NEWS OF THE WORLD

"News of the World" generally features Queen in a more rock oriented and stripped down version compared to the more flamboyant/theatrical predecessors. Sure Queen had always had a rock oriented sound and some tracks on earlier releases are very direct and hard rocking, but on "News of the World" the band go for a less layered sound than usual. There are of course still the trademark extensive use of choirs and harmony vocals in the music but it´s like the lead vocals are given more room here.

The album opens with what is arguably two of the band´s greatest "classics" in the stripped down and quite original "We Will Rock You" and the anthemic "We Are the Champions" and from there until the end of the album we are treated to the band´s usual eclectic genre blend. Queen´s music simply defies catagorization and I guess "rock" is the closest we get to a genre term. We get hard rockers like "Sheer Heart Attack" and "It´s Late" but also some more "experiemental" tracks like "All Dead, All Dead" and "Get Down, Make Love". The brilliant and epic "Spread Your Wings" deserves a special mention too.

There are a couple of more standard quality tracks on the album but they are far outnumbered by high quality material and overall "News of the World" comes off as an excellent release to these ears. I really like how they tightened up their sound without sacrificing integrity or adventurous songwriting. A 4 star rating (80%) is deserved.

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