QUEEN

Review Nº 707

"Forever" is a compilation of Queen released in 2014 with tracks from almost all their studio albums with the exception of their eponymous debut and "Flash Gordon". It has one track from "Queen II", three from "Sheer Heart Attack", three from "A Night At The Opera", four from "A Day At The Races", one from "News Of The World", one from "Jazz", four from "The Game", one from "Hot Space", two from "The Works", three from "A Kind Of Magic", one from "The Miracle", three from "Innuendo" and five from "Made In Heaven". It has also two non- album's tracks and two Mercury's tracks.

"Forever" has thirty-six tracks. "Nevermore" is from "Queen II". It's a short nice piano ballad with tempo changes that appear a couple of times. "Dear Friends", "Lily Of The Valley" and "In The Lap Of The Gods..." are from "Sheer Heart Attack". "Dear Friends" is a short ballad with piano and voice. It's beautiful and sad. "Lily Of The Valley" is a short song with a beautiful melody. "In The Lap Of The Gods..." is a strange piece with great changes on vocals. It has a great piano work. "You're My Best Friend", "Love Of My Life" and "'39" are from "A Night At The Opera". "You're My Best Friend" is a beautiful and catchy song with nice harmonies. "Love Of My Life" is a beautiful and catchy ballad, probably one of the best I've heard. "'39" is a nice acoustic ballad with great guitar work and beautiful harmonies. "Drowse", "You Take My Breath Away", "Long Away" and "Somebody To Love" are from "A Day At The Races". "Drowse" is a nice song, but it's nothing more than that. "You Take My Breath Away" is a lovely ballad, a mellow piano number with a great vocal performance by Mercury. "Long Away" is a beautiful and pleasant song with great vocals from Mercury and Taylor. "Somebody To Love" has complex harmonies, great guitar solos and a nice gospel choir. "Spread Your Wings" is from "News Of The World". It's a nice rock ballad with good guitar harmonies. "Jealousy" is from "Jazz". It's a typical ballad with a great vocal work and a nice acoustic guitar playing. "Play The Game", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Save Me" and "Sail Away Sweet Sister" are from "The Game". "Play The Game" is a powerful, nice and an emotional ballad. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a nice song that sounds to the 50's. It was a nice tribute to Elvis. "Save Me" is a great song with touching and beautiful lyrics, nice harmonies and a great guitar work. "Sail Away Sweet Sister" is an acoustic ballad, one of the best and most beautiful compositions by May. "Las Palabras De Amor" is from "Hot Space". It's a rock ballad nicely sung with good acoustic guitar work and a nice synthesizer performance. "It's A Hard Life" and "Is This The World We Created...?" are from "The Works". "It's A Hard Life" is an excellent song with a simple structure and a beautiful melody. "Is This The World We Created...?" is a nice acoustic ballad made for the acoustic guitar of May and the voice of Mercury. "Who Wants To Live Forever", "Friends Will Be Friends" and "One Year Of Love" are from "A Kind Of Magic". "Who Wants To Live Forever" is one of their most emotional ballads. "Friends Will Be Friends" is a beautiful song with good lyrics, one of the most well known Queen's songs. "One Year Of Love" is a nice calm slow ballad with a beautiful saxophone solo work and great string orchestral arrangements. "The Miracle" is from "The Miracle". It's a creative song with complex musical arrangements. "Don't Try So Hard", "Bijou" and "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" are from "Innuendo". "Don't Try So Hard" is a great ballad, one of their most beautiful. "Bijou" is an enjoyable song, mostly a guitar solo piece. "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" is an emotional song. It's the last farewell of Mercury. "I Was Born To Love You", "A Winter's Tale", "Mother Love", "Made In Heaven" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You" are from "Made In Heaven". "I Was Born To Love You" is a nice song to hear. "A Winter's Tale" is a nice song, the last song composed solely by Mercury recorded two weeks before his dead. "Mother Love" is a good and beautiful song with sad and depressing lyrics. "Made In Heaven" is an enjoyable thoughtful good rocking track. "Too Much Love Will Kill You" is a nice song that I like very much. "Let Me In Your Heart Again" and "Forever" are non-album's tracks. "Let Me In Your Heart Again" is a nice single with new arrangements recorded during of "The Works". "Forever" is a piano version of "Who Wants To Live Forever". "Love Kills" and "There Must Be More To Life Than This" are from Mercury. "Love Kills" is a nice song originally used in Giorgio Moroder's film "Metropolis". "There Must Be More To Life Than This" is a Mercury's song from his "Mr. Bad Guy" solo work initially made to "Hot Space".

Conclusion: "Forever" is a good compilation album of Queen that covers practically almost their entire career. Only two of their studio albums aren't represented here, "Queen" and "Flash Gordon". If in the case of "Flash Gordon" that is perfectly understandable because it's a soundtrack album, I cannot say the same about their debut. "Queen" is a great album, one of their best and most progressive works. It has many great tracks that could be part of it, such as, "Great King Rat" and "My Fairy King". Anyway, that couldn't be enough to put "Forever" as a bad compilation. Besides, all tracks recorded on "Forever" were all re-mastered versions. So, this is a nice starting point to begin with this band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 696

"The Works" is the eleventh studio album of Queen and that was released in 1984. It became, without any doubt, a partial return to their beginning rock roots, after their previous studio album "Hot Space", although with a much lighter musical approach. It isn't entirely a classic Queen's album, but it's more on the safe ground. It became the heaviest electronic album amongst all their albums too. In comparison with their previous studio album, rock was mostly absent on "Hot Space", which was substituted by dance and funk music, with the massive use of the synthesizers and brass. The band praised the album, saying that they were hoped that it helped re-established the band, especially in Europe.

"The Works" has nine tracks. The first track "Radio Ga Ga" written by Roger Taylor was the first single from the album, with "I Go Crazy" by Brian May, on the B side of the single. The single was a worldwide success from the band, and became as one of the biggest hits of Queen. Lyrically, it's a protest song against the growing influence of music videos on the record sales, against the musical quality itself. Musically, it's an excellent song and probably it became the best song ever written by Roger Taylor to the band. The video for the song, which was directed by David Mallet, was made especially with the additions of scenes of the restored version of Giorgio Moroder's "Metropolis", of Fritz Lang's science fiction movie "Metropolis", made in 1927. The second track "Tear It Up" written by Brian May was the song chosen to be released as the B side of their single "Hammer To Fall". It's completely different from the previous song on the album. It's a hard song in the same vein of some of the old songs of the band. It's clearly a typical Brian May's song. The final result is a nice and good rock song pleasant to hear. The third track "It's A Hard Life" written by Freddie Mercury was a song chosen to be released as the third single of the album, with "Is This The World We Created??" as the B side. It's a song recorded much close to the sound of the earlier Queen's albums in which they didn't use synthesizers. This is an excellent song with a simple musical structure and a beautiful melody. This is, in my opinion, one of the highlights on the album. The fourth track "Man On The Prowl" written by Freddie Mercury is a song that sounds too much close to the rock of the 50's. This is another song written by Freddie Mercury as a tribute to Elvis Presley. It sounds completely different from the rest of the album. As you know, I don't like particularly of the rock of the 50's, and for me, this is one of the weakest songs on the album. The fifth track "Machines (Or 'Back To Humans')" written by Brian May and Roger Taylor was the song released as the B side of their single "I Want To Break Free". It's a very strange song that starts completely electronic and that sounds as a music battle of a future war between humans and machines. It's an interesting rock song with a good musical performance, especially the guitar work of Brian May, which is very pleasant and nice to hear. The sixth track "I Want To Break Free" written by John Deacon was the song chosen as the second single of the album. Curiously, the song had three different versions, album, single and extended version, differing in length and in some factors. It became the second hit single of the album. This is a great song with a catchy melody and an excellent vocal performance. However, this is only a pop song without any kind of progressivity. The seventh track "Keep Passing The Open Windows" written by Freddie Mercury was a song originally written to be part of the film "Hotel New Hampshire" but didn't make part of the final soundtrack of it. It's a good song with a simple musical structure, a beautiful melody and a nice piano performance. The eighth track "Hammer To Fall" written by Brian May was the fourth and final single to be released from the album. The song harks back to Queen's old sound, built around a hard and muscular guitar riff. It became as one of their live favourite songs. Probably, this song became with "It's A Hard Life", the two songs that most of the earlier Queen's fans should better tolerate from this album, because both are almost two classic Queen's songs. The ninth track "Is This The World We Created??" written by Freddie Mercury and Brian May was the B side of their third single, "It's A Hard Life". It's a beautiful acoustic ballad composed only for the acoustic guitar of Brian May and to the voice of Freddie Mercury. This is a nice way to finish the album.

Conclusion: "The Works" is, without any doubt, a good Queen's album with some great and beautiful musical moments. I've no doubt in saying that "The Works" is undoubtedly the best studio album of Queen since their seventh studio album "Jazz". Compared with their previous studio album "Hot Space", we can even say that "The Works" is a real masterpiece. In my humble opinion, this is a very cohesive and balanced album with only one weak song "Man On The Prowl". By the other hand it has some great musical moments, especially "It's A Hard Life" and "Hammer To Fall", which make us remember the good and old Queen's music. The final result is that "The Works" doesn't belong to their best works but it doesn't belong to their worst either. However, like as happened with "Duke" of Genesis, we aren't in presence of a true progressive album. So, I'm going to rate "The Works" with the same 3 stars that I've rated "Duke".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 680

"Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (1984-1995)" is a compilation of Queen released in 2011. It makes part of a trilogy of compilations of the band released in the same year, which covers some of the best tracks made by Queen during part of their career. As its name indicates, this compilation album is the volume three of that trilogy and only covers tracks between 1984 and 1995. It means that "Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (1984-1995)" has tracks that were originally released on their eleventh studio album "The Works" that was released in 1984, on their twelfth studio album "A Kind Of Magic" that was released in 1986, on their thirteenth studio album "The Miracle" that was released in 1989, on their fourteenth studio album "Innuendo" that was released in 1991 and on their fifteenth studio album "Made In Heaven" that was released in 1995. "Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (1984-1995)" has fifteen tracks. "Made In Heaven" is from "Made In Heaven". It was originally written for Freddie Mercury's solo album "Mr. Bad Guy". This is a version with a different treatment to sounds like a Queen's song. I think this is a better version. "Machines (Or 'Back To Humans')" is from "The Works". It's a strange song that starts completely electronic and that sounds as a music battle of a future world war between humans and machines. This is an interesting rock song with a good performance, especially the guitar work of Brian May, which is pleasant and nice to hear. "Don't Try So Hard" is from "Innuendo". This is a beautiful song, a true amazing song. It's probably the darkest song on that album where Freddie Mercury sings most of the song in falsetto. This is a wonderful ballad, one of their most beautiful ballads. "Tear It Up" is from "The Works". It's a hard song in the same vein of some of the old songs of the band. It's clearly a typical Brian May's song. The final result is a nice and good rock song very pleasant to hear. "I Was Born To Love You" is from "Made In Heaven". It was a song originally recorded to Freddie Mercury's solo album "Mr. Bad Guy". After he passed away, the band remixed it and added instrumentation, turning it into a fast rock song. This is a good and nice song. "A Winter's Tale" is also from "Made In Heaven". It's a beautiful song. It was the last song composed solely by Freddie Mercury and that was recorded two weeks before his dead. Noticeably, all the vocals were done in only a single take. This is a great track with nice atmosphere greatly maintained throughout the all song. "Ride The Wild Wind" is from "Innuendo". This is a good rock song with great rhythm and a delicious choral work. It's really a great song, one of the best compositions made by Roger Taylor to the band. "Bijou" is also from "Innuendo". This is essentially a guitar solo piece song. It's a good and enjoyable song where Freddie Mercury sings beautifully, as is usual, and Brian May proves that he is a great guitarist. "Was It All Worth It" is from "The Miracle". This is an excellent song. It's one of the best and the only progressive song on that album. It's a song with great moments that reminds the good old Queen. It closes that album perfectly well with beauty. "One Year Of Love" is from "A Kind Of Magic". It's a nice and calm slow ballad with a beautiful saxophone solo work and a great string orchestral arrangement. It isn't one of the best Queen's songs, but it has quality enough to be considered a good song. "Khashoggi's Ship" is from "The Miracle". This is a rock song with no instrumental overdubs. Despite be a good song, it's a bit repetitive song without much creativity and imagination. Still, this is a killing nice rock tune. "Is This The World We Created...?" is from "The Works". It's a beautiful acoustic ballad composed only for the acoustic guitar of Brian May and to the voice of Freddie Mercury. This is a nice way to finish their album "The Works". "The Hitman" is from "Innuendo". This is one of the hard rock songs on "Innuendo". It's a heavy song, very fast and aggressive. This is the heaviest song on that album and is interesting and enjoyable to hear. "It's A Beautiful Day (Reprise)" is from "Made In Heaven". As it name says, it's the reprise of the first song on that album. It's better than the first song on that album. It has new and different arrangements and a heavier rock piece at the end of it. "Mother Love" is also from "Made In Heaven". It was written by Brian May and recorded in Montreaux in 1991. It was Freddie's last vocal performance. It's a very good and beautiful song with sad and depressing lyrics that notice that he knew he was going to die very soon. Conclusion: "Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (1984-1995)" is another good compilation of Queen, the third of the three parts of their compilations "Deep Cuts". "Deep Cuts" covers the entire career of the band when Freddie Mercury was a member of the band. This last one covers the career of the band between 1984 and 1995, the years where Queen released their last five studio albums with Freddie Mercury, "The Works", "A Kind Of Magic", "The Miracle", "Innuendo" and "Made In Heaven". Thus, we have three songs from "The Works", one song from "A Kind Of Magic", two songs from "The Miracle", four songs from "Innuendo" and five songs from "Made In Heaven". So, we can say that all songs chosen to be part of this compilation album are good, especially the songs from "Innuendo". So, this is a good compilation album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 676

"Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" is a compilation album of Queen that was released in 2011. It makes part of a trilogy from the band that was released in the same year, which covers some of the best tracks made by Queen during part of their career. As its name indicates, this compilation album is the volume two of that trilogy and only covers tracks between 1977 and 1982. It means that "Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" has only tracks that were originally recorded on their sixth studio album "News Of The World" that was released in 1977, on their seventh studio album "Jazz" that was released in 1978, on their eighth studio album "The Game" that was released in 1980, on their ninth studio album "Flash Gordon" that was released in 1980 and on their tenth studio album "Hot Space" that was released in 1982.

"Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" has fourteen tracks. "Mustapha" is from "Jazz". It's a nice tune with an oriental feel. The lyrics, I think, consist of English, Arabic, Persian and certainly a number of invented words. This is an excellent and very extravagant song. "Sheer Heart Attack" is from "News Of The World". It's a heavy punk rock song, probably the heaviest song that Queen ever wrote. It should have been the title track for "Sheer Heart Attack", but they didn't finish it in time. I don't like very much of this song. "Spread Your Wings" is also from "News Of The World". It's a beautiful rock ballad with good guitar harmonies. Here, John Deacon did a good and interesting work, making of it one of his best contributions to Queen. "Sleeping On The Sidewalk" is another song from "News Of The World". It's a bluesy song, mainly played on acoustic guitar. Despite it's a good song and proves that we are in presence of a versatile band, this isn't one of the best Brian May's songs. "It's Late" is one more song from "News Of The World". It's one of the best moments on "News Of The World". This is a classic rock Queen's song with excellent melody and great individual performances by all band's members. "Rock It (Prime Jive)" is from "The Game". It's a fast rock song with a good guitar solo and a nice chorus. This is a typical Roger Taylor's song, decent enough, but I can't see anything special on it. It's sung by him with an introduction vocalization by Freddie Mercury. "Dead On Time" is from "Jazz". This is a good rock song, with good lyrics, great guitar parts and complex melodies. It's an ultra-fast pace song that sounds like a hard rock song must sound. It shows how heavy Queen could be when they wanted to be. "Sail Away Sweet Sister" is from "The Game". It's an acoustic ballad, probably the real gem on "The Game". This is one of the best and most beautiful compositions written by Brian May. It's a lovely song with prog lines made in the good old Queen's style. "Dragon Attack" is also from "The Game". It's a song with a good bass line and an interesting drumming work, with a solo in the middle of it. It's a hard rock song with funk influences. Despite be a good song it never was a song that really seduced me. "Action This Day" is from "Hot Space". This is a song influenced by the new wave style, so in vogue at the time. It's a song driven by a pounding electronic drum machine. The only interesting thing on it is the vocal duet and the chorus sung by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor. "Put Out The Fire" is also from "Hot Space". This is a traditional Queen's song. It has lead vocals by Freddie Mercury with Brian May singing lead vocals in falsetto at the end of the verse. It has a nice guitar solo by Brian May. It isn't a bad song, but it's a bit repetitive and I don't like of the Bee Gees' vocal parts. "Staying Power" is another song from "Hot Space". It's the only Queen's song, in all history of the band, to have a horn section. It's a song driven by a funky styled synthesizer bass riff that sounds as an electro-disco song. This is a very weak song. It's an awful way to open the album "Hot Space". "Jealousy" is from "Jazz". We are in presence of a great classic and typical ballad from the band that features Brian May playing acoustic guitar. All vocals were performed by Freddie Mercury that shows an incredible vocal work. That explains why he was considered one of the greatest singers ever. "Battle Theme" is from "Flash Gordon". I really don't know why this was put here. "Battle Theme" is only one of the small instrumental parts put in the middle of the soundtrack sound of the film. The only part that deserves a special mention is the first and the last parts, "Flash's Theme" and "Hero". So, this is not bad, but this is not great, either.

Conclusion: "Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" is another good compilation of Queen, the second of the three parts of their compilations named "Deep Cuts". "Deep Cuts" covers the entire career of the band when Freddie Mercury was a member of the band. This one covers the career of the band between 1977 and 1982, the years where Queen released five studio albums, "News Of The World", "Jazz", "The Game", "Flash Gordon" and "Hot Space". We have four songs from "News Of The World", three songs from "Jazz", three songs from "The Game", one song from "Flash Gordon" and three songs from "Hot Space". It's true that the songs from "Hot Space" are really very weak, but the remaining songs are in general very good despite they aren't really very progressive. So, in general, this is a good compilation album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Queen II, what a wonderful album. The band was halfway between Zeppelin and Yes, with a sprinkling of Moody Blues and Rocky Horror.

Disclosure: I cannot be accurately described as a fan of the band. I'm very respectful of Freddie Mercury's vocal and compositional abilities, and always wowed by Brian May's guitar style and talent. But I'm also a guy that takes music a little too seriously, and too many of the band's works strayed too far towards twee pop songs or torch songs. I'm rarely appreciative of either musical theater or the ridiculous synthetic superficiality that characterized so many bands' change of style in the 80s. Plus, Queen became so ubiquitous at least four times during my lifetime (Greatest Hits, Wayne's World, Live Aid and Freddie bio movie) that it was hard not to get sick of hearing about them. Queen is very much like a decadent dessert; once you overindulge, it's a long time before you can bring yourself to find it appetizing again.

Yet despite (or in some ways because of) this, I still regard Queen II as one of my favorite albums. Maybe not top 5 or 10, but not too far down from there. Go figure.

Immediately upon crossing the threshold, you're gifted with Brian May harmonies, symphonic and ahead of his time. Not so much in the Yardbirds alumni/ Hendrix vein of rock guitarists, May instead took a similar road as glam soloist Mick Ronson, a raw but symphonic preface to the neoclassical wave that took off after Van Halen and Uli Roth.

This layered smooth-but-edgy approach also characterized Roy Thomas Baker's arrangement of the vocals, so much a part of the Cars' first few albums. While this could become an overbearing wall of sound in lesser hands, the precise application of restraint and emphasis lends dramatic (it's OK to say 'melodramatic') weight when called for.

Nearly everything the album has to offer is touched upon briefly on the opening track: larger- than-life anthemic multitracked guitars and vocals, barebones breakdowns with solo voice and a single instrument, capricious changes in dynamics and pacing, all leading to a huge finale. I personally like "Father to Son" more than anything else on the album, but that's not to say there aren't many impressive moments to come.

Like any self-respecting prog band of the 70s, Queen feels it necessary to explore the idiosyncrasies of each band member on side one before launching into the epic collaboration of the side two. "White Queen" provides a dark arpeggio that connects the dots between "She's so Heavy" a few years before and "Still Loving You" several years later, and gets impressively heavy and dramatic with all the territory it covers under 5 minutes. Then there's a semi-acoustic semi- mellow semi-hippie jam sung by May himself -- and while no match for Freddie, it sounds competent and suitable, miles ahead of the following: the album's only contender for a stinker, "Loser in the End" a Roger Taylor contribution, comparatively underwhelming both in concept and realization.

But forget all that, because Side Black is one long rollercoaster of Queeny goodness. "Ogre Battle" is absolutely made for 70s fantastists and rockers alike, you can almost smell the 1st edition of D&D and the last edition of Ray Harryhausen stop motion animation. There was nobody like Queen to bridge the gap between some of the heaviest sounds of the 70s and musical theater.

I don't know that there's much point in deconstructing the narrative. I'm not sure there's even a narrative to deconstruct. The "Black" side can be seen as a collage, a melange, a rhapsody (oh wait, not yet) more in the vein of Abbey Road's second side than Close to the Edge or Echoes. We're not given any reason to really connect "Ogre Battle" to the sweet mournfulness of "Nevermore" or the celebratory culmination of "Funny How Love Is." Nevertheless, there is a certain continuity and flow that begs the listener to hear the whole side from start to finish -- probably something of a challenge to many at the time, and almost unimaginable in our lamentable attention-deficit modern era.

"The Fairy-Feller's Master Stroke" is a rollicking ride in and of itself. I don't know if the idea of describing a painting came from Crimson's "The Night Watch," but musically and lyrically the two couldn't be more different. Whereas Crimson's haunting historicity attempts to transcend the intervening centuries to connect the listener to the artist and his subjects, Queen simply runs down the list of depicted characters with various mischievous interpretations and musical motifs. Not that it's any less engaging, but as with everything Queen, there's a veneer of campy superficiality that belies (intentionally or otherwise) the undeniable musicality involved.

"March of the Black Queen" is mischievous in a different way. The guitars are furious at times, the lyrics darkly suggestive if not blatantly transgressive. It's fun with a side order of discomfort, part "Rocky Horror" and part painful metaphor of interpersonal sexual dynamics. Am I reading too much into it, or not enough?

"Seven Seas of Rhye" gets more than a fresh coat of paint to elevate it from the abbreviated and (mostly) instrumental version that closed the band's first album. It's now a fully-fledged song, albeit a largely incomprehensible one. As a finale, it is as satisfying and rocking as "Father to Son" was as an opener.

All-in-all, the entire album is a heavy, fun, and progressive treat from start to finish, in my opinion the single most enjoyable and accomplished album in the band's discography. I have a certain fondness for the debut, and there are many great individual songs yet to come -- obviously, they were to hit much higher popular acclaim (and sales) afterwards, but they never produced a long-player as seamlessly engaging as this. Shame about "Loser," though.

Far removed from the operatic magic and the complex structures of their first albums, Queen uses the inexhaustible range of resources they had at their disposal to face the challenges proposed by the music trends towards the end of the 80's, and deploys them with grace and solvency in "Jazz", their seventh album.

Full of short and direct pieces, "Jazz" moves between the agility of the rocking "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race", the turbulence generated by the expansive waves of Brian May's forceful riffs and guitar solos in the vertiginous "If You Can't Beat Them", Let Me Entertain You" and "Dead on Time", and the sensitivity to mobilize the deepest fibers taking the decibels to their minimum expression in the delicate ballads "Jealousy", "In Only Seven Days" and "Leaving Home Ain't Easy", this last one sung by May.

The more experimental vein, so typical of the band, is also present in the album, with the agitated "Mustapha" and its arabesque notes and indecipherable lyrics, and the bluesy and insipid "Dreamer's Ball" and, faithful to their habit of adding collection songs to enhance their legend in each release, Queen crowns "Jazz" with the festive and uninhibited "Don't Stop Me Now", a reflection of the excessive life projected by the immortal Freddie Mercury.

"Jazz" was the last album in which the band expressly placed the non-use of synthesizers on its back cover, a sign that new winds were coming....

3.5 stars

Review Nº 672

"Deep Cuts, Volume 1 (1973-1976)" is a compilation album of Queen that was released in 2011. It makes part of a trilogy of compilation albums from the band that covers some of the best tracks made by Queen during their entire career. As its name indicates, this compilation album is the volume one of that trilogy and only covers tracks between 1973 and 1976. It means that "Deep Cuts, Volume 1 (1973-1976)" has only tracks that were originally released on the first five studio albums from the band, their eponymous debut album "Queen" which was released in 1973, their second and third albums "Queen II" and "Sheer Heart Attack", respectively, which were both released in 1974, their fourth album "A Night At The Opera" which was released in 1975 and their fifth album "A Day At The Races" which was released in 1976.

"Deep Cuts, Volume 1 (1973-1976)" has fourteen tracks. "Ogre Battle" is from "Queen II". This is a hard rock song, one of the Queen's heaviest songs ever made by them. It has one of the greatest and most violent guitar riffs made by Brian May, which clearly shows one of the first precursor lines of heavy progressive metal. "Stone Cold Crazy" is from "Sheer Heart Attack". It's a heavy metal rock song with many and sudden musical changes and great guitar work. This is a great rock song. "My Fairy King" is from "Queen". Here we are in presence of a song full of constant changes. It's a song with incredible vocal harmonies and it has also some lovely piano work performed by Freddie Mercury. This is one of the best, most creative and most progressive songs created by the band. "I'm In Love With My Car" is from "A Night At The Opera". It's a song with the lyrics inspired and dedicated to one of the band's roadies, Jonathan Harris, whose car was the love of his life. This is a great rock song, simple and catchy, one of Roger Taylor's most famous songs in Queen's catalogue. "Keep Yourself Alive" is from "Queen". It's an energetic rock piece that shows Brian May's distinct and typical guitar sound. We are in presence of a straight forward rock song with different and unexpected changes in tempo, with great guitar and nice vocal work. "Long Away" is from "A Day At The Races". It's a kind of a counterpart to "'39" from "A Night At The Opera". Despite isn't as good as "'39", it still is good and pleasant to hear. The main interesting thing on the song is the vocal work of Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, which is amazing. "The Millionaire Waltz" is also from "A Day At The Races". It's an epic song following the same line of "Bohemian Rhapsody" from "A Night At The Opera". It's another multi-key and multi-metre song, extremely complex using many abrupt arrangements and musical passages. This is an excellent rock/waltz in the typical Queen's style. This is very close to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in terms of quality. "'39" is from "A Night At The Opera". It relates the story of a group of space explorers who embarked on a very far way space travel, and upon their return, the loved ones they left beyond are all dead. We are in presence of a superb acoustic ballad with great guitar work and some beautiful harmonies. "Tenement Funster" is from "Sheer Heart Attack". It's a good rock number with a heavy tune. It has a brilliant melody over some inspired chord choices together with a carefully paced arrangement. It's one of Roger Taylor's compositions that had stood better the test of time. "Flick Of The Wrist" is also from "Sheer Heart Attack". It's a sensational track with great vocals, excellent guitar work and an inspired riff. This is one of the highlights on "Sheer Heart Attack". "Lily Of The Valley" is another song from "Sheer Heart Attack". This is a very short song with a beautiful melody that skills the great capabilities of Freddie Mercury as a great songwriter. Here everything works perfectly well. "Good Company" is from "A Night At The Opera". It's a simple and nice song by Brian May where he plays koto, a traditional Japanese instrument. It's a song with an old fashioned tune, very pleasant to hear. "The March Of The Black Queen" is from "Queen II". It's a complex song with progressive lines divided into multi-sections, some heavy and some quiet. Like "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke" of the same album, we are in presence of a progressive, melodic, intelligent, complex, harmonious and well arranged song. "In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited" is from "Sheer Heart Attack". It's a wonderful song where all works together to the final climax of the song and of that album too. This is an incredible final for "Sheer Heart Attack".

Conclusion: "Deep Cuts, Volume 1 (1973-1976)" is a very good compilation album of Queen, the first of the three parts of their compilations named "Deep Cuts". "Deep Cuts" covers the entire career of the band when Freddie Mercury was a member of the band. This one covers the career of the band between 1973 and 1976, the years where Queen released their first five studio albums, "Queen", "Queen II", "Sheer Heart Attack", "A Night At The Opera" and "A Day At The Races". So, here we have tracks that belong to what is in general considered their most prog phase. It has two songs of "Queen", two songs of "Queen II", five songs of "Sheer Heart Attack", three songs of "A Night At The Opera" and two songs of "A Day At The Races". Since all these songs are great, we can really say this is a good compilation album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

After having reached the peak of a gigantic mountain and thus enjoying an unprecedented and wide general recognition as a result of the hugely successful "A Night at the Opera" and their imperishable "Bohemian Rhapsody", staying at the top was a titanic task for Queen. But the adrenaline-fueled Freddie Mercury and his unmatched ability to rise above any circumstance, backed by the cerebral guitarist Brian May and the always correct Roger Taylor and John Deacon, took the challenge calmly and with great confidence. Their next album, "A Day at the Races" reflects that, the band's confidence and decision to continue experimenting beyond any pigeonhole, something that greatly motivated Mercury and inspired his bandmates.

And so it is that from the hard rocker "Tie Your Mother Down" and its guitar intro with martial airs, the introspective and naked ballad "You Take My Breath Away", the vaudevillian "Millionaire Waltz" and its explosive intermission to pure roar and "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy ", to the distorted "Drowse" sung by Taylor, Queen shows in "A Day at the Races" the versatility of which they are capable, incorporating to their proposal nuances and a varied palette of colors, printing their particular and unique style.

And the icing on the cake is the intense and gospel-like "Somebody To Love", with its enormous choral wall built by Mercury, May and Taylor, the best of the album without a doubt, which shares honors with the little diffused but melodically impeccable "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)", a beautiful hymn that includes choruses in Japanese, surely thought to be chanted live, but that did not have all the luck it deserved.

True, "A Day at the Races" is not another "A Night at the Opera", but for a younger brother, it did quite well.

3.5/4 stars

Review Nº 669

"Hot Space" is the tenth studio album of Queen and that was released in 1982. This musical phase is marked by many changes, a notable shift in the direction from their earlier works. The band employed on it, many musical elements from pop, disco, rhythm and blues and dance music. By the other hand, the band included the use of synthesizers and electronic drums on albums and concerts. So, the final result was a very different style adopted by them in the 70's. It made of "Hot Space" less popular with fans that preferred the traditional rock style that was associated with the band.

"Hot Space" has eleven tracks. The first track "Staying Power" written by Freddie Mercury was released as a single in Japan and United States only. It's the only Queen's song, in all history of the band, to have a horn section. It's a song driven by a funky styled synthesizer bass riff that sounds as an electro-disco song. This is a very weak song. It's an awful way to open the album. The second track "Dancer" written by Brian May is a kind of a fusion between rock and disco. It searches to fuse heavy elements with danceable ones. It sounds as a Bee Gees' song they could have written during their disco phase. The third track "Back Chat" written by John Deacon was also chosen to be released as a single. It's the song on the album most influenced by the black music. It has a rock funky tune made to be dance music. The main interesting thing on it is a nice Brian May guitar solo. The fourth track "Body Language" written by Freddie Mercury was the second single of the album. This is a typical Queen's song of this musical period inspired in disco, funk and soul music, when the band temporarily abandoned their glam and experimental rock roots. It was a big dance hit that received an extensive radio play at the time. The fifth track "Action This Day" written by Roger Taylor, is clearly influenced by the style of the new wave, so in vogue at the time. It's a song driven by a pounding electronic drum machine. The only interesting things on it are the vocal duets and the chorus sung by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor. The sixth track "Put Out The Fire" written by Brian May, is the most traditional Queen's song here. It was chosen to be released as the B side of their single "Calling All Girls". It has lead vocals by Freddie Mercury with Brian May singing lead vocals in falsetto at the end of the verse. It has a nice guitar solo by Brian May. It isn't a bad song, but it's a bit repetitive and I don't like of the Bee Gees' vocal parts. This isn't one of Brian May's best songs. The seventh track "Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)" written by Freddie Mercury, was chosen to be released as the B side of the single "Body Language". As it indicates, it's a tribute to John Lennon who was murdered in 1980. As most of John Lennon's songs, it features a piano based musical arrangement and a melancholic tone. It's a nice ballad that shows a different song from the preceding ones. I like this song that represents one of the few positive points on the album. The eighth track "Calling All Girls" written by Roger Taylor, was the fourth song chosen to be a single. He composed the song on guitar, playing feedback noises during the break. It's a tolerable pop song nice and pleasant to hear. It isn't a bad song, but I can't see anything special on it. The ninth track "Las Palabras De Amor" written by Brian May was the third single of the album. It's a rock ballad with vocals provided by Freddie Mercury with Brian May on the high vocal harmony. It's a good and beautiful song, a fine Brian May's ballad, beautifully sung, some good acoustic guitar work and a nice synthesizer performance. It's one of the few highlights on the album. The tenth track "Cool Cat" written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon was chosen to be the B side of the single "Las Palabras De Amor". All instruments are played by John Deacon. It's a pop song with some rhythm and blues influence and where Freddie Mercury sings on the top of his voice. Some says this is a good song, but this isn't my cup of tea. The eleventh track "Under Pressure" written by David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, was released as a single and was a big hit. It's a collaboration work between Queen and David Bowie. The song was largely played live by the band, was included on some of their "Greatest Hits" and is one of the best known songs worldwide. This is song with some great musical moments, especially the excellent and unforgettable vocal duet between Freddie Mercury and David Bowie.

Conclusion: "Hot Space" is, without any doubt, the worst album ever made by Queen. It has, in my humble opinion, only three real good musical moments, "Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)", "Las Palabras De Amor" and "Under Pressure". The rest of the album is average or even really bad. Overall, we can't really say that "Hot Space" is the worst album ever, but certainly is a very low point in the band's discography, the lowest point, in my humble opinion. In reality, "Under Pressure" is the only reason that most listeners remember this album, which is as much a testament to the song's strength as it is to the rather desultory nature of the rest of "Hot Space". Although for different reasons, unfortunately it comes to my mind another album, "Giant For A Day" of Gentle Giant, which is also an awful album. These are two of the very few albums I rated with only 1 star. And since I like both bands it was painful for me to do so.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 663

"Flash Gordon" is the ninth studio album of Queen that was released in 1980. It was made for the soundtrack of a film released in the same year. It's the soundtrack to the science fiction film "Flash Gordon", and features lyrics on only two tracks. It was the first time that the band produced the entire soundtrack for a film. So, it's the first soundtrack made by Queen. Queen only produced two film soundtracks. The other soundtrack was produced for the movie "Highlander".

As I wrote before, "Flash Gordon" is a soundtrack album with only two songs featuring vocals and the rest of the album has short instrumental tracks with lots of the dialogues taken from the film and where the "Flash's Theme" refrain appears in various moments all over the album. The album makes extensive use of the synthesizers, which Queen used for the first time on their previous eighth studio album "The Game", although to a much lesser extent than in this case.

In short, we can say that "Flash Gordon" is a film based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond, an American cartoonist, in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into movie serials, television series and the 1980 film. For those who aren't familiar with the comic strip and the film we can say that the story follows the adventures of Flash Gordon, a polo player and Yale graduate and his companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov. The three travel to the planet Mongo, to defeat Ming, the evil ruler of Mongo. Ming wants to destroy the planet Earth with natural disasters.

While writing and recording "The Game", Queen was asked by renowned movie director Dino De Laurentis to provide the soundtrack for his upcoming sci-fi epic "Flash Gordon". The band accepted and promptly began working on both albums simultaneously. The majority of the music is instrumental, with dialogue from the movie in place of Freddie Mercury's singing, with two tracks with lyrics. Still, the song writing is still unmistakably Queen. However, many fans criticized "Flash Gordon" since it was released as an official Queen release rather than a motion picture soundtrack. I agree that the main problem with "Flash Gordon" is that it was released as a studio album, and not as a soundtrack. The music made by Queen fits perfectly with the film, but the campiness of the band goes hand on hand with the silliness and comic vibe of the movie. But, if you take away the film, and you just listen to the music as a standalone experience, well it just simply doesn't hold up, really. "Flash Gordon" soundtrack album is pretty much like the film.

Yes, it has its moments, and some parts are even more memorable than most of the songs of many bands of the 80's and 90's. There are also some fun tracks, but they're just that, funny. Unfortunately there's too much audio from the actual movie, something very uncommon for a soundtrack, and it just ruins the music, that it's not great, but at least it would be salvageable. At the end of the day, "Flash Gordon" remains one of the lowest points in Queen's career, really.

The opening track "Flash's Theme" was the only single to be released from the album, under the title "Flash". There are two versions of the opening track. The album's version "Flash's Theme" is the start for the film with the part of the dialogues from the first film scene. The single version "Flash" features parts of the dialogue taken from various parts of the film. "Flash" was written by Brian May and is sung as a duet between him and Freddie Mercury, with Roger Taylor adding the high harmonies. The track is noted for its pounding and repetitive bass line and where Brian May plays all of the music instruments, except for the rhythm section. "Flash" is an excellent song in the pure Queen's style. It's a great heavy rock song with the usual and unique operatic chorus and excellent musical arrangements. The other song that deserves special mention is "Hero" which closes the album. "Hero" is only a brief song, but offers us a final taste of the usual Queen's classic 70's hard rock bombast before they changed their formula up a bit for the rest of the decade. These are the only two songs deserving special mention. Sandwiched between these two songs are several instrumental tracks full of samples that make the album play like a musical re-enactment of the "Flash Gordon" film.

Conclusion: "Flash Gordon" is a very strange Queen's album. It has little to do with Queen's music, with the exception of the opening track "Flash Theme". I agree with those who say that we aren't in presence of a true Queen's album. And worst of all, "Flash Gordon" is a soundtrack for a silly and mediocre film. Yes, I was one of the victims that saw the film. However, we aren't here to review a film but an album. So, in the first place, I must confess that I never was a big fun of soundtracks made by progressive rock bands. Still, in this case, we can't consider Queen exactly one of the most progressive rock bands. In the second place, "Flash Gordon" isn't as bad as most of you consider. It's true that is very strange to hear this album as a Queen's album. The quality of the music isn't great, which is true, but it isn't also bad. I sincerely think that the worst on the album is hearing constantly the recordings of the scenes of the film, with its voices and the bombastic sounds of it. Anyway, "Flash Gordon" is one of the weakest Queen's albums. However, it isn't their worst musical work. Sincerely, their next tenth studio album "Hot Space" is even worse than "Flash Gordon" is, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)