Killer Queen is about a call girl…
And she’s guaranteed to blow your, err, mind.
…
At some point or another, everybody likes Queen.
Listen to “Princes of the Universe”
It will help kick your habit.
My lady-pal vetoed naming our baby Farouk after Senor Bulsara, but only just barely. It was going to be his middle name until we went with Malik.
Next time, Freddy! I promise (to try again)!
That is perhaps one of the most awesome things I have ever witnessed in my life.
Resurrection!
After watching the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody”, I got home and discovered Spotify seems to have a really extensive Queen catalog.
Time to start from the beginning!
Oh man, this is already amazing. The album Queen (Deluxe Remastered) starts off with Keep Yourself Alive, which I’ve heard a lot. And then goes into two songs I’ve never heard before: Doing Alright and Great King Rat. Both of these songs have really great guitar riffs and Doing Alright has some really interesting changes in pace.
I’m going down the rabbit hole!
The first two Queen records are pretty bad. Just misguided attempts to join glam and prog that never really come together…“Keep Yourself Alive” being the main exception.
Sheer Heart Attack is when they stopped trying to be Yes. Or Bowie. Or both. SHA is when they became their own thing.
I could never get into Queen. No doubt they have talent. But their music creeps me out a little. (As does a lot of 70s music.) Lady Gaga is more listenable, IMO.
I quite like the first two albums–certainly better than anything after “Jazz.” King Rat is a fun song, Doing All Right is very nice a cappella work. I really like Seven Seas of Rhye too. There is some oddly religious music on there, interestingly. I think Liar and The Night Comes Down are also good work. The second album isn’t as strong, but Father to Son and Loser in the End are good enough.
Neither album is as polished as their later work, but that isn’t surprising.
Frankly, Hot Space and beyond are mostly unlistenable in my opinion. I do enjoy the Flash Gordon soundtrack, though.
[jaw drops] You’re not making any sense. Please see a psychologist.
70’s music creeps you out? In what way?
Mid-to-late 70s music was kind of grimy and sleazy IMO. Many showers/baths were not taken. Compare that with the youthful earnestness of 60s music, or the crisp freshness of 80s music. I can’t really think of any music from this time period that I actually like. Pink Floyd maybe? Some punk rock?
I really like a few queen songs but could never get into them completely. Had Night at the Opera and some other earlier one and it was a mixed bag for me. Would liked one song on an album, then would hate the next.
They were interesting, my god could Mercury sing, and May had a unique style and tone. But they never did it for me. The bands of the 70s that did are Genesis, King Crimson, RUSH, Yes, Gentle Giant. I think Queen was perhaps too “pop” or dare I say, playful for me. Haven’t heard those albums in over 20 years though, so maybe time to dig them up.
I dig Queen’s straight up rock ‘n roll stuff, less interested in the operatic stuff. I agree though, dude could sing.
To me, what makes Queen absolutely unique is how they mix everything. They’ve got the hard rock guitar riffs, mixed with a melodious harmony singing in parts, mixed with symphonic orchestra sounds in parts, mixed with electronic keyboards in parts, mixed with sometimes bonkers sometimes clever lyrics. It really shouldn’t work, and yet, it does.
It’s also interesting listening now to some of these albums. The Greatest Hits/Classic Queen albums that I’ve been listening to for decades now must have the single version of some of these songs. “I Want it All”, for instance, on Classic Queen, starts with the band singing in harmony, all singing “I Want it All. I want it all. I want it aaaaall. And I want it nooooooow”, and then it kicks into the guitar. That sounds so much more polished than what’s on the album. The album version is still good, but it lacks that extra bit of polish that elevates it from a good song to a classic.
On the other hand, I found the opposite in some ways for a song like “The Invisible Man”. I remember when that single came out in the late 80s. It’s a relatively simple electronic number that’s just a straight up Pop song. But listening to the album version now, it has an interlude in the song where Brian May’s guitars kick in rock the hell out. I’m enjoying this version much better than the shortened version that was on the radio.
So, an image thing then?
Or studio production technique?
Still not quite sure where you’re coming from.
I haven’t yet written my own Queen appreciation essay, I realize.
Because it would take far too many words, as I have complex reactions to their music, from song to song, album to album, and era to era.
My first Queen album was not A Night At The Opera (Nov '75). It would have been, but by the time I had saved up enough allowance to buy it, it was off the shelf at Penney’s (the closest place I could buy records, and yes they sold them), and replaced by “A Day At The Races” (Dec '76) - I still cannot get over how fast bands would turn out quality albums back then. Some bands did two or three albums per year, and they were good albums!
Anyway, looking back now, A Night At The Opera was a better album overall, but I consider those two albums almost as a single thing. As a teen, I was hugely impressed at the fantastic range of musical styles they incorporated. Sure, some of it took a long time to grow on me, but it always did.
However, instead of getting every album after that, I went the other way, and gradually saved up for and purchased their previous work. That done, I gave Queen a break for a decade or so, and then bought their newer stuff, which I generally liked less.
For me, the cut-off time where they went from “genius” to merely “very good” was after “A Day At The Races”.
With a few exceptions. For instance, I adored “Innuendo”.
I’ve always said that A Day At The Races and A Night At The Opera are basically a double album. And the peak of their talents. Damn but I love listening to The Prophet’s Song.