Review by Collectors music reviews
Digital Queen Archives continues their project to offer the most comprehensive and best sounding Queen bootlegs ever issued.  Much like their earlier releases, The Ultimate Miracle collects all of the hard to find B-sides and remixes, new outtakes and demos that have never circulated before on any bootleg.  The first disc is devoted to officially released material all on one disc including the great Roger composition “Hijack My Heart”, only issued on the B-side to “The Invisible Man” 7″, 12″ and CD single. 

It is the second disc that contains much of interest.  “A New Life Is Born” is the original piece that was later edited for the first part of “Breakthru” on The Miracle.  It is a nice ballad that goes on for some minutes, undergoing a key change into a minor key (a Freddie favorite).  “I Guess We’re Falling Out” is a catchy pop number with Freddie singing about being stabbed in the back.  This version of “Too Much Love Will Kill You” seems to be completely new.  It features Freddie singing at the piano and doesn’t feature Brian at all.

“Dog With A Bone” has been a coveted piece for many years for Queen collectors.  It was originally intended for The Miracle but later dropped.  It’s only public airing was at the 1988 Queen Fan Club Convention with messages of thanks from the band.  Several very poor tapes have circulated of that event, but here we have the original studio version in excellent quality.  Freddie, Roger and Brian all take turns singing with Roger yelling “Move over Rover, let Brian take over!”  (Obvious reference to Jimi Hendrix).  “New York New York” is unfortunately the well known minute and a half from the Highlander film and not the long hoped for longer edition.  Perhaps the denials of a full version are true?  “Tavaszi Szel” is a rehearsal for the Budapest, Hungary show on the Magic tour July 27th, 1986.  Finally of interest is the demo of “The Hitman” finally issued on 1991’s Innuendo LP.  This is the original demo with Brian on vocals found an a cassette called Hints of Innuendo.  The track fades out after about a minute. 

The balance of disc 2 contains instrumental remixes which differ slightly from the finshed product.  On the tracklist on the artwork the manufacturers mixed up “Party” with “Khashoggi’s Ship”.  There one version of the former and two versions of the latter.  In general this is a fascinating glimpse into one of Queen’s final albums.  It demonstrates how prolific these sessions were with material written that would appear also on Innuendo and even 1995’s Made In Heaven.  Another great job by this new label.  (GS)