Queen 13: The Works

The lukewarm reaction to Hot Space was enough to suggest that Queen would do well to take a bit of a break after a mostly busy ten years. So Roger Taylor worked on his second solo album, and Brian May released a mini-album called Star Fleet Project, a jam session with the drummer from REO Speedwagon, bassist Phil Chen, and Eddie Van Halen, who proved that he simply could not play the blues. Freddie Mercury started his own solo album, but put it aside for the band to complete The Works.

While they seemed to embrace their established style and turn up the guitars, in a reversal from the last album, synthesizers still figured prominently, right from the opening track and lead single. Yet “Radio Ga Ga” is full of trademark Queen majesty, with soaring vocals and a memorable, catchy chorus. For a song about radio, the video was clever, interspersing scenes from the silent classic Metropolis and showing off John Deacon’s unfortunate mop. (It would also inspire a kid from Manhattan to take a stage name.) Regardless, Brian May’s riffing drives “Tear It Up” over a pounding beat right out of “We Will Rock You”, as if the previous song hadn’t happened. Even earlier triumphs are echoed on “It’s A Hard Life”, which earns the operatic tag even without the Pagliacci melody at the top (think “no more Rice Krispies”). It continues as something of a musical sequel to “Play The Game”, and that’s fine. Speaking of familiar sounds, “Man On The Prowl” is a crazy little thing called rockabilly, only with more Elvis swagger and prominent piano.

Unfortunately, “Machines (Or ‘Back To Humans’)” doesn’t have the balance of vintage and modern that made “Radio Ga Ga” work. It does improve anytime the vocodered vocals are out of the mix, but it’s just too robotic-sounding, even for irony. While it’s in the same tempo, “I Want To Break Free” is best known today for its video, which traumatized homophobic American radio programmers, maybe not so much for Freddie’s getup (with mustache intact) but for Roger’s rather fetching portrayal of a teenage girl. Still, the song, while simple, has rightfully become an anthem. More empowerment, this time against suicide, comes in “Keep Passing The Open Windows”, left over from the band’s brief, unrealized contract to score the film version of The Hotel New Hampshire. It’s that much closer to straight rock, and a good lead-in to the hook-heavy “Hammer To Fall”, one of which reminds us of “Now I’m Here” in a good way. “Muscular” is a good word for this one, and the call-and-response vocals are perfect. From there, “Is This The World We Created…?” is a particularly quiet finale, with just Freddie and Brian.

The Works was a big deal for the band, particularly in America, where they had left Elektra for Capitol, in line with their worldwide EMI contract. The album did okay, but not as well as it should have, especially Stateside.

The first expanded CD added the rockin’ contemporary B-side “I Go Crazy” and 12-inch mixes of “Radio Ga Ga” and “I Want To Break Free”. Only the B-side was included on the second expansion, alongside different mixes of “I Want To Break Free” and “Hammer To Fall”, two songs from Rock In Rio (the closest stop on the tour to the U.S. in this hemisphere), and the holiday single “Thank God It’s Christmas”, which barely dented the charts in the UK in the wake of Band Aid and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and didn’t chart at all here.

Queen The Works (1984)—3
1991 Hollywood reissue: same as 1984, plus 3 extra tracks
2011 remaster: same as 1984, plus 6 extra tracks