SHEER HEART ATTACK

I have to say that from a progressive rock point of view, I do consider Sheer Heart Attack to be inferior to both the album that preceeded it (Queen II) and the one that followed (A Night At The Opera).

Perhaps it is an unfair judgement, for Sheer Heart Attack has a wide eclectic range of songs, most of them excellent, and quite a few of them with a counterpart on either Queen II (compare Lily Of The Valley to Nevermore) or A Night At The Opera (the music hall vibe of Bring Back That Leroy Brown is echoed in Seaside Rendezvous and Lazin On A Sunday Afternoon, while Flick Of The Wrist and Death On Two Legs have many things in common).

Nonetheless despite containing the two brilliant quasi-fantasy pieces In The Lap Of The Gods and In the Lap Of The Gods ... Revisited, a trio of searing rock work-outs (Brighton Rock, Now I'm Here and Stone Cold Crazy), the unbelievably clever and infectious Mercury- penned hit single Killer Queen and my favourite Brian May and Roger Taylor lead vocals (She Makes Me and Tenement Funster respectively), I must repeat my belief that Sheer Heart Attack isn't an essential prog-rock experience in the way that Queen, Queen II and A Night At The Opera are. It's still a great rock album though and I can't see any classic rock fan failing to enjoy this one. ... 67% on the MPV scale