Originally published by L.S. Media. September 5th 2011.

Queen’s final studio album whilst Freddie Mercury was alive was the eccentric and adorable Innuendo. It may have been an open secret that would not be finally acknowledged publicly until the November of 1991, but Freddie’s daily battle with A.I. D.S was having a tremendous effect on his ability to perform and it is credit and testement to the measure of the man that no matter how desperately ill he must have felt during the last years of his life, he turned in a set of performances on the album that was the epitome of a long and illustrious career.

Innuendo opens in grandiose style with the title track of the album. A departure for the band in its length as a single coming in at a hefty six and a half minutes, a full 35 seconds longer than the band’s celebrated world-wide hit Bohemian Rhapsody. Like the final song on the album, The Show Must Go On, Queen fans identify with this song, its mixture of the old school Queen vibe and lyrics that demand to be heard, if only to try and make sense of what Freddie was thinking and how his illness affected him and the band, made Queen fans old and new listen with a new sense of belonging to band that could combine operatic feel with disturbing imagery with ease.

As if to cement the brilliance of the song, the British public took the Innuendo single to their hearts and gave the group their first number one hit in a decade. Not since the days of the collaboration with David Bowie on the song Under Pressure had the band enjoyed such momentous appreciation.

The album can be seen as a final testament to the vocalist’s life and works, every corner of every lyric poured over with such scrutiny, no more so on two of the best songs recorded in the bands later years. The infectious and unsettling I’m Going Slightly Mad and the soul destroying but affirmation of a life in These Are the Days of our Lives.

These are the days…especially show the how the band worked so well together even though on the video it can be plainly seen how ill Freddie had become, gone was the suave and excitable Freddie of the seventies, in his place was a man nearing the end, the band knew it, the public would know eventually. The music is exquisite and innocent and yet one of the most effortless ever created by the band. It deserves to be counted as one the finest songs ever created by the band and one of the finest songs ever recorded.

If Innuendo was to be the final album with the band’s iconic singer able to give his all before succumbing to illness then really as far as Queen recording’s go, there could not have been a better album to bow out on. The songs would remain; the memories will forever linger on what had been and what could have been achieved but as the final song of the album reiterates The Show Must Go On!

Ian D. Hall