Queen – Made In Heaven

How did they manage to put 70 mins of music on a single record? I don't know, but the results are great. This vinyl sounds wonderful and powerful.

After the passing of Freddie Mercury, the surviving members of Queen have carried on in some capacity with making music, at least until John Deacon retired by the end of the 90s. As the sessions for the ‘Innuendo’ came to an end, Queen continued to record new music throughout 1991 as Mercury was not going to survive the year. The remnants of these recording sessions, along with outtakes over a period of 15 years were building blocks of what became ‘Made in Heaven’, released close to the four year anniversary of Freddie’s death. As one might imagine, an LP made up of outtakes, older solo material that had been repurposed as parts of a band project and the last activity of a dying man doesn’t necessarily produce classic material but ‘Made in Heaven’ holds up in parts. It’s definitely more of a Queen album than anything the surviving members (May and Taylor) have done since (with Paul Rodgers or Adam Lambert). There is some stunning work on here including the opening track “It’s a Beautiful Day”, “Made in Heaven” and “Let Me Live” which are probably my three favorite songs on the LP. “I Was Born to Love You”, a former Freddie solo song and “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, from a solo album by Brian May have also been redone here as Queen songs and while I don’t know the originals, I’m sure these versions are better. The CD version includes two bonus songs after the “It’s a Beautiful Day” reprise; three seconds of ‘Yeah’ and a 23 minute instrumental which is nothing more than soft electronic ambiance music with brief snippets of Freddie’s voice heard throughout (called ‘13’ I guess). Whether these were needed or not to strengthen the final product is certainly debatable. I won’t give this much higher than 3.5 stars as it isn’t much better than much of their 80s output but it is a worthy conclusion to a legendary career. This world could be free, this world could be fun…

I finally got around to listening to this album for the first time in my life. I'd describe it as a mature Queen. They did a great job piecing it all together from random hodge podges of songs over the years to make it seem like a complete record. Very clean sounding album. Wonder why they added a very quiet 22 minute ambient track called 13? Could it be to sound like a closure cut finishing Queens original band career and signifying Freddie's death? I think so.

I have this version. Willing to sell.
Plz PM for offer.

Got this back when it came out and some copies came with the same three posters. Luckily the fan club let fans send them in for swaps. So if you ever see an unopened one keep that in mind.

I really love this album and this specific pressing.
This album has been recorded in the best possible conditions at its time.
This pressing presents a fantastic experience for this particular album.
You can test any system with A2 Track - Made In Heaven. It punches you in the face.

Amazing release. I didn't experience any distortion.
the listening is quiet and dynamic
honestly an amazing sound far better than the cd..
And what a pleasure to handle and to touch this release.
everything is very well done.
A true Jewel.

Compared to the CD the cover and the posters are a treat. But this white vinyl is the weirdest pressing I ever had. When you place the needle at the usual start position nothing happens ! Cause the groove starts ca. 4mm from the edge !!! The music begins 8 mm from the edge. The pressing has some crackles and - as already mentioned - suffers a lot from inner groove distortion. For listening to this album the cd is far superior.

I have purchased two copies of this sealed. In both cases, side one plays flawlessly. Side two on both copies plays really slow and consistently changes speeds. I've played numerous cassettes on my walkman without issue. Is there something wrong with the cassette? Not sure if it matters, but side 2 is considerably longer than side one.

In track "Mother Love" the last part (starting from 3:40) is performed by some other vocalist.