Product Description

Not a posthumous collection of odds and ends but an album actually recorded in the final months of Freddie Mercury's struggle with AIDS, MADE IN HEAVEN is full-force Queen. Their dynamic theatrics charge the album, as Mercury's unrivaled voice and the band's grand production aesthetic resound clearer than ever before.
MADE IN HEAVEN captures all the explosiveness that made Queen one of the most magical big-rock bands of the '70s and '80s. Mercury's powerful voice soars toheights that mere pop singers simply aren't able to grasp. On "It's A Beautiful Day", and particularly on the song's refrain, his regal vocal prowess reminds the listener that this is a man who could sing opera but still rock harder than most heavy metal screamers. The rest of the band is equally brutal in its precision: Brian May's sophisticated guitar work, and the eloquent, sympathetic rhythm section of bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor make this collection of rock music a moving affair.
Throughout their career, Queen beckoned the acceptance of a broader range of pop-rock. Mercury's vocals soared beyond the rock idiom, and May's dignified guitar arrangements may never be equaled. Freddie Mercury will be forever missed, but the unrestrained beauty of MADE IN HEAVEN captures him in a loving portrait.

Track Listing

1. It's A Beautiful Day
2. Made In Heaven
3. Let Me Live
4. Mother Love
5. My Life Has Been Saved
6. I Was Born To Love You
7. Heaven For Everyone
8. Too Much Love Will Kill You
9. You Don't Fool Me
10. Winter's Tale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3354 in Music
• Released on: 1995-11-06
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Faintly superfluous, given the magnificent finality of its precedessor, Innuendo, which managed, against all odds, to cap the Queen story with their most accomplished album since 1977's News Of The World. But after the death of Freddie Mercury in November 1991, the band were reportedly left with a number of unreleased demos--among then, a number of Mercury vocal tracks--and resolved to complete them, and make the results available to fans. Was it a case of a band seeking to cash-in one last time? Or trying, instead, to work through their grief, the only way they knew how? Opinions were mixed--but the result ("Dedicated to the immortal spirit of Freddie Mercury") was undeniably an anti-climax. Comprising tracks both old ("I Was Born To Love You," dusted-off from Mercury's 1985 solo album; the rather tactless "Too Much Love Will Kill You" from May's Back To The Light) and new, the sense of barrel-scraping was inescapable. One for completists only. --Andrew McGuire

Customer Reviews

Heaven Sent
It is no secret the significance of Made In Heaven for Queen fans. The poignancy of the title, artwork and music of this album creates a powerful peice of work for the Queen fans. And undoubtedly without these circumstances the album would not have been as significant.
But at the same time, the amount talked about 'an album from beyond the grave', occasionally detracts from an album that features several of Queen's finest peices of music.

For those who enjoyed glamrock see earlier Queen work (1970's) for Queen as rockers (1980's), but while this album isn't necessarily classic Queen, it was yet another different style, in fitting with the release period.

Too Much Love Will Kill You is a ballad that sits with the best love songs of all time. Making the most of the power and range of Freddie's vocals, it is very much a 90's love song. Heaven For Everyone and Let Me Live feature great harmonies, and there are some quite emotive and scenic music in A Winter's Tale and Its A Beautiful Day.

For a Queen fan I would suggest buying it. While it is a different sound for a different period, it still maintains Freddies amazing vocals, great guitar riffs and great drum work.
For everyone else it is a good album, with four or five very nice tracks. But if you own the Platinum Trilogy then you probably have those tracks on Greatest Hits III.

The last word
Following the completion of the final Queen album `Innuendo' the band almost immediately set about recording a follow-up but sadly Freddie Mercury died with very little material completed, leaving the band with the unenviable position of piecing together `Made in Heaven' from whatever bits and pieces they could find. As such `Made in Heaven' is inevitably a bit of an uneven collection, and though worth it for the Queen completists this album is nowhere near the quality of `Innuendo'.

Probably the most questionable aspect of this release was the bands decision to revisit previously released material with fully half of the album consisting of new versions of old songs, and one's enjoyment of this album will undoubtedly be coloured by how familiar one is with these tracks - if you come to this album with no previous knowledge of these songs then you can instantly add another star to the rating. Of the reworked songs two are from Freddie's solo album `Mr Bad Guy' (`Made in Heaven' and `I Was Born to Love You') and are essentially an exercise in karaoke in reverse, with the band playing along with Freddie's old vocals, and slightly altering the arrangements - this results in more rock orientated versions, but they're not really improvements on the originals, just slightly different versions. `Too Much Love Will Kill You' was previously a solo hit for Brian May, but here we have an older version with Freddie on lead vocals, but while it's undoubtedly poignant to hear him sing this song in truth it's probably better suited to Brian's voice. `Heaven For Everyone' has been lifted off of Roger Taylor's side-project album from `The Cross' but has so little altered it feels like a slightly pointless exercise while `My Life Has Been Saved' had previously been released in different form as a B-Side on the single `Scandal'. Again, none of these tracks are bad, but if you are already familiar with them then inevitably they will be slightly disappointing to hear instead of new tracks.

Two tracks have been rescued from unreleased obscurity in the Queen archives, but though `It's A Beautiful Day' is a pleasant enough tune doubling it up to bookend the album can't help but disguise the fact that it is a tiny snapshot of a piece Freddie was working on rather than a complete song. Much better, and probably the highlight of the album is the fantastic `Let Me Live', a gospel song with Roger and Brian contributing additional lead vocals to complete the song.

The only 3 songs here that actually originate from after `Innuendo' are `You Don't Fool Me', `A Winter's Tale' and `Mother Love'. `You Don't Fool Me' is a catchy repetitious funk/dance track, though it does feel a little out of place in the tone of the album, feeling more in the vein of the bands `Hot Space'-period style. `A Winter's Tale' is a pleasant song with some interesting music and a great guitar solo, though the Xmas single style lyrics may be a little too saccharine for some. Finally `Mother Love' is a very moody piece which seems to see Freddie facing head on his imminent death (indeed he died before he could record the final verse for the track), a very bleak but moving track. There's also an unexpected bonus with the 20-minute untitled ambient piece at the end of the album which works surprisingly well.

With the death of Freddie this record turned from being a Queen album into a Freddie Mercury tribute album, which is entirely understandable, but personally I could have done with a little less of the reworked material and heavy handed production tricks (Freddie's trip back through time to end as a baby at the end of `Mother Love' for example) for some new tracks with vocals by Brian and Roger, but obviously this was a difficult endeavour for all involved. Ultimately a slightly uneven collection of old and new material, `Made in Heaven' is nevertheless a worthwhile coda to a great bands career.

Amazing: the will to live and say goobye........
Made in Heaven is the last collection of songs recorded by a very ill Freddie Mercury. It is his musical testament and the result of his will to sing out for his fans and life.

It is certain that it is not as good as INNUENDO, but one has to consider how he was determined to carry on and finish this album only months before his dead. For me the best songs are: Mother Love, Heaven for Everyone and Too much love will kill you.....

This cd mix two feelings: the will to live and the acceptance of our mortality and a promise of a new life (you can feel this with the inclusion of the bonus track.....).