"Made in Heaven" is Queen's final studio album, released in November 1995. After Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, the remaining band members John Deacon, Roger Taylor and Brian May worked with Mercury's pre-recorded vocals to create the last Queen album with all four members having contributed.

The album feels and sounds like a late 80's Queen album with Freddie singing every song and sounding much healthier than he does on "Innuendo" as alot of this album has been taken from prior recordings. Only three songs were recorded by Freddie prior to his death: "A Winter's Tale", "Mother Love" and what would become "You Don't Fool Me". The song list includes:

* "It's a Beautiful Day" - a previously unreleased song written and recorded by Freddie Mercury at Musicland Studios in Munich, 1980.

* "Made in Heaven" - a track from Mercury's solo career, appearing on his album 'Mr. Bad Guy' in 1985. Taylor, May and Deacon reworked it (over Mercury's piano and vocals) to make it a Queen track.

* "Let Me Live" - the first single features a gospel-style choir for the opening. Freddie, Brian and Roger each then sing a verse.

* "Mother Love" - the last song Freddie Mercury recorded and co-wrote with Brian May, who on his website discussed the writing process he and Mercury had (writing both separately and together, and conscious of the nature of the song and the lyrics). May sang the last verse since Mercury wasn't able to do it.

* "My Life Has Been Saved" - composed by John Deacon in 1987-1988.

* "I Was Born to Love You" - originally recorded (piano, vocals, synths) by Mercury on 25th May 1984, for his 'Mr. Bad Guy' album.

* "Heaven for Everyone" - a track Roger Taylor wrote and tried out with Queen in 1986, but then dropped and recorded it for The Cross (his other band, where he was lead singer and rhythm guitarist instead of drummer).

* "Too Much Love Will Kill You" - a typical power ballad composed by Brian May (with Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers) sometime between the Magic and Miracle sessions. They wrote it in the US and Freddie Mercury sang on it.

* "You Don't Fool Me" - one of the last tracks recorded for Made In Heaven. It reminds me of a more mellow 'Scandal'.

* "A Winter's Tale" - the last song Mercury composed entirely ("Mother Love"'s music is by Brian May). He did the vocals and keyboards for it and completed the last verse around two weeks before he died.

The overall feel of the album is one of reverence, reflection and references to our existence. Only the song "I Was Born to Love You" has an up-beat tempo. The production is of a superb quality considering the difficulties the band faced.

Unfortunately, I dismissed this album at the time as I was into other mid-90's music and Queen felt long dead. The title, "Made in Heaven", was just too corny and I still felt (up until recently) that it was just an attempt to hold onto something that wasn't there anymore. It was only when I went back into a Queen phase (12 years later) that I even considered buying it. But it was very popular in the UK at the time with the first single "Heaven for Everyone" reaching No. 3 and the album going four times platinum selling 1.5 million copies.

Overall, this is a worthwhile coda to Queen's career. I find it very easy to listen to and reflect in turn on their impact on my life.

"Innuendo" was the last album released by Queen before Freddie Mercury died, and it was a fitting final album for him. "Made In Heaven" was released in 1995, 4 years after Freddie's death. Of the 11 songs on the album, 5 were previously released in other forms: "Made In Heaven" and "I Was Born To Love You" were originally on Freddie's "Mr. Bad Guy" album, and are included here with those same vocal tracks, but with Queen's instrumentation; "My Life Has Been Saved" was a B-side to "Scandal" from "The Miracle", but is slightly different here; "Heaven For Everyone" was originally recorded by Roger Taylor's band "The Cross"; and "Too Much Love Can Kill You" was previously released on Brian May's "Back To The Light" album (with Brian on vocals). But even though not all of the material here is new, all of the material is very good, and it's a great album. Not quite as good of an ending as "Innuendo", but a very fine piece of work nonetheless.

Queen's recording history reads like a good book, and if Innuendo was the last Chapter (Indeed, it's last song 'The Show Must Go On' was as fitting a tribute to Mercury as anything they've tried since), Made in Heaven is the epilogue, taking the material Freddie Mercury recorded after Innuendo, and peicing it together into a comprehensive, final Queen album.

The history is a little convoluted, not every track is brand new, a couple were from Mercury's original Mr. Bad Guy solo album (Made in Heaven, I was born to Love You), others were outtakes from The Miracle (Life has been Saved, Too Much Love will Kill You), Made in Heaven was original a Roger Taylor solo song that Mercury re-recorded in '88-89, but the rest of the material here is Mercury's dying days basically set to tape. Even the older material is given the full Queen treatment by Brian May and company, so it all sounds fresh and new.

The sound of the album is very uplifting as opposed to the overall wistful, dark overtone of Innuendo. It's a Beautiful Day, Made in Heaven, and Let Me Live make one heck of an opening trio, the latter also sung by Roger and Brian, backed with a gospel choir. I Was Born to Love You is given full Queen rock treatment with one of Brian May's better guitar solos, and the lead-off single Made in Heaven flows as only Queen's best songs do. You Don't Fool Me is a great dancey tune, harkening back to Hot Space. Too Much Love will Kill You and A Winter's Tale are two beautiful ballads, the latter a hit in the U.K., and the album 'closes' with a stunning reprise of It's a Beautiful Day, followed by an unmercifully long instrumental (over 22 minutes) that is really pretty unneccesary. It never really gets going until the final minutes, and it's reminiscent of a new-age moods instrumental. It tries to set a mood of peacefulness but doesn't quite work.

The most telling work on this album, however, is the final song Mercury recorded, Mother Love. From the second he opens his mouth until he closes it for the final time, you can hear the utter pain and longing in his voice. He's through with this life, he has no more hope, he just wants to die in peace. Brian May keeps a lonely guitar circling overhead. And as Mercury sings the second chorus, and whispers 'Mother Love', it's almost as if he died immediatley after uttering those words, and ingeniously, Brian May finishes off the song himself. After that is a quick snippet of numerous Queen concerts, followed by a baby's cry, symbolizing Mercury's rebirth into his new life. It's enough to make any Queen fan break down and cry; why the album didn't end with THIS song I have no idea, instead it's thrown smack into the middle.

Made in Heaven is among Queen's best works, even if most people dont' count it as a 'real' album because half of it has been done before, it's simply beautiful in context and Mercury proved that he had the greatest voice in rock right up until his all-too-soon death.

Queen's final studio album with Freddie and what an emotional send off it was.From the thunderous percussion and melancholy guitar of the title track "Made In Heaven" to the wonderfully gospel-like vocals on "Let Me Live" (which featured for the first time, Freddie, Brian & Roger sharing lead vocals) this is a roller coaster of emotions.Having to record this album after Freddie has passed away proved extremely difficult for the surviving members.While half of this album contains wholly original material, the other half is comprised of previously released tracks released on solo albums (though in most cases, completely redone/reworked by the band.) Freddie's original "I Was Born To Love You" was dated six months later by it's over use of synthesizers while Queen's new version keeps it ageless.Freddies last vocal recording came with "Mother Love" though you'd never be able to tell. He sang with such vigor and energy that'd put most of today's "singers" in their place, which is to say, well behind Freddie.This is, by no means, all Freddie. Brian plays one of his all time best solos in the somewhat out of place dance number "You Don't Fool Me" (which would go onto be remixed SIXTEEN times throughout the world.)In the U.K, the album provided Queen with 4 top ten hits (and another in the top 15) and has also become one of their biggest selling albums ever. Naturally, it barely made the top 60 in America due to poor promotion from Hollywood Records. You'd have thought with this being the last of "new" material from the band, they would've promoted it to high heaven (pardon the pun) but alas, no.One track that should not have been included was the former non-album B-side "My Life Has Been Saved", an extremely poor track that could have been replaced by any number of Freddie solo tunes."A Winter's Tale" - the last song Freddie ever wrote, provides the most touching of all of "MIH". He describes his second home in Switzerland and how peaceful it was, how happy it made him. The chorus is dream-like...pushing you to close your eyes and imagine how wonderful a place it is.A wonderful and moving end to the rich and never ending legacy of Freddie and Queen.

As one reviewer noted, this CD seems to be getting the "sympathy vote" from many Queen fanatics. While it is not up to the standards of Mercury's final recordings with Queen on "Innuendo," this posthumous release does have its moments. "It's a Beautiful Day" is a lovely opener -- very simple and life-affirming. "Let Me Live" and "Mother Love" are both strong. "A Winter's Tale" is another gem, with Freddie's voice adding layers of emotion to a fairly simple lyric. What drags this down a bit is the heavy use of synths, and the re-recording of previously released material. Also, there are no out-and-out rockers here, no attempts to explore different styles (a hallmark of the band). Had Freddie stayed around a while longer, this most certainly have been a stronger, more focused album. Not bad certainly, but it definitely feels half-finished. I would recommend it only for the true Queen fanatic.