This album is difficult to critique. Never before had Queen displayed such emotion and delivered a solid album like 1991's Innuendo. Everything from the music, the vocals, the lyrics, the art work, to the atmosphere snaps into place, making the most consistent Queen record of all time. Listening to this album is as pleasing as it is bittersweet; you can hear Freddie dying on this album. Everything that he had in him was put into this incredibly skillful songs, and a great deal of these tracks are masterpieces on their own.

The last album before Mercury's tragic death, Innuendo may be the best album Queen has ever released and is one that promised a change in direction and sound. Unfortunately, and I'm fairly sure the band new this, Innuendo was going to end an era of really solid music. The most experimental song since Bohemian Rhapsody in the mid-70s, title-track Innuendo immediately puts Queen back on the throne they were slipping from on their last efforts. This desert-sounding, flamenco-break-inspired, time-changing classical masterpiece pulls sources from hundreds of musical visions and was the band's second #1 single to exceed six minutes. And every minute is worth it.

Adding to the bizarre atmosphere, we get I'm Going Slightly Mad, a track that takes the good parts of their 1980s pop music and updates it with clever and fun lyrics, matching it with a rather interesting video featuring the band dressed as monkeys, jester, and banana trees ("I think I'm a banana tree!"), acting "mad." The music hooks you from the first second and holds your attention throughout the track. To date, it's one of the most popular videos Queen's ever filmed. Going back to where Queen began, this album flirts with the hard rock sound that got them to the public eye. Headlong (also extraordinarily catchy and clever) and I Can't Live With You have a punching urgency to them, the former of which is one of the best cuts on the album.

On the last few Queen releases, there was a loss of identity, perhaps. No unifying theme. On Innuendo we get a Grandville-inspired album jacket design tied in with a hard and mystic mood elegantly and sophisticatedly done. Taking a break from the harder-edged tracks, we get These Are the Days of Our Lives, a song that could make Satan cry. Watching Freddie's ill appearance in this video is heartbreaking and hearing the sadness (yet peaceful) vocals is difficult. The best art makes you think, and this song does that. Calm and quiet, this track is based off a quiet bongo-beat that is simple, yet not tongue-in-cheek and cheap sounding.

Also included are two tracks dedicated to Mr. Mercury's cats-- Delilah and Bijou, and these songs couldn't be more opposite. Delilah can be compared to the Deacon-penned Misfire (from Sheer Heart Attack) or Who Needs You (from News of the World), meaning that it's a cute, catchy little "diddy" that's all pop and kitschy. Bijou, on the other hand, is a song where the guitarist performs the verses and the vocalist performs the bridge. If anybody ever denying the fact that Brian May is one of the greatest guitars of all time, play this song.

The album ends on a very, very, very hot, high, and haunting note. The Show Must Go is like the hard-rock sister song to These Are the Days of Our Lives, being one of those tracks in which Queen is almost waving goodbye to you. Once again we have Freddie going all out with his voice (probably the best he's sounded ... ever), and the emotion in the May-penned words drips out of the disc. This over-dramatic, urgent song tells the tale of Queen's entire career, mainly the work ethic Freddie put into his passion despite his failing health. It ends on a way that will send shivers up and down your spine for days.

Let it be known that Queen was on fire on this record and should have been the perfect way for the bad to go out with class.

And for years, until the abysmal "Queen + Paul Rodgers" album The Cosmos Rocks, it was.

Tracklist

Innuendo
I'm Going Slightly Mad
Headlong
I Can't Live With You
Don't Try So Hard
All God's People
These Are the Days of Our Lives
Delilah
Don't Try So Hard
The Hitman
Bijou
The Show Must Go On

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening