Customer Reviews

Hot Space

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

It's quite funny, this album took me by surprise. I got this album and "The Works" a week ago to add to my collection. I had heard a lot of negative stuff about this album, but my ears proved me wrong. I loved it! (Not my favorite Queen CD by any means, just good). "Staying Power" is totally cool and catchy, very funky, as is "Dancer," which features some vintage Brian May guitar work. These are two of my favorites off the album. "Back Chat" is also quite good, the chord progression is kinda reminicent of "House of the Rising Sun." "Body Language," could be the worst song on the album, not necessarily bad, but not as good as the others. "Action This Day" is a great, upbeat song with a nice beat. "Put Out The Fire" is vintage Brian May. Another great song on the album is the amazing tribute to my musical idol, John Lennon, "Life Is Real." It's a very Lennon-esque tune, which makes it all the more a better tribute. "Calling All Girls" sends a nice positive message, "Las Palabras de Amor" is a great ballad. Then Freddie Mercury delivers an amazing vocal performance with the reggae "Cool Cat." Then comes the big finish, the classic off this album, "Under Pressure" with David Bowie dueting with Freddie.

So now, take my advice, go and give this album another listen. This album is not for new Queen fans, do not make this your first album. However, it is perfect for all the staunch Queen fans out there, like myself. After all, how bad can it be, it's Queen, all the elements that make Queen Queen are all in there. So please, diehard fans, go and give this album another listen, you will not be disappointed.

Queen were the first "non -Beatles" band I got into in the early 1980s, and when I first heard Hot Space I didn't hate it. It just struck me as noticeably "funkier" than their 1970s work and more synth heavy. From my perception living in Scotland in the 1980s Queen were decidedly unfashionable in an era where kids listened to bands like Iron Maiden, U2, The Smiths and Simple Minds to acquire credibility among their peers. I myself just listened to whatever I liked, as not really belonging to any group, peer pressure meant nothing to me. So judging from the point of view of a fan, not as knee jerk detractor, I liked it...sort of.

I distinctly remember thinking at the time that if you didn't know much about Queen and compared Queen II to Hot Space you might have a hard time beleiving this was the same band, both musically and physically. Queen II is grandiose, overblown and theatrical, very much as the royal connotation suggests. Hot Space sometimes sounds like The Human League, saving Mercury's voice and occasional bursts of heavy guitar and guitar solos.

But I don't believe Hot Space is a bad album, just the wrong experiment at the wrong time, In 1982 disco was already waning, and it made Queen seem passé for the time. And popular music is very much an area where people want to be associated with something cool. (Music doesn't have to be "new" by the way, just cool!) And for many fans Hot Space was simply *too* different from their established signature sound. I myself think that there are some good melodies and hooks in the album. The production is good enough and there are some fine moments from Mercury and May. And the funky stuff is largely one Side 1 (hey the old vinyl LP's still have an grip on me) Side 2 has a few songs that wouldn't sound out of place on earlier Queen records, for example the heavy Put Out The Fire and the plaintiff Mercury ballad Life Is Real, a tribute to John Lennon.

Overall I think that this album isn't as bad as people say (or pretend) it is, yet I can't say that it's Queen's best work either. I should also say that I think there are *loads* of albums by other bands that get slammed mainly because they are in a different style, so it's not like Hot Space is a unique phenomena either. It's not the first album by Queen anyone should buy IMO, but I don't think you should turn your nose up at it just because "some others do"

I didn't care for it when I first picked it up several years ago. But I've come to appreciate it as a unique part of Queen's catalogue and a fun album of cool funk & dance with signature Queen flavors. "Cool Cat" puts me in a great mood and is probably my favorite track, other than the amazing duet with Bowie, "Under Pressure." Other highlights are the cheesy but enjoyable "Back Chat" "Put Out The Fire," and the beautiful "Las Palabras de Amor." Regardless of what critics might say, this is hardly the low point of Queen's career. It's not The Game Part 2 or Night At The Opera Part 2, because that's not what Queen set out to do. It's just a good 80s dance/pop record.

Hot Space may sound different from the other Queen albums. But listening to it without any prejudice it will give you a good deal of disco-funk-dance music. I love it although I'm a deep Queen fan, what makes me suspicious, I know. Very good soul (cool cat), rock (put out the fire) etc. Listen to it and make up your OWN mind.

When Hot Space was released in 1982, the disco/dance/funk shouldn't have shocked everybody. Their previous two albums flirted with a dance groove, with "Fun It" on 1978's Jazz, and "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Dragon Attack" on 1980's The Game. I don't understand people who say they don't like this album, deriding it by calling it "Queen's disco album." Dance music emphasizes rhythm over melody. What Queen were attempting with Hot Space, and succeed to a degree, is to combine their perchant for interesting melodies with a nice dancable beat. The interesting bands will always evolve in one way or another. When they don't, they lose relevance and are not at all interesting. The fact is, Queen were one of the most interesting bands in their time. Hot Space fits the transition into the 80's perfectly. The common understanding with Queen fans is that these songs sounded much better live (and they were definitely heavier, judging from the surviving tapes from the Hot Space tour). I would like to say that these songs stand on their own on this album. I can't wait to see the videos in the upcoming dvd release.

This is the Japanese import and it sounds very nice.

When Hot Space came out, all we Queen fans just hung our heads in shame. This album was one of the chief causes of Queen's declining popularity in the U.S. When I updated my collection from tape to CD this was the last one I bought and only because I felt I needed the complete works. Then I forced myself to relisten and suprise suprise there are some pretty good cuts on this one. Put Out the Fire and Action This Day are hard driving Queen songs of the first order. Los Pelabras De Amor harkens back to Teo Torriate with its use of a foreign language to give a generic love song an extra side to it. Of course it has Under Pressure. Having said that Hot Space does have some of the worst songs Queen ever recorded. Dancer, Back Chat and Calling All Girls make me cringe. Queen always experimented with different sounds and styles, but those tracks fall on their faces with a resounding crash. If you're looking to buy your first Queen album stay away from this one until after you've explored Queen II, a Night at the Opera, News of the World and the rest. Otherwise you might end up wondering why these guys were ever popular.

This is the only Queen that I cannot stand to listen to from beginning to end. (Ok Flash Gordon is worse, but I don't count it as a real Queen album). It sounds like they let the success of "Another one Bites the Dust" go to their head, then drenched it in synth-pop. Luckly songs like "Put out the Fire", and "Under Pressure" save this album from just being bad.

Unlike most people, I don't think this was Queen's poorest effort at music. They, like other musicians, were influenced by the culture and other music of the time. Those of you who don't like disco will not like this album, for a good portion of the songs are disco, e.g. "Staying Power," "Cool Cat," "Dancer," and so on. This album is Queen work at its finest, even for the 1980s. For anyone who has enjoyed other albums, this album is definitely one to try (unless you don't like disco...then stay away).

Queen's eleventh album (twelfth overall) entitled Hot Space was released in May of 1982.
After the success of the 1980 chart-topper The Game, Queen took some time following their 1980/81 tour to record a new album.
Lead singer Freddie Mercury, bass player John Deacon, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor along with Game co-producer and engineer Mack went into the studio at the end of 1981 and recorded The Game's proper follow-up not counting the Flash Gordon soundtrack and Greatest Hits album.
When fans first put on Hot Space, they were expecting a typical Queen album but a good portion (the first side of the original vinyl and cassette issues at least) was dance music pure and simple.
The opening track "Staying Power" is a funky Mercury composition which may be seen as bad stale disco as disco was two years out of date by then but when performed live, the song was transformed into a rocker. Next is Brian's rocker "Dancer" which combined synth and regular drums and a synth-bass skin to Foreigner's Juke Box Hero and a killer May riff and superb May solos. Next was John's funk number "Back Chat" which is my favorite song on the album's first half and would be a concert staple which was transformed into a rocker live. Next was the Mercury composition "Body Language" which was the album's biggest hit in the US hitting #11 and had its video banned from MTV for being too risque (I think it was a great clip and was tame compared to lousy, filth-drenched videos that hacks like Madonna, Britney, Christina, Beyonce, The Pussycat Dolls and Rihanna and such made). Roger's New Wave sounding rocker "Action This Day" ended the first half and was a great song but would be better live.
The album's second half was typical Queen tracks starting with Brian's rocker "Put Out the Fire" which is a great number. Freddie's ballad written for John Lennon, the Beatlesque "Life is Real" follows and is a great song. Roger follows with the minor US hit "Calling All Girls" which is a great song though many hate it. We follow with Brian's UK Top 30 ballad "Las Palabras De Amor (The Words of Love)" which is a beautiful song and my favorite on the album's second side. Next is the Mercury/Deacon ballad "Cool Cat" which Freddie sang entirely in falsetto. We end with the classic duet with David Bowie called "Under Pressure" which hit #27 in the US and #1 in the UK and was a great song which first appeared on the band's US and Canadian versions of Queen's Greatest Hits album in November of 1981.
However, many fans (or poseur fans I call them) hated Hot Space's sound change and Hot Space peaked at a dismal #27 in the US and stalled at Gold which was a MAJOR FLOP compared to The Game's four million in US sales and #1 US peak.
Sales notwithstanding, this album is a great album and the band had a right to change its sound and experiment (that is why bands like Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis and Iron Maiden succeeded with changing styles and sounds over the years). If they stuck with AC/DC formula (not there is anything wrong with AC/DC), they would have become stale!
Recommended!

THE MUSIC CONTAINED IN IT MATCH THE AWESOME COVER GRAPHICS AND TITLE PERFECTLY! JUST HAVING STAYING POWER ON THIS ALBUM IS ENOUGH TO GIVE IT 5 STARS! STAYING POWER IS ONE OF THE BEST SONGS QUEEN HAD EVER DONE! BUY IT AND LET'S GET DOWN AND GO-GO!