This year, Innuendo turns 30 years old. The record is a bittersweet one as it’s the last album Mercury recorded before his death in 1991. The album features fan favourites, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ and the tear-jerker ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ (Freddie’s last goodbye to his band-mates and loyal fans). In the simplest of senses, the album is a return to Queen’s early roots and echoes the sounds of their debut self-titled album released in 1973. Harder rock sounds and grating guitar riffs from May, especially in ‘The Hitman’ and electric rock track ‘Bijou’, mirror tracks that catapulted Queen into the public eye. The title track has one of the most complex music arrangements of the bands discography, starting with Taylor’s distinctive rolling drum beats and Deacon’s funky bass line that eventually reach opposite ends of the musical spectrum finishing in a flourish of flamenco-esque acoustic guitar. It’s no coincidence that the last album of the band mirrors the sound of the first, it seems only fitting that Freddie leaves us as he arrived, a rock god that defied the music scene and was unapologetically bold.
Check out the single ‘The Show Must Go On’ below:
