Queen II
Sheer Heart Attack
A Night at the Opera
News of the World
Jazz
The Game
Hot Space
The Works
The Miracle
Innuendo
Made in Heaven
So when one starts out as a young band in England in the early 70s, you do not exactly get the prime technology of the time to work with. This was of course true with Queen as they had to record this, their debut album at all hours of the morning (and it shows, lacking the gloss Queen would become known for), in between of course, selling clothes at the local market. Or whatever it is Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor were doing. Anyways, this here is actually a fine album for their circumstances, and points to the future Queen were about to embark on.
�Keep Yourself Alive� was I believe their first single, and it really is a great song. Brian May has an incredible guitar tone on here and scratches his way through a riff and intro that will be stuck in your head for days as soon as you here it, as will most of Queen�s work. This really should be a better known song for Queen, they are the ultimate singles band after all. �Doing All Right� is a weird sort of multi part song that showcases some great early examples of the vocal harmony Queen would become known for, however overall this song sort of limps along. Not really a highlight or even a middlelight at all.. �Great King Rat� has bad lyrics and clunky shifts in the song, but sounds cool in the end because of May�s guitar soloing, Taylor�s pounding marching drums, and a cowbell. Cowbell! RIDE THAT COWBELL! �My Fairy King� sort of looks towards the next album with its fantasy imagery and is my favorite song here. Also, this is really the first song in the Queen cannon that sounds appropriately operatic. Mercury really hits some high notes here and it is the prototype of all the multi part multi-dubbed songs to come.
�Liar� (or should I say: LIIIIAR!!) is an epic of sorts in that it�s over six minutes, even though it really has no right to be. It is a bit of a fan favorite and it is easy to see why. It is dramatic, bold, has some great playing all around by all the members and a lyric that is actually interesting. Confessions of a glam band I suppose. Plus it has hand claps. All one needs really. �The Night Comes Down� by Brian May is a fairly interesting ballad. There is some cool emotion on this song and it sounds a bit mystical and stripped down, something Queen would do to its full extent on their next album. �Modern Times Rock �n� Roll� is the Taylor written and sung tune. If one could call it a tune. It would take awhile before Taylor would actually begin to contribute good songs to the band. He doesn�t really have a singing voice either, so skip this one. �Son and Daughter� to use a cliche every review I�ve read on this says, is Led Zeppelinesque. It�s merely ok though, with its most interesting part being its gender bending lyrics. �Jesus� is definitely an oddity. Nothing spiritual about it at all, just a biographical rendition of the story of Jesus. Not that good either. Finally the short piano driven instrumental �Seven Seas of Rhye� which would be given a fuller arrangement and lyrics on the next album ends the festivities on a bit of a disappointing note. Well it was the debut after all.
Final Comment: Final Comment: Growing pains yes, but darn solid ones at that. Better times would come, but this one really is criminally neglected.
Score: **�
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