The Miracle

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The Miracle
Studio album by Queen

Publication
(s)

May 22, 1989

Label (s) Parlophone / EMI ; Capitol (USA), Hollywood (USA / 1991)

Format (s)

LP , MC , CD

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

10 (LP, MC) or 13 (CD)

running time

52:12 (CD)

occupation

production

Queen and David Richards

Studio (s)

January 1988 to January 1989, Olympic Studios , Townhouse and Mountain Studios

chronology
Live Magic
(1986)
The Miracle At the Beeb
(1989)

The Miracle is the 13th studio album by the British rock group Queen , released in May 1989 .

The album

On the album cover, the heads of the band members are fused into a single head using image editing software. This symbolic picture of togetherness is continued in the statements of the song authors. For the first time, all titles are named with the indication "Queen" as songwriter . This can also be explained by the circumstances under which the album was created. Brian May found himself in an emotionally difficult state after the divorce from his wife and Freddie Mercury began to show signs of his AIDS illness. After the Magic Tour in 1986, Queen had taken their longest hiatus to date; During this time the individual band members devoted themselves to their respective solo projects. It took three years from the release of their last album A Kind of Magic to The Miracle . Due to Mercury's state of health, the penultimate studio album released during his lifetime was not supported by a concert tour.

The album was originally supposed to be titled The Invisible Man . However, three weeks before the planned release, it was decided to change the title to The Miracle . The album combines both pop music and rock music on one album. The sound typical for Queen is clearly worked out. Rock titles include Khashoggi's Ship , I Want It All , Breakthru , Scandal and Was It All Worth It . Here a clear accent is placed on the rocking guitar riffs , a mostly acoustic drums and the possibility of Mercury's voice to sound aggressive. Not only the pop songs Party , The Miracle and Rain Must Fall take synthesizer and effects play a central role. An often synthetic drum kit supports the pop character of these tracks, which are clearly influenced by the trends of the 1980s.

Track list

In the production notes on the album - as with the 1991 successor Innuendo - “Queen” is given as the composer for all pieces. The actual main authors are in square brackets.

Page 1:

  1. Party [Deacon / Mercury / May] - 2:24
  2. Khashoggi's Ship [Deacon / Mercury / May / Taylor] - 2:48
  3. The Miracle [Mercury] - 5:02
  4. I Want It All [May] - 4:41
  5. The Invisible Man [Taylor] - 3:57

Page 2:

  1. Breakthru [Mercury (intro) / Taylor (main part)] - 4:08
  2. Rain Must Fall [Deacon / Mercury] - 4:23
  3. Scandal [May] - 4:42
  4. My Baby Does Me [Mercury / Deacon] - 3:23
  5. What It All Worth It [Mercury] - 5:45

CD "Extra Tracks":

  1. Hang On in There - 3:46
  2. Chinese Torture [May] - 1:45
  3. The Invisible Man (12 "Version) [Taylor] - 5:28

Single B sides

The CD bonus track Hang On in There had previously been released as the B-side of the single I Want It All . Three tracks have only appeared on the B-side of Singles. For them, too, the official composer statement is "Queen":

  • Stealin ' (Single Breakthru ).
  • Hijack My Heart (single The Invisible Man ), actually written and sung by Roger Taylor.
  • My Life Has Been Saved (single Scandal ): the original version of this song, which is also included in a revised version on the 1995 album Made in Heaven ; written by John Deacon.

The single The Miracle includes live versions of Stone Cold Crazy (Rainbow, London, 1974) and My Melancholy Blues (Houston, 1977); The latter can be found on the 12 "and CD editions of the single.

Detailed information is not recorded on the album. The lead vocals in I Want It All are shared by Mercury, who sings the majority, and May.

The album was produced by Queen and David Richards . It was recorded by Richards. Assistant sound engineers were Andrew Bradfield, John Brough, Angelique Cooper, Claude Frider, Andy Mason and Justin Shirley-Smith . The recordings took place from January 1988 to January 1989 at Olympic Studios and Townhouse Studios, both in London, and at Mountain Studios in Montreux . The album was mastered in Townhouse Studios by Kevin Metcalf and Gordon Vickary. Brian Zellis was responsible for the computer programming.

Chart placements

album

The album The Miracle reached the following chart positions :

  • # 1 - Germany ( platinum ) / Finland / Great Britain (37 weeks in the charts; platinum) / Netherlands (platinum) / Austria ( gold ) / Switzerland (platinum).
  • # 2 - Norway.
  • # 3 - Italy / Portugal (gold).
  • # 4 - Spain (platinum).
  • # 6 - Sweden.
  • # 23 - Japan.
  • # 24 - USA (gold).

Singles

I Want It All (May 2, 1989)

# 2: Netherlands; # 3: UK, Ireland; # 4: Italy, Norway; # 8: Switzerland; # 9: Germany; # 10: Australia; # 11: Austria; # 36: Canada; # 50: USA.

Breakthru (June 19, 1989)

# 4: Netherlands; # 6: Ireland; # 7: Great Britain; # 24: Italy; # 28: Switzerland.

The Invisible Man (August 7, 1989)

# 4: Netherlands; # 12: Great Britain; # 21: Italy; # 30: Switzerland.

Scandal (October 9, 1989)

# 16: Netherlands; # 25: Great Britain.

The Miracle (November 27, 1989)

# 20: Netherlands; # 21: Great Britain.

Alternative versions

The version of I Want It All , released as a single, differs from the album version in that it has a significantly different beginning and a shortened instrumental interlude before the last chorus. This single version is also included on the 1991 album Greatest Hits II . A hybrid version of I Want It All , which is composed of album and single version, was released in 1997 on the Queen Rocks compilation .

In addition to The Invisible Man , there are also longer 12 "versions of Breakthru and Scandal .

See also