I'm taking my ride with destiny

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

07/01/96 : Made In Heaven - Queen

Our last album of the year - let's hope we go out on a bang, eh?  I've only really met one "proper" Queen album on my travels, which I already knew and liked, but they are pretty special in that I allowed them to have a "best of" on the list and they've also snuck a live album in there as well.  I have, however, never heard this one but I know it's the one they did after Freddie died, so I couldn't possibly be rude about it, could I?  But, before I go on to (maybe) be rude about him, there's someone else I need to be rude about...

Last week, I rejected an ego-driven mix of new and old material which were quite obviously a poorly disguised attempt to deflect controversy.  But this week, we've got Madonna's Something To Remember to consider.  Ah, OK - next...

Well - buckle up, kids and get ready to be disappointed in me.  Actually, I don't think I can entirely rude about Queen's effort, but I will say, that as a whole, it's not very good.  There are some high spots, but it's all a bit kitchen sinky - it feels like everyone was given a go at playing with something on there.  When it works, it works - but some of it is just terrible (the effects on “Too Much Love Will Kill You” are particularly dreadful).  It all felt a bit like they were trying to write "Queen - The Musical" which would end with the tragic and apologetic death of Freddie - and, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure that's what Freddie would have wanted.  In a similar vein, I really wish Bohemian Rhapsody (the film) had been more like Rocketman - if you've not seen the latter then check it out because you're in for a treat!  I do like the album cover though - although it was, obviously, not enough to get me to buy it, so we end the year on 12/52 (which is lower than I was expecting, but there are some slight extenuating circumstances that I will go into on my year-end post).

We're at #7 in the charts this week on their ninth week of a 29 week run - it did manage another nine weeks over three more runs, but hasn't been seen in the charts since '97 (and that feels about right, to be honest).  The top five this week were Oasis (just about to start a six week run at the top), R&J, Pulp, Michael Jackson and Boyzone - not the greatest top five ever, so thank you to Pulp for rescuing matters.  The highest new entry this week was the best of Thin Lizzy at #27 and the only other one in the top 100 were The Presidents Of The USA at #80 - it's slim pickings in early January.

Wikipedia has the expected huge amount on the album (234 milliPeppers) most of which I just couldn't be bothered reading - particularly when it starts by telling me it was "was recorded in a much different way from Queen's other studio albums".  Well, I wonder why that was?!?  The critics were mostly positive about it (they're not monsters, you know) and unsurprisingly it did well commercially, particularly in Europe.

"Customers also listened to" a load of Queen tribute acts it appears - which always seems odd to me.  I can understand going to see a Queen (or other) tribute act (and I can even people imagine enjoying it!) but if you're listening to an album, why wouldn't you just listen to the real thing?  Odd.  In a similar vein, I can imagine people listening to this album, but why wouldn't you just listen to a better one?

And with that, we're done with 1996!  And I'm not currently entirely sure where we're going next...

1996 - Another one down!
14/01/96 - Not hateful, I guess