Queen
Innuendo

I admit that I became passionate about Queen only recently due to my young age and interest in musical genres completely opposite to those preferred by this great band. Thus, among the older records and the tapes now forgotten on the shelves at home, the vinyl of ''Innuendo'' appears before my eyes. An album about which I had heard some positive comments from knowledgeable friends. The title of the work and the title track alone were enough for me to love this record, which can easily enter the top 5 for quality and history among Queen albums.

The opening song, as well as the title track, is very similar to the famous ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' from 1975: it ranges from a pompous beginning dictated by a great rhythm from the drummer Taylor to a 'flamenco' interlude featuring the guitar of Steve Howe (belonging to the ''Yes'') and not the legendary Brian May. It is an album that unmistakably deals with the theme of death: an acceptable choice, given and considered the conditions in which the suffering Freddie Mercury was, ravaged by AIDS in its terminal phase. And it is precisely the singer himself who is the protagonist of a work that, born in a dark period of the band, manages to move everyone (fans and others) with songs that manage to range from the theme of violent and painful death to questionable themes like the song ''Delilah,'' dedicated to a kitten by the group's leader. There is always the rock verve that has characterized the group from the very beginning, and this reaches its moment of greatest expressiveness in ''Headlong'' where it is possible to notice a Mercury almost identical to that of previous years but with some secret that will later become a sad reality. ''I'm going slightly mad'' talks about madness like thousands of songs, but when it comes to Queen, the lyrics manage to penetrate the minds of the listeners and transform into a mix between catchy beats and well-blended words. ''I can't live with you'' seems like a final and desperate appeal against AIDS: even just reading the title gives you this impression, but in reality, it is a song with quite different origins that I am not going to tell you here. ''Don't try so hard'' is sung in an exceptional falsetto by Freddie. There's also time to write and compose the second part of ''I'm in love with a car'': it is in fact very similar to this famous song ''Ride the wild wind.'' ''Hitman'' is pure rock, ''Bijou'' is a succession of magical notes emitted by May's guitar. We thus arrive at the two symbol songs of the album: ''These are days of our lives'' starts with the sound of percussion. It is solemn, sincere, and reveals Mercury in a now appalling state due to his health threatened by AIDS; the video is memorable. ''Show must go on'' is the last track ever: also pompous, it is a dramatic song that features the good Freddie who urges everyone to carry on despite everything, as if a tragedy were about to befall this group, irreversibly marked by the premature death of a soloist who sinned by excess.

An album worth listening to, an album made from the heart of someone facing death but doing so by dedicating it to those who loved him, a masterpiece album.