For many fans, especially in the U.S. ‘Hot Space’ was the final straw, believing Queen had truly lost their minds and yet the album shouldn’t have come as a big surprise.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Queen
ALBUM: Hot Space
LABEL: EMI (UK), Elektra (USA)
SERIAL: EMA 797, E1-60128
YEAR: 1982
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano, synth bass, synthesizer * Brian May – guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals, piano, synth bass * John Deacon – bass, synthesizer, rhythm guitar * Roger Taylor – drums, drum computer, lead vocals, backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards
Additional Musician: David Bowie- lead vocals, keyboards, percussion
TRACK LISTING: 01 Staying Power * 02 Dancer * 03 Back Chat * 04 Body Language * 05 Action This Day * 06 Put Out The Fire * 07 Life Is Real (Song For Lennon) * 08 Calling All Girls * 09 La Palabras de Amor (The Words Of Love) * 10 Cool Cat * 11 Under Pressure
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
For many fans, especially in the U.S. ‘Hot Space’ was the final straw, believing Queen had truly lost their minds and yet the album shouldn’t have come as a big surprise.
Queen was always testing the waters, experimenting and staying ahead of game. In fact it was the previous album ‘The Game’ that gave the band that funky – love it or hate it – number one hit ‘Another One Bites The Dust’.
Written by John Deacon, it was the quiet bass player and Freddie Mercury that pushed for the dance grooves on ‘Hot Space’ capitalizing on the earlier blockbuster disco crossover while Brian May and Roger Taylor went along for the ride although not entirely convinced it was the direction Queen should follow.
In hindsight May and Taylor were right as the record alienated a lot of Queen’s hard rock fan base, which in North America never fully returned.
The Songs
I personally remember absolutely hating this record when I first heard it, but over the years I’ve warmed to its colourful music and despite some obvious failures here and there, it’s really not that bad.
Of course ‘Staying Power’, the disco R&B of ‘Dancer’ which by the way is one of the worst songs ever written by Brian May who should have known better, ‘Back Chat’ and the hyper-sexual ‘Body Language’ are not what your average Queen fan would choose as some of the band’s best work, but it’s on side two where Queen actually sounds like Queen.
‘Put Out The Fire’ is a splendid return to hard rock form and ‘Life Is Real (Song for Lennon)’ is an inspiring and heartfelt tribute to the slain Beatle at a time when the wounds were still fresh in everyone’s mind.
‘Calling All Girls’ is a tasty slice of period Synthpop that should have given upstarts A Flock Of Seagulls and Human League a run for their money while Brian May’s South American directed ‘Las Palabras de Amor (The Words Of Love)’ has quality written all over it.
All of this brings us to the falsetto hell of ‘Cool Cat’ which I wish I never heard and the band’s collaboration with David Bowie ‘Under Pressure’. Never been a big fan of the song, a little too close to ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ for my tastes and the annoying Vanilla Ice sampling the bass line for ‘Ice Ice Baby’ only made me dislike the song even more.
In Summary
Queen toured America in support of ‘Hot Space’ and I had a chance to see one of the early dates in Philadelphia with Billy Squier as support. Needless to say Queen was in top form, but not surprisingly the material performed from ‘Hot Space’ received a noticeably subdued reaction.
No one knew then that it would be the band’s last North American tour, but ‘Hot Space’ did irreparable damage to Queen in the States and the focus turned to Europe and with ‘Live Aid’ just around the corner, wisely picked up the slack and turned Queen once again into a rock powerhouse. Our loss.
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