THE GAME

Is this a great album?? Yes it is. If you are expecting something like another "Opera" or "Races" you will NOT find it here. Nor does it sound like "News Of The World" or "Jazz" for that matter. Any die-hard Queen fan will tell you that the beauty behind what Queen does is the fact that they never do it twice!!! While there are still AC/DC fans out there, which I can't understand, that listen to 30 years of albums that sound exactly alike, there are even more people who like diversity!!!

There is nothing wrong with those people who enjoy familiarity and decide to stick with a band because of their fear to change. Then there are Queen fans who love them because Queen refused to walk the same course and refused to record the same album twice...how else can you explain their progress from hard rock to pomp / pop rock to heavy metal to epic to vaudeville...you get the point!!

The early 80's were a hell of time for music!!! By this time the classic prog bands were dying off quickly!! Yes released the Anderson-less "Drama" album, Genesis released their modern pop with "Duke", Kind Crimson made a complete mistake after a 7-year hiatus with the dreadful "Discipline" and it didn't get any better for many other bands of the time. Queen decided to record an album that couldn't be classified and the result was "The Game."

All of Queen's trademarks are here, whether you choose to hear them or not is your problem. Sure, instead of heavy rock you instead get a strange mix of rockabilly, funk, pop, and even R&B. Songs like "Crazy Little Thing...", "...Bites The Dust", "Don't Try Suicide" and others could NEVER have been recorded by another band and been successful. Queen was quirky to say the least and this album proved that. Still containing several great rock tracks including "Play The Game", "Dragon Attack", and "Rock It", you have several other lighter tunes in the form of the beautiful "Sail Away Sweet Sister" and the COMPLETELY Queen song "Save Me."

Sure this is different than their 1970's output. I can't name any band that continued to record 1970's music in the 1980's. It is a way to survive for any band...to change with the times!!!!! If not for "Duke" and "Abacab" Genesis would have split up a decade before they did. If not for "90125" Yes probably never would have re-grouped after the "Tormato / Drama" debacle. Yet, these prog bands that moved into pop territory are still around today because they changed with the times.

Certain bands like "Camel" and "King Crimson" tried as well but never seemed to capture the chemistry...although both bands have come full circle and are better now than they have been in 20 years!!!! I've rambled enough, but realize that Queen did this to be different and the MILLIONS who purchased this album and gave them several #1 singles from it understood the point!!!!!!!!