02-01-1991 – Innuendo – The Times

THE chart debut of Queen’s single, “Innuendo”, at No 1 last week would have seemed more impressive if Iron Maiden had not pulled off the same feat a couple of weeks earlier. It does not come as such a surprise that a soft market should be dominated by the hard-headed.

What is astounding is that in 20 years Queen have lost none of their appetite for music of the most grandiose banality. Innuendo, the album, is kitsch on a boggling scale. It recognises few frontiers of style, let alone barriers of taste, as it sweeps from mock-flamenco interludes in the title track through Muppet-style heavy metal in “Hitman” to the pseudo-spiritual lilt of “All God’s People”.

As is their wont, the group invest a high degree of musical proficiency in themes of the most addled eccentricity. “Delilah” is an ode to singer Freddie Mercury’s cat. “You make me slightly mad/When you pee all over my Chippendale suite,” Mercury serenades, with the benefit of a lush harmony accompaniment.

Only once does the burlesque pause long enough to reveal a human heart at work. “These are the Days of Our Lives”, a shamelessly soppy, middle-aged paean to the passing of youth, is a song which will touch a chord with the more mellow breed of Queen fan and possibly even beyond.