The lead up and progress of writing and recording the album was not short of problematic. On the band’s first tour of the US, as support to Mott the Hoople, guitarist Brian May was diagnosed with hepatitis, which required cancelling the remainder of the tour, returning home, and May being hospitalised as a result. The other three members of the band – lead singer Freddie Mercury, bass guitarist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor – returned to Trident Studios in June to begin the process of putting together material for their next album, with May unable to join them until a month later. They then spent a month recording the backing tracks to the majority of the songs in a studio in Wales, before returning to London for further recording. This was then halted again, as May was diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer which required surgery. Although he was allowed to recuperate at home, he was absent from the studio for another three weeks. During this time he wrote two songs while the rest of the band continued with overdubs on the tracks so far recorded. When May returned the final recording could be done, and then the time consuming task of mixing could commence.
To showcase the sound that Queen created, the 24-track facility at Trident Studios still meant that many of the songs had to be mixed down, with multiple tracks needing to be mixed onto a single track in order to have the songs completed to the vision of the band. With so many vocal harmonies and instrumental overdubs being created in order to have each song sound as big and grandiose as they do, it showed that while the songs themselves may be moving to a more compact and less extravagantly lengthy tome, that the care and precision that the band exacted from themselves to produce their amazing spectacle was no less than they had practiced on the first two albums of their career.
The overall style of this album does progress from both “Queen” and “Queen II” in that there is probably less of the real prog rock that categorised those early albums, and a more formularised approach to the individual songs. That’s not to say that the style of the songs doesn’t change, they most certainly do, depending on the writer of the song itself. It’s just that the songs themselves seem to be moving out of that early experimental atmosphere and into an entirely different arena, one that retains the inspiration of those early tracks and combines it with structure that is more reminiscent of the 3-to-4-minute track.
The opening half of the album showcases this merging perfectly. Brian May’s assault during “Brighton Rock” is spectacular, and he shows off all of his skills within the framework of the song perfectly. Topped off by Freddie’s marvellous vocals, changing as they do from falsetto to mainstream, and the rollicking rhythm section, halted only by Brian’s unaccompanied solo in the middle, makes this a superb opening track, and also the longest on the album. This is followed by the world renowned “Killer Queen”, the kind of radio friendly short sharp heightening of every great part of Queen that made them the band they are. The wonderful combining of Roger Taylor’s crisp drum work and John Deacon’s precision bass playing, Brian May’s scene stealing guitar riffs, combined with the easy tinkling on the piano, and topped off with Freddie’s wonderful vocals and lyrics, backed by the support vocals of the other three members. It seems such an easy task on paper, but the right combination of everything here makes a single that the whole world knows and loves.
The three songs in the heart of the first side almost form a medley, such is the way they segue into each other. Roger’s excellent “Tenement Funster” starts it off, with his lead vocals showcasing how well he sings, despite being the drummer and possibly third in line for vocals in this group. Brian’s layered guitar solo is killer here as well. This is succeeded by Freddie’s “Flick of the Wrist”, which lifts the pace while combining layered vocals of the four all over the top and the introduction of the piano as well. And finally, the third part of this triumvirate is “Lily of the Valley”, a quieter, slower Freddie song, concentrating on his vocals rather than the band as a whole, who are for the most part sedately in the background. Each song is terrific on its own, and even as a merged entity it works just as well.
The first side concludes with the brilliant, heavy “Now I’m Here”, dominated by May’s guitar and the layered vocals throughout, Freddie accentuating the power required through his singing on the song. This has been a favourite of mine since I first heard it, which was well after its initial release. It was one of the songs that drew me to Queen, quite simply because of the grunt it has with the guitars and drums and Freddie’s aggressive vocals. Quite simply a ripper.
The opening track of side two is “In the Lap of the Gods”, dominated by Roger’s amazing vocal, so high it is impossible to recreate, though it is Freddie who sings the basis of the song itself. It not only harks back a little to those early albums innovations but looks forward to where it took the band on following albums. Those vocal overdubs are amazing but take special attention to Roger’s part. Amazing. This moves straight into the second heavy song of the album, “Stone Cold Crazy”, which again is important in not only being a great song but in giving each member a chance to shine. Roger’s drumming throughout is a joy, John’s bass line perfectly awesome, Brian’s heavy guitar riff the star attraction and Freddie as always emoting throughout. It is no surprise a band such as Metallica covered this song, because it has elements for each member of the band to show their wares.
The versatility of the band is then proven in Brian’s “Dear Friends”, a quiet reserved short tale which shows that he doesn’t always write just the guitar heavy anthems. This is followed by John Deacon’s first solo composition recorded by the band, “Misfire”, a great song on which he plays most of the guitars. “Bring Back That Leroy Brown” follows a familiar take, with Freddie injecting his jangling piano into the song which highlights a separate style of song from most of those here on this album. It wasn’t the last time these changes were noticeable on a Queen album, which in essence highlighted the fact that their style couldn’t be nailed down.
If there is one song that doesn’t do it for me here it is probably "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)". Perhaps it is too much change through the back half of the album for me, but it has never been a favourite of mine. The album concludes with the crowd anthem “In the Lap of the Gods… Reprise” which gives off a good vibe to complete the full set.
As someone who grew up through the 1980’s, and whose introduction to Queen was radio singles and then albums such as “The Works” and “A Kind of Magic”, the journey backwards through the plethora of albums the band released during the 1970’s was always an interesting one. Most of that happened after the passing of Freddie Mercury, when instead of just enjoying the albums I knew and the songs from the “Greatest Hits” album, I decided I really should own those other albums as well. And I did eventually discover them all, and each one autonomously from the other. And as with all instances like this, the first part of that was not only enjoying those songs on those albums that I already knew, but getting beyond that to know the other tracks on the album.
Here on “Sheer Heart Attack”, the songs I knew are some of the bands best. “Killer Queen” has always been a gem, “Now I’m Here” one of my favourites, “Stone Cold Crazy” another of their best, and “Brighton Rock” I had heard and loved from the “Live Killers” album. And so it was the variety and expanded experience of the rest of the album that surrounded these tracks that I had to get to love. And I did. Because it is Queen after all, so what is not to love? Even “Hot Space”!
I have no memory of when I first heard this album. It was certainly in the early 1990’s, and I don’t recall what my initial reaction to the album was. But I remember when I was going through the process of listening to the album that there was a period where the songs I didn’t know were the filler that was there until those hits came on. That of course melted away over time, and the album became a WHOLE experience for me, not just a few songs here and there. And, more than that, I remember thinking at the time how cool it was to have “NEW” songs from Queen to listen to and to get to now, even though they were never going to release any more music now that Freddie was gone (little did I know at that time...)
And as I have had “Sheer Heart Attack” back in the CD player in the Metal Cavern for the past couple of weeks, I have realised just how much I actually enjoy this album. Prior to this month I’m sure if I had been asked what I thought of the album I would have said, ‘yeah, it’s good!”. Whereas now, should you be wanting to ask, I would probably say “Yes! Sheer Heart Attack ROCKS!” And that’s how I think of it, a new-ish album all because I didn't actually discover it until 20 years after it had been released. 50 years on, and it is hard to believe it can be that long since it was released on the world. It still sounds amazing, and there is still so much on this album that is groundbreaking with the way the band wrote and recorded songs.
The opening half of the album showcases this merging perfectly. Brian May’s assault during “Brighton Rock” is spectacular, and he shows off all of his skills within the framework of the song perfectly. Topped off by Freddie’s marvellous vocals, changing as they do from falsetto to mainstream, and the rollicking rhythm section, halted only by Brian’s unaccompanied solo in the middle, makes this a superb opening track, and also the longest on the album. This is followed by the world renowned “Killer Queen”, the kind of radio friendly short sharp heightening of every great part of Queen that made them the band they are. The wonderful combining of Roger Taylor’s crisp drum work and John Deacon’s precision bass playing, Brian May’s scene stealing guitar riffs, combined with the easy tinkling on the piano, and topped off with Freddie’s wonderful vocals and lyrics, backed by the support vocals of the other three members. It seems such an easy task on paper, but the right combination of everything here makes a single that the whole world knows and loves.
The three songs in the heart of the first side almost form a medley, such is the way they segue into each other. Roger’s excellent “Tenement Funster” starts it off, with his lead vocals showcasing how well he sings, despite being the drummer and possibly third in line for vocals in this group. Brian’s layered guitar solo is killer here as well. This is succeeded by Freddie’s “Flick of the Wrist”, which lifts the pace while combining layered vocals of the four all over the top and the introduction of the piano as well. And finally, the third part of this triumvirate is “Lily of the Valley”, a quieter, slower Freddie song, concentrating on his vocals rather than the band as a whole, who are for the most part sedately in the background. Each song is terrific on its own, and even as a merged entity it works just as well.
The first side concludes with the brilliant, heavy “Now I’m Here”, dominated by May’s guitar and the layered vocals throughout, Freddie accentuating the power required through his singing on the song. This has been a favourite of mine since I first heard it, which was well after its initial release. It was one of the songs that drew me to Queen, quite simply because of the grunt it has with the guitars and drums and Freddie’s aggressive vocals. Quite simply a ripper.
The opening track of side two is “In the Lap of the Gods”, dominated by Roger’s amazing vocal, so high it is impossible to recreate, though it is Freddie who sings the basis of the song itself. It not only harks back a little to those early albums innovations but looks forward to where it took the band on following albums. Those vocal overdubs are amazing but take special attention to Roger’s part. Amazing. This moves straight into the second heavy song of the album, “Stone Cold Crazy”, which again is important in not only being a great song but in giving each member a chance to shine. Roger’s drumming throughout is a joy, John’s bass line perfectly awesome, Brian’s heavy guitar riff the star attraction and Freddie as always emoting throughout. It is no surprise a band such as Metallica covered this song, because it has elements for each member of the band to show their wares.
The versatility of the band is then proven in Brian’s “Dear Friends”, a quiet reserved short tale which shows that he doesn’t always write just the guitar heavy anthems. This is followed by John Deacon’s first solo composition recorded by the band, “Misfire”, a great song on which he plays most of the guitars. “Bring Back That Leroy Brown” follows a familiar take, with Freddie injecting his jangling piano into the song which highlights a separate style of song from most of those here on this album. It wasn’t the last time these changes were noticeable on a Queen album, which in essence highlighted the fact that their style couldn’t be nailed down.
If there is one song that doesn’t do it for me here it is probably "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)". Perhaps it is too much change through the back half of the album for me, but it has never been a favourite of mine. The album concludes with the crowd anthem “In the Lap of the Gods… Reprise” which gives off a good vibe to complete the full set.
As someone who grew up through the 1980’s, and whose introduction to Queen was radio singles and then albums such as “The Works” and “A Kind of Magic”, the journey backwards through the plethora of albums the band released during the 1970’s was always an interesting one. Most of that happened after the passing of Freddie Mercury, when instead of just enjoying the albums I knew and the songs from the “Greatest Hits” album, I decided I really should own those other albums as well. And I did eventually discover them all, and each one autonomously from the other. And as with all instances like this, the first part of that was not only enjoying those songs on those albums that I already knew, but getting beyond that to know the other tracks on the album.
Here on “Sheer Heart Attack”, the songs I knew are some of the bands best. “Killer Queen” has always been a gem, “Now I’m Here” one of my favourites, “Stone Cold Crazy” another of their best, and “Brighton Rock” I had heard and loved from the “Live Killers” album. And so it was the variety and expanded experience of the rest of the album that surrounded these tracks that I had to get to love. And I did. Because it is Queen after all, so what is not to love? Even “Hot Space”!
I have no memory of when I first heard this album. It was certainly in the early 1990’s, and I don’t recall what my initial reaction to the album was. But I remember when I was going through the process of listening to the album that there was a period where the songs I didn’t know were the filler that was there until those hits came on. That of course melted away over time, and the album became a WHOLE experience for me, not just a few songs here and there. And, more than that, I remember thinking at the time how cool it was to have “NEW” songs from Queen to listen to and to get to now, even though they were never going to release any more music now that Freddie was gone (little did I know at that time...)
And as I have had “Sheer Heart Attack” back in the CD player in the Metal Cavern for the past couple of weeks, I have realised just how much I actually enjoy this album. Prior to this month I’m sure if I had been asked what I thought of the album I would have said, ‘yeah, it’s good!”. Whereas now, should you be wanting to ask, I would probably say “Yes! Sheer Heart Attack ROCKS!” And that’s how I think of it, a new-ish album all because I didn't actually discover it until 20 years after it had been released. 50 years on, and it is hard to believe it can be that long since it was released on the world. It still sounds amazing, and there is still so much on this album that is groundbreaking with the way the band wrote and recorded songs.
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