Init_Music: Progress Report: Queen - Hot Space (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Progress Report: Queen - Hot Space (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Reporting on sets of music as I listen to them

Following after their soundtrack experiment, Hot Space proves to be a rather large change of pace for the band as they undertake a transformation into a dance oriented band largely for the A-side of the album, incorporating funk and dance-pop into their compositions, but the band does not forget themselves either, retaining their rock roots in the B-side of the album. In terms of the success of their efforts, I feel that Hot Space's dance side is a bit uneven, although they do manage to stay true to themselves in the songs, and then considering that after that short section we return to Queen's regular style, it almost feels that the band couldn't decide to commit. As a result, Hot Space isn't entirely convincing in one way or the other, but that doesn't stop Queen from including some solid songs on it.

The album opens up with the synthesizer heavy "Staying Power", a spare funk tune that doesn't quite convince, but the synth driven funk improves on the following track, "Dancer", although I still don't think it quite reaches a particularly dance-able range. It isn't until the more groovy, R&B touched "Back Chat" that the band finds a stronger musical moment. Still, I don't think it's until the band reaches the more dance-pop oriented "Action This Day" that they are able to really take advantage of their own strengths and place them into a dance context with its backing vocal fueled choruses.

And I think that track also signals a change back towards a more traditional sound for the band. That said, the traditional sound isn't entirely as strong as their better works as well, although "Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)" has a good callback to their sound and "Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love)" kind of recalls "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)". However, in some ways it sounds like the band is trying too hard to channel their past music as well.

Interestingly enough, I feel the final two tracks represent the strongest songs on the entire album. The surprisingly successful disco slow jam "Cool Cat" is the most convincing cross genre attempt for Queen on Hot Space, drawing inspiration from the Bee Gees' turn at disco. And then there's their big hit from this album, their collaboration with David Bowie, "Under Pressure", which also represents a change of pace for the band as the collision of styles results in a fantastic record.

All in all, Hot Space doesn't quite hold together as well as their other albums, in part because the band's lack of focus leads to an inconsistent tone throughout the album and the backpedal to comfortable sounds mostly doesn't sound fresh. However, the songs on Hot Space aren't bad. This is especially demonstrated by the live performances of their songs, available on the bonus EP, which gain a lot of liveliness via the energetic rock arrangements. 7/10.

The bonus EP contains a trio of live tracks which prove that Hot Space's songs are actually pretty good in performance, especially when rock driven and so they are a solid complement to the album. It also contains the B-Side, "Soul Brother", which is a pretty solid Queen track, as good as most of the tracks on the album.

Tracklist:

Disc 1: