Queen – Made In Heaven: Half-speed Mastered (Vinyl 2LP)

Queen’s 15th studio album was also, tragically, their last with Freddie Mercury. Following Freddie’s death in 1991, the remaining band members – John Deacon, Roger Taylor and Brian May – spent the next four years working sporadically on a new project with the vocal recordings left behind by Freddie. It was a difficult and enormously challenging process on many levels, but when Made In Heaven emerged it quickly established itself as one of Queen’s finest and most accomplished pieces of work. The album took its title from one of Freddie’s solo songs of 1985 which the band had reworked.

Although Freddie was told by his doctors in 1989 that he might not be around long enough to finish the project he and the band were working on in that year, The Miracle album, in fact he went on to finish that LP and indeed the next project too, Innuendo, in 1991. His health and physical condition was however, by the end of the Innuendo sessions, severely compromised. Despite innumerable difficulties, Freddie remained utterly focused, determined to record more and more vocals until he could record no more. It was his wish that wherever possible, and particularly in terms of work, that things carry on as normal, and so it was that he and the band set about recording as much as they could within the time left to them. The first half of 1991 saw an unusual period of recording like no other in the band’s career, governed largely by Freddie and his failing health.

Regardless of his personal difficulties, Freddie somehow found the strength to muster some truly breathtaking vocal performances, among of the most extraordinary of his career, digging deep within himself and finding a depth and spirit like never before. He seemed to find a new dimension to his voice and poured his very soul into every note. It is impossible to believe that the magnificent voice behind songs such as “A Winter’s Tale,” “You Don’t Fool Me” and “Mother Love” could have been recorded by someone as physically weak as Freddie was by then. Though many people agree that these performances (and those on Innuendo) are not only great, but among the best and most moving of Freddie’s career.

Queen’s final two albums, Innuendo and Made In Heaven were actually formatted primarily with the CD in mind, with a longer running time, so the contents had to be edited down to fit them on to the two sides of a vinyl album. For the first time, these two albums have been cut at full length as double vinyl LPs!