The Works by Queen
The Works is the eleventh studio album by British rock band Queen, released in February 1984. A partial return to their rock roots, although with a much lighter approach, the record has also the heaviest electronics amongst all group albums. In comparison, rock was mostly absent on their previous effort Hot Space, which gave room to dance and funk with the use of analogue synths and brass. Freddie Mercury praised the album saying it helped re-establish the band, especially in Europe. The Works is estimated to have sold 12 million copies worldwide. Recorded at the Record Plant Studios and Musicland Studios from August 1983 to January 1984, the album's title comes from a comment drummer Roger Taylor made as recording began - "Let's give them the works!" Following the release of and subsequent touring for their 1982 album Hot Space, the four members of Queen opted to take a break from the band the following year, indulging in solo projects and taking the chance to stretch in individual directions. While a spring tour of South America had been an early possibility, especially following the band's success there two years prior, equipment and promotional problems brought an end to these plans. Brian May worked with Eddie Van Halen and others on the Star Fleet Project, while Freddie Mercury began work on his solo album. By August 1983, however, the band had reunited and began work on their eleventh studio album. It would be Queen's first album for EMI (and its United States affiliate Capitol Records) worldwide after the band nullified its recording deal with Elektra for the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. Recording commenced at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles - Queen's first time recording in America - and Musicland Studios in Munich. Also during this time, their manager Jim Beach offered them the opportunity to compose the soundtrack for the film The Hotel New Hampshire. The band agreed, but soon discovered much of their time was being spent on the soundtrack instead of the upcoming album, and the project fell through. Only one song written for the soundtrack, "Keep Passing the Open Windows", made it onto The Works. By November 1983, Roger Taylor's "Radio Ga Ga" was chosen as the first single from the album. The Works was released on 27 February 1984.
Queen had been together for nearly 15 years by the time <i>The Works</i> arrived in 1984, and whatever lingering impression the band members might’ve given as four young guys having fun was more or less gone. They’d taken about a year and a half off from each other—a huge amount of time, considering how quickly Queen had released albums in the 1970s—and all four had worked on non-Queen projects. Before the release of <i>The Works</i>, it was only natural to wonder how much longer Queen would reign. (Fielding a question about whether the band was taking a break, or actually breaking up, Freddie Mercury said it’d be silly to start a new band at 40.) But <i>The Works</i> proved Queen hadn’t lost any of their creative or commercial momentum. The album is a compromise between the tight, synth-heavy sound of <i>Hot Space</i> and the grand classic rock that came before. The funk and R&B influences are pretty much gone on <i>The Works</i>, but electronics are more prevalent than ever—a decisive turn for a band that had printed “no synthesisers” on their album credits just a handful of years earlier. Yet while an artist like David Bowie had used electronics to alter his sound at a genetic level, Queen’s usage was mostly on the surface, whether it was the way the soft synth pads of “Radio Ga Ga” added a little space, or the way Fred Mandel’s rubbery solo on John Deacon’s “I Want to Break Free” captured, in sound, the physical sensation of something wriggling out of its chains. Yet there are still elements of traditional Queen to be found here. “Hammer to Fall” is the proud, simple rock song the band hadn’t written in years, while “It’s a Hard Life” is probably one of Mercury’s most underrated ballads—a perfect encapsulation of the sad-but-triumphant sound that Queen did so well. More than anything, <i>The Works</i> demonstrated that, even as they approached middle age, the members of Queen could make music that was truly singular. By the mid-1980s, other acts had found ways to embrace Queen’s sense of uplift (Bruce Springsteen), or the band’s penchant for flamboyance (Prince). But in a lot of ways, Queen was off in their own cultural world—an admittedly huge one, but still. Of course, that Olympian sense of being both an underdog and an unstoppable force of nature is part of what had made the band appealing from the beginning: In a Queen song, the individual competes, but the victory is always collective.
