What? No Queen board?

This post is not really Queen itself, but Queen's music.

Caught "We Will Rock You" in Vegas. A bit thin on plot, but great use of Queen music.

For some reason, I've never been a big Queen fan at all. I'm not sure exactly why, but none of the Queen hits I've ever heard on radio excite me tremendously (although "Another One Bites The Dust" and "We Are The Champions" are nice).

I've been meaning to check out the first-ever Queen album, though, because Martin Popoff raves about it in his Seventies Metal Guide, calling it one of the greatest records ever made and listing it only behind Zep's Physical Graffiti as his favorite metal album of the decade.

The first album is most excellent. It's not a typical Queen album, but, then, there really isn't a typical Queen album. The second album is pretty good, too; it's kind of fantasy-oriented, with a lot of ogres and fairies, and I think I hear some harpsichord in there. After those two, they start to become famous and the albums begin to have songs that people (other than me) have actually heard of.

I am not a huge fan of Queen II. The first album was ok (some good tracks on there) but it really was very overblown and even though they used no synthesizers they just overdubbd the guitar so many times more.

My Top 5 Queen Albums
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1. "A Kind Of Magic"- Some of the most bombastic and in your face rock from an era that really had nothing much in that department. Not only that, but it contains the haunting "Who Wants To Live Forever", one of the finest ballads Queen ever wrote.

2. "The Works"- An amazing album of fantastic songs. Certainly contains no less than four massive hits for the band- "Radio Ga Ga", "I Want To Break Free", "Hammer To Fall" and "It's A Hard Life".

3. "Made In Heaven"- a truly beautiful final tribute to dear departed friend. Some reworked material from Freddie's "Mr. Bad Guy" album but mostly new songs never finished. This is an amazing acheivement.

4. "A Night At The Opera"- Their best 70's album. Apart from the seminal "Bohemian Rhapsody", it also contains such gems as "I'm In Love With My Car" and "The Prophet's Song" (A personal fav.)

5."Jazz"- Often overlooked but containing the big hits "Bicycle Race" and "Fat Bottomed Girls" it really shows a band confident in their song writing and recording skills. Freddie sounds in total command of his voice throughout.

By Bottom 5 Queen Albums
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1. "Hot Space"- Queen's foray into disco- about 8 years after everyone stopped caring about the genre. Some good stuff ("Under Pressure" and "Las Palabras") but ultimately woeful.

2."Innuendo"- In the wake of Freddie's death, this album was reassessed but I still feel it is a grossly self-indulgent piece full of over-production and pointless lyrics. Once again, some good moments though. It's sad that this was the final release of original studio material during Freddie's life.

3."Queen II"- This album shows that they thought they were bigger than what they actually were. With the exception of the final number ("Seven Seas Of Rhye"), this album is totally pointless and meandering. Very forgettable.

4."Greatest Hits III"- The, hopefully, last grab for cash from this band. Hardly any Queen songs, but many solo efforts (except Roger Taylors') and mindless (c)rap renditions of their hits. Yuck.

5. "Live At Wembley '86"- Released shortly after Freddie's death this is a poor example of their live act. Missed entries, swearing a-plenty, meandering jams. Get "Live magic" instead- it loses the filler. IMHO that the dvd of the same show is much better to stomach. It's not a n overly visual show per se, but Freddie has a way of sucking you in and being enthralled. What an entertainer.

That's bordering on a Luigi-length rant now....all I need is some different colours in there. Maybe next time...

I have to agree with rodney on his top two queen albums.

Their songs from A Kind of Magic just made the Highlander movie all that and the icing too. I also knew a person who had Who wants to live played at his funeral.

Their best period was the 'nobody played a synth' days, from the first album up to Jazz/Killers. Although The Game was good, it marked a new direction of dance music. By the time we get to The Miracle, the songs are no longer written by individual members but as a group and something is lost. Since Another One Bites The Dust, an increasing number of songs begin with a simplistic bass riff comprising of three tones. Gone are the days of through-composed songs like March of the Black Queen (a precursor to BoRhap)

That said, there's something I like about every single album, even Hot Space, I just think that from a songwriting perspective, they went downhill after The Game, even though they could still write good hooks.

Kevin- I think there was a time (1980-1986) when I think they still balanced out the synths from the band nicely, around "Magic" they keys started taking over quite prominently.
You're certainly not alone in your opinion, I know quite a few people that agree with your view. I have a book that defines Queen as "Great singles, duff albums" [nb- duff- British word for rubbish]
Like you, I find good stuff on every album, just some have more good stuff than others.
Also the combined credits were purely a financial thing to split royalties more evenly, the band members still wrote their own songs largely.

Yeah, I didn't really mean they were better because nobody played a synth and could have been clearer on that. In fact, I think they did a good job of using them without relying on them. It's just that before then, every song was either a guitar song, a piano song or a combination of the two, depending a bit on who wrote it. In later years, it kind of flattened out and become somewhat more homogenous. I know that each song was still basically written by one person, but you can hear more of a group effort, and not in a good way. I think by this time, each person would bring in a half-written song or just a general idea and the others would flesh it out, whereas before, each songwriter would bring a more finished product to the others. The group writing adds to the homogenous sound.

Really, I think it basically boils down to whether you prefer rock music or dance music, or the 70s or the 80s. The answer to that largely determine whether you'll perfer the earlier stuff or the later.

However, I won't say 'great singles, duff albums' band, not by a long shot. Queen themselves always said they were an albums band and I agree. Further, some of their non-hit albums tracks are among their best, including:

I: My Fairy King and Mad the Swine (what a great surprise when the CD came out!)

II: White Queen, March of the Black Queen

SHA: Flick of the Wrist, Lap of the Gods (both, but especially Revisited)

ANATO: Death on Two Legs, '39, Prophet's Song

ADATR: White Man, Teo Toriatte

NotW: Spread Your Wings, It's Late

Jazz: Let Me Entertain you, Dreamer's Ball, Leaving Home Ain't Easy (a very underrated little gem)

Game: Need Your Loving, Sail Away Sweet Sister

Hot Space. Well...has its moments. Life is Real. Staying Power and Cool Cat are good for what they are.

Works: Hard Life, Open Windows

Kind of Magic: Friend Will be Friends, Who Wants to Live Forever? (or were those two hits?)

Miracle: (This is where it really starts sounding like one song to me) I Want it All was a single, so...Was it All Worth It?

Innuendo: I heard the title track before the album came out and I really thought it would be a return to form. It wasn't, though it was a slight improvement. I like 'Headlong' but only after hearing Brian do it live on the Brixton album.

Made in Heaven: Hard to be too critical of this song when so much of it is about life, death and the afterlife. Mother Love. (Really prefer Brian's version of 'Too Much Love' though. Freddie's a better singer of course, but that's the problem: he pulls it off too effortlessly.)

It's amazing how many good songs there are on the various albums that no one knows about because they were never released as singles. As the full catalogue gradually disappears from record stores, leaving the general public with only "greatest Hits"-type discs, a lot of that stuff will be effectively erased. Can you be a Queen fan without having heard "Liar" or "Great King Rat"? I think not.

Actually, in recent years, the trend has been (happily) to bring BACK into record stores the old albums of classic bands, many of which have been out of print and unavailible for years, if not decades. Just from browsing in record stores, I've seen that several of Queen's earliest albums have been given brand new handsome remaster editions, however I don't know if the entire back catalog is currently availible.

Todd- about 10 or so years ago Hollywood records released their entire back catalogue with bonus tracks. Most of these tracks were simple remixes of old songs but there were several b-sides (such as Kevin's fav. "Mad The Swine" and my fav. (in fact I would rate it as one of their top 10 songs ever) "I Go Crazy"). Like Led Zep., Queen didn't leave a lot of finished songs on the cutting room floor. Although, when they released the Miracle there were at least 4 b-sides that accompanied that album- "Hang On In There", "HiJack My Heart" (and a couple more I can't remember).

Kevin- I agree with pretty well all your list of favourite non-single numbers. I would add "Sheer Heart Attack" from "News Of The World" and "Dead On Time" from "Jazz", but hey, on man's coffee is another man's tea..

I must also say that Brian and Roger (and to a lesser extent John) have really handled the usage of the Queen name well since Freddie's death. They waited several years before putting out "Made In Heaven", a few more years before doing the "We Will Rock You" musical and are only touring as Queen (without John Deacon, but with Paul Rodgers!).

Regarding the availability of Queen discs; those remasters are from 1991 (celebrating twenty years together as a band and released in conjunction with Innuendo). It had just seemed to me that they were turning up in record stores less and less, and for all I knew they were out of "print" (an affront to music, but those things happen). A cursory search on Amazon reveals all fifteen original studio albums available for shipping within 24 hours, though, so maybe they haven't faded into obscurity yet.

Here's an old question, one that divides many fans: who sings 'Sheer Heart Attack'?

Some people say Freddie, some Roger, while others say two takes, one of each, were spliced together.

If the insert to the CD is any indication, it's Freddie. The insert to News of the World (which includes the original album's liner notes/lyric sheets), lists when Brian or Roger sing a song. On "Sheer Heart Attack" it only states that Roger did the Bass and Rhythm Guitars for the track. On "All Dead, All Dead", Brian and Freddie are listed as the vocalists. On "Fight From the Inside", Roger is listed as the vocalist. Brian is credited as vocalist on "Sleeping On the Sidewalk." So considering that "SHA" does not specify a singer, I'd say it's Mercury.

np - "Crazy Frog- Axl F" (Yes, I know it's annoying. But so am I. Maybe that's why I love the song so much. Does anyone know who did it?)

"Music is forever." - Paul Simon

For that reason, I always thought it was Freddie as well. It wasn't until the Internet came out that I heard of any alternate theories.

Although their voices don't sound anything alike, now that I've heard the other theories, it's nonetheless hard to tell from listening.

So Paul Rodgers is currently touring as the vocalist of the reformed Queen. I wonder how the mix is going? While Rodgers in unquestionably one of the greatest vocalist in rock history, his style seems more suited to the down-to-earth bare-bones rock of Free and Bad Company. He doesn't seem at all to me compatible with the highly orchestrated theatrical pomp of Queen.

I had the same feeling too Todd, but I saw him at the Rock In Rio festival with the band and he's good. They've been careful to select songs that he can sing well, and I'm pleased that he actually is singing Bad Company and Free stuff. Of course, being the first gig for the band he was very nervous with the Queen stuff and used an autocue (which didn't stop him from screwing up the lyrics) but I'm sure that as the tour progressed he got better. of course, his own stuff was presented with much more flair and ease!

Sorry....meant the Nelson Mandela benefit concert, not ROck In Rio.

Sorry....meant the Nelson Mandela benefit concert, not Rock In Rio.