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Rating: With "Live Killers" (1979) the career of the Queen puts a definitive point on what had been the artistic path taken from the self-titled debut up to the end of the '70s. The electronic turn of "The Game" (1980) comes less than two years from the rocky sound of "Jazz" (1978), whose listening can only highlight the desire to fully live the rock'n'roll style focusing more on the engagement of the tracks and less on the operatic artificiality, the same which had favored the grandiosity of a combination of sounds and styles practically unique. "Flash Gordon" (1980) celebrates the failure of the incursion of the Queen into the world of soundtracks and no less is the flop with the disco of "Hot Space" (1982), except for the famous single "Underpressure" (with Bowie) which will still reach the top of the UK chart.
The group's live reputation is absolutely not scratched by the artistic ambitions of the last record and even less the desire to meet the commitments of Freddie Mercury (collaboration with Giorgio Moroder for the reissue of the film "Metropolis" from 1927), Brian May (album together with Eddie Van Halen for the blues jam session under the name Star Fleet Project), leaving Roger Taylor and John Deacon to seize the opportunity of the deserved rest after two years of hard work.
For the new album, the chosen studios are the Record Plant of New York. The atmosphere is right and will allow Mercury & Co. to re-emerge with their own strengths, dedicating themselves body and soul to the creation of an album that will have the task of reconciling (though the intent will be achieved only in part) the old guard of their supporters and (no less) a rich audience made of new followers able to get excited about the new material and what was previously realized.
The will of that continuous evolution not always expressed at best in the last years of career is fully manifested with "Radio Ga Ga"; chosen as a single and placed at the beginning of the new album, it is a child of that technological creative streak that on "The Game" had taken its first steps, allowing the modern writing of Taylor to emerge with energy paving the way for an uncontainable lyricism, able to reach a large audience also due to the futuristic clip, inspired by the avant-garde images of the mentioned masterpiece by Fritz Lang. Further ahead, the synthetic nature of "Machines (or Back to Humans)" looks, a clumsy attempt to make use of electronics which - though pleasant - does not hide its limits. Bringing the Queen back to the track (and not only for dancing ...), is the lightness of "I Want to Break Free" (supported by a farcical video clip in which the four musicians playfully display their more feminine side), which allows May to freely expand with a brilliant solo, letting the only track conceived by the mild-mannered Deacon excel over the top. It is the fiery fusion present in "Tear It Up" that reminds us of the band's ability to strike a pose, a track paired with the pure hard rocker nature of "Hammer to Fall" which plays its strength on a powerful riff ( ... the self-made Red Special of Brian makes itself heard again ...) as much as on the unsurpassed choruses, on which the ingenious producer Roy Thomas Baker had already been working from the first records made with the group. For the tracks to be placed on the album, the Queen chooses from among twenty available (others will fill the next albums including the solo careers of Freddie and Roger), those suitable for the musical path undertaken in the eighties even though inevitably radio friendly. Quite different is the depth of "Keep Passing the Open Windows" in which, at a rock pace, one is encouraged not to give up on suicide, allowing "Man on the Prowl" (evident the call to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") to drag us into a r'n'r vortex of other times. For the relaxed (and sugary) atmosphere of "It's A Hard Life" - for whose intro the opera "Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo is used -, the counterpoints on the piano by Mercury blend exemplarily with the incursions of May to then celebrate both with the melancholic and concluding "Is This the World We Created ...?" a perfect musical symmetry, also expressing in an impeccable moment of sonic purity, perhaps only seemingly out of context with the rest of the album.
Indeed, what can be considered the eleventh studio work of the British band proves to be a musically more than valid product even with a handful of tracks that, even indulging in artificial arrangements, is able to hit the mark at first listening. An LP to which the faithful subjects of the Queen can look with justified detachment, without ever denying the indelible charm of an era that understandably emerges from its grooves.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Radio Ga Ga (05:49)
Radio I'd sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And ev'rything I had to know
I heard it on my radio
You gave them all those old time stars
Through wars of worlds - invaded by Mars
You made 'em laugh - you made 'em cry
You made us feel like we could fly
Radio
So don't become some background noise
A backdrop for the girls and boys
Who just don't know or just don't care
And just complain when you're not there
You had your time you had the power
You've yet to have your finest hour
Radio
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio what's new?
Radio someone still loves you
We watch the shows - we watch the stars
On videos for hours and hours
We hardly need to use our ears
How music changes through the years
Let's hope you never leave old friend
Like all good things on you we depend
So stick around cos we might miss you
When we grow tired of all this visual
You had your time you had the power
You've yet to have your finest hour
Radio
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio what's new?
Someone still loves you
Radio ga ga
Radio ga ga
Radio ga ga
Radio
You had your time you had the power
You've yet to have your finest hour
Radio
02 Tear It Up (03:28)
Words and music by Brian May
Are you ready? - well are you ready?
We're gonna tear it up
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
(Hey)
Give me your mind baby give me your body
Give me some time baby let's have a party
It ain't no time for sleepin' baby
Soon it's round your street I'm creeping
You'd better be ready
We gonna Tear it up
Stir it up
Break it up - baby
You gonna Tear it up
Shake it up
Make it up - as you go along
Tear it up
Square it up
Wake it up - baby
Tear it up
Stir it up
Stake it out - and you can't go wrong
(Hey listen)
I love you 'cos you're sweet and I love you 'cos you're
naughty
I love you for your mind baby give me your body
I wanna be a toy at your birthday party
Wind me up - wind me up - wind me up - let me go
Tear it up
Stir it up
Break it up - let me go
Tear it up
Shake it up
Make it up - as you go along
Tear it up
Turn it up
Burn it up
Are you ready?(Oh yeah)
Baby baby baby are you ready for me?(Oh yeah)
Baby baby baby are you ready for love?(Oh yeah)
Are you ready - are you ready - are you ready for me?(Oh
yeah)
I love you so near I love you so far
I gotta tell you baby you're driving me Ga Ga
06 I Want to Break Free (03:21)
I want to break free
I want to break free,
I want to break free from your lies,
you're so self satisfied, I don't need you
I've got to break free
God knows, god knows I want to break free
I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love for the first time,
and this time I know it's for real
I've fallen in love
God knows, god knows I've fallen in love
It's strange but it's true,
Yeah!
I can't get over the way you love me like you do
But I have to be sure, when I walk out that door
Oh, how I want to be free, baby
Oh, how I want to be free
Oh, how I want to break free
But life still goes on
I can't get used to living without,
living without, living without you, by my side
I don't want to live alone, hey
God knows, got to make it on my own
So baby can't you see?
I've got to break free
I've got to break free
I want to break free
I want, I want, I want, I want to break free
08 Hammer to Fall (04:28)
Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight
You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
We're just waiting
For the hammer to fall
Oh ev'ry night and every day
A little piece of you is falling away
But lift your face the Western Way
Build your muscles as your body decays
Toe your line and play their game
Let the anaesthetic cover it all
Till one day they call your name
You know it's time for the hammer to fall
Rich or poor or famous
For your truth it's all the same (oh no, oh no)
Lock your door the rain is pouring
Through your window pane (oh no)
Baby now your struggle's all in vain
For we who grew up tall and proud
In the shadow of the mushroom cloud
Convinced our voices can't be heard
We just wanna scream it louder and louder and louder
What the hell we fighting for?
Just surrender and it won't hurt at all
Just got time to say your prayers
While you're waiting for the hammer to hammer to fall
It's gonna fall
Hammer
You know
Hammer to fall
While you're waiting for the hammer to fall
Give it to me one more time
09 Is This the World We Created...? (02:16)
Just look at all those hungry mouths we have to feed
Take a look at all the suffering we breed
So many lonely faces scattered all around
Searching for what they need
Is this the world we created?
What did we do it for?
Is this the world we invaded
Against the law?
So it seems in the end
Is this what we're all living for today?
The world that we created
You know that every day a helpless child is born
Who needs some loving care inside a happy home
Somewhere a wealthy man is sitting on his throne
Waiting for life to go by
Is this the world we created?
We made it on our own
Is this the world we devastated
Right to the bone?
If there's a God in the sky looking down
What can he think of what we've done
To the world that He created?
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Other reviews
By claudio1
The Works, despite having only 9 songs, gives the impression of being a beautiful almost complete album.
Is This The World We Created...?, born from the first and only collaboration between Freddie and Brian, is a brief but rarely intense piece.
By Viva Lì
The most overrated band in music history... releases this tedious 'The Works', the umpteenth duplicate, the umpteenth disappointment.
Mercury’s voice isn’t ungracious, it’s gritty, it’s passionate, fine, okay, but the music, the lyrics, the atmospheres, are often recycled stuff.
By Walterstarman
The Works is a great album, the grandchild of a wise grandfather ('The Game') and the child of an overly subversive father ('Hot Space').
'Radio Ga Ga' was loved by 80s electronic music enthusiasts and the world but not well-regarded by usual rock-centrists.
