SHEER HEART ATTACK

After the relative succes of Queen II, that album sold well, but got heavily critisised along the way by the music press for self-indulgence and overblown pretentions, Queen had to come up with a follow-up album that would silence the opposition. Unfortunatly Brian May got sick, and the recordings had to begin without him, that's probably the main reason "Sheer Heart Attack" is generally less heavy compared to it's predessesors.

With the succes of the single "Killer Queen" and subsequent succes of the album, Queen became an established band with "Sheer Heart Attack". It's a great album, with many different musical influences, it's more catchy and less complex than Queen II, but a great experience nonetheless.

1. Brighton Rock (5:08) Starting with carnival/fairground sounds, featuring someone (guess Roger) whistling the melodie from the Seven seas Of Rhye outro, which ended the previous album, after that the song takes the form of a hard rock piece, with brilliant vocal lines from Freddie, and of course the legendary guitar solo, that originated in Smile (pre-Queen band), where it was played as a solo-break in the song "Blag". in this version the harmonised canon solo is played with one repeat, in future live versions it will be worked out further to have two repeats. Brilliant solo. 2. Killer Queen (2:57) Written at the time May was ill, but they saved some room for him to add some of his guitar wizardry, really brilliant, it appears so simple, but as ussual the subdivisions in Mercury's writing lift it up to be great.

3. Tenement Funster (2:48) roger Taylor song, he added a bit more melodie in this song than he generally did in the seventies, the outro piano part, move on to the next song in line, the venemously 4. Flick of the Wrist (3:46) a great song, with arabic sounding background guitar, heavy dark rhythm and fast changes, after a mind boggling final section the song jumps right into the beautifull 5. Lily of the Valley (1:43) piano based song, with beautifull vocals from Freddie, and some nice guitar arrangement at the end (really short). 6. Now I'm Here (4:10) reasonable good guitar rock, the lyrics are based on their previous tour with "Mott The Hoople" .

7. In the Lap of the Gods (3:20) High sreams open this weird piece, with pitch and speed changes of the vocals, great piano, and a background screaming by Roger Taylor. The piano line at the end is really great and leads us to 8. Stone Cold Crazy (2:12). Songwriting credits go to the band, but originated in Freddie's Wreckage days. Heavy metal, with a great guitar solo from Brian and sudden changes, brilliant high paced rocker. 9. Dear Friends (1:07) piano, really a sad song, for a lullabie that is, the next is more cheerfull, the first John Deacon penned song to appear on a Queen album 10. Misfire (1:50) great cheerfull tune, with fabulous guitar playand beautifully sung by Freddie.

11. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (2:13) inspired by the Pointer Sisters Freddie writes a complex fast vaudevillian type of brilliance, really joyfull. 12. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes) (4:08) I didn't liked this song the first couple of spins, but over the years I've begun to appreciate it more and more. Brian sings this song, and once you've started liking this, you'll keep coming back for this one, hypnotising. 13. In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited (3:42) Fabulous song, the final section is wonderfull, and everything that preceeds it is working it's way up to the climaxing final. Marvelous.

A great album, with a huge variety in styles and certainly among the best Queen records ever. Highly recommended, but not Queen's best, those would be "A Night At The Opera" and "Queen II" but after that, Four stars.