Talon -- sorry for the curve -- I got inspired by relistening to Adam's whole albums and switched this one on you!
>> Today, I get to listen to Queen 4th album because I am listening to them in order.
>> And the Queen albums were intended to be listened to in sequence by side vs. as playlist tracks. The experience was so different.
Glad you did SHA song because it deserved to be covered!
Oh that's fine! I don't mind a curveball now and again - makes it interesting
And I agree on the albums - especially the 70s ones.
I love the progression:
QUEEN - A band at infancy. Raw, discovering each other, discovering the studio. Not a cohesive album, but exciting.
QUEEN II - A band finally at home in the studio being able to do things they never got to do before. They really put everything into the studio work and it shows. Many Queen fans list this as their favorite album, including myself. However it is Queen for the first time REALLY discovering who Queen is. They wouldn't solidify themselves til probably the 4th album.
SHEER HEART ATTACK - After some criticism about being overblown, the band concentrated on writing short punchy songs, that retained the Queen identity. And boy did they succeed. Some of their best work. Many rockers cite this as their favorite Queen album and it makes sense. Despite writing shorter songs, they really showed great progression from Queen II
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA - This is it. This is where it all came together. The band knew who they were and what they wanted and how to deliver it. The quintessential Queen album.
A DAY AT THE RACES - Wrongly criticized for being a son-of Opera by those who didn't understand. The band stated from the get go that this was meant to be a companion piece for Opera, thus the name, thus the album cover. The songs were written mostly at the same time so it really is more of an extension. Some Queen fans prefer Races!
NEWS OF THE WORLD - The band had taken the overproduction as far as it could go so what to do? Go completely opposite and see if they could do a raw rock album. And they succeeded quite nicely. Still a highly rated star quality effort with some of my favs.
JAZZ - THIS is the first album that I saw as a bit of a misstep. It seemed for the first time they didn't have a plan or direction. They didn't know what to do so they brought back in Roy Thomas Baker (who produced Queen II, SHA, and ANATO). The songs were not shabby, but it was not a very cohesive effort and the first that could be considered a bit lackluster.
THE GAME - They got their groove back. With a new producer, and a new sound, the band introduced synths and had a direction again. It was a more poppier effort, but it was definitely cohesive again.
FLASH - Kind of an outlier but it was unique to have a rock band perform a full musical score. Nice to see some experimentation
HOT SPACE - Very polarizing and Queen fans least favorite album generally. I will give them the credit for trying to broaden their horizon and experiment with different sounds but to me the disconnect started with the band working more and more separate and more and more electronic rather than organic.
THE WORKS - This is what I called...the Safe album. This was Queen trying to rebound from Hot Space and deliver the classic Queen sound. To me it gave us a lot of "son-of" type songs. Tear It Up was We WIll Rock You. It's A Hard Life was Play The Game (although better), Is This The World tried to be Love Of My Life, Man On The Prowl tried to be Crazy Little Thing. Hammer To Fall was the prototypical Queen rocker like TYMD. Not a BAD album at all...just nothing daring.
A KIND OF MAGIC - Hard to say what I think about this album. It's fractured by its very nature. It's partially a soundtrack to Highlander, an older single, and a smattering of new songs. In this case I like the pieces rather than the sum of their parts. Some good stuff but could be better - It was very successful.
THE MIRACLE - This was a return to form in approach if not quite in results. The band finally grew back together as a band and wrote and jammed together. The songwriting credits were listed as by Queen instead of individuals. A lot of Queen fans are not fans of this album though I think it's underrated. It was to me a step back in the right direction and you can hear them gelling as a band again.
INNUENDO - THIS was the true return to form. The approach was continued and the band really wrote a greatest hits type album but not in a derivative fashion. It was more highlighting the sounds of the past...Innuendo harkened back to the 70s epics, Slightly Mad was almost vaudevillian, Headlong was the typical Brian May rocker, Ride The Wild Wind was a true Roger mid tempo rocker, Bijou was a great Brian solo, Show Must Go On power ballad extraordinare. One of my favorite albums by the band. A nice swan song.
MADE IN HEAVEN - Hard to judge as it's not a true Queen album as Freddie wasn't around. BUT the 3 remaining did a great job making a true cohesive album out of bits and pieces. A nice epilogue with some beautiful moments.
And yes, Sheer Heart Attack is a great song!
