'Hot Space' (1982)

And then Queen went disco and things started to slide in all directions ... Well, not entirely. Queen didn't go all the way with dance, and the world didn't end. But with 'Hot Space,' we have come a long, long way from the 'Seven Seas of Rhye.' At some point, somewhere, Freddie had lost touch with his dreamland and had found a real land to escape into, in flesh and blood rather than in fantasy. The European club scene was a deep influence on the album, particularly the sounds that emanated from Munich's Sugar Shack dancefloor. It was not a direction that either Roger Taylor or Brian May wanted to go in. But with the massive worldwide success of The Game behind them, who was to say that further experimentation in this direction was the wrong move?

We now enter the hot waters of Hot Space and get controversial. There is no Queen album that has generated as much heated debate as Hot Space. It is now routinely dismissed as a detour into disco at a time when disco had long since ceased to mean anything other than repetitive beats and bad taste. In truth, Hot Space is so much more than that, and the idea of blending dance/funk with hard rock was actually ahead of its time - and ahead of Michael Jackson's Thriller. It didn't quite work out that way, but history is never made by those who lack back in hindsight, only by the risk-takers. They don't always succeed, but their errors can be fruitful in inspiring others. 

I didn't actually see any dangers at the time and, having paid little attention to disco, it was quite exciting to see what Queen would come up with. I had complete faith in the band. I felt they knew what they were doing and would come to tread some fresh new ground. This could have paid off handsomely. Unfortunately, a combination of bad choices and bad timing turned against the album. It received a mixed reception from the public. More than that, it confused the band's musical profile - insofar as a band characterised by a wide eclecticism in music can be considered to have had any kind of homogenous profile. It's no coincidence that Queen's popularity took a dent in the early 1980s and that, with The Works, they felt the need to go back to basics. The music on Hot Space represented a radical shift away from the rock of May and Taylor towards the more soul, funk, disco sound favoured by Mercury and Deacon. And many people - two band members included - didn't care for it.

The result is a hodge-podge. It's not that the songs are particularly bad, they are not; the problem is that there is an unevenness in character and quality. You can take each song on this album individually and make a case for pretty much all of them. It's just that together they form a fairly inconsistent bunch, each detracting from another in a chaos of new and sometimes contradictory sounds. The stand-out track is 'Under Pressure', a recording with David Bowie which was independent of the 'Hot Space' sessions. Somewhere, seduced by the temptations and delights of Munich's nightlife, Queen took their eye off the ball and got flashy and flabby. They had always been self-indulgent, but had the discipline, drive, and direction to firm those tendencies up. Here, they lost control in exploring sounds and directions that were new to them. It sounds like indolence, but isn't. It's experimentation, the nature of which is uncertain and comes without guarantees. They were trying something new to them and lacked their usual assuredness when it came to risk taking. Oddly, I think the problem is that they toned their own sound down way too much and paid far too much respect to the new sounds. I think it was a huge mistake to drown out the guitars with synths. The trick would have been turned had the band chosen to beef up the dance and disco with hard rock guitar, to crank it out harder and louder rather than wimp out with one tentative foot on the dance floor.

Being an open-minded soul, ever keen to be enthused and entertained, I found the new Queen album a very intriguing prospect. This was the new Queen album after all, and Queen were always a bit different, a bit anomalous, and hugely incongruent. I wasn't as outraged by deviations and detours as others were. I was never a purist. A purist would have never have ventured anywhere near Queen in the first place. Queen were never straight rock, but always brought an extra dimension. But I do remember a distinctive feeling of disappointment at the patchy and erratic nature of the new sounds on the new album. It wasn't so much the style and sound that disappointed me, it was the uneven quality of the songs. I thought the band could have done the same style and sound better had they stamped more of themselves on the material, toning down the extraneous elements. We have to remember the very high standards that Queen had set with their albums up to this point. I had been spoiled by the quality of the band and expected something of that exalted standard. A lot of the songs on the album were merely OK or tolerable, with the trademark Queen style now taking form as the bland here and there.

Hot Space (1982)

Staying Power

The issues started with the opening track, 'Staying Power.' For some reason, I had been slow off the mark in buying the new album, so first heard 'Staying Power' when it was performed live. Live, the song was hot as hell and rocked at a furious pace. In concert, Queen went at this song all guns blazing. I thought it one of the best things the band had ever done and so bought the album in keen anticipation of a hot and spacey album. When I listened to 'Staying Power' as the opening track on the album, I immediately heard that Brian May's guitar had been toned down, supplanted actually, by synthesizers and horns. The beat was also much more sedate, constrained by the synthpop instrumentation. I thought it leaden in comparison to music played with real instruments. I didn't take to the album version at all, and that opening disappointment coloured my take on the album. Live at the Milton Keynes Bowl has the band in peak performance. Brian May won't want to hear it, but he is one funky guitar player, and his electric guitar was far funkier than the synths and horns on the recorded version. 

The album's material wasn't bad, and neither was the style and direction. Had Queen gone harder and hotter on Hot Space, using more drums and guitar, the album would have had greater impact and would now be better remembered. Which is to say I prefer to hear May's guitar rather than wimpy horns and synths; and I like to hear Roger Taylor playing drums the way he wants to play them.

"Dancer"

This is what happens when Brian May makes his contribution to Queen's disco/funk turn - more guitar and a punchier sound. I much, much preferred this to the horn and synth-based opener to Hot Space, 'Staying Power.' I was never quite convinced by the squidgy synths on these new sounds nor by the mechanical drumming. Had Queen trusted their talents and played their real instruments, I think they could have pulled the Hot Space challenge they had set themselves off. To prove my point, it's the guitar work on this that really allows this track to take off. 

I was actually looking forward to Hot Space, having heard that the band were experimenting with new sounds. My hope was that, after the success of The Game, the band would be emboldened to fashion their own distinctive version of disco/funk/soul, rather than (lamely) copy the sounds and styles of others. The heavy fusion of hard rock and dance on 'Dancer' is almost what I had in mind, had it gone harder in continuing where 'Dragon Attack' left off, using their rock chops to go hard, fast, and deep on the dancefloor. It didn't quite happen that way. But here and there are hints and, as hints go, 'Dancer' is a very heavy one.

Back Chat

I'm aware that I am sticking my neck out here, and don't care. The songs on Hot Space have very few advocates, so I may as well be one. The singles bombed, as did the album, and deservedly in the opinion of most critics who now see the whole thing as an aberration. 'Backchat' was the fourth and final single release from Hot Space and, naively, I felt that it would redeem the entire album by becoming a huge smash hit in the footsteps of 'Another One Bites the Dust.' I don't think my hopes here were misplaced, either. Like 'Bites,' 'Backchat' was written by John Deacon and exhibits a heavy funk, disco, R&B influence. Lyrically, the song is typical Queen in involving clever or impertinent replies. If you are not convinced as to this song's potential, then track down the red hot live performance at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 1982. I'm always left wondering what these songs would have sounded like had the band recorded them in the studio the same way that they came to perform them live, merging hard rock with funk and disco to create a beefier sound delivered at a quicker tempo. I liked the greater prominence of Brian May's guitar on this. I still think it's the great lost single. Deacon would return to compose further Queen classic hits. This is the one that got away, peaking at a miserable UK #40. It was perhaps not a good idea to try to squeeze another single from an album which had already received a 'mixed' reception. It might have been better to have put this track out ahead of Mercury's 'Body Language' - pure indulgence - and the romantic, but non-too remarkable (by Queen standards), 'Las Palabras de Amour.' I think 'Back Chat' is a cracking song with a hot sound. I'd just have gone harder and heavier. But, then, I'm just an older rocker who wants both feet down hard on the disco floor, no holding back.

"Body Language"

I hated this 'song' with a passion at the time. I took a dislike to it as soon as I heard it. Part of this was the shock of not merely seeing the video which accompanied the single but of having to watch it with my parents, my mum a good Catholic woman and my dad a rather sane and sober jazzer. I didn't care that adults thought rock'n'roll the most appalling rubbish; but there was more than music going on in the video, and I had no idea how to mount a defence (naked ladies on bicycles was a much less challenging proposition). 

It didn't sound like Queen; it didn't even sound like a song. There was nothing to it other than a repetitive bassline and intermittent encouragements to obscenity by Freddie. I felt immediately that it would ruin the reputation of the band and, sure enough, it caused all manner of rancour and acrimony. But looking back in retrospect - putting the rather unnerving video to one side - was the song really so bad? And was it so different? The band had always been somewhat transgressive, if not so explicitly so. Maybe Freddie was onto something, carrying on in being daring and different, the very thing that distinguished the band from the first. 

Listening to it now, I immediately pick up on that incredible bass line. The bass line alone nails it. The rest is Freddie hamming it up as only he could. I now see it as a reinvention of 'Get Down, Make Love' by way of synthesizers and a beat. Had it gone huge - and it could have done - the critics who now pan it would now be found praising Freddie's genius for experimentation (as they had with the much more different and extreme 'Bohemian Rhapsody'). As it was, people ran for cover. I have a feeling that all the flesh, kinkiness, and S&M on display in the video might have had something to do with the popular reaction. This made 'Bicycle Race' seem the land of purity and innocence by comparison. 'They were very open-minded, Queen audiences, so we felt less constrained,' said Brian May, talking about 1977's 'News of the World.' With 'Body Language' we seemed to have found the limits of that open-mindedness. Or maybe not. The band survived and recovered and actually became more popular all over the world.

Freddie Mercury was extremely agitated by the public rejection of "Body Language." "I'm extremely upset - outraged, in fact," he said. "I just think they could have given it a chance. I mean, I know 'Body Language' was the first one of its kind from us, but it met with such disapproval in England. God!" Freddie admitted that Hot Space was a "big risk," but regretted that the British public just "totally ignored it." "It was obviously not their cup of tea," he said, "so they just rejected it totally." Mercury was adamant, though, that the poor reaction to "Body Language" wasn't going to cause him to return to what the public considered to be the more authentically Queen sound. "If they think that because of that situation, I'm going to send leave back and come out with a rehash of '[Bohemian] Rhapsody,' they're mistaken," he said. "There's no way I'm going to see that. But I'm glad that the Americans have seen that side of it." Bold words. The fact remains, however, that the next album, 'The Works,' was an explicit attempt by the band to return to a more familiar sound, one that resonated more strongly with the public than 'Hot Space' had done. On The Works, Brian May played some of his heaviest guitar ever on a Queen album, recalling the tracks of the early albums, whilst on 'It's a Hard Life' Freddie did indeed deliver something in the mould of 'Rhapsody.' These were not rehashes, though, but great songs. 

As Freddie intimates in the above quote, some people did, however, like 'Body Language.' Although the single reached only #25 in the UK, which is a dire performance for a main single release for Queen in the UK, it did hit US #11 (and #3 in Canada). That's big. Freddie Mercury had spotted something that now tends to get overlooked. Queen's forays into dance were nowhere near as misguided as critics now say they were in retrospect. The song has been damned for its poor UK reception, but the instincts of Freddie Mercury and John Deacon here may not have been as far off as critics allege. That strong US chart performance was gained without the benefit of the video, which was deemed unsuitable for a television audience on account of the abundant skin and sweat on display, not to mention its unmistakeable erotic undertones. The visuals detracted from the music. Listen to the track, and the baseline gets hold of you and never lets go. 'Body Language' cannot be dismissed easily. It was Queen's fifth biggest hit in the U.S. That's the kind of success that is not to be sniffed at. It has been forgotten, though. The fact that the video was banned might have helped people focus on the dance groove, ignoring any other connotations the song may have had. Which suggests that the groove was really quite good. 

"Action This Day"

This is another quirky song by Roger Taylor, going into overdrive with drum machines, programming, and electronica to deliver a classic 80s robotic beat - for those who love such a thing (somebody must have done, seeing as it was all the rage in those days). I constantly have the feeling that, judging by the songs he contributed, Roger Taylor was working on a different album to everyone else; his songs always added to the diversity and variety of a Queen album and broke any tendencies to repetition and monotony up. The song has a strong, repetitive beat and bass rhythm and thought-provoking lyrics on action and the meaning of success in the world. The song pulses with energy, the beats hitting home like perfectly timed and delivered punches. The result is powerful, precise, sharp, and tight, constantly surging within its robotic constraints. And then the sax solo, played by Mack, hits to form a perfect counterpoint to everything else. The track is an innovative piece of post-punk/post-disco, which may well have been the very thing the band intended to produce on Hot Space. The song was performed regularly on the 'Hot Space Tour,' which tells you that the band thought highly of it. Experimental, innovative, risk-taking, the song packs so much into its tight frame. And has been buried in the ignominy into which the entire album has fallen.

'But there's a heartbeat pulse that keeps on pumping ...'

"Put out the Fire"

Many of the old rockers among Queen fans clung to this track as one of the few saving graces on Hot Space. I made the defence myself to a rock fan who enquired as to whether Hot Space was any good. I knew he wouldn't appreciate the new sounds and so sang the praises of 'Put out the Fire' as a great rocker in Queen's trademark style. I basically said it's got a heavy rock guitar on it, which usually did the trick with sceptical rock fans. That's overegging it wildly. The song needs more power and more fire. 'Tear it Up' from the next album, The Works, is better, harder and louder, if lyrically inane. Whisper it, but one of the real problems on Hot Space is not the dance and the disco material, but the fact that some of the songs in the traditional Queen style on the album are not quite on a par with Queen at their best. The half-hearted nature of the rock that is on the album doesn't help the traditionalists' cause.

"Life is Real (Song for Lennon)"

Earnest ballad sung in tribute of John Lennon. It's sincere enough, but not quite as good as Freddie's previous ballads. Brian May speaks highly of it, mind. I'll stand by my view that one of the problems on Hot Space is not the dance and the disco turn, but the quality of the more traditionally sounding Queen songs. This comes over as a little maudlin, perhaps because, instead of Freddie's own distinctive style, it attempts to ape something of the Lennon sound.

"Calling All Girls"

As the years go by, and the controversy over dance and disco dies down, I've come to revisit Hot Space, seeing the album in new light. It's full of hidden qualities. It's like having a new Queen album always available. I never appreciated this track back in the day and tended to dismiss it as an attempt to follow Nick Heywood and Haircut 100 (badly). But you need to look deeper than the surface appearances. This is an intriguing song in its own right (any idiot can talk about a song by referring to other similar songs and possible influences, but that requires no insight and reveals nothing). It's worth watching the video which accompanied the single, revealing a band on a mission to spread the message of love throughout the world, in resistance to a dystopian future. In that respect, 'Calling All Girls' anticipates 'Radio Ga Ga' and the Highlander tracks on 'A Kind of Magic.' It's an odd one, for sure. Fair enough, not everyone on the mission looks convinced. Even Roger Taylor, its writer, scowls through the video, whilst Brian May smiles, both evidently thinking the whole conceit truly embarrassing. Taylor protested that the song had nothing to do with robots and, as the writer, he should know. So video and song are out of kilter. I'll declare that I have a soft spot for it. The song hit #60 in the US and #6 in Poland. You can make up your own mind as to what that makes of relative merits of Americans and Poles.

"Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love)"

I used to see this track as the one that saved the day on the sinking ship that was Hot Space, a lush Queen ballad that gave us something familiar among the incredibly unfamiliar disco/funk/pop. It struck me as being in the vein of 'Sail Away Sweet Sister,' with more substantial orchestration and Freddie on vocals. It's a deeply romantic ballad, settling our nerves after the unnerving experience of 'Body Language.' That it was a much bigger hit than 'Body Language' indicates that the public appreciated the reassurance of a familiar sound. It wasn't a massive hit, mind, peaking at UK #17, but my mum loved it. It kept Queen in her good books whilst Freddie continued his explorations in the 'hot' underworld of dance and high energy.

"Cool Cat"

Many of the songs on 'Hot Space' were so very different that even Queen fans, who were drawn to the band for their being so different in the first place, baulked at them. I rather like revisiting the album and letting it carry on growing on me (nearly forty years on!). This song is so chill. With its gentle, breezy nature, it would be possible to listen to this track on a loop for at least an hour, and very probably for the entire day. It's a great tune to chill to.

The curious thing about this obscure little number is that it could very easily have ended up as one of the more famous Queen songs. The song has an interesting history. The song was recorded early in Montreux, before the Hot Space sessions, and featured none other than David Bowie on vocals. Whilst everyone knows the much vaunted Queen and Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure," very few know of Bowie's involvement in "Cool Cat." It seems an unlikely collaboration, until you remember that Bowie himself was experimenting with dance around this time, culminating in his 1983 album, Let's Dance. This proved to be Bowie's commercial peak. So, for all the controversy the dance turn caused for Queen, I don't think the creative instincts of the band - or certain band members - were far off.

Freddie sings in a falsetto throughout, accompanied by Bowie's low and half-spoken vocals in the background, giving the song a slow and funky feel. Unfortunately, Bowie was dissatisfied with his contribution to the song and, just one day before Hot Space was slated for release, requested that his vocals be removed from the song. He stated simply that he just "didn't like what he did." Bowie was pretty precious when it came to exercising quality control. He even grumbled a little over "Under Pressure," so we should be grateful he allowed that classic to see the light of day.

And so "Cool Cat" was buried on the back of the Hot Space album, the released version being unheralded whilst the unreleased collaboration with Bowie went unheard.

Brian May explains the controversy with Bowie:

"David just did a backing track. I don't think anyone thought any more about it, except that it was a nice ornamentation. We just sent him a courtesy note telling him that we had used it and he said, 'I want it taken off, because I'm not satisfied with it.'"

That's Bowie's prerogative, they are his vocals and his priority is his own career, profile, and image. Was Bowie right? In one sense, his vocals detract rather than add, and the effect is a little discordant, disturbing the easy rhythm. In another sense, they add a stylish texture and weight to the song as Freddie's falsetto breezes on by. You are free to take your pick. The backing vocals were later replicated by John Deacon employing a heavier bass line, which also works well. It just would have been nice to have had Bowie's presence on vocals, ensuring a wide audience for the song and, I am sure, a greater appreciation of its charms. Freddie Mercury and David Bowie work well together, their vocal exchanges being perfectly timed. And more of Bowie's presence might have led people to be less dismissive of the album.

Whether you prefer the released or the unreleased version depends on what mood you are in. Freddie Mercury is as light as a feather on this, his voice pristine pure and perfectly prime. That vocal and the spare guitar and minimal bass does it for me. Bowie's intermittent backup vocals add a haunting dimension to the easy beat. I think it's cool either way. I can see why Bowie wanted his vocal removed, seeing as what he does needs to be properly worked out. I take it as an opportunity to hear two great vocalists working out in the studio. Fred's vocal is angelic. Bowie's rap in the middle is ... an interpolation (I like hiding my views behind long words). The Bowie part needs more work to be honest, but is fascinating all the same.

The song that was released on Hot Space is itself a collaboration between Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. In fact, all instruments on the track are played by Deacon including drums, guitars, and synths, giving the music a tight simplicity which allows Freddie to cruise. This is such a sumptuous track, so dreamy and delightful, taking you to a calmer and lovelier place, somewhere soft and gentle. Just switch the noise off, turn this on, and drift away. Accompanying Freddie's falsetto is a spare guitar riff and bass. The instrumentation is bare and tight but perfect, clean, and precise. The result is something an easy going number that is perfect to unwind to.

Cool cat

Tapping on the toe with a new hat

Just cruising

Let's just slow down and meander, take it easy. It's a delightful way to mess with the beat of your heart. And who doesn't want to be a 'cool cat?' (Queen fans were never cool by the standards of the day; we stood out, looked faintly ridiculous, and we knew it. But we were having such a good time that we never budged. We were happy with our eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. Which makes us the coolest cats of all. Possibly.)

"Under Pressure"

Another killer riff on the bass from John Deacon, and another huge smash for Queen. If ever an album raised such high hopes only to dash them, then it was Hot Space. The album promised so much after The Game. 'Under Pressure' is by far and away the best thing on the album, which is hardly a criticism. It is such a great song that it would be the best thing on most artists' albums. The song is structured around one of the greatest bass lines in pop history. Freddie Mercury organised the arrangements, and the song takes flight on his soaring vocals. Again, the dynamics are quintessential Queen, so subtle that they tend to get overlooked by the more obvious sound and vision with which they sold their songs.

Feel Like

'Feel Like' is a demo version of part of the music that went into the making of 'Under Pressure,' featuring Brian May's guitar work but without John Deacon's famous bassline. The song is credited to Roger Taylor. The lyrics are quite different to 'Under Pressure,' dealing with love and breaking up. The vocals are in an early stage, working up to the final form, which was to happen with different lyrics. Queen had abandoned working on the song when David Bowie turned up in the studio. With Deacon's riff on the bass, Bowie and Freddie Mercury ad-libbed new vocals and the result was 'Under Pressure.' The guitar riff from 'Feel Like' was also incorporated.

Soul Brother (1981 B-side to the "Under Pressure" single)

This is a sweet soul number with Freddie singing in high-pitch against a hard rocking backing. It's a very soulful song, a bluesy companion piece to "Cool Cat." Released as the B-side to "Under Pressure" in 1981, the song is an early intimation of the directions that would be taken in the Hot Space album of 1982. It's a gem of a song, Freddie paying tribute to Brian May, despite their clear differences when it came to musical directions. Maybe the phrase 'soul brother' was wishful thinking on Freddie's part, trying to wean May away from his rock instincts towards the new dance/disco experimentations.

It is worth commenting on the Freddie Mercury-John Deacon collaboration in light of the controversy generated by Hot Space. There seems to be a clear division between the soul/funk/pop/disco axis of Mercury and Deacon and the more solid rock axis of May and Taylor. That may be an over-simplification, given the rich and varied musical contributions from all members of the band, crossing such simple boundaries easily (although - I stand correction - I don't think there is an example of a rock number from Deacon, unless Misfire counts). But it's an extreme that expresses a certain truth. I think Freddie Mercury was more creative and imaginative and more inclined to take risks - and risk failure - and that May and Taylor were more straight and literal in their rock tastes. Taylor himself stated that Freddie Mercury had a most fertile imagination. That imagination meant that Mercury could see things that May and Taylor couldn't. Taylor grumbled at many things Freddie did (the "It's a Hard Life" video for one). I'm painting with broad-brush strokes here, implying criticisms of May and Taylor that are simply not true - no member of Queen was risk-averse, shying away from big-picture thinking. 'Big, big, big' was Taylor's vision of Queen, whilst May produced the immense "The Prophet's Song," as different and unique in its way as "Bohemian Rhapsody" was in its. But we come back to this - May and Taylor expressed an open dislike of the dance/pop turn of Mercury and Deacon. Mercury was the most musically broad-ranging of the four members of the group, and warmed to Deacon's numbers in a way that the other two didn't. The great thing about Queen is that the aesthetic of the band as a whole was able to leverage the unique tastes and proclivities of each in a way that worked for the group. But ... compared to Freddie Mercury, May and Taylor were much more straight and basic in their musical thinking. You can hear their relief at the return to rock in The Works after Hot Space. They may have been right. The Works put Queen right back at the top, whereas Hot Space flopped badly and did immense damage to the band's standing. Freddie Mercury had another go at realising his vision with his solo album, Mr Bad Guy. It was another flop. My view here? I would have preferred more rock guitar and drums and real instruments to synths and computers and beats. But along comes Deacon with "I Want to be Free," insisting that there be no guitar solo from May, and Queen have a massive worldwide hit on their hands. My view on Hot Space is that it was the right idea but not quite the right execution. I think the same of Mercury's Mr Bad Guy album. 

"Victory"

This was is believed to have its origins in the 'Hot Space' sessions, only to be later recorded (but not released) as a duet between Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson.