Queen: The Miracle Collector's Edition Review

Queen: The Miracle Collector's Edition

8-disc box set (1LP/5CD/1DVD/1BD)
Hollywood Records
OVERALL RATING: 4½ out of 5 stars

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Queen was still on fire as the 1980s came to a close. After taking a three-year break following the crest of their Live Aid/A Kind of Magic combo carpet ride, Queen dropped album No. 13, May 1989's The Miracle—a vibrant 10-track collection that fused the best of the four-piece British band's inherently anthemic nature ("I Want It All") alongside of-era production elements, albeit sometimes with a feisty twist ("Scandal"). And now, a new 13 x 1.5 x 13-inch shiny black-hued multidisc box set, The Miracle Collector's Edition, properly fetes an album that might be less celebrated stateside than internationally, but is no less an impactful entry in the band's ever-impressive oeuvre.

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The 180-gram single LP, sourced from a March 1989 master tape (a.k.a. the Long Lost Original LP Cut), best captures the emotional grooves of "Too Much Love Will Kill You," a track now duly reinstated after being pulled from the original LP release.

The first CD replicates Bob Ludwig's fine 2011 remaster of the main album's first-gen master mixes, while CD2, The Miracle Sessions, is a fascinating curtain pullback on the band's recording proclivities, offering early versions and alternate takes of the core album's songs peppered with unadulterated studio chatter—a literal aural view into the band's instinctive creative process. CD2 also includes the previously unreleased dramatic ballad "Face It Alone," Freddie Mercury's deeply personal window into his then-private struggles.

CD3, Alternative Miracle, is a B-sides and more compilation of the proposed follow-up that never was, including "Hang on in There," the uplifting would-be hit single from another timeline, and "Chinese Torture," guitarist Brian May's orchestrally backed shredfest instrumental. CD4, Miracu-Mentals, serves up the ten main-album instrumental backing tracks for further stripped-down sonic investigation. CD5, The Miracle Radio Interviews, comprises a pair of revealing radio Q&A sessions wherein the band chronicles how they created the album, and what they thought of it. Finally, the Blu-ray and comparable DVD both include a 50-minute documentary and five big-budget video clips.

Fair warning: the surround mix of the adrenaline-charged "I Want It All" will fist-pummel you from all sides—and you'll truly love the effect. Based on all the A/V jewels included in this truly vital box set, Queen's re-vetted The Miracle reigns anew. – MIKE METTLER

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