'Made In Heaven' (1995)

For Made in Heaven, Freddie's final vocals were fleshed out into finished songs whilst past non-Queen songs were reworked by the remaining band members. The result is a remarkably cohesive and, in parts, compelling album. Many were, and remain, sceptical, but those who consider this album to be some kind of 'cash-in' from the band are very wide of the mark. The care and craft that went into the making of this album make for something special. If I do have a criticism it is that the non-Queen songs are made more Queen-like by having Brian May and Roger Taylor overdoing the trademark Queen style in their image, rather than that of Freddie. But how could it have been otherwise since Freddie was no longer around? The only other slight criticism I would have is that the album, perhaps inevitably, harps on the theme of Freddie's death, as reflected in the song titles and messages. Stylistically, the album seems to draw from all kinds of Queen. The impression that it has more of a rock edge than the Queen albums of the 80s may be attributed to the fact that May and Taylor were now the dominant forces in the studio rather than representing a return to the 70s. Some of Freddie's solo material receives the Queen guitar and drum treatment, but there is also the odd number that for all the world sounds like what 'Hot Space' could have been. The album is a mixed bag, mixed not so much in terms of quality - these are all good songs - but in styles and approaches. The challenge of making a final Queen record draws the remaining members of the band to reveal new depths - and heights - in Queen's music. The remaining members of Queen did a superb job in finishing off Freddie's vocals or reworking material to make for a coherent and cogent album.

Made in Heaven (1995)

"It's a Beautiful Day"

'It's a Beautiful Day' is a beautiful introduction to the album. This 'song' dates back to April 1980, with Freddie recording a sound clip of himself experimenting on the piano at Musicland Studios in Munich during the sessions for 'The Game.' I can't remotely picture the song on that album, although I can imagine it being developed along similar lines as 'Play the Game' and 'Save Me.' In fact, if you listen closely to Freddie's vocals and piano here, and you can hear it as a variant of 'Don't Stop Me Now,' 'tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time, I feel ali-i-ive ..' It's of the same species, suggesting that the song could have developed as a piano driven rocker.

Here, Freddie's vocals and piano are bathed in synths/strings (grace of John Deacon) to make for a perfect, and hopeful, introductory, the birth of a new day and new life. It introduces the celebratory theme that runs throughout the album, affirming the irrepressible insurgency of life, and the possibility that there could, indeed, be Heaven on Earth.

"Made in Heaven"

This song is a Freddie Mercury solo track from 'Mr. Bad Guy.' The vocal was taken from that original version and backed with the classically 'Queen sound.' May described the song as one of his favourite Queen songs in an interview with Far Out. There was much scope for improvement here, given the dated nature of the synth-dominated tracks of the 80s, and this reworking in the Queen style definitely works here. This is much better than the original.

"Let Me Live"

There are quite a few standout tracks on 'Made in Heaven.' "Let Me Live" stands out for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that it is just such a good song. It's light, it's fresh, and it swings. I love the way that the piano drives this on, with each member of the band taking a turn on lead vocal (except John Deacon, of course), before joining together in harmony. I hear it as the band signing off together, as one, the Queen choir assembled for the final time. It really is an uplifting number. Most of all, it has musical and lyrical substance even apart from its context. It has that gospel/operatic feel that characterised so many of the great Queen songs, showcasing those superb vocal harmonies that raised their songs well above the pop and rock norm. It harks back to "Somebody to Love" in that respect. And it has such a joyous quality. It sums up everything the band stood for.

"Mother Love"

'Mother Love' was the final song co-written by Freddie Mercury and Brian May, and was to become Freddie's last vocal performance. He recorded two of the three verses before having to take a rest. As May takes up the story, "Freddie at that time said 'Write me stuff... I know I don't have very long; keep writing me words, keep giving me things I will sing, then you can do what you like with it afterwards, you know; finish it off' and so I was writing on scraps of paper these lines of 'Mother Love', and every time I gave him another line he'd sing it, sing it again, and sing it again, so we had three takes for every line, and that was it... and we got the last verse and he said 'I'm not up to this, and I need to go away and have a rest, I'll come back and finish it off...' and he never came back."

The end of the song speeds through Queen's entire career, with snippets from Freddie's vocal improvisation at the 12 July 1986 Wembley concert, the introductions to "One Vision" and "Tie Your Mother Down," and of Freddie singing "I think I'm Goin' Back."

There's only so much immensity that the human brain can compute. I listened to the album "Innuendo," with its many standouts, from first track to last, then the standouts on "Made in Heaven." And I found it unable to get a true measure of the music. It was just too epic, almost inhuman, unreal. Off the radar. Beyond the normal ken. This song is immense, emotionally as well as musically. 

"My Life Has Been Saved"

This is the 1989 B-side to the "Scandal" single reworked for the final album. Both versions have their strengths and weaknesses, depending on where one stands with respect to production values. This version is worked up consciously as a Queen song, which means it is coated in guitars. At the same time, the free and spontaneous quality of Freddie's vocal is still apparent. Yet another slice of gentle pop brilliance contributed by John Deacon.

"I Was Born to Love You"

The song had been originally recorded and released on Freddie Mercury's solo album 'Mr Bad Guy.' That version was dominated by synthesizers. It was a sound that had a certain popularity at the time. I didn't care for it, but it worked on this track. This was Freddie cleaving to his 'Hot Space' idea. Unfortunately, Mr Bad Guy suffered the same ignominy as Hot Space. I'm not keen on synthesizers, computerised beats, and dance clubs, least of all when I know that Queen was a band composed of great musicians who could play 'real' musical instruments. 'No synthesizers!' (OK, that was to explain the magical sounds emerging from the band, but you know the point I'm making). There's a good song here, all the same, and Queen retrieved it for the band to deliver a vibrant hard rocking version. Whether the song actually benefitted from that hard rocking guitar is another question. If it made it harder and, with the guitar solo, more thrilling, a little of the original fluidity was lost. But, hey, it's a win-win! We get two very different songs for the price of one! It does sound like Queen playing at being Queen, making the self-conscious effort to sound like themselves. Had they just cut loose a bit more and not tried so hard, this could very nearly have produced a classic. As it is, it is nearly there, indicating the extent to which Freddie was needed to produce 'a kind of magic' (highlighting the way that Freddie turned Roger Taylor's earnest rock original into a pop classic).

"Heaven for Everyone"

'Heaven for Everyone' is a medium-tempo rock ballad which contains a heartfelt plea at its core. The gentle groove of the song is as catchy as the simple lyric is deep. The instrumentation is softly tempered, allowing the song to gather and release energy as it progresses, roaring in the middle section before settling back down to reassure us all that all is well.

I brook no opposition here, this is a real gem of a track. This is one track where the 'Queening' of an original song definitely worked. I always loved the original version of this song by The Cross featuring Freddie Mercury on vocals, although it seems I was one of the few judging by its peak position at a miserable UK #84 in 1988. It deserved a much better fate than that. It received a little airplay. I heard it a couple of times, Mark Jones playing it on Liverpool's Radio City. 'You can be forgiven if you thought that was Queen,' he declared, before flagging up the Queen connections. I thought from that explanation that all the members of Queen were present on the song, but it was only Taylor and Mercury. I thought it a great song with a message for our troubled times in 1988, and was disappointed by the little attention it received. I was therefore really pleased when Queen re-recorded it for Made in Heaven in 1995. I think the song really benefits from the Queen treatment and fully merited being released as the lead single of the album, hitting UK #2. 

So that's my favourite band, then: creative, imaginative, and idealistic, always optimistic and life-affirming, and usually most reasonable. The song, Taylor notes, "had some good stuff about love and dignity; the usual anti-war thing." Most reasonable, then.

The song is reassuring, hopeful, and eminently reasonable, at least to the extent of its simple message that, indeed, we could have Heaven on Earth if only we could all find a way of being eminently reasonable. All we are saying is ...

Sometimes, we just need the reminder that a sweet and simple lyric can bring, that peace and unity might indeed be within our reach, all evidence to the contrary. I think Queen left us with a quietly reassuring image here, making it clear that simple goodness and kindness is to be extended to embrace one and all.

I would, in the normal course of things, be quick to rip such banalities and generalities apart, for the reason that they tend to conceal the difficult questions concerning the institutional, systemic, and, indeed, natural obstacles standing in the way of peace and unity. The idea that all you have to do to have peace is to want peace is one of those inanities I gladly leave to pop singers. I don't suffer it anywhere else. But I daren't tear such simple minded idealism apart for the very reason it is also my root. It's not enough in itself, but it is the essence through which we body forth an inherent truth. Extending the simple gifts of love and affection quietly to all around us ought to be all that we need. Recognising that that love and kindness extend to everyone ought to be all it takes to achieve peace and unity. It isn't, but my word the statement in this song is a beautiful one and I endorse it without reservation.

The song's gentle tone and texture, building to the crescendo of the guitar solo, perfectly conveys its core idea of simple love, peace, and unity, settling back down into a tranquil calm. The angel is in the details, and those intelligent intermediaries are everywhere, offering guidance and assistance, should we care to look for them. It's a song of hope and reassurance and, sometimes, that's exactly what we need, all of us. It strikes just the right note, and I'm very glad that Queen re-recorded the original for their final album with Freddie. And I love the little Elvis impersonation at the end, the 'for everyone' sung as a crucial rider and reminder.

The song is accompanied by a memorable video full of striking images, opening with images of the graffiti messages left in tribute to Freddie Mercury outside his home, Garden Lodge, Kensington in London, before going on to show footage of Georges Méliès' silent films A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902), The Impossible Voyage (Le Voyage à travers l'impossible,1904), and The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon (L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune, 1907).

The song was the first single off the Made in Heaven album, and I'm happy to record that the track hit UK #2 in 1995. I can't resist a little grumble and say that it ought to have made #1.

"Too Much Love Will Kill You"

I could never quite take to this song, despite its obvious qualities. The message and its meaning are too raw and too true for comfort. I have tended to prefer Brian May's more softly sung version to Freddie's emotional rollercoaster - full-on power pouring straight from the heart. Freddie's voice is so powerful that it gives you goosebumps. I once heard Dave Clark describe Freddie Mercury as the Piaf of his generation. This song proves it. It's an emotionally powerful song, written by Brian May, invested with deep meaning by Freddie Mercury's vocal.

Although it is often considered to have been written as a tribute to Freddie Mercury, the song was actually first recorded by Queen some time around 1988, to be included The Miracle album in 1989, being left off as a result of legal disputes (the song was co-written with Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers). Brian May included the song on his solo album Back to the Light, peaking at UK #5 when issued as a single. The Queen version with Freddie on lead vocal hit UK #15 when released in 1995. It also earned the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically in 1996. The song is actually about May's struggle with depression, although it has acquired new meaning in the aftermath of Freddie Mercury's death. I think we can appreciate the universal significance of the song intended by May. He told The Radio Times in 2004 that this song has saved his life a few times over the years. "You get a glimmer of hope from a song when you realize someone else felt the same despair. My own music doesn't necessarily speak to me. When I wrote "Too Much Love Will Kill You" I thought I was going to die being utterly depressed. I'm proud it's helped others who realize 'He made it out.'" Queen's music saves, it really does.

"You Don't Fool Me"

Exceptional! I've never stopped raving about this song from the first moment I heard it. I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that this is one of the all-time Queen classics. But maybe I'm just an old groover still seeking redemption for the ambitions and experimentations of 'Hot Space.' 'You Don't Fool Me' redeems every claim and every hope that John Deacon and Freddie Mercury invested in the 'Hot Space' sound, although, most importantly, it required a proper guitar and drum sound and not synths and drum machines. I've never heard the song receive much of a mention in reminiscences about the band's music, or any mention of it, in fact. Perhaps that reflects its origins as much as anything, because the song was basically worked up from nothing more than Freddie's fragmentary lyrics by the producer David Richards. In editing and mixing, adding harmonies recorded for "A Winter's Tale," Richards created a framework of a song to which May, Taylor and Deacon added instrumentation and vocals. I have no idea how that could have possibly worked, but it does. Everyone knows that gripping feeling within the first time that they hear a song that moves them. I had that feeling with this track. Although the tune is quite simple, it is played with such a relentless drive that it becomes simply sublime, with the repetitive building in intensity to become hypnotic. Brian May's solo is absolutely piercing in its force, turning tragedy into euphoria within three notes. The guitar doesn't just cry, it bleeds. To me, I thought that this was the one song on the album that could stand as a classic regardless of the context of Freddie's farewell. This track is a cracking dancer, redeeming every promise made by Hot Space.

"A Winter's Tale"

A poignant, peaceful look at Winter, written by Freddie Mercury just a couple of weeks before he died. The words came to him as he looked through the window at Queen's recording studio on Lake Geneva, Switzerland. He realized that time was running out for him, so wrote the song and recorded his vocals and keyboard parts live in one take, leaving the other band members to complete the song. The song is written in a 6/8 time signature, like "Somebody to Love" and "We Are The Champions."

Guitarist Brian May recalled to Mojo:

"Freddie wrote the song in Montreux, in a little house on the lake that we called The Duck House. The extraordinary thing is he's talking about life and its beauty at a time when he knows he hasn't got very long to go, yet there's no wallowing in emotion, it's just absolutely purely observed. So that's the way I wanted my solo to be. It was one of those things where I could hear it in my head, long before I actually got to play it. And when I recorded it, at my home studio, in my head I was there with Freddie in Montreux in those moments, even though this was happening long after he was gone."

The song was a UK #6. 'A Winter's Tale' is an absolute beauty of a song. 

"It's a Beautiful Day"

"Yeah"

The vocals end with a 'yeah' from Freddie.

"13"

The album fades out with stillness and silence.

"Heaven for Everyone" (Single Version)

"It's a Beautiful Day" (Single Version)

"I Was Born to Love You" (Vocal and piano version, credited to Mercury)

"Rock in Rio Blues" (Live B-side to "A Winter's Tale")

"A Winter's Tale" (Cosy Fireside Mix)

"Rock in Rio Blues" (Made In Heaven (Deluxe Edition)

This is not so much a song as an improvisation, showcasing Freddie's talents as singer and entertainer. The band play around behind Freddie's impromptus, with Freddie hitting some impossibly high notes. The track is a live performance from the Rock in Rio Festival in 1985. The track shows another side to the band, one that is looser and freer, more musically spontaneous, than the band associated with perfectionism and production in the studio.

"No One But You." (1997, single)

"No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)" was recorded and released in 1997, after the death of Freddie Mercury, and is written in tribute to Fred. The song was the last recording to feature John Deacon on bass, and so is a final swansong to the old band. Predictably, it's an emotional ballad, and a very decent one. Heartfelt and genuinely moving, it's the final goodbye to Freddie and the old Queen. The Queen is dead; long live the Queen.