Review Summary: But despite glimpses here and there of some brilliance and yes it’s a better effort than let’s say “A Kind of Magic” or “The Works.” There just isn’t enough consistency to make it anything special.
1989’s “The Miracle” came amidst some minor problems with the band. First Freddie had been enjoying some ‘solo’ success thanks to the hits singles “The Great Pretender,” a cover of ‘The Platters’ classic song, and “Barcelona,” a duet with opera singer ‘Montserrat Caballe.’
Accompanying “Barcelona” was the opera co-effort with Caballe an album of the same name as their ‘big hit.’ Sadly unlike the brilliant “Mr Bad Guy” the ‘operatic’ attempted album turned into a huge disappointment. Soon ‘Freddie’ would return to the studio to churn out new tunes for his band ‘Queen.’
The album was the first time that they would ‘co-credit’ each other for writing credit on their songs. The album would be called “The Miracle,” given that it was a miracle that he had ever been created (By now Freddie’s health had started to become worse and the band weren’t even touring anymore). But despite glimpses here and there of some brilliance and yes it’s a better effort than let’s say “A Kind of Magic” or “The Works.” There just isn’t enough consistency to make it anything special. Even the popier elements of the album have been done before and better.
The album though does start with two of the bands weakest openers. First comes “Party,” which although attempting to be a ‘gatecrash,’ crazy ‘party song’ is too all over the place and just incoherent to actually be either taken seriously or as fun. The playing is all over the place and Freddie’s vocals are ‘out of tune’ and at times aimless. And instead of sounding ‘crazy,’ as maybe intended it just sounds dull, boring, and sadly in-coherent.
“Khashoggi’s Ship,’ continues the party/rock theme of the first song. Although a bit better it just sounds (sadly) as if the band are bored, and even when ‘Freddie’ blurts out “Party to the left, and Party to the right” he sounds purely bored and disjointed… that’s worrying.
The album finally gets started with the excellent title track “The Miracle.” The song has a clever synthesized keyboard intro and ‘Freddie’ finally sound re-generated and as if he’s finally having some fun. The chants of “That day will come, one day you’ll see when we’ll all be friends” works well also at the end of the song, one of Queen’s most underrated songs.
One of the rockiest songs on the album is the brilliant “I want it all.” It was the first single taken from the album and although the single edit starts with the band chanting in unisom “I want it all, I want it all and I want it now,” this version starts with a great ‘Brian May’ rock style solo before wrenching straight into the song proper. There is also an extended ‘middle section’ of the song that really works well and makes the song even more dramatic. The ‘album version’ to its credit is certainly miles better than the single edit.
“The Invisible Man,” despite having a ‘beat’ during its verses which is similar to ‘The Ghostbusters theme,’ is a good Pop song. Sadly the baffling awful “Rain Must Fall” which is basically a poor 80’s ‘Wham’ version of a ‘Pop song,’ ends up being one of the worst songs ‘Queen’ have done this decade.
“Breakthru,” is one of ‘Queen’s’ best ‘Pop Tunes.’ It starts off with a cool ‘vocal harmony’ section where the band sings in unisom:
“When love breaks,
when the dawn light wakes up,
a new life is born,
somehow I have to make this final breakthrough…now.
The song then thumps into a cool ‘John Deacon’ bass solo mixed in with a heavier ‘Brian solo’ which seem to be fighting each other in unisom but unlike the earlier attempt of “Party” is sounds more ‘fun’ and purposeful than it did on that song.
“Scandal” means well but it lacks a killer hook to make the song, which is about the wrong doings of some journalists, and also sadly it becomes a tired cliché that’s been done by other artists before and better.
“My baby does me” follows the poor pop flavour that ‘chill out tune’ “Rain must fall” did. It’s basically Freddie blurting out ‘My baby does…’ over and over again. Sadly it sounds as tired and clichéd as “Rain must fall.”
The album does end though on a positive note with the excellent dramatic rocker “Was it all worth it.” This has one of Brian’s best ever rock riffs and with its mixing of at times classical music, mixed in with well used synthesized effects, is one of the bands best reflective songs. Finally the band were starting to act their age. Sadly it comes by the time the album has finished.
The album also includes the ok “Hang on in there” and the instrumental “Chinese Torture” as bonus features. It also has a ’12 inch’ remix of the song “The Invisible Man” which makes the song no better or no worse.
OK here’s a ‘Miracle’ recap.
PARTY
One of Queen’s worst opening numbers. 1/5
KHASHOGGI’S SHIP
Just as bad as Party. 1/5
THE MIRACLE
It’s a miracle, it’s a great song. 5/5
I WANT IT ALL
One of Queen’s best hard rockers. 5/5
THE INVISIBLE MAN
A good Pop song even if it steals from (of all people) The Ghostbusters. 3/5
BREAKTHRU
One of Queen’s best Pop songs. 5/5
RAIN MUST FALL
Awful ‘Wham’ attempt. 1/5
SCANDAL
Tries to be epic but falls flat. 2/5
MY BABY DOES ME
This song does me more. 1/5
WAS IT ALL WORTH IT
Cool rocking end. 4/5
That gives “The Miracle” a miraculous average of 2.8.
Comparing to others:
Queen 2.7
Queen II 2.59
Sheer Heart Attack 3
A night at the opera 3.96
A day at the races 2.59
News of the world 2.4
Jazz 2.3
The Game 3.15
Hot Space 2.86
The Works 2.33
A Kind of Magic 2.44
TO CONCLUDE
The album admittingly is a solid affair but doesn’t have any real long term qualities, and just sounds like a decent late 1980’s album, nothing more or nothing less. Still at least ‘Queen’ did adjust to the times although there is nothing new on offer here (Still the cover of the album is one of their best). Decent I suppose was good for ‘Queen,’ especially after their last two poor efforts.
2.5/5
