Hot Space
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Hot Space is a rock album by English band Queen, originally released in 1982. The album marked a notable shift in direction from Queen's earlier work, as it featured heavy disco and dance music influences. This made it unpopular with many fans who preferred the straight rock style they had come to associate with Queen, though the album did fit in with the Queen tradition of incorporating many influences into their music.
Track listing
Side 1- "Staying Power" (Mercury) 4:10
- "Dancer" (May) 3:46
- "Back Chat" (Deacon) 4:31 *
- "Body Language" (Mercury) 4:29 *
- "Action This Day" (Taylor) 3:32
- "Put Out the Fire" (May) 3:18
- "Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)" (Mercury) 3:28
- "Calling All Girls" (Taylor) 3:50 *
- "Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love)" (May) 4:26 *
- "Cool Cat" (Deacon & Mercury) 3:26
- "Under Pressure" [with David Bowie] (Queen & Bowie) 4:02 *
Hollywood Records bonus track
- "Body Language (1991 Bonus Remix by Susan Rogers)" (Mercury) 4:45
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano, keyboards, synthesiser
- Brian May - lead guitar, keyboards, synthesiser, backing vocals, synth bass on 'Dancer' and 'Put Out The Fire'[[Citing sources citation needed]]
- John Deacon - bass, guitar, keyboards
- Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals, harmonized lead vocals on "Action This Day", rhythm and acoustic guitars on "Calling All Girls", keyboards, drum machines
- Reinhold Mack: keyboard programming (Action This Day)
- David Bowie: lead vocals & keyboards (Under Pressure)
- Arif Mardin: Horn arrangement and production (Staying Power)
Album trivia
- The album title refers to the band's use of more spartan arrangements on this album, i.e. a conscious effort to leave "hot space" between the notes.
- Queen's decision to record a funk album germinated with the massive U.S. success of "Another One Bites the Dust". In hindsight, while it seemed a carefully calculated move to capitalise on their incidental interest in "black music", it inevitably proved to be a major, if temporary, blow to their reputation. Despite the album's second single "Body Language" peaking at #11 on the U.S. charts, the entire project was largely ignored by both the rock and dance scenes.
- Michael Jackson, who had been friends with the band at that point, later cited Hot Space as a building block for his own blockbuster album Thriller.
- Both the cover of U2's 1997 Pop album and Blur's 2000 compilation bear some similarity to the Hot Space cover.
The songs
- The backing track for "Staying Power" was sent to Arif Mardin (famous for Chaka Khan productions) in order to add a horn arrangement. This was the first and regrettably only time Queen chose to include an authentic horn section in their songs. Musically, the song also laid the foundation for much of Freddie Mercury's first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, which was released three years later. The song would be performed on the band's accompanying "Hot Space" tour, albeit much faster and heavier, with real drums replacing the drum machine and guitars and keyboards replacing the horns.
- The bassline of "Dancer" was played on synthesiser by writer/guitarist Brian May. The song itself — a tantalising fusion of rock and funk — is something of a follow-up to "Dragon Attack" from the band's 1980 album The Game. The phone message at the end of the song is in German and was recorded in a hotel room in Munich; it roughly translates to "good morning, this is your wake-up call". The song is also notable for being the only track on the album that makes a lyric reference to the album title itself. Brian May once alluded to "many hours wasted" in strip clubs as the inspiration for this song.
- "Back Chat", written by bassist John Deacon, is arguably the most black-orientated track on the album. Deacon (who differed from his bandmates, in that he was the only one raised on soul music instead of rock and roll) had chosen a no-compromise method of eliminating any rock elements from his songs for Hot Space. This caused friction amongst fellow band members, particularly Brian May, who fought to retain some Queen sensibilities in their funk diversions. Specifically, the choice to include a guitar solo on "Back Chat" was reached after heated debate. In hindsight, the solo did little to contribute to the single's success when it stalled at #40 on the U.K. charts. The unimaginative performance video was also quickly forgotten. The English title phrase is equivalent to the American phrase "back talk".
- "Body Language" is among the most atypical Queen songs in existence, and is the only single released by the band that does not include guitar (save for during the closing strains, which are made more prominent throughout the 1991 remix). The synth bass seems to have been indirectly (or perhaps directly) inspired by the 'groove' featured on "Ming's Theme" from the Flash Gordon soundtrack. The song's video, which featured scantily-clad models writhing around each other, proved somewhat controversial and was banned in a few territories. The phrase "you've got the cutest ass I've ever seen" marks the second appearance of the word "ass" on a Queen studio recording, the first being the phrase "now you can kiss my ass goodbye" from 1975's "Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)"
- "Action This Day", one of two Roger Taylor songs appearing on the album, was clearly influenced by the New Wave movement/style current at the time; the track is driven by a pounding electronic drum machine and features a synth-sax solo, played by producer Mack on an Oberheim OBX-a. The song apparently takes its title from a Winston Churchill catchphrase that he would attach to urgent documents.
- Though never released as a single, the album's most traditional Queen song "Put Out the Fire" later appeared on the Queen Rocks compilation in 1997. A new video was also produced for the accompanying video compilation, featuring a live performance of the song intercut with footage of fire and explosions.
- "Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)" was written as a tribute to John Lennon, who had been shot two years earlier. The song features a relatively abstract set of lyrics (for a Freddie Mercury song in the 80s, that is), further emphasising the band's sorrow at the ex-Beatles member's untimely passing. It is also one of the few Queen songs whose lyrics were written before the music ("Killer Queen" being another).
- "Calling All Girls" marked the first time a Roger Taylor song was released as a single (albeit in selected countries, including the U.S.A. and Australia, but not the United Kingdom) and despite having an entertaining video based on the George Lucas film THX 1138, it failed to create much of an impact. The song was rarely performed live, but a recording from Japan in 1982 is commercially available on the Queen On Fire - Live at the Bowl DVD, accompanying the photo gallery. Taylor played the guitar feedback noises before the break.
- "Las Palabras de Amor" was inspired by the band's close relationship with their South American fans. The video marked the band's third appearance on Top of the Pops (the first and second being for "Seven Seas of Rhye" and "Killer Queen", respectively, in 1974). Brian May played piano and synths on the track and sang lead vocals for the harmonized line "this time and evermore".
- "Cool Cat", written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon, originally featured David Bowie on background vocals and even a few lines of rap during the middle eight. It has been rumoured that he was unhappy with the results and requested them to be removed. A demo with his vocals still intact is widely available on various bootleg recordings. On the album version, Freddie sings the entire song in falsetto.
- "Under Pressure", the now phenomenally famous duet with David Bowie, was the result of an impromptu jam session in the band's studio in Montreux. When it was released in 1981, the considerable numbers of Queen and Bowie fans ensured that it reached #1 in the UK singles chart. Nine years later, the bassline and piano parts were "sampled" by Vanilla Ice to form the basis of his hit "Ice Ice Baby", creating a highly controversial industry event. Freddie Mercury was the dominant songwriter of this track, with Bowie being the main lyricist.
| Queen |
| John Deacon | Brian May | Freddie Mercury | Roger Taylor |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Queen | Queen II | Sheer Heart Attack | A Night at the Opera | A Day at the Races | News of the World | Jazz | The Game | Flash Gordon | Hot Space | The Works | A Kind of Magic | The Miracle | Innuendo | Made in Heaven |
| Live albums: Live Killers | Live Magic | Live at Wembley '86 | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions |
| Compilations: Greatest Hits | At the Beeb | Greatest Hits II | Classic Queen | Queen Rocks | Greatest Hits III | Stone Cold Classics |
| Box sets: Greatest Hits I & II | The Crown Jewels | |
| DVDs |
| We Will Rock You | The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert | Greatest Video Hits 1 | Queen Live at Wembley Stadium | Greatest Video Hits 2 | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions | Super Live in Japan |
| Musicals |
| We Will Rock You |
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