Re: Band: Queen
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2024 10:02 am
Going through all this I realize they have a massive body of work. Growing up with Queen I took for granted that I was really having a greatest hits I and II experience of them.
The debut has only a few hints at the theatrical elements to come. There are a million ideas, incredible virtuosity, dog shit production, great energy and a lack of memorable material. The sequel is pretty much the same but a little better.
Sheer Heart Attack is the definitive vision of Queen the rock band as opposed to all the other things they'd be. It's pretty much firing on all cylinders and has something of their vaudeville's answer to The Who creeping in. It's really very good.
Night at the Opera sits in my brain kind of the opposite of the first 3. It's so engrained in my culture and upbringing I kind of have to set aside its place in collective memory and mythology to evaluate it as an album made by 4 guys in a band. While there are any number of reasons to critically reject its schtick, pastiche etc, there's no denying that it is a technical and compositional masterpiece. This album secures Brian May the guitar god in my mind. His classical leanings set him apart from Jimmy Page and company to highlight a shredder who's not just another white Brit who loves the blues. His solos, no matter how busy, are incredibly melodic. You can sing or whistle them like hooks. After being pounded by 5 decades of "Bohemian Rhapsody" it's interesting to imagine it as something new. It must have been astonishing.
Day at the Races is kind of the little brother album to Opera. If it were the only release by some obscure, queer, theater kids rock band it would probably be iconic, instead it sits like a postscript and is easily forgotten. If it was one of my 6 cassettes for my walkman as a kid in the 80's it would probably yield wonders. There are undoubtedly tiny multitudes in its shifting stage makeup but it came out like more cynical genre hopping by a band of cold technicians.
News of the World shows how self aware they were of the shortcomings above. The "getting back to basics" rock album seems to always be great in theory, less often execution (see later Rolling Stones). Hard to ignore the reported month they spent on drum setup in the studio as being economical and urgent about rock music. This is another one where it's hard to get past the mythic status of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" (I've read some cool queer criticism of the latter that partly reclaims it from jock-rock status for me), and take in the rest.
It's a trip to hear track 3 after all that- "Sheer Heart Attack"- because to me the chorus contains the basic ingredients that would make Motley Crue, for better and worse. Also fascinating to hear how sloppy Brian May's palm muting gets on the verses considering what a perfectionist he typically is.
I haven't fully digested the rest of the album and I'm a little apprehensive to continue through their history in disco, electronics and whatever else but I've made it this far.
The debut has only a few hints at the theatrical elements to come. There are a million ideas, incredible virtuosity, dog shit production, great energy and a lack of memorable material. The sequel is pretty much the same but a little better.
Sheer Heart Attack is the definitive vision of Queen the rock band as opposed to all the other things they'd be. It's pretty much firing on all cylinders and has something of their vaudeville's answer to The Who creeping in. It's really very good.
Night at the Opera sits in my brain kind of the opposite of the first 3. It's so engrained in my culture and upbringing I kind of have to set aside its place in collective memory and mythology to evaluate it as an album made by 4 guys in a band. While there are any number of reasons to critically reject its schtick, pastiche etc, there's no denying that it is a technical and compositional masterpiece. This album secures Brian May the guitar god in my mind. His classical leanings set him apart from Jimmy Page and company to highlight a shredder who's not just another white Brit who loves the blues. His solos, no matter how busy, are incredibly melodic. You can sing or whistle them like hooks. After being pounded by 5 decades of "Bohemian Rhapsody" it's interesting to imagine it as something new. It must have been astonishing.
Day at the Races is kind of the little brother album to Opera. If it were the only release by some obscure, queer, theater kids rock band it would probably be iconic, instead it sits like a postscript and is easily forgotten. If it was one of my 6 cassettes for my walkman as a kid in the 80's it would probably yield wonders. There are undoubtedly tiny multitudes in its shifting stage makeup but it came out like more cynical genre hopping by a band of cold technicians.
News of the World shows how self aware they were of the shortcomings above. The "getting back to basics" rock album seems to always be great in theory, less often execution (see later Rolling Stones). Hard to ignore the reported month they spent on drum setup in the studio as being economical and urgent about rock music. This is another one where it's hard to get past the mythic status of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" (I've read some cool queer criticism of the latter that partly reclaims it from jock-rock status for me), and take in the rest.
It's a trip to hear track 3 after all that- "Sheer Heart Attack"- because to me the chorus contains the basic ingredients that would make Motley Crue, for better and worse. Also fascinating to hear how sloppy Brian May's palm muting gets on the verses considering what a perfectionist he typically is.
I haven't fully digested the rest of the album and I'm a little apprehensive to continue through their history in disco, electronics and whatever else but I've made it this far.