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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As They Were, And Always Shall Be..., 2 May 2003
Queen in my opinion and the greatest and most important band ever to grace our planet. No other vocalist in a band could come close to Mercury's playful voice. Brian May's great guitar solos and catchy poppy tunes, were always my favourites. If I needed a lift it was always 'Somebody To Love' in the cassette player, and without any exception, the task was done. But that's what Queen was all about. Doing their job, getting it done and going home. But they just did it so well. And I always loved the playfulness of them, the fact they felt they could do anything. So when I layed my mits on Made In Heaven, which I sort of knew was going to be pretty sombre anyway, being released 3 years after Mercury's death, I was very cautious even looking at the titles (Let Me Live, My Life Has Been Saved, Too Much Love Will Kill You...), but I took it home with me instead. And it is different. This is Queen, but not quite what you know. Those aspects are there...but there's more. Much more. And now I can safely say that this is the best album that Queen ever made, and is one of the best albums of all time.You could always tell Freddie was a worker...up until his dying days he was singing whatever was put in front of him, when he could, as his disease held him down so much it was awfully difficult. But when he sang, boy did he sing. Just listening to the likes of 'Heaven For Everyone' and 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' just show that Mercury was giving it his all, right until the end. You also knew that only death was going to stop this band. The instrumentation throughout is stunning. 'It's A Beautiful Day' begins with strings and early morning birds chirping gleefully and the typical Queen piano, followed by the first Mercury vocal...'It's A Beautiful Day, The Sun Is Shining, I Feel Good, and No-one's Gonna Stop Me Now', unfortunatly the truth didn't turn out to be quite as beautiful as the song itself. 'Made In Heaven' is certainly one of the highlights. A magnificent, yet out of character riff, and an atmosphere of pure unsureity opens the track and ends as it started. 'Mother Love' was the last song Mercury ever sang. And you can tell. His voice sounds slightly distorted and he couldn't go his true length, and although it's still stunning to hear, you can't help but feel that one of the greatest, has left before the curtain was supposed to fall. 'Heaven For Everyone' the band's first single from the album, is stunningly put together and is another quiet-loud song, that Nirvana would be proud of if they were this human. And that's something else about this. It's human. Doesn't seem quite Queen...but it's brilliant all the same. The other tracks follow suit in their own way, and the album also includes an instrumental song, at over 20 MINUTES long! Watch out for Freddie's laughter and him saying 'Are You Running?' throughout. It's certainly haunting. But you get the feeling he'd have wanted it this way... Queen will ALWAYS be remembered for that 6 minute long, groudbreaking classic that shook the charts twice (three times?), but to the fan, and to anyone else who cares to listen to a band who were always at the top of thier game, Queen also need to be remembered for their stunning end, and encore if you will. It just shows that such shocking tragedy can bring the absolute best out of a band who were already the greatest of all time. And as I've read before, Mercury came in as he went out. As a diva. 5 Stars.
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