Innuendo

Just as a side note, I know that Freddie was dying during the process of this album, but you would never know it from the videos of some of their released songs, where Queen and Freddie seem to be having a lot of fun. I think what I love most about this album is that it sort of typifies every single phase, element, or moment of Queen from the years prior, and gives you a glimpse into those moments that are Queen and lets you enjoy them. There is 1970s Queen here, 80s Queen here, and 90s Queen here. And we have the slow song, the upbeat song, the rocking song, etc. I think this is Queen as their unique selves, with many different hats and not fitting into music genre boxes. I was trying to come up with the perfect adjectives to describe Freddie Mercury’s voice in this album and I think that majestic, grandiose, and legendary fit the bill. He has a voice all his own and no one really comes close. The range, the power, the emotion, make him a distinct musical artist, and Queen’s last album embodies all of this. As far as the songs on the album go, two the of the “lesser knowns” and underrated that really hit home and were my favorites were “Ride the Wild Wind” and the title track “Innuendo”, a song which is similar to, but, in my opinion much better than “Bohemian Rhapsody” (and I really like “Bohemian Rhapsody”). It is so uniquely eclectic in its presentation. Overall, Innuendo is a fabulous swan song for Queen, one of their best which consists of their unique sound!

I had never bought a Queen album before. I didn't know anything much about the band except for their hits and I had heard quite a bit about the enigmatic Freddie Mercury. Well I've been trying to branch out a bit lately so I just randomly bought a bunch of Queen albums last week. The first one that I listened to was "A Night At The Opera". Very good album. I liked it a lot. Then I put "Innuendo" in. It blew me away right away. Wow. I own a lot of albums. I have a CD collection of about 200, and I don't have very many bad albums in my collection at all. So this means a lot when I say this: I already consider this to be one of the best albums I own. When I learned that this was released the same year Freddie died, it made it even more powerful. I mean here you have this guy who's near his death bed giving one of the greatest rock performances ever. Some people have said that this is a dark album. I find it to be very uplifting! A few of the songs are really reflective, but the overall feel of the album is something like, "Don't let it get to you!" The only song I don't like very much is "The Hitman". The rest are just crazy good. I see one reviewer doesn't like Delilah. Well I think that's one of the strongest songs on the album. Go figure. The vocals on it are hot! It's a love song about his cat. I read that Freddie lived alone with lots of pets. He loved his cat. Really touching if you ask me that he could find the love in a simple animal. You really get the feeling that he was making the most of his life. I just love this album so much. If you consider yourself even a mild rock fan, you have to buy this.

Producers of this album-- recorded between March 1989 and November 1990 when Freddie Mercury still had the energy to give certain numbers the appropriate amount of verve-- as well as the band had hoped that this album would be available for Christmas 1990, since the Yuletide market has long been desirable for the selling of albums, but it required more time for the best possible presentation. Ironically, I purchased this as a Christmas present for a family member 30 years later. The songs of Queen's 14th studio album alternate between the philosophical, playful, pious, absurd, intense, and with a dire sense of resignation given the impending demise of the lead singer. The album is illustrated with caricatures by the 19th century French artist, Granville, and the album title was inspired by a favorite word of Freddie Mercury's when playing his beloved games of Scrabble. Of course, it takes on a more sobering meaning given the speculation surrounding Mercury's condition and controversial lifestyle, especially at the time of its release in February 1991. Listeners are greeted with the driving intensity of the titular song, whose video(not featured with the album) and composition have Spanish based themes, the video being interspersed with Granville style illustrations of the bandmembers that are features as part of the album. The video shows scenes of early 20th century Spain, presumably during the Civil War years of the 1930s, with acoustic guitarist Steve Howe from the rock group, Yes, doing a flamenco riff followed by Brian May's imitation of the riff with his electric guitar. The band's vocal harmonizing in one section is sharp, clear, and beautiful, and Mercury's resuming of his solo at the end is powerful; interestingly in this largely existential themed number, one of his final lines is the English version of the Spanish proverb, "Que sera sera( a line presumably made famous in the US by the 1956 Doris Day song of that title)--"Whatever will be will be." Next, we hear the kooky, absurdist number, "I'm Going Slightly Mad", which Mercury wrote with Peter Straker. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, Mercury was writing about the decline of his own cognitive abilities. I recall initially finding the number annoying when I first saw the video on Entertainment Tonight. Freddie wasn't doing too much more than strutting and preening, and exclaiming, "I'm slightly mad!"But what no one realized is that this was his penultimate video and he was yukking it up with his bandmates(and presumably also Elton John who purportedly wore a gorilla costume) for a final time. The illustration of the lizard featured at the beginning of the video evokes thoughts of a line from the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, "You look like an angry lizard", stated by one of the bandmates when viewing a jacket Mercury designed which had a collar that would evoke such thoughts in that particular scene. Purportedly, Mercury's vocal register was the lowest it had been since he recorded Crazy Little Thing Called Love over a decade earlier. In the refrain of the line, "It finally happened! It finally happened!" we can hear Mercury's voice thinning. Those who view the video and his appearance will note that the man himself was, too. Brian May's "Headlong" is a lively number, which, like the video that was made for it, reveals the bandmates' camaraderie. We then hear May's I Can't Live With You", sung by Freddie, which might have been a song of personal turmoil, given certain issues pertaining to May's private life. Mercury then gives us the philosophical number, Don't Try So Hard, Then we hear sing Freddie Roger Taylor's Ride the Wild Wind. A few Biblical phrases are invoked in Mercury's All God's People, written with Mike Moran. It was 33 years ago this week that Mercury did his final music video for Roger Taylor's number These Are the Days of Our Lives, a poignantly reverent piece. We then hear Mercury's upbeat tempo tribute to his favorite calico cat, Delilah, although his voice was thinning in this number, and he reminds me of Tony Orlando when I listen. Queen's front man seemed to have a terrifyingly villainous enjoyment of his collaboration with bandmates May and John Deacon on The Hitman, slightly reminiscent of Deacon's Another One Bites the Dust from 1980, and perhaps just a little of 1989's The Invisible Man. Then we have a group vocalization on the song Bijou, and end with May's composition(for which Mercury wrote a few ominous lines), The Show Must Go On. This album was created by four entertainers who at the time of its release were still harboring the secret that Freddie would finally reveal on the last full day of his life nine months later, although many who paid attention before the announcement of November 23, 1991, and the even more tragic event of the following day could have sensed that this would be Freddie Mercury's final completed studio album. But kudos must be given for the professionalism he displayed until the end.

It's Queen. What else do you need to know? The absolute best rock band of the 20th century...hands down. No one else even came close.

Articolo fedele alla descrizione, arrivato rispettando le tempistiche, confezione e contenuto perfetti. All'interno della custodia ho verificato la superficie di lettura del disco che è risultata perfetta. Oltre al cd nella custodia c'è un libricino con tutti i testi delle canzoni dell'album. Ho ascoltato il cd su un impianto Hi-Fi è la qualità audio è risultata ottima. In definitiva considerando la qualità e il prezzo si tratta semplicemente di un regalo.

フレディが最期に残したアルバム。 These are the days of our live Delilah The hitman Bijou The show must go on ラストのこの曲の流れが美しくて、フレディとQUEENが最期に見せてくれた芸術のような気がする。

Muy bueno :)

Ótimo álbum! Destaque para as faixas Innuendo, The show must go on e These are the days of our lives.

Album double de disques vinyle, album neuf sous cellophane, ils sont épais, très lourds, environ 196 et 192 grammes (O_O), vérifiés sur la balance. Galettes très propres, pas de poussière ou d'autres pollution, exemptes de rayure. Pas de défaut d'ordre cosmétique. Pas de voile. Pas de bruit de surface sur les blancs ni sur les plages musicales, aucun craquement ! Pourvu que cela dure :) ! Qualité de pressage exceptionnelle : Excellente dynamique, excellente richesse spectrale, bonne spatialisation stéréo, un très bon niveau de gravure ce qui permet de ne pas pousser l'ampli dans ses derniers retranchement. Le son de ce vinyle est vraiment plus excellent. "Half speed vinyl mastering" dit la pochette et au plus 15' de musique par face, ceci explique peut être la très belle qualité d'écoute de ces disques ! Qualitativement un pressage que l'on peut que qualifier d'audiophile, une référence. Cet avis sur la technique, bien entendu, concerne l'exemplaire que j'ai reçu; la production des disques vinyles est "industrielle" (me semble-t-il), il est tout à fait possible, probable qu'il y ait des disques bien moins bons et d'autres bien meilleurs. On ne peut qu'espérer que cet échantillon soit représentatif de la qualité moyenne de fabrication de ce disque de Queen et il aurait été particulièrement chanceux d'être tombé sur un exemplaire parfait (tous les gagnants au loto ont néanmoins tenté leurs chances :) ) ou à contrario de tomber sur un échantillon "pourri" et inaudible relèverait de la loi de Murphy mais cela arrive plus souvent que l'on croit, et j'imagine, j'espère que dans ce cas là, Amazon le remplacerait. Somptueuse pochette double au très beau graphisme, on ne se lasse pas de la regarder! Les disques sont très bien protégé dans une pochette souple blanche, doublée à l'intérieur d'un film transparent type polyéthylène (?) très fin. Les disques sont très faciles à extraire des pochettes de protection. On trouvera , en plus, deux autres pochettes de protection (?) plus rigides ornées, d'une photo et dessins (que je ne divulgacherais pas) sur une face et les lyrics (toujours très appréciés) sur l'autre face. Cette série de rééditions des albums de Queen, "A night at the opera", "A day at race", "News of the world", "Made in heaven", et "Innuendo" offre un packaging plutôt exceptionnel lorsqu'on les compare à d'autres disques vinyles que j'ai pu acheter récemment. Au delà du plaisir de l'écoute en analogique, la qualité pochette son design, le graphisme de l'objet particulièrement réussi participe grandement aussi au plaisir du vinyle. Un crève cœur que de ranger ce disque dans la discothèque ! Album loin du rock opéra des seventies, mais le son si caractéristique qui a fait sa légende est toujours là; plus rock cet album distille de très bonnes émotions, de belles compositions ou l'on retrouve les envolées de guitare de Brian May et Freddy Mercury et sa voix si émouvante. De beaux titres, je retiendrais plus particulièrement "These are the days of our lives", "Innuendo" et le magnifique "The show must go on". Globalement, musicalement un bon album de Queen ou l'on ne s'ennuie pas, à la merveilleuse pochette et bien servit par un pressage digne de ce nom ! La liste des titres: LP1 Side A "Innuendo" ***** "I'm going slightly mad" **** "Headlong" **** Total 15'35" LP1 Side B "These are the days of our lives" ***** "Don't try so hard" **** "Ride the wild wind" ***** Total 12'26" LP2 Side C "All god's people" **** "I can't live with you" **** "Delilah" ***** Total 12'08" LP2 Side D "The hitman" **** "Bijou" ***** "The show must go on" ******* Total 12'40"