The album that gave us ‘I Want It All’ and ‘The Invisible Man’ has even more to offer, over 30 years after the initial release.
Announced in October alongside the release of first track ‘Face It Alone’, the re-issue of Queen’s 1989 album The Miracle was highly anticipated by all, and did not disappoint. Many emotions are elicited by these new tracks - most noticeably feelings of nostalgia. From an 80s time capsule of new vocals from the late Freddie Mercury, to audio from the band’s 1988 recording sessions, audiences of 2022 are shot right back into Queen’s most iconic years.
The buried treasure of ‘Face It Alone’, just like the intro of the song itself, built anticipation for the new songs, perfectly exciting the worldwide audience for more. Mercury’s outstanding vocals and May’s brilliant guitar performance were stitched together from something previously thought of as “unsalvageable”, creating a touching masterpiece about going through difficult and dark times; Mercury had received his AIDS diagnosis the year before recording this song.
The new releases exhibit a range of moods, from the soothing and calm ‘Water’, to the joyful ‘Dog With A Bone’, which starts with an audio clip of the band talking. The latter has an instant classic 80’s rock feel to it, which contrasts with the other tracks, such as ‘When Love Breaks Up’, one of the short demos, the intro of which feels a bit more like the iconic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
‘You Know You Belong To Me’ is a softly sung love song with a calming guitar backing; you can’t be upset or anxious while listening to this demo. The only possible improvement would be to make it longer!
‘I Guess We’re All Falling Out’ just makes my ears happy. From the beautiful melody to the wonderfully sung lyrics, it is probably my favourite of the new tracks (although of course this was very difficult to decide). Fortunately, it is one of the longer demos, where you can hear Mercury’s voice directing the rest of his bandmates, and ironically ends with a voice asking “is it worth listening to, that?”
As evident by ‘Face It Alone’ having over eleven million listens on Spotify just a month after its release, Queen’s outstanding legacy lives on in these previously unheard tracks. In a recent interview with Variety, May hinted that there could be more hiding in the archives from other Queen albums, so here’s to hoping they unearth and release these very soon!
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