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Jumping back into the rock after the synth/dance heavy “Hot Space”, Episode 53 covers Queen’s eleventh studio album, 1984’s “The Works.” Mark, Kevin, Alex, and Chris take you on a historical journey surrounding the album as well as share our favorites and not-so favorites from the record. We go on a deep dive track-by-track listen of this album as well as share personal stories of discovering Queen’s tenth studio album “The Works.”
Subscribe, Rate, and Review:
Quick Reviews
Mark A lean album, however, one song in particular really drags this album down for me. Feels a bit too early 80s instead of mid 80s.
Chris Just wish they would have tightened it up a little bit like on the earlier records. For the most part, a lot of great moments on here still.
Alex Happy more of the rock is back and appreciate a 9 song album. Short and sweet.
Kevin A few standout tracks, a few tracks I’ve heard before, a couple hidden gems and some head-scratching moments. They gave us the works.
Love It or Flush It
| M | C | A | K | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Radio Ga Ga" | 5:48 | T | L | L | L | |
| 2 | "Tear It Up" | 3:28 | L | L | F | L | |
| 3 | "It's a Hard Life" | 4:08 | F | F | F | F | |
| 4 | "Man on the Prowl" | 3:28 | L | T | T | T | |
| 5 | "Machines (or 'Back to Humans')" | 5:10 | B | B | L | B | |
| 6 | "I Want to Break Free" | 3:20 | L | L | L | L | |
| 7 | "Keep Passing the Open Windows" | 5:21 | L | L | L | L | |
| 8 | "Hammer to Fall" | 4:28 | L | B | B | B | |
| 9 | "Is This the World We Created...?" | 2:13 | F | F | L | F |
Love It or Flush It Legend
L = Love. As many as you like.
F = Flush. Must flush at least one track per album.
B = Buy. Purchased for the ultimate LTS “Best Of” playlist for each of us. One per album.
T = Terminate. Should have never even existed. One per album.
The Rules
Each of us must Love, Flush, Buy, and Terminate AT LEAST ONE track on an album, no matter how great or terrible the album is. Whoever wins the “7 for the Buy” section gets an extra Buy or Terminate to use on the album. Because Chris hosts this section and thus cannot win, he gets an extra Buy or Terminate every 4 albums.
Album Information
The Works is the eleventh studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 27 February 1984 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and it is the band’s first studio album to be released by Capitol Records in the United States. After the synth-heavy Hot Space (1982), the album saw the re-emergence of Brian May and Roger Taylor‘s rock sound, while still incorporating the early 80s retro futuristic electronic music (Freddie Mercury) and New York funk scenes (John Deacon). Recorded at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California and Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany from August 1983 to January 1984, the album’s title comes from a comment Taylor made as recording began – “Let’s give them the works!”.
During the decade, after a negative reaction against and ban of the music video for “I Want to Break Free” in the United States,[3] the band decided not to tour in North America and lost the top spot in US sales, but sales around the world (especially Europe) would be even better. Despite failing to reach #1, it spent 94 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, the longest for a Queen studio album. The Works has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.
