1989 was a peculiar time for Queen. While they were humongous popularity-wise in just about every country on the planet…they seemed to have lost their grip on America, as their last few albums failed to ignite the charts or excite rock fans as much as the albums they offered up from their stellar 1974-1980 period had. And by and large, the style of rock and metal that MTV was championing at the time was much more one-dimensional and predictable (namely, hair metal and thrash metal). In other words, not the multi-layered, stadium rock of Queen.

However, those reasons paled in comparison to a much more serious dilemma – the fact that Freddie Mercury had been recently diagnosed with AIDS. But the band rallied around their singer, and got to work on what would be their thirteenth studio album overall, The Miracle. Another hit worldwide – topping the charts in six countries – The Miracle proved to be the band’s most successful US release in years (earning gold certification and narrowly missing the top-20), thanks in large part to the radio success of the anthemic rocker, “I Want It All.”

And just in time for the holiday season of 2022, several different The Miracle box sets have been assembled (a mammoth ‘deluxe collector's set’ and a ‘collectors edition set’), featuring all sorts of attractive add-ons, tops being a recently discovered/never-before-heard track, “Face It Alone.” Also included is a remastered version of the original album, a disc of rough mixes, an ‘Alternate Miracle’ disc, backing tracks (for karaoke krazies), interviews, videos, etc. And even a few assorted surprise photos from the era and a book. Although certain production/sonic bits of the album have not aged all that well (those dastardly late ‘80s canon-sounding/triggered drums, more treble than bass, etc.), material-wise, Queen closed the ‘80s on a musical highpoint – proven again all these years later, by The Miracle box set.