Queen made 15 albums in their original form and this was the 6th. They were formed by Brian May (born Hampton Hill ’47, lived in Hanworth) who had graduated with a BSc degree in Physics in ’68 but opted to continue with his band Smile. Roger Meadows Taylor (born Kings Lynn) was also in Smile. May famously built his own guitar from a piece of wood used as a mantel piece with help from his draughtsman father. Smille progressed to playing support to Free at the RAH. Smile vocalist Tim Staffell met Farrokh “Freddie” Bulsara at Ealing Art College. Freddie was born in Zanzibar (Tanzania) in ’46 but spent a lot of time in India, going to school and forming a teenage band. The family fled a revolution in Zanzibar to England in ’64 moving to Feltham when he was 18. While at college he and Taylor had a market stall selling Edwardian clothes but he also worked as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. John Deacon (born Leicester) joined Smile, partly because he was a first class honours electrical engineering student and could fix amps which must have appealed to May. Freddie became vocalist and they changed their name. He chose the name Queen knowing of the gay connotations but thinking it a strong name. He also changed his name to Mercury. Queen’s first two albums Queen (’73) and Queen ll (’74) are straightforward rock albums. I quite like the first one with it’s catchy single Keep Yourself Alive but that’s the stand out track. Queen ll is a bit po-faced and serious and again its single Seven Seas of Rhye is it’s best track (their first hit, 10 UK, which I remember hearing at the time in C&A, Kensington High St while trying on a pair of trousers, a bit random I know). It’s the only album of the first 8 I don’t have but I play it every now and then but it still does’t grab me. It lacks decent tunes (except the single and Nevermore which is sadly only 1:09 long) although most of the elements of their sound are in place. Roy Thomas Baker, who began producing them on this album is also very important with his multi-layered techniques. Although they obviously had a sense of humour (Queen ll has a track called The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke) they lightened up a lot on the 3rd album Sheer Heart Attack which was the first album I remember buying after hearing it at a friend of Dad’s in Swindon of all places. From here on into the mid 80s all Queen albums had at least 2 and up to 4 cracking singles. They were one of the best singles bands. I’m leaving the well known singles aside for this review from now on. SHA’s first side is about perfect starting with Brighton Rock (the best ROCK track they did for me) going through Flick of the Wrist and the lovely Lily of the Valley. The 2nd side can’t match it but the two ‘In The Lap of the Gods’ tracks which bookend it are great plus Stone Cold Crazy rocks nicely. Their sound is greatly helped by May’s playing (with it’s literally unique guitar sound) and Freddie’s singing aided by his huge vocal range. Also May and Taylor could also sing very well in harmony and sang lead on some tracks (Taylor had a huge range too). All 4 wrote songs including hit singles which helped greatly. SHA got them noticed but A Night at the Opera (’75) and A Day at the Races (’76) are their imperial phase. These albums are kinda similar and pretty consistent. ANATO has Death on Two Legs and Taylor’s I’m in Love with My Car but The Prophets Song is a bit overlong for me. Strangely I didn’t buy this album at the time. I do remember getting ADATRs for Christmas though and not being disappointed. I also remember Kenny Everett interviewing them on Capitol (his downfall in the long run 🙁 ). I really like Long Away (May on vocals), The Millionaire Waltz and Taylor’s Drowse. It also contains my fave single of theirs: Somebody to Love. Roy Thomas Baker was gone now and they self produced. They toured with Thin Lizzy as support, quite a line up. After this album punk hit Britain and they decided to just spend 2 rather than 6 months making News of the World (’77) to achieve a simpler, less layered, production. In fact the Sex Pistols were making NMTBollocks in the studio next the theirs and Johnny Rotten came in to see Freddie saying “Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?”. Freddie’s reply was “We’re doing our best, dear.”. This album is again consistent but starts with the perfect one-two of We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions which I don’t tire of. Along with the catchy single Spread Your Wings other great tracks include All Dead All Dead, a track with a strange but great beat in the chorus, Get Down Make Love which is a Freddie special and the last track, the bluesy My Melancholy Blues. One of his best vocal performances. The highlight though for me is It’s Late which is a 3 act song about a relationship but forget the lyrics as the music and vocals are top drawer Queen. In my top 3 of their tracks and it’s 6:36 long and doesn’t waste a second. The track Sheer Heart Attack was written for the earlier album. This track is LOUD (supposed to be punky) and had Annette running from the kitchen. NOTW and the previous 2 albums are named after Marx Brothers films. Perhaps ANATO and ADATRs are better albums but NOTW is for me more enjoyable. At the time NOTW was where I left the party and started listening to other bands but much later I backtracked to Jazz (’78). This is another good album with enjoyable album tracks like Let Me Entertain You, Dead on Time and the frankly potty Mustapha. The Game (’79) is much weaker and only the singles on that album cut the mustard for me. Because one of it’s singles Another One Bites The Dust was massive they decided to fill the next album Hot Space with disco songs on one side. I don’t know it and but its thought of as their worst album. The Works (’84) is good but I don’t have any albums after this. A Kind of Magic (’86) is songs mostly from the film Highlander and came out after their triumphant Live Aid performance. I really wish I’d seen them at the time (also when Pat saw them in Hyde Park in ’76) but I just have to make-do with the 4 live albums I’ve bought in charity shops. They’re all enjoyable. There is also a triple Best Of with many of the later tracks but for me the albums are increasingly air-brushed although they do rock on some tracks. Of course it all came to a sad end with Freddie’s death but they carried on eventually down to May and Taylor with guest vocalists. Their 70s sound was the peak for me although they still made good and sometimes great singles up to the end of the classic lineup. Albums 3 to 7 are my favourites though. A great original band with a one of the best vocalists in rock history plus 3 other multi talented members. 16/20. Fave tracks: It’s Late, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions. (Spotify 48M)
