Maps of Music

The Works (1984)

Where the lyrics of The Works take you, and where it was really made.

Queen recorded in the United States only once, at the Los Angeles Record Plant, where the album's sessions began in 1983.

Key places

Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles (1984)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — Recording at this studio was part of the August 1983 to January 1984 sessions, the band's only US recording. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Musicland Studios, Munich (1984)

Recording site Musicland Studios — Musicland Studios in Munich was the second recording location for the album alongside the Los Angeles studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Works: eleventh studio album by the British rock band Queen
• Released 20 February 1984 in the US and 27 February 1984 in the UK on EMI Records
• First Queen album released in the United States by Capitol Records
• Sold over six million copies worldwide
• Spent 94 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, the longest for a Queen studio album
• Title taken from a comment Roger Taylor made as recording began

Background

• Follows the 1982 album Hot Space, which leaned heavily on synthesisers
• Brian May and Roger Taylor's rock sound returns, while early 80s retrofuturistic electronic music stays in the mix at Mercury's request
• New York funk scenes reflect John Deacon's interest
• Band took a break in 1983; May worked with Eddie Van Halen and others on the Star Fleet Project
• Taylor and Mercury began solo albums Strange Frontier and Mr. Bad Guy
• Band reunited by August 1983 and started work on their eleventh studio album
• Manager Jim Beach offered the chance to compose the soundtrack for The Hotel New Hampshire; the soundtrack project fell through
• Only one film song, Keep Passing the Open Windows, made it onto the album

Recording

• Recorded August 1983 to January 1984 at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles and Musicland Studios in Munich
• Los Angeles was the band's only recording session in the United States
• Radio Ga Ga was chosen as the first single by November 1983

Cover

• Sleeve design by Bill Smith; photography by George Hurrell

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).
• John Deacon (bass) joined in February 1971, completing the classic line-up.
• Mercury suggested the name "Queen".
• Early works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, later expanding into arena rock and pop rock.

Members

• Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano, 1970–1991, died 1991).
• Brian May (guitar, vocals, 1970–present).
• Roger Taylor (drums, vocals, 1970–present).
• John Deacon (bass, 1971–1997, retired).
• Paul Rodgers (vocals, 2004–2009) and Adam Lambert (vocals, 2011–present) toured as "Queen +".

Career

• First UK chart hit with Queen II (1974); international success with A Night at the Opera (1975) and "Bohemian Rhapsody", which topped the UK chart for nine weeks.
• News of the World (1977) contained "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", now sports anthems.
• Greatest Hits (1981) is the best-selling album in UK chart history.
• Live Aid performance (1985) is ranked among the greatest in rock history.
• Estimated record sales of 250–300 million, one of the world's best-selling music artists.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and the Polar Music Prize in 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Parke Puterbaugh called it the band's first real album in some time and a royal feast of hard rock
• Sandy Robertson gave Sounds a three-star review and wrote that Queen had played it safe this time

Reappraisal

• Greg Prato of AllMusic wrote that the songwriting had improved over Hot Space, but the album lacked the punch of News of the World and The Game
• The album's synth-heavy sides and rock tracks were reviewed as a mix of old and new Queen sounds

Records

• Failed to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart
• Spent 94 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, the longest for a Queen studio album
• Sold over six million copies worldwide
• Lost the top spot in US sales after the band decided not to tour in North America

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title came from a comment Taylor made as recording began, and the album was started at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.
• Radio Ga Ga is credited to Taylor, since Mercury was an arranger rather than a co-writer, although Mercury reconstructed the track.
• The band chose not to tour North America after a negative reaction to the I Want to Break Free video in the US.
• Only nine songs from the sessions were used on the album, and many of the remaining ones have been released in other forms.
• Thank God It's Christmas, released as a 1984 Christmas single, was the only Christmas song Queen recorded.
• The band agreed to the film soundtrack project, but soon found much of their time going to it instead of the upcoming album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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