Suggest my next QUEEN album to buy.

[Stillwell]

Stellar shite guys. Thanks to Flappo and Ford especially.

Quick question, I was reading Allmusic.com and they mentioned that "Jazz" was condemned as "fascist" by a reviewer or two. What's the story behind this?

[Bill Lumbergh]

Originally posted by FORD


This is a box set of all the Queen albums up until 1980 (The Game)

It's all the Queen you'll ever need.

Yep.

[Mr Badguy]

FLASH is the greatest song Queen ever recorded.

duh duh duh duh duh duh FLASH AH-AH SAVIOUR OF THE UNIVERSE!

Genius!

[blueturk]

While you're at it , make a CD of the Roger Taylor songs on the first 7 albums. A great party CD.

1. Modern Times Rock And Roll
2. Loser In The End
3. Tenement Funster
4. I'm In Love With My Car
5. Drowse
6. Sheer Heart Attack
7. Fight From The Inside
8. More Of That Jazz

[superdave]

Jazz is a very good, underrated CD

[DrMaddVibe]

Don't get a "Greatest Hits" album. Instead buy "Live Killers" and then buy the early stuff. You"re going to end up buying it all so enjoy the ride. Don't forget the DVD too! You're gonna want that.

[Shaun Ponsonby]

Originally posted by Stillwell
Stellar shite guys. Thanks to Flappo and Ford especially.

Quick question, I was reading Allmusic.com and they mentioned that "Jazz" was condemned as "fascist" by a reviewer or two. What's the story behind this?

Hmmm.

Fascist?

Dunno, really.

It's about as fascist as my little finger.

[Shaun Ponsonby]

Originally posted by blueturk
While you're at it , make a CD of the Roger Taylor songs on the first 7 albums. A great party CD.

1. Modern Times Rock And Roll
2. Loser In The End
3. Tenement Funster
4. I'm In Love With My Car
5. Drowse
6. Sheer Heart Attack
7. Fight From The Inside
8. More Of That Jazz

You missed 'Fun It (Jazz).

And if you are talking about songs that Taylor SANG, take off Sheer Heart Attack. Roger didn't actually sing that, as many people believe he did. Brian cleared that up a couple of years ago.

[superdave]

Fun It is an extremely good, underrated song from that LP

[Rikk]

I love FUN IT! They always talk about how ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST was this brand new thing for them...but it's practically just a re-write of FUN IT.

[Shaun Ponsonby]

CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE'S BUYERS GUIDE-QUEEN (Nov. 2004 issue)

*****ESSENTIAL*****

QUEEN

A glorious hard rock marathon that was unlike anything else around at the time, this album started it all. Maybe it was the unmistakable sound of Brian May's home-made guitar. Perhaps it was the panoramic production of Roy Thomas-Baker. Or even the soaring voice of Freddie Mercury. Whatever the secret, 'Queen' was one of those scary albums that simply burst its seams. The record was just too powerful, multi-dimensional and stunning to sit happliy and contentedly in the grooves.

The performances were all virtuoso. And the songs...oh, those songs: beginning with the cast-iron 'Keep Yourself Alive', breathless and Languid in the same phrase, then 'Great King Rat', 'Son & Daughter', 'Liar' and finishing with 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'. This was the stuff of ledgends.


A NIGHT AT THE OPREA

Yes, the one with 'Bohemian Rhapsody', next to 'Stairway To Heaven', the most played and analysed rock anthems ever. Yet a song nobody in their right mind would dare try to cover-well, apart from Bad News, Fuzzbox and Elaine Page. But this was just one jewel in a crown cluttered with precious gems.

'...Oprea' was the record were Queen really delivered in terms of diversity. You want metal? There's 'Death On Two Legs' and 'Sweet Lady'. Pop: 'I'm In Love With My Car', 'You're My Best Friend'. Camp Ditties: 'Seaside Rendevous' and 'Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon'. Even a proggie moment: 'The Prophet Song'. And finishing with 'God Save The Queen' is a moment when pretension, ego and self-deprecation collide perfectly.



****SUPERIOR****

SHEER HEART ATTACK

Queen's 3rd album, and the one that saw them developing their style into more diverse areas. They still had theirhard rock roots (which, thankfully, they would never lose), with 'Brighton Rock', 'Killer Queen' and 'Stone Cold Crazy' among the finest fist-pounding anthems Queen ever did, while 'Tenament Funster' proved to be a classy locale.

The band dipped their toes in ballad teritory with 'Dear Friends' and 'Lily Of The Valley, while there was a distinct caribbean flavour to 'Misfire'. There was a touch of ragtime to 'Bring Back That Leory Brown' and 'In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited' was an epic moment that would prove to be a stage favourite.

'Sheer Heart Attack' had a sense of joy and attitude about it that, years later, can be put down to confidence. Queen just knew that they were on to something spectacular.

LIVE KILLERS

By the end of the 70s, Queen had become a true blood, mainstream band, the sort who regulary enjoyed a huge chart impact. So, it wouldn't have been a suprise to anyone if their live shoes began to suffer. But they didn't.

Recorded early 1979, 'Live Killers' was all the proof that anyone could need that Queen were one of the best live bands in the world, and they could teach anyone a few new tricks.

'We Will Rock You' opens up, and this metallic, bombastic and feroucious delivery just stuns. The inspired medley of 'Death On 2 Legs', 'Kliller Queen', 'Bicycle Race' and 'I'm In Love With My Car' works so well that you would swear that's how the songs were created.

There are few better live albums than this, and the absence of a visual impact only serves to heighten the band's sheer musical audacity and verve.

JAZZ

Often unfairly critised for being a little too 'Off The Wall' and idiosyncratic for general consumption, yet 'Jazz' offers some of the most satisfying moments in Queen's career.

Titled more for the fact that the band felt they could go anywhere musically than for the style of the songs, 'Jazz' took some extreme turns. 'Mustapha' has a middle-eastern sense of humour, 'Fat Bottomed Girls' was a cod-macho piss-take and 'Bicycle Race' offers some neat Carry On inspired double entendres. 'Don't Stop Me Now' is the broadway song Cole Porter never wrote. 'Fun It' has disco pretensions and 'Dreamer's Ball' comes straight out of music hall stage.

'Jazz' isn't a true rock album, but the spirit of it reflects that nobody understood better than Queen what music should be all about.


***GOOD***

QUEEN II

Arguably the heaviest Queen album, 'Queen II'. 'Ogre Battle' hits the metal trail, 'March of The Black Queen' offers prog-rock retribution, 'Father To Son' is eerily catchy, 'Nevermore' is a prime-cut ballad.

Stylistically there's nothing here that wasn't on the first album, and in some respects you can hear the band struggling with the traditional problems of the 'difficult second album'.

'Queen II' marked the end of the first phase of the band's career. The band pushed their rock and metal roots as far as they could, and were clearly looking to jump as far as they could and expand their horizons. It's probably the reason that the albums lacks the sparkle and the bite of 'Queen' and the audacity of the subsquent 'Sheer Heart Attack'.

A DAY AT THE RACES

Many bands who achieved even 10% of what Queen had done with 'A Night At The Oprea' would have just sat back on their success and just ridden the wave. But not Queen. From the opening fanfare that leads into the relentless 'Tie Your Mother Down, you know this ain't gonna be a wishy-washy follow-up to '...Oprea'.

'Somebody To Love' has some succulent gospel harmonies, 'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' owes something to Noel Cowerd, and 'White Man' takes a political manouver into native american territory. The band also show their ability to suprise on 'Teo Torriate', which includes Japanease lyrics. As Queen were one of the biggest bands in the world, it gave them Mandate to be innovative.


XXAVOID AT ALL COSTSXX

HOT SPACE

In truth, there are no total duds in the Queen catalouge, only albums which are disappointing. Of these, 'Hot Space' is certainly most culpable. It was Queen's slightly misguided attempt to break the dance market, and while they had the musical ability to pull it off, somehow, the whole thing comes off as a patchwork, illconceived record.

The main problem isn't the style of the music, it's the songwriting. With the exception of the excellent 'Under Pressure' (a collobaration with David Bowie) and the engaging 'Body Language', the rest of the album falls well short of the standard Queen fans took for granted.

A confused and unsatisfying release.

THE BEST (AND WORST) OF THE REST

Anybody remember the 1980 movie 'FLASH GORDON'? Kitsch to the max. Queen did the whole (mostly instumental) soundtrack, recrded almost simultaneously to 'THE GAME'. The former has the camp 'Flash's Theme' and the hard-nosed 'Battle Theme', whilst the latter included the intimate 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' and 'Another One Bites The Dust'. Both albums are inconsistent, but at their best are irresistable. The same is true with 'THE WORKS', with the irritating 'Radio GaGa', complemented with the gloriously heavy-handed 'Hammer To Fall' and the soaraway 'I Want To Break Free'. More consistent was 'NEWS OF THE WORLD', with the seminal 'We Will Rock You', 'We Are The Champions' and a string of worthy stadia rockers. 'AT THE BEEB' recalled the early days of the band, with songs they recorded in session in 1973. 'INNUENDO' was Freddie's last album proper-'Show Must Go On' and 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives' bring a lump to the throat, as 'Delilah' (about his cat) acts as a humorous counterpoint, while 1995's 'Made In Heaven' remains underrated.

****** THE ALBUM WE'D LIKE RELEASED******

IN TOUNGES

Queen did dabble a little with foregin-language lyrics. It would be fasinating to hear some songs re-recorded with different international vocalists on each track, singing lyrics in their native tounge. How about Julio Inglesias giving 'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' the spanish treatment? Or the gallic charm of Charles Aznavour talking on 'Somebody To Love'? And what about Tatu doing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in Russian? Quee always did have international appeal, and this album would be a good way to prove the point.


(C) 2004 FUTURE PUBLISHING
THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ABOVE DO NOT NECCESERILY REPRESENT MY OWN OPINIONS.

[Rikk]

Very cool article. Thanks SHAUN.

[Susie Q]

The Game is my favorite Queen album.

[blueturk]

Originally posted by Shaun Ponsonby
You missed 'Fun It (Jazz).

And if you are talking about songs that Taylor SANG, take off Sheer Heart Attack. Roger didn't actually sing that, as many people believe he did. Brian cleared that up a couple of years ago.

I don't really care much about "Fun It" so I didn't include it... hell, I really thought Taylor sang 'Sheer Heart Attack". What's the story?

[Shaun Ponsonby]

Well, basically, he didn't.