THE WORKS

Not a good Queen album by any stretch of the imagination, "The Works" is a product of the dreaded 80s, and sounds like the saccharine synth soaked manufactured pop that churned out of the music industry. The music was chewed up and regurgitated by radio airwaves, and remains the sound of the 80s undoubtedly. 'Radio Ga Ga' is one of the main culprits complete with handclaps that crowds loved to emulate in live performances.

'It's a Hard Life' continues the harmonies and strong melodies till we get to 'Man on the Prowl' and throwaway 'Machines (Back to Humans)' with synths to the wall and Mercury as the robotic debonair capitaine. It gets unbearable with radio stalwart 'I Want to Break Free' that admittedly is infectious and clever but Mercury admits his preferences all too blatantly especially in the over produced over played videoclip. The musicianship disappears to make way for multi tracked mixing and lots of processed vocals.

'Hammer to Fall' rocks out for a while reminding us of how capable the band could play but it is all too late. This is a very outdated album and vanished in the stale onslaught of other radio friendly tripe. Not really worth the effort and not a shred of prog to be found.

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