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
Because It's Christmas Because It's Christmas Because It's Christmas is the first of three Christmas albums released by singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. The album was released in 1990 and was a huge success, becoming Manilow's first platinum album since 1984's "". It also began a period in Manilow's career in which he recorded cover albums. Each album would focus on a particular style of music. He continued this pattern until the release of "Here at the Mayflower" in 2001. The version of "Jingle Bells" on the album is a cover of the 1943 recording by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters with the girl