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Queen - Hot Space CD (album) cover

HOT SPACE

Queen

 

Prog Related

1.87 | 453 ratings

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AtomicCrimsonRush
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
1 stars Hot Space is the worst Queen studio album for many reasons that I would like to explore here. First of all every shred of prog that the band had maintained on previous albums was eradicated. That in itself is not such a bad thing but what makes this an appalling entry is that the hard rock sound and innovation of the previous releases had been replaced here with dance music. You heard it right folks. dance music. It is so disco in places you might expect John Travolta to get up on the dance floor and bust a move.

The musicianship has been widdled down to synth drums and synthetic sinuey synths. Brian May has hung up his electric axe so he can indulge in tedious kanoodling. There are wall to wall keyboards and the drumming does not have enough power to blow the fluff off a peanut.

The songs are forgettable. No, they are trust me. I cannot recall anything as soon as the album stops playing. Except one. And one song is not enough. Of course we are talking about Under Pressure. Its a masterpiece but its on every compilation and it cannot justify the rest of the album, not for a minute.

The rest of the songs are pop. Pop as far as the ears can hear and it is not even good pop; it is kitsch pop. The lyrics are boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl leaves boy, boy looks for another hobby.

There are some moments to savour such as Roger Taylor's Action this Day, a nice effort. Brian May offers Put Out the Fire, and brings us a great guitar section. And there is even a tribute to John Lennon that is nicely arranged called Life is Real.

That is about it. Overall Hot Space is anything but hot. The band opted for a new approach to the music and it didn't work. It is as simple as that. Thank Goodness they never sunk to these lows again in the recording studio.

AtomicCrimsonRush | 1/5 |

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