The Works

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Customer reviews

review by: Jon Oxley date: 2008-04-25 rating:
Probably Queen's best album of the 80's
At the time of release, The Works was regarded as a return to form. Listening to the album now, it's very much of its time (the subject matter of the track Machines is a wee bit dated) but the music still holds up. Highlights are, of course, the 4 singles Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, It's A Hard Life and Hammer To Fall, but Tear It Up, Keep Passing The Open Windows and Is This The World We Created? are still worthy of a listen.

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review by: JJ date: 2007-10-21 rating:
Safe ground
In late '83, Queen regrouped to salvage their reputation after the flacid Hot Space album.
Out went the white-disco and gay anthems, and back came the ROCK. After the sophisticated Radio Gaga, which has lost much of its sting in the tale though over-familiarity, Queen get hot and oily with Hammer to Fall, their first real rocker for half a decade - closely related to many of the May classics of the late 70's.
Then here comes Bohemian Rhapsody again (It's a hard life), then Crazy Little thing called Love again(Man on the prowl), Leaving Home Aint Easy again (Want to break free), We Will Rock you again (Tear it up).
'Machines' over on side 2 shows a little more originality as does 'Keep passing the open windows' - an overlooked Mercury-gem, but it's the overwhelming feeling of been there and done that which makes this album basically a rework of Greatest Hits 1 with new lyrics. Paint by numbers anyone??

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review by: paleandy date: 2006-12-08 rating:
Is this really The Works?!
This is the weakest of all the Queen albums. Even its predecessor Hot Space had fun and humour, despite its lack of commercial success. The reason why The Works fails is that time as not been kind to its sound and production. In short, It's dated badly. More importantly, Queen were not operating constructively as a unit at this point in their existence. It took a performance at Live Aid in 1985 to pull them into some sort of shape which allowed them to embark on the hugely successful Live Magic tour of 1986. It could be argued that the hit singles Radio Ga Ga and I want To Break Free featured on The Works, but overall the quality is second rate. The 80s synthesiser sounds, especially on the dreadful Machines (or Back To Humans), do little to add any depth to these songs. Freddie wanted to put Keep Passing The Open Windows on his first solo album, but the producer said it wasn't good enough. Why then is it on The Works? The only bits which sound reasonable are where Brian May's guitar is at the fore. One gets the impression that Queen were striving for a commercial sound which was in keeping with the sound of modern bands of the day. For them, it didn't work, although the 80s were not kind to other bands of the 70s (Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis anyone?). It's better to stick with the groups early albums such as the sublime Sheer Heart Attack and the inventive Queen 2.

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review by: Marvellion Reviewer date: 2006-10-30 rating:
The Best Queen Album Of the 80's
If you are new to the band Queen then this is where you should start because it offers the most classic Queen tracks (all of the singles which were released from this album).But there are no fillers, as the remaining tracks show. Aparently the concept of this album is the battle between humans and machines, this is reflected upon in the way that Queen's vocal and musical presence is in conflict with the synthesizers on the album. This gives the album a further boost to its credability

1. Radio Ga Ga - A classic pop/rock song of the eighties,complete with synthesizers and hand clapping in mind.
2. Tear it up - A impressive hard rock song from the mind and pen of Brian May.
3. Its a Hard Life - A fine slice of operatic brilliance.
4. Man on the prowl - Another fun song influenced by 50's rock and roll.
5. Machines (or back to humans) - The very song which brings out the theme of the album in a delicious cocktail of synthesizers, computer voice and mind bending guitar from Brian.
6. I want to Break Free - Another Queen classic, an incredible pop song.
7. Keep passing the open windows - A rock/ballad which has a feel good factor to it which is so typical of Freddie's writing.
8. Hammer to Fall - Another high powered rock song by Brian, a real explosion of sound.
9. Is this the world we created? - Probably the weakest song on the album, however its acoustic softness should win you over.

All in all its legendary, but it may not be legendary in terms of an album, but more so because it contains 9 great songs.





review by: date: 2006-05-07 rating:
The Hit Factory
Following the surprise flop of the more experimental funk/dance 'Hot Space' album Queen pulled out all the stops to ensure their follow-up album was stuffed full of hit singles. As such 'The Works' represents the band at their most commercial, but conversely one could argue it's also their least interesting album, with the simple direct melodic songs and clinical production a world away from the bands peak '70's period.

The album is divided fairly evenly between the hard rock guitar anthems that were all but absent on 'Hot Space' ('Tear It Up', 'Machines', 'Hammer To Fall') and commercial synth-based pop ('Radio Ga-Ga', 'It's a Hard Life', 'I Want to Break Free'), with the only two tracks that really stray from the mainstream path unfortunately sounding a little too familiar: the '50's rock and roll of 'Man On The Prowl' feels like a reheated version of 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', while acoustic ballad 'Is This The World We Created?' is a bit too reminiscent of the bands live version of 'Love Of My Life'.

Of course the album is dominated by those four massive hit singles, and while it is doubtless very unfair to criticise an album for it's success the fact is that for those already familiar with these songs there isn't a huge amount of interest left on this short album. 'The Works' did the job Queen needed it to do, and contains some fine pop songs, but ultimately to me this feels a little too sterile. It's undoubtedly still a collection of good songs (why else would I give it 4 stars?), but for me it falls someway short of being among their better albums.

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