INNUENDO

Innuendo is one of the masterworks by the Queen and to me, the best album since the 1980's The Game. It is marked by a great level of professionalism, some degree of urgency and anxiety well understandable from the context and its era. Despite only two years after the "Miracle", the band penned enough material to fill 54 minutes. Mercury had hard time recording but mastered it exceptionally. Compositions are very solid, occasionally adventurous ("Innuendo", "All god's people" and "Bijou"); there's one filler only ("Delilah"). Guitar is more dominant than ever since Queen started using synthesizer. May really tries hard to fill space with powerful riffing or melodic soloing. Both May and Taylor have updated their sound to the late 80's hard rock wrapper with the 70's rock in the core. Taylor provides versatile drumming from the fast "Ride the wild wind" to the masterful "Innuendo" with effective fills.

The title track goes back to the indulgent mid 70's days of Bohemian Rhapsody it only is heavier and more dramatic with ominous vocals and riffing. The classical guitar by Howe brings temporarily relief from the doom but then May repeats the solo on his guitar in a heavy metal atmosphere. The transition from the heavy/speed metal solo to the ultra heavy hard rock is fantastic mainly thanks to the Taylor's inventive slow down.

"I'm going slightly mad" offers the trademark vocal harmony in the verse section. Noteworthy is the deliberately sloppy "wow" guitar solo with great finishing melody.

"Headlong" is the second hard-rock contribution and the first traditional one. It retains the groovy rock'n'roll feeling with a typical Mayesque rolling solo.

"I can't live without you" is a surprising title for another hard-rock song or let's say a rock song with a heavy riff. Drumming and riffing accentuate the heaviness. To some extent, the spirit, eccentricity and nod to the late 80's hard-rock reminds me of "Walk this way".

"Don't try so hard" is a super-emotional ballad with inspirational lyrics, Mercury reaching the maximum height with his effective vocals and instrumental intermezzo a bit reminiscent of "Who wants to live forever". "Ride the wild wind" has a peculiar speed rhythm, a good 70's Moog-like motive and is Taylor's baby.

Then we come to the gospel inspired "All god's people" which isn't a masterpiece as such but proves how versatile could Queen get. The composition starts abruptly at full speed with a powerful vocal and indulgent guitar which, in this song, gets a bit too noisy. We also get to hear some blues and boogie moments to come back to the gospel part. The song doesn't have a fix structure and repetitions which increase its value.

The best known ballad on this album "These are the days of our lives" may be a philosophical piece but its melodic and poignant solo isn't.

The filler "Delilah" could be considered silly and yet it demonstrates Mercury's strength in such a situation. Note the creative and playful staccato solo on the guitar.

"Hitman" is a derivative but last hard rock number on the album. Nowhere else has May so much space for his guitar which he uses amply until the steam runs out at the end.

"Bijou" is May's masterpiece on subdued colourful guitar - you ask yourself is the guitar or the vocals feel more heart-broken. This is a tranquil moment before the eruption on the final "The show must go on". There are many superlatives to this song - brilliant songwriting, composition development, sense of drama. May provides one of his trademark solo. Mercury proves why even at this age, he was one of the best singers in rock. The echo ending in the song is ingenious and you feel both moved and energized to carry on the message and legacy of Queen.

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