Queen
The Works

After a year of separation, Queen reunited and began the second phase of their history with The Works.
The Works, despite having only 9 songs, gives the impression of being a beautiful almost complete album: including I Was Born To Love You, Made In Heaven, or Thank God It's Christmas from the same recording sessions would not have spoiled it at all.

The album is symbolized by 4 new hits, both successful on the charts. First and foremost are the legendary Radio Gaga (Taylor's idea) and I Want To Break Free (Deacon's idea) and secondly It's A Hard Life (Mercury's idea) and Hammer To Fall (May's idea). Of the latter two, the first stands out for the INTRO with hints taken from Leoncavalli's "Pagliaccio" (Freddie and the operatic world again!), the second for its aversion to nuclear power, not too explicitly stated in the lyrics. The rest is no less than the hits (just to avoid falling into the usual trap!): the raw and hard Tear It Up, Freddie "turning into" Elvis Presley in the original experiment of Man On The Prowl, the energy and crescendos of Machines (Or Back To Humans) which could have truly become splendid with better arrangements.

Two misunderstood and underrated jewels are the remaining tracks. Keep Passing The Open Windows (which is part of a movie but I can't remember which one...) is an anthem to life against its difficulties leading to suicide; it has a great intro (nothing to envy in It's A Hard Life) and also a compelling reason.
Is This The World We Created...?, born from the first and only collaboration between Freddie and Brian, is a brief but rarely intense piece, not for nothing does it represent the Queen's pivotal moment at Live Aid, especially for the issue it addresses, that of world hunger. In summary, we can speak of The Works as a "small great album" that will lead them to full maturity in the '80s.