The Miracle
A shimmering final flourish of new music before the end of an era.
The Miracle is the thirteenth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 22 May 1989 by Parlophone and Capitol Records. The album was recorded following Brian May's marital problems and Freddie Mercury's HIV diagnosis in 1987. Recording started in January 1988 and lasted for an entire year. The album was originally going to be called The Invisible Men, but three weeks before the release, according to Roger Taylor, they changed the name to The Miracle. It was also the last Queen album with a photo of all four members on the front cover.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Queen
- Released
- 22 May 1989
- Recorded
- January 1988 – January 1989
- Studio
- Olympic (London)
- Townhouse (London)
- Mountain (Montreux)
- Genre
- Rock; pop
- Length
- 41:22
- Label
- Parlophone, Capitol
- Producer
- Queen, David Richards
Lore & Background
The creation of this work is often viewed as a bittersweet moment in the Queen saga. While the music radiates optimism and technical brilliance, it was recorded under the shadow of Freddie Mercury's HIV diagnosis in 1987, adding a layer of poignancy to every note. The band members poured their collective experience into these tracks, creating a sonic tapestry that feels like a final, unified statement before the world would change forever with the loss of their frontman.
Reader's Guide
Culturally, The Miracle is remembered as a bridge between Queen's classic era and their post-Mercury future. It demonstrated that the group could still innovate and connect with audiences on a global scale, cementing their legacy even as personal tragedies loomed on the horizon.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Party | Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon | 2:24 |
| 2 | Khashoggi's Ship | Mercury, May, Deacon, Roger Taylor | 2:47 |
| 3 | The Miracle | Mercury, Deacon | 5:02 |
| 4 | I Want It All | May | 4:41 |
| 5 | The Invisible Man | Taylor | 3:55 |
Did You Know?
- The song 'I Want It All' was inspired by Brian May's second wife Anita Dobson's favourite motto: 'I want it all, and I want it now!'
- Each of the four band members are name-checked in the vocals of 'The Invisible Man' by Freddie Mercury throughout the course of the song.
- The cover art was created using a chroma key and the Quantel Paintbox workstation, then state-of-the-art image-manipulation technology, to combine photographs of the four band members into one morphed gestalt image.
More in Discography & Albums
Elsewhere in Queen
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced