Track Listing

1. Radio Ga Ga
2. Tear It Up
3. It's A Hard Life
4. Man On The Prowl
5. Machines (Or Back To Humans)
6. I Want To Break Free
7. Keep Passing The Open Windows
8. Hammer To Fall
9. Is This The World We Created

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1640 in Music
• Released on: 1994-02-07
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Probably Queen's best album of the 80's
At the time of release, The Works was regarded as a return to form. Listening to the album now, it's very much of its time (the subject matter of the track Machines is a wee bit dated) but the music still holds up. Highlights are, of course, the 4 singles Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, It's A Hard Life and Hammer To Fall, but Tear It Up, Keep Passing The Open Windows and Is This The World We Created? are still worthy of a listen.

Safe ground
In late '83, Queen regrouped to salvage their reputation after the flacid Hot Space album.
Out went the white-disco and gay anthems, and back came the ROCK. After the sophisticated Radio Gaga, which has lost much of its sting in the tale though over-familiarity, Queen get hot and oily with Hammer to Fall, their first real rocker for half a decade - closely related to many of the May classics of the late 70's.
Then here comes Bohemian Rhapsody again (It's a hard life), then Crazy Little thing called Love again(Man on the prowl), Leaving Home Aint Easy again (Want to break free), We Will Rock you again (Tear it up).
'Machines' over on side 2 shows a little more originality as does 'Keep passing the open windows' - an overlooked Mercury-gem, but it's the overwhelming feeling of been there and done that which makes this album basically a rework of Greatest Hits 1 with new lyrics. Paint by numbers anyone??

Is this really The Works?!
This is the weakest of all the Queen albums. Even its predecessor Hot Space had fun and humour, despite its lack of commercial success. The reason why The Works fails is that time as not been kind to its sound and production. In short, It's dated badly. More importantly, Queen were not operating constructively as a unit at this point in their existence. It took a performance at Live Aid in 1985 to pull them into some sort of shape which allowed them to embark on the hugely successful Live Magic tour of 1986. It could be argued that the hit singles Radio Ga Ga and I want To Break Free featured on The Works, but overall the quality is second rate. The 80s synthesiser sounds, especially on the dreadful Machines (or Back To Humans), do little to add any depth to these songs. Freddie wanted to put Keep Passing The Open Windows on his first solo album, but the producer said it wasn't good enough. Why then is it on The Works? The only bits which sound reasonable are where Brian May's guitar is at the fore. One gets the impression that Queen were striving for a commercial sound which was in keeping with the sound of modern bands of the day. For them, it didn't work, although the 80s were not kind to other bands of the 70s (Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis anyone?). It's better to stick with the groups early albums such as the sublime Sheer Heart Attack and the inventive Queen 2.