train wreck. Now it's probably my 2nd or 3rd fav on the album behind March of the Black Queen and White Queen.

That three album stretch of Queen II/Sheer Heart Attack and Night at the Opera was defintiely their peak for me. Day At the Races was spotty at best.

Innuendo is a love/hate album for me but definitely gets more love than not. Probably my biggest love/hate Queen album is A Kind of Magic.

The songs A Kind of Magic, One Year of Love, Who Wants To Live Forever & Princes of the Universe are absolutely brilliant.

One Vision is OK.

The other half of the album makes me want to gauge my eyeballs out, (especially Friends Will be Friends).

iloveannie said:

100% agree. So how do you feel about their continued tours without John Deacon and new albums under the Queen name with Paul Rogers/potentially someone new?

I see both sides of it. It's obviously not Queen without Freddie. But if you want to play out live and let the songs continue to breathe life, playing under a different name probably wouldn't attract a quarter as many fans to the shows.

Ultimately, I'd like to think they could have let things end with Made in Heaven and kept to releasing vintage live or unreleased material on CD/DVDs. But it's not like I'm up in arms about it like some folks get.

I love this album

Fenwick said:

Funny you should ask as I went to see Queen and Paul Rogers last year. How else am I gonna hear Brian May, Queen's songs and what is arguably the best voice in rock music without them? Yes I know Paul Rogers isn't Freddie Mercury (that much was evident from the name on the ticket) but it made no difference as I knew who I was going to see. The new album wasn't too bad either.

They're musicians who love getting up on stage to play, so who am I, or anyone else, to say that they, and the countless fans of their music, aren't entitled to enjoy themselves for a few hours? It's a rather foolish stance to take that Queen aren't allowed to continue because of Freddie's excusable absence.

So how do you feel about it Fenwick?

PS: It's sad to know that I'll never hear the early Queen that's been mentioned played live by the group.

iloveannie said:

It's a mixed bag for me. I actually didn't care for the new material that much. But that's not really all that important.

Like you say, they're musicians who like to get on stage and play. If they called themselves "The Refrigerators", probably 1/4 of the people would show up, (if not less). So you call yourselves Queen with Paul Rogers and keep the folks coming out to see you.

They're not hurting anyone so it's really not a big deal. It's obviously not really Queen without Freddie and John. But if folks want to see them play and they want to gig, rock and roll.

I hope they release some vintage stuff from the archives as well. There are some GREAT boots of Queen in 1974 and 1975 (both DVD and CD) of stellar quality material that I hope the boys get around to giving a proper release.