The Miracle (Collector’s Edition

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The hugely prolific sessions for The Miracle began in December 1987 and stretched out to March 1989. It was to be one of the most consequential periods in Queen’s history. Fifteen months previously, on August 9, 1986, Queen’s mighty Europe Magic Tour had ended on a high, before an estimated audience of more than 160,000 at Knebworth Park in Britain. As the band left the stage that night – toasting the flagship show of their biggest tour to date – they could hardly have foreseen that Knebworth marked a line in the sand. This would be Queen’s final live show with Freddie and the first in a chain of pivotal moments that would lead towards a lengthy separation for the band. Fool that I was. I prefer. Every single alternate take. The only exception is ‘I Want It All’, which has a single and an album version to choose from anyway and my preference would be to splice them all together. (Album version intro, single middle, alternate take bonkers ending.) It would take 15 months and a radical restructuring of internal band dynamics before Queen regrouped in London’s Townhouse Studios on December 3 rd, 1987, to start work on their thirteenth studio album. For the first time, Queen would share songwriting credits equally, regardless of who conceived each song, a consensus of opinion that was to have fertile results. “Splitting the credits was a very important decision for us. We left our egos outside the studio door,” says Brian, “and worked together as a real band – something that wasn’t always the case. I wish we’d done it 15 years before.”

While Freddie could no longer tour, Queen remained a band of staggering creative resourcefulness. As John Deacon implied, they instead channelled their live chemistry into the studio: “In the first few weeks of recording we did a lot of live material, a lot of songs, some jamming, and ideas came up.” Tantalising enough that this hour-plus disc offers the first official airing of such near-mythical songs as ‘Dog With A Bone’, ‘I Guess We’re Falling Out’, ‘You Know You Belong To Me’, and the poignant ‘Face It Alone’, released as a single in October. Add to that, the trove of sunken treasure spanning from original takes and demos to rough cuts that signpost the album The Miracle would become. Includes ’The Miracle Sessions’, containing over an hour of unreleased studio recordings including six previously unheard songs – plus intimate fly-on-the-wall audio of the band at work (and play) in the studio

Among its contents, the expanded set includes The Miracle Sessions: an hour-plus disc of further previously unreleased recordings, including six unpublished songs. Just as tantalising for fans, the audio includes the band’s candid spoken exchanges on the studio floor in London and Montreux, giving the most revealing window yet into the four members’ creative process and the joy, in-jokes and banter on their return to working together. The Miracle Videos includes the five promotional music videos and bonus content on both Blu-ray and DVD formats. Brian and Roger continue to be ambassadors for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 HIV/AIDS awareness campaign and this month, March, played a second benefit concert for 46664 in Fancourt, South Africa. The Making Of The Miracle Videos (Compiled by Rudi Dolezal, this feature contains behind the scenes footage of I Want It All, Scandal, The Miracle and Breakthru videos)

Includes 'The Miracle Sessions', containing over an hour of unreleased studio recordings including six previously unheard songs – plus intimate fly-on-the-wall audio of the band at work (and play) in the studio. On the last piece of this set, the Vinyl LP: The Miracle, we are treated to the album’s supposedly long-lost original LP cut. Taken from the master tape, this grouping reinstates the song “Too Much Love Will Kill You,” as originally intended in its exact position on the original album’s side one. Queen’s original version of this beautiful song would finally emerge on Made In Heaven in 1995. Altogether, The Miracle (Collector’s Edition) is an exhaustive deep dive into a late 80s release by one of the biggest bands of all time — as they faced challenges, a new way of approaching their output and an uncertain future. Said Roger: “Decisions are made on artistic merit, so ‘Everybody wrote everything’ is the line, rather than ego or anything else getting in the way. We seem to work together better now than we did before. We’re fairly up-and-down characters. We have different tastes in many ways. We used to have lots of arguments in the studio, but this time we decided to share all the songwriting, which I think was very democratic and a good idea.” Presented here for the first time ever: When Love Breaks Up, You Know You Belong To Me, I Guess We’re Falling Out, Dog With a Bone, Water, and Face It Alone.Said Roger: “D ecisions are made on artistic merit, so ‘Everybody wrote everything’ is the line, rather than ego or anything else getting in the way. We seem to work together better now than we did before. We’re fairly up-and-down characters. We have different tastes in many ways. We used to have lots of arguments in the studio, but this time we decided to share all the songwriting, which I think was very democratic and a good idea.” Alternative Miracle (CD) has the previously available 12” versions and B-Sides. I haven’t listened to the Radio interviews yet. The DVD and BluRay discs share the same content.

No individual song credits this time, so it’s hard to evaluate the songwriting contributions of drummer Roger Taylor or bassist John Deacon, but I’ll bet that Deacon had more than a hand in the funkier moments of ‘Khashoggi’s Ship’. Meanwhile, ‘The Invisible Man’ sounds distinctly Tayloresque, with its eerie, shuffling rhythm passages and up-front bass work.The hugely prolific sessions for The Miracle began in December 1987 and stretched out to March 1989. It was to be one of the most consequential periods in Queen’s history. Fifteen months previously, on August 9, 1986, Queen’s mighty ‘ Europe Magic Tour’ had ended on a high, before an estimated audience of more than 160,000 at Knebworth Park in Britain. As the band left the stage that night – toasting the flagship show of their biggest tour to date – they could hardly have foreseen that Knebworth marked a line in the sand. This would be Queen’s final live show with Freddie Mercury and the first in a chain of pivotal moments that would lead towards a lengthy separation for the band. The Miracle as never heard before. Sourced from a master tape from March 1989, the Long Lost Cut reinstates ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ as it was originally intended, in the exact position on Side One allotted in 1989, nestled between ‘I Want It All’ and ‘The Invisible Man’. The updated LP sleeve presents the album with a gatefold cover for the first time in its history. Interviews with Roger, Brian and John on the set of the ‘Breakthru’ film shoot in June 1989, by Gavin Taylor. Queen’s writing also reflected their personal circumstances. The torn-from-the-headlines drama of ‘Scandal’ was May’s personal swipe at the press intrusion into the bandmembers’ respective personal affairs. Singled out by Deacon for praise, Freddie’s soaring album closer, ‘Was It All Worth It’, has in retrospect been interpreted as a reflection on the singer’s health. One further ingredient in the mix was David Richards, who had worked with Queen since his billing as assistant engineer on Live Killers. After further credits on A Kind of Magic and Live Magic, Richards stepped up to co-produce The Miracle, praised by May for his “whizz kid” technical prowess.