Made In Heaven (2011 Remaster) [Original recording remastered]

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.

The final studio album from Queen where Freddie was involved in some of the work is a curious beast. Loved by critics on its release after they decided the suddenly DID like the band after all and one of the biggest sellers from the band it is hard to find many Queen fans who gush with praise about the album.

It certainly has its plus points - namely the tracks Let Me Live, Mother Love and A Winter's Tale, but it also has its minuses - more on them later. Obviously, we now know just how poorly Freddie was when making this album and we know he was on completely borrowed time as the band reconvened in Montreux to work on the tracks, and we also know it was his wish to see the final tracks he worked on released as he laid down final vocals (something he only did after all the arguments about instrumentation and lyrics had stopped!), but as a Queen fan you cannot help but wonder what the final outcome would have been like had he lived?

Praise has to be given at this stage for the work mssrs May, Taylor and Deacon put into the project in terms of shaping and completing these tracks in what must have been very difficult and emotional circumstances but the question of what if remains. Musically the instrumentation on the album is of a universally high standard and the work done on taking some of Freddie's solo material (Made In Heaven and I Was Born To Love You), Roger's Cross track Heaven for Everyone, an old b-side, My Life Has Been Saved and a Brian song, Too Much Love Will Kill You and making them all into fully fledged Queen album songs is again very commendable. However, the problem is the end result is variable. Whilst Made In Heaven and I Was Born To Love You both gain over their Mr. Bad Guy versions they are still average songs on the whole and the same could also be said for Heaven For Everyone. My Life Has Been Saved sounds a lot worse here than on the 1989 b-side to Scandal and interesting though it is to hear Freddie's take on Too Much Love Will Kill You, it perhaps lacks the emotion that many thought would be there when it was known he had recorded it.

It's a Beautiful Day opens and closes the album (with the exception of Track 12 - Yeah and the hidden, mysterious 'Track 13' (ambient music that meanders along far too long and again is a less than fulfilling track. The club influenced You Don't Fool Me has its merits and is the fourth best track off the album - and it is worth tracking down the re-mix versions as well for those interested in them. So, as back in 1995 the 2011 re-mastered version still only has three tracks of any note - as wonderful as the rest of it sounds now it has been cleaned up.

Of the three outstanding tracks, Let Me Live is the one I enjoy the most. Mercury, Taylor and May all take the lead in signing a verse from the song - due of course to Freddie not being there to sing it all and yet is the one song where you could almost believe he was present from start to finish. The gospel choir sounding chorus and May's good guitar solo all help elevate the song and on its single release in 1996 fully deserved its no.9 UK chart slot. A Winter's Tale has become known as a Christmas song but is a wonderful, optimistic appreciation of the natural world and features a very atmospheric solo from Brian and a simply shiver down the spine vocal from Freddie - especially towards the end when he sings 'It's allllllllllllll so beautiful' - proving that despite his illness he could still deliver a song. Mother Love has another similar moment and is the final song Freddie worked upon before his death. A wonderful backing track allies itself with Freddie's emotional vocal perfectly to create a Queen classic, which features May singing the closing verse after Freddie decided he couldn't do anymore and would return to finish it (something he sadly never did).

The bonus CD allows us to compare the two versions of My Life Has Been Saved and for my money the version on the bonus disc is the best, whilst Heaven For Everyone has its single mix included (nice if you like it, not so good if you don't!) and another two b-sides (they featured on the CD releases) are also included - the joined together version of It's A Beautiful Day (still a filler at best) and the terrible Rock In Rio Blues (originally on A Winter's Tale). The other two tracks are the original piano and vocal mix of I Was Born To Love You that would have been on Freddie's 1985 solo album before it was reworked at the record companies insistence and an even more haunting mix of A Winter's Tale that is worth buying the deluxe version for on its own.

A nice farewell from the band given the difficult circumstances it was recorded in but I still wonder if only...

It would be really churlish to give this, the final Queen album proper, anything less than 5 stars. A truly moving collection of some of the saddest and yet at the same time the most hopeful Queen songs ever written. We can only guess at the emotions that must have been running through the guys when this was recorded.

Admittedly the album does feature several songs that appeared on band member's solo albums before this recording, but I would say without hesitation that it is in this form they sound the best. "Too Much Love Will Kill You" really benefits from Freddie's strong vocals and "Made in Heaven" sounds much better with the magnificent orchestra-sound it gets here. Of the "new" tracks the outstanding one in my humble opinion is "Let Me Live", featuring the vocals of Freddie, Roger and Brian it is just a lovely celebration of this fantastic group.

A fantastic album, full of emotion, full of feeling and full of great songs.