Giving Voice To Freddy Mercury Again

Made in Heaven by Queen

Freddy Mercury died ten years ago. His band, Queen, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, eighteen years after the release of their eponymous hard rock debut.

Through a career that saw the band experiment with hard rock, progressive, cabaret, disco and ballads, Queen's musicianship provided a bedrock of sound for Mercury's elastic voice. When Mercury announced days before his death that he had contracted AIDS, few fans knew that the singer had left a legacy of vocal tracks recorded during the final stages of his debilitating illness.

Thanks to efforts from The Beatles (Free As A Bird and Real Love) and Natalie Cole (Unforgettable), music fans are now accustomed to hearing voices sing from the grave. What makes Made In Heaven unique, however, is that Mercury recorded his vocal tracks knowing that he would not live to see their release. The songs he left behind deal with life, death and man's place in the universe, but remained in the can until the band and several producers united to create the album underneath those vocals in 1995.

Let Me Live

More than any Queen album, Made In Heaven crosses and blends musical genres, frequently within the course of a single song. Let Me Live, for example, mixes gospel with pop hooks and some of the band's most in-the-pocket groove ever recorded. Ballads follow, mixing with the occasional cut of treacle absolved by the conditions in which the songs were recorded.

Fans had previously seen some work, especially I Was Born To Love You, a cut from Mercury's 1985's solo album, Mr. Bad Guy. Critic Ed Rivadavia wrote at the time that the song "elevates '70s disco and '80s dance influences to a level of blatant pop silliness that Queen never dare approach." After their front man's death, however, the band not only approached the song, but dialed down the disco, punched up Brian May's guitar and came as close as possible to reanimating a disco tune into a dance song. Their efforts fall somewhat short, but the experimentation is in grand Queen tradition.

I'm Just Pieces Of The Man I Used To Be

Made In Heaven never sold beyond gold status despite the band's rabid following. Part of the reason may be due to the ways in which music had changed by 1995, rendering less of the music groundbreaking. The album is also more ballad-heavy than any other previous effort, but perhaps the biggest reason is the juxtaposition of pop rock and death. The music is neither dark nor uplifting. The album instead yields a mix of sounds which seem out of place with the somber pleas permeating the album.

The band tries hard and all credit is due the remaining three members (May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor) who were one of rock's most cohesive units for more than two decades. A reprise version of It's A Beautiful Day summons up the most energy found on the album and is the freshest sounding song.

Perhaps the strangest cut on the album is one not listed on the credits. Untitled Hidden Track can be found as selection number thirteen. A meandering series of synthesized sounds and expressions that is sometimes dirge-like and other times uplifting but always restrained, this track plays for more than 22 minutes. The sound is as close as anything to what a composer like Aaron Copeland might have done had he been born decades later. Although I have found no well documented sources to support the notion, I believe this is the band's musical sendoff to their friend. As such, it is worth a listen once, but even avowed Queen fans will hardly keep it in a CD player's heavy rotation.

The same may be said of the entire album.

Five Things To Remember From This Review

1. The album's vocal tracks were cut while Freddy Mercury secretly battled AIDS.
2. Fans will want to fill out their collection, but this is not an album for a casual Queen listener.
3. There is a huge gulf between the music and lyrics - one that can drive some listeners to distraction.
4. Mercury's voice sounds incredible, especially given the body's condition, and the rest of the band sounds superb. They just don't meld especially well.
5. Listen at tracks #12 and #13 for two hidden, unlabeled cuts.