The Works (Queen album) 19 November 1984, and promotional copies were indeed pressed ("QUEEN 5") and sent out (b/w "Keep Passing the Open Windows"), but the band opted for a Christmas single ("Thank God It's Christmas"). The fifth track on "The Works", "Machines (Or 'Back to Humans')", came about as an idea by Taylor, and May collaborated with him and finished it. Producer Reinhold Mack programmed the synth-"demolition" using a Fairlight CMI II Sampler, and the song is sung as a duet between a double-tracked Mercury (singing in harmony with himself), and a robotic Taylor (using a Roland VP330 Vocoder). The instrumental remix of
If Every Day Was Like Christmas Quartet on backing vocals. The song was written by Red West. The song was included on the 1970 RCA Camden reissue of "Elvis' Christmas Album" collection, which was re-released by Pickwick Records in 1975 and by RCA in 1985. The album was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2011 with sales of over 10 million copies. The single reached No. 2 on Billboard's "Best Bets For Christmas" survey in 1966, and returned to the chart in 1967, spending a total of eight weeks in the chart. In the United Kingdom, the song reached Number 9 in the UK Singles Chart