Queen: album reviews

The British Rock quartet Queen was founded around 1971 in London and remained together in the same lineup until Freddie Mercury's tragic death of AIDS in 1991. Although usually dismissed by critics Queen still remains among Britains most successful Rock artists - albums like 'A Kind Of Magic' and especially the two 'Greatest Hits' compilations are among the best-selling records of all times.

Influences and characteristics - Queens music was influenced by artists like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, their early sound being dominated by guitars, the piano and vocal harmonies.
From the very beginning the bands music was based on 4 central elements: Brian May's finely layered guitar work (often arranged into complex orchestrations), sometimes heavily overdubbed vocal harmonies, Freddie Mercury's striking vocal performances and the fusion of a wide range of musical styles, sometimes including complex and acyclic compositions.
In their often very theatralic and bombastic style, Queen didn't make many efforts to avoid clichees, but preferred to play with them - the results varied between engenious masterpieces, kitsch and trivial pop. The band early enriched their hard rock approach with classical and ironic music hall elements and until the early '90s the Queen catalogue encompassed almost everything from metal over comic operas to pop and disco-style.

The band had a good reputation as live act and was famous for its bombastic shows that were dominated by Freddie Mercury's extravagant and flamboyant presence on stage. They also played an important role in the development of music videos.

It depends: If you are relatively new to Queen's music and want to get a good overview, I recommend Greatest Hits I+II - an excellent summary of Queen's work between 1974 and 1991, featuring all their famous hits and including lots of their most important compositions. You'll miss some excellent stuff from their early records, though...
If you'd like to take a closer look, I'd recommend Sheer Heart Attack and A Night At The Opera.
If you prefer the stuff from the second Hits album, Innuendo might be worth a try.
Last but not least, Live Killers gives a great impression of Queens strong on-stage-presence. It also features lots of their best earlier pieces that are not included on the Hits compilations - making it an excellent addition to the 'Greatest Hits' albums.

One of the most overlooked Queen albums! Although it is more straight forward rock and less experimental than its follow ups, Queen 1 already features most of the famous Queen trademarks like Brian's powerful guitar orchestras, the use of choral overdubs and Freddies superb vocal performances. Fairy King and Liar already show a non-cyclic song structure - an approach to composition typical for many of Queens more complex works, that should later result in such gems as 'Bohemian Rhapsody' or 'Innuendo'. The song matierial on this album is strong without any big drawbacks, making this one of Queens best and most accessible albums.

One of Queens most ambitious but also most strenous efforts: Queen fully embrace art rock and deliver something like a concept album, that was originally divided up into sides 'White' and 'Black'. Being very pathetic and sometimes simply overproduced, 'Queen II' features Queen's first top ten single Seven Seas of Rhye.
The styles range from metal (Ogre Battle) over music-hall like mockery (Fairy Fellers Master Stroke), beautiful piano ballads (Nevermore) and pseudo classical elements to multi-sectioned, complex compositions (March of the Black Queen) - all tied together by *very* dominant vocal harmonies, that often seem overblown and - in the album's weakest moments - drag the whole album very close to bombastic kitsch.
The overall song quality is good, though - two weaker songs (Loser is the End, Funny how Love is) are mostly compensated by particular highlights in the Queen catalogue (White Queen, March of the Black Queen).
Although received with mixed critics, this later proved to be one of Queens most influential albums - artists like Axl Rose (Guns'n Roses) or Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) count it among their all time favourites.
All in all a very interesting effort. It's just that they - as guitarist Brian May later commented - maybe dished up a bit too much.

The best Queen album! Stilistacilly even more diversified but less bombastic than its predecessor, 'Sheer Heart Attack' was Queens breakthrough album, featuring their first smash hit Killer Queen. The songs are rather compact and short, delivering a fine blend of styles without ever straining ideas. The overall song quality is excellent without any filler, making this Queens most rewarding album. If you want to try just one Queen album, let it be this one!

The critically most acclaimed Queen album and among the most expensive productions of its time, 'A Night At The Opera' is a tour de fource between serious music, pop and mockery.
Maybe Queens most ironic and extravagant work, this album takes Sheer Heart Attack's Hard Rock approach and its unique mix of styles as a base and develops the whole thing into some kind of crazy, overblown comic opera, expanding both Queens pseudo-classical (Bohemian Rhapsody, Love Of My Life) and music-hall elements (Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, Seaside Rendevous, Good Company) to a new extreme. Once again, vocal harmonies form an important element, this time even including two complete unaccompanied choir sections in Bohemian Rhapsody and the excellent, but brutally overproduced Prophet's song.
Meanwhile there are no truly weak songs on the album, it is definately one of the most overblown albums in rock history with all that clever music-hall-stuff and its sweet choral bombast. On the other hand, it features some of Queens best songs ever (Love Of My Life, The Prophet's Song, Bohemian Rhapsody) - and Brian's outstanding guitar-imitation of an entire dixieland combo on Good Company...
Well, as long as you don't try to take it all too seriously, 'A Night At The Opera' is an excellent piece of music - Maybe not Queens most accessible album, maybe not their best, but surely their most interesting and imporant one.

The follow up to A Night At The Opera follows a similar formula as its predecessor, but cannot fully succeed neither as sequel nor as companion to Queens opus magnum.
The classical and camp elements (Millionaire's Waltz) are still present, though somewhat less emphasized; but although the album doesn't rely as heavily on these and thus seems somewhat better balanced than its predecessor, 'A Day at The Races' lacks the extraordinary moments that made 'A Night At The Opera' such an impressing piece of music. The bombastic overproduction from Queen II and 'A Night At The Opera' is still fully present, though.
However - although the album doesn't achieve anything groundbreaking and never goes beyond what is to be heard on earlier works, its overall song quality is very good, featuring some definite highlights from the Queen repertoire (Tie Your Mother Down, Somebody To Love or the kitschy Teo Torriate). No weak songs on this one, although some are slightly overproduced.
This was the last album of the early, bombastic, art-rock-influenced period for Queen. It was followed by a turn towards the more popular arena rock of News Of The World.

Queens most straight forward album since their debut is more compact and less bombastic than its predecessor, adding punk, blues, latino, psychedelic and funk-elements to the Queen repertoire (the first four styles are very rare on other Queen records!).
Unfortunately the album opens with Queens two most overplayed songs (We Will Rock You & We Are The Champions) - thanks to the pompous arena rock of these opening tracks, 'News Of The World' is among Queens most popular albums, the rather unspectacular gems on the second half often being overlooked.
Highlights of the album are the lovely (though clicheed) pop tune Spread Your Wings and the classic Queen rocker It's Late, while Fight From The Inside and Get Down Make Love are among the weakest Queen songs ever recorded (Other people seem to like them, though. Well...).
Although at first sight more appealing than earlier Queen records, I consider this one as the weakest Queen album from the seventies - not bad, but not great either.

Probably due to a rather tasteless publicity campaign for the song Bicylce Race, this album was totally dismissed by critics. Nevertheless this is one of Queens most entertaining albums, and although it's not one of their innovative efforts, it is pure fun (although critics preferred descriptions like 'farce' - which might apply to the poor publicity gag involving 40 naked girls on bicycles, but *not* to the music itself!).
However, although there is nothing really new, this work features the enourmous variety of styles that Queen has become famous for, this time introducing pseudo-arabian elements in the opener Mustapha. The rockers (Fat Bottomed Girls, Dead On Time, etc) make a good counterpoint to beautiful ballads (ie. Jealousy) and more extravagant fun stuff (Mustapha, Bycicle Race, Dreamer's Ball), resulting in one of Queens best balanced albums.
The singles Bicycle Race and Don't Stop Me Now are among the highlights, with several songs of equal quality to them and the final track More Of That Jazz being the only really poor cut on the album.
By the way: The 'Jazz' album doesn't have anything in common with Jazz music...

Another great album that was torn apart by critics without any obvious reason. In fact, this is among the best live recording I have ever heard - and far superior to Queens later live recordings from the eighties!
The overall sound of this album is rawer and harder than during the 80's, justifying Queen's reputation as rock band. The setlist is excellent (although Get Down Make Love is a true spoiler for me) and most songs truly benefit from being stripped of their bombastic studio arrangements. The rockers are delivered exactly to the point (with some great guitar work)and are much harsher than the studio versions, with the wonderful accoustic set making a great counterpoint.

Probably Queens most popular work in the USA, and also their most light-hearted one, 'The Game' is mostly pleasant pop music. It also expands their earlier (and rather poor) attempts at funk music into the smash hit Another One Bites The Dust and Dragon Attack. The country-smash-hit Crazy Little Thing Called Love probably added to the album's popularity in America.
Unfortunately 'The Game' sacrifices the band's musical flexibility and extravaganzas for some nice pop tunes - even Brian's superb guitar work seems to have suffered for full radio and disco compatibility. The result is Queens most consistant and listenable album but - for me - also one of their most disappointing ones.
There are no exceptional songs, the highlights being Sail Away Sweet Sister and the singles Save Me and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. At least there are no exceptionally poor tracks, although I count Don't Try Suicide and Dragon Attack among Queens weaker efforts.
Summing up, I'd say that if you own the 'Greatest Hits' Album, you already know the three best tracks from this album. You might leave it at this without missing anything essential. However, 'The Game' is among Queens critically most acclaimed albums - so you might want to make up your own opinion. For me, it's just an average pop album - disappointing.

Well, the music was the most remarkable thing about that film - which doesn't mean anything, since the film was pure crap.
It's not that the music itself is bad - but the album unfortunately is: With only two real songs on it, the album mostly consists of instrumentals with some dialogue from the film cluttered in. Meanwhile the themes and the final track are quite good (Flash's Theme, Ming's Theme, The Kiss, Battle Theme, Vultan's Theme, The Hero), they only form 15 minutes of music. Much of the remaining 20 minutes in made up of filler and annoying blah-blah. Might have been sufficient for a suite of ten minutes, but not for an entire album. Hands off!

After their immense success with the groovy 'Another One Bites The Dust' from 'The Game', Queen fully embraced disco music on this album: The first half of 'Hot Space' is fully synth-driven, the second half features some nice pop-stuff - but the complexity of older Queen works is nowhere to be seen.
Luckily, almost completely abandoning the guitars turned out not to be a very popular move, costing much of Queens reputation as a rock band and even proving to be commercial suicide in the USA - the band should never regain their popularity in America, although their finest hour in Europe was still to come (well, at least from the commercial point of view...). The smash hit Under Pressure was probably the only reason that kept the album from being a capital flop.
However, although most Queen fans simply detest this album, it isn't *that* bad: Some of the synth-stuff on the first half might have done quite good with proper arrangements, the opener Staying Power is driven by some powerful horns, the rocker Put Out The Fire makes an excellent contrast to the first half and Las Palabras De Amour is among Queens nicer ballads. Unfortunately, Body Language and Cool Cat easily qualify for the top ten of Queen's worst songs, leaving me with very twisted feelings about this album.
A mostly overcriticized, but still rather weak album.

Queens best studio album since 1978 (Jazz) luckily doesn't continue the disco-sound-approach of Hot Space. Instead it returns to The Game's listenability, carefully mixing in some earlier elements of Queen's music.
The overall impression is that of a pop album (Radio Ga Ga, I Wand To Break Free, etc.), but the rockers Tear It Up and Hammer To Fall add some sharp edges, meanwhile Machines takes a slightly more experimental approach.
The overall quality of compositions on this album is very good, with It's A Hard Live ranking among Queens top compositions, the opener Radio Ga Ga (Queens biggest hit in Germany...) being the weakest track on the album.
Without any big experiments, 'The Works' is among Queen's most consistent albums - a fine piece of pop music.

Mostly pieced together from music for the film Highlander, 'A Kind Of Magic' probably outsold any other Queen album.
The styles are a bit more diversified than on The Works, with the orchestral ballad Who Wants To Live Forever and the roaring metal of Princes Of The Universe and Gimme The Prize being the definite highlights on the album. Unfortunately, Pain Is So Close To Plaisure and Don't Lose Your Head also bring back the light-hearted disco-pop - which doesn't do the album much good. The simple rock-anthem One Vision and the ballad One Year Of Love also fall back in comparison to the rest of the album.
All in all, a mix of five exceptionally good (also count in the title track and the nice pop tune Friends Will Be Friends) and four rather poor tracks - making an average album that's quite inconsistent in quality. However, it's still worth the money for Princes Of The Universe (which is the only outstanding track not featured on 'Greatest Hits II'. It was included on 'Greatest Hits III' , though)...
The CD features some annoying remixes as bonus tracks.

'The Miracle' moves slightly towards the direction of mainstream rock.
Once again there's nothing really exciting or exceptional (although the opener Party sounds somewhat odd): Half of the songs form a solid and consistent base of rockers (ie. I Want It All, Breakthru, Was It All Worth It) and are contrasted by mainstream-pop-tunes - Unfortunately the latter include Rain Must Fall and My Baby Does Me, two exceptionally poor tracks in the Queen repertoire. The Invisible Man also reminds of Queen's earlier attempts at funky-disco-style - but this time they pull it off much better, at least managing not to produce such annoying effects as on earlier albums.
Highlights are I Want It All (which - thanks to some heavy guitar work - is far superior to the shortened single version) and the closer Was It All Worth It.
As on A Kind Of Magic, the additional tracks on the CD (including a extended version of Invisible Man - sic...) are rather unfavorable for the overall impression.

The last Queen album before Freddie Mercury's death successfully combines elements from Queen's different periods, mixing them into their best album since A Night At The Opera.
The variety of styles is greater than on any Queen album from the 80's, ranging from spanish influences (Innuendo) over the carribean-style percussion of These Are The Days Of Our Lives to straight rock (Headlong). Even the oversized and multisectioned compositions (Inuuendo) and heavy choral elements (All God's People) typical for early Queen records can be spotted.
The mood of the album is darker and more melancholic than anything since Queen II, maybe (or maybe not...) reflecting Mercury's rapid decay due to his infection with HIV. One of the most astounding facts about this album: Although being in the very final stadium of his disease, Mercury delivered one of his strongest and most impressive vocal performances ever.
The definite highlights are opener Innuendo and the prophetic final track The Show Must Go On, without any weak tracks on the album except the rather poor Delilah.
As a whole, Innuendo cannot equal masterpieces like Sheer Heart Attack or A Night At The Opera, but it gets close - and it probably is more accessible for newcomers to Queen's music.