1251. Queen / The Miracle. 1989. 5/5

The career of the band Queen over the stretch of five years that preceded the release of this, their 13th studio album, truly pushed their profile and bankability as one of the biggest bands in the world to its greatest height. The great radio hits of the 1970’s had been prolific in raising the band’s profile, and the resulting lull through the change of decades had been somewhat rectified by the release of “The Works” album in 1984, the episode of which appears just a few episodes ago in this season of this podcast.
From that album’s release, Queen had soared, with the resulting world tour being massive, and then followed by their appearance at Live Aid in 1985, a set that has been coined as the greatest 20 minutes of live music in history. The band then wrote the soundtrack for the sci-fi adventure film “Highlander” which starred Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, and produced the follow up album “A Kind of Magic”. Another world tour followed, and indeed became the final live performances of the band’s career which were commemorated with the “Live Magic” single LP, and down the track the “Live at Wembley 1986” double live album that showcased that entire performance.
Down the track this was revealed to be caused by Freddie’s illness in having contracted the AIDS virus, but at the time Freddie and the band had done a convincing job of hiding that diagnosis from the world, and of course it was not known at the time that the previous world tour would indeed be the band’s final one.
Three years was a long time between albums for the band, but on top of the long tour and Freddie’s illness, which was first diagnosed in 1987, Brian May had been going through a painful separation and subsequent divorce from his first wife, about which he had suffered feelings of failure as both a husband and father. While the band had begun the writing process for their new album in January of 1988, the process of writing and then recording eventually took up the whole of the next 12 months. It was also the first time that a Queen album had all of the songs credited to the band as a whole, rather than the individuals who were the composers. Given the collaboration that was always a part of their songwriting, it did seem as though it was a fair way of not only crediting all four members for their art, but sharing the song writing royalties.

Like all Queen albums, this really is a journey, where the music moves from different styles and genres all the way through, incorporating all four members and their contributions musically, in composition and vocally. As the band reached the end of the 80’s decade, there is a smooth combination of all of the band’s strengths instrumentally – the guitars, drums and piano/keyboards. Add to this great songs lyrically, and then sung as amazingly as always, and you have the basis of a great album.
The opening two tracks more or less meld together to make one song. The opening of “Party” sounds exactly like that, from Freddie’s opening spiel into Brian’s electrifying guitar riffs, John’s jutting bassline and Roger’s drumbeat, you can see in your mind the party going on as the band plays along. And as the song, and the party, winds down, suddenly we segue straight into the second track “Khashoggi’s Ship”, where ‘no one stops my party’, and the journey continues onward. It is a terrific energetic opening to the album. Then comes the less outlandish and more down to earth sound of the title track, “The Miracle”, certainly one of the most profound, beautiful and amazing songs from the band’s catalogue, and showcases the best of the Mercury/Deacon writing partnership. Lyrically it takes its own journey, poignant and heartfelt, strong and uplifting, a positive spin on everything that the world has to offer, before breaking out in a musical cacophony towards the end of the track. Just to quote the whole song is to read a list of what the world should be like – “We’re having a miracle on earth, Mother Nature does it all for us” – “If every child on every street, had clothes to wear and food to eat” – “If all God’s people could be free, to live in perfect harmony” – and most telling, “The one thing we’re all waiting for, is peace on earth, and an end to war”. This song is a masterpiece, one of Queen’s defining moments. I love how Brian May has been quoted as saying it is one of his favourite songs.
This is then followed by “I Want it All” which is quite simply one of the best songs ever written. It’s an anthem, an inspirational song on a musical level as well as a lyrical level. A Brian May blockbuster, with that guitar riff and drum beat at the very forefront of the track. Freddie’s vocals here are supreme, and I love the shared moments with Brian in the middle break. But then there is that middle solo section, where everything is contributing to the brilliance of what comes out. Yes, it is Brian’s amazing guitar solo, perfectly nuanced all the way through, but Roger’s drumming in this piece is also the element that is driving it, galloping the song along with its beat (apparently the only time he ever used a double kick drum), and then John’s superb bassline, jutting at the start, before running up and down the fretboard in the middle of the section – it truly is one of the best solo sections of any Queen song.
The magnificence of “The Invisible Man” follows, with great motion throughout and the rise and surge of the music and vocals along the way. The combination of Roger’s vocals alongside Freddie is terrific, as is the name checking of each of the four members of the band.
Side Two of the album opens with “Breakthru”, the song that sounds so much like a train rumbling down the tracks that the video for the song incorporated exactly that. As someone who generally despises love songs… this is the greatest love song ever written. Once again the lyrics speak for themselves – “I wake up, I feel just fine, you’re face fills my mind” – “Make my feelings known towards you, turn my heart inside and out for you now” – “Honey, you're sparking something, this fire in me, I'm outta control, I wanna rush headlong into this ecstasy” – and of course, “If I could only reach you, If I could make you smile, If I could only reach you, That would really be a breakthrough”.
“Rain Must Fall” has a very Latin sound about it, and is very much a change from the songs that have come before it, something the Mercury/Deacon compositions have a way of doing. Then comes “Scandal”, the scathing attack by Brian on the scathing attacks the media made on him during his divorce and subsequent relationship. Freddie creates a lot of emotion in his vocals in the way he sings this song, really driving home just how Brian must have felt at this time, and to me it has always acted as a marvellous tribute by Freddie to his bandmate in the way that he emotes while performing it. And, by the way, makes it a stunning track. This emotion is brought back in by “My Baby Does Me”, another Mercury/Deacon track that reels in the tempo and utilises and almost R&B sound to the song. The album then concludes with the majestic “Was it All Worth It”, a song constructed by Mercury, and when listening to the lyrics seems like an early epitaph. Freddie was obviously aware of his diagnosis when he wrote the lyrics, and though it can be read as simply a song that looks back on the bands career, and the work they had put in over the years, and asking the question was it all worth it… you can’t help but think that perhaps Freddie was also exploring his own mortality as the song was being written.

The Queen of the 1980’s is my band. “The Works”, “A Kind of Magic”, “The Miracle”. These are the albums that created my love of the band, and no matter how much I love their entire catalogue, it is these three albums that is where my heart still resides. Each is different, each has its own charms and foibles, and yet each to me are basically perfect albums. Each had their moment to imprint themselves upon me. “The Works” did so with the radio airplay the singles received. “A Kind of Magic” did so through the movie “Highlander” that it acted as a soundtrack for. “The Miracle” did in a different way. It was one of the albums released at this time that was not the focus of thrash and heavy metal that I was so indulgent with during 1989. This album acted as one that could be listened to in all company, and it was. For the remainder of 1989 from May onwards, and into the next year, my three closest friends at the time and I would go on car trips to Sydney, just under two hours drive from where we lived, once a month on a Friday. We all found a way to either get out of work or avoid uni, and go to Sydney for the day, almost always in the same friend’s car. During this time, he had purchased “The Miracle” on cassette so we could listen to it in the car. Thing was, at some stage, the cassette got stuck, and so it was the ONLY album that we could listen to, inn his car, on these trips. So, we listened to this album, much as Freddie sings in “Scandal”, ‘over and over and over and over again’. So, I can assure you we knew every word of every song. Great times and great memories. And it was a good thing we loved this album, and that another album wasn’t the one that got caught in there, like the rubbish dance music he also liked at the time, such as New Order or Pet Shop Boys. Ugh.
I bought this album on vinyl on one of those Sydney trips, at Utopia Records in Sydney, not long after its release, and was enamoured with it from the start. Actually, I fell in love with it. The constant playing of the album in the car on any road trip was amplified by the number of times I listened to it at home, and the number of times I played air guitar on “I Want it All”. As with all Queen albums, the differences between each of the songs came with the writers involved, even if they didn’t actually have their name credited against it.
The other major memory I have of this album was later in 1989, prior to going out to bat in a cricket match where we were chasing a large total. I sat in my car for an hour before I was required to bat, listening to “I Want it All”, then fast forwarding to “Breakthru”, and then back. Just those two songs, over and over. Nerves were expunged, and I went out that day and scored my highest score in top grade cricket, and we won the game. Coincidence? Unlikely. Those two songs in particular are anthemic, and great motivators. For me, on that day, they did exactly that.
“The Miracle” was the soundtrack to my life for the second half of 1989, as my life changed from under-performing university student to first full time job, and also being asked to join my first band, where I could parley my love of music into... something that resembled playing music. All of these memories flood back to me every time I put this album on. Some are great, some are not, but one thing that never changes is my love of this album. One of the very great things I have ever had the pleasure of buying and listening to.

991. Queen / Jazz. 1978. 4/5

The pressure of writing an album, recording an album and then touring an album, only to start the whole process over again, all in the span of 12 or so months, must be an enormously difficult thing to do. The fact that Queen did this most of the way through the 1970’s and early 1980’s, producing a new album every year from their self-titled debut album “Queen” right through to “Hot Space”, is a remarkable achievement, and the fact that the quality is generally of the highest order is even more remarkable. Opinions on how high that quality is on some albums does tend to shift around, and this period of the band is one of those instances.
After the magnificence of what had been the “A Night at the Opera” album, the follow up of “A Day at the Races” had been mixed, some iconic tracks alongside others that seemed to want to head in the same direction but didn’t quite match up. This was then followed by “News of the World”, the episode on which you can find in Season 3 of this podcast. Written and released at the start of the dominating punk movement in the UK, it is an album that held its own as the band remained true to their own music rather than look to change with the times, and it has held up because of this fact.
Coming to this album the following year not a lot had changed in the music world with punk still making its presence felt and the AOR movement in the US also holding firm to the radio airwaves. The band had decided to record outside of the UK for tax purposes, and settled on Montreux as their main port of call for the album that became known as “Jazz”, where the Montreux Jazz Festival was being held and which the band attended, and likely inspired the name of the album.
It is interesting to read reviews of this album from the time it was released, with many big time American publications such as Rolling Stone and Creem being particularly derogative of the final product. It is difficult to decide whether or not this was an honest review of the album, or just an ongoing diatribe from these particular publications over the style of music Queen chose to write and record. From the language used in those reviews it appears that there was a personal affront in their composition rather than any true effort to critique what the band had released, something that these two magazines in particular were not adverse to doing when they wanted to bring a band back to heel.

The opening track “Mustapha” bounds along in an excited chanting of lines in various languages that at least all sound like they rhyme together and fit together in sentences, but to be honest I have pretty much zero idea what is being said or what the song is about. Despite this, it’s hard not to like Freddie’s enthusiasm and pronunciation of whatever it is he’s saying. I wonder if the band knew what the song was about? This is followed by the well-rounded and often sung “Fat Bottomed Girls”, which has a great rhythm line underneath the song, a great chorus track and guitar riff to go along with the grin hidden behind a hand of teenage boys everywhere as they sang it.
“Jealousy” rises and falls on Freddie’s vocals, manipulating the mood of the track simply in the nuances of his vocals. Along with the backing vocals, it is a beautiful song. The relative gentleness of the track allows it to transition into “Bicycle Race” without losing integrity. “Bicycle Race” morphed nicely with “Fat Bottomed Girls” by mentioning it within the song, but it also has lyrics that reference the era that the song was written, and as such became a fun song to learn and then sprout the lyrics back at the people around you as you sang. These two short-but-sweet songs were always a popular part of Queen’s armoury, and found plenty of airplay due to their short playtime. “If You Can’t Beat Them” is an easy listening sing along track in a typical John Deacon style. It’s catchy and easy to move along with. Brian actually played all the guitars on this song, which was unusual for songs composed by John.
“Let Me Entertain You” closes out the first side of the album and has always been one of my favourite Queen tracks, though it is one I found from their live recording before I had ever heard “Jazz”. It is one of the heaviest tracks written by Freddie, though much of that comes from Brian’s guitar riff and his solo burst. Still, Freddie sings this hard and loud, preaching to the audience as he did so well. This still sounds great today. Side Two then opens up with “Dead on Time”, another of Queen’s most aggressively hard songs led by Brian’s guitar again as well as Roger’s great drumming. These two songs back to back showcase the best of that heavier side of Queen, revealing that part of their personality for the world to hear. It’s a shame that this song was never performed live, I believe it would have sounded great.
The album dials back to that much gentler aspect of the band’s brilliance, with “In Only Seven Days” where Freddie shows how amazing his vocal capacity is, having shown his faster and energetic vocal range in the previous two songs, to slipping into this easy paced song with gentle higher vocals. Amazing. This is followed by “Dreamer’s Ball” which sounds like it could have come from the “A Night at the Opera” album. “Fun It” is a quintessential Roger Taylor track with all of his tricks of the trade thrown it. He again plays most of the instruments and shares lead vocals throughout with Freddie. “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy” is Brian’s quiet ballad, almost Beatles-ish in its composition. Having heard the harder side earlier in the album, these four songs showcase the lighter side of the band, without losing any integrity in the tracks. Terrific stuff.
“Don’t Stop Me Now” is in my opinion one of the five best Queen tracks of all time. Positive lyrics, driving drums and lead bass riff, the piano being the major instrument throughout with Brian’s guitar just coming it to make highlight spots, and of course Freddie’s vocals topping everything off. If you could write one song and play it for eternity, it would quite probably be this one for me. It is a brilliant piece of song writing and musicianship.
The final track “More of That Jazz” is written and almost completely performed by Roger, and it is very much his style of track. It is eclectic, staccato with lots of guitar and vocal lines and harmonies mixed into places that don’t seem to be in any form, but somehow come together to make a great song. Not only do we hear his own amazing vocal range, when you first hear the song you think something has happened to the recording, because suddenly snatches of other songs on the record start coming into the mix. It’s unusual, but became common place amongst Roger’s own solo stuff. Opinions no doubt range on it, but personally I like it.

There is something for everyone on “Jazz” and it all comes together in a perfect way. The musicianship is second to none with each members at the top of their game. The vocals of all three major contributors is superb, with Freddie quite awesomely showing he can sing just about any type of song. And the variety of the songs doesn’t intrude on each other, somehow, they all tend to mesh together perfectly despite the wide range of influences that come into them. It juggles the different nuances of the song catalogue of Queen once again, continuing the 1970's transition of the band from heavily progressive rock in the early days through to more radio friendly hard rock, but without compromising their amazing talents or ingenious song designs.
I didn’t listen to the 1970’s Queen albums until I had left high school and had well and truly been captured by their 80’s albums such as “The Works” and “A Kind of Magic”, and then “The Miracle”. And the difference in styles was immediately noticeable once I began to digest them all at that time. “Jazz” had always been one that attracted me, mostly because of the way it flows along, able to connect songs of different varieties without driving a wedge between them or losing the momentum that is created. It is generally the harder songs on the album that I love, such as "Mustapha", "If You Can't Beat Them", "Let Me Entertain You" and "Dead on Time", and in particular the guitaring of Brian and drumming of Roger that grabs me. But take a listen to Freddie's song "Jealousy", and his vocals throughout. Just magnificent. They are of course brilliant throughout the album, but they are showcased on this song in particular.
I am always interested in discussing Queen albums and where people like to rank them, because this album in particular is one where a large discrepancy of opinion lies. While I have always held it in high regards, others that I talk to are more circumspect, and less forthcoming in praise for it. Not to the point of those magazine reviews from so many years ago, as Queen lovers basically love every album they have released. But the opinions do differ with this one album, which often makes for a lively conversation.
The next few years, with the change of decade and the changes in the music scene worldwide, brought some recalibration from Queen. More factors became involved in their music, and their lives as a whole, as the 80’s approached and moved the goalposts. It may have been different, but they remained as ever, Queen.

990. Queen / News of the World. 1977. 4/5

There will always be a debate over what is the best ever Queen album, and generational change will always be a part of that. Whether it was the albums of the 1970’s that you think are the real deal, or the releases in the 1980’s that hold together best can often be dependent on which era you grew up with. By the time News of the World came around Queen was well established in the music scene, and even in comparison to those albums that had come before it this is an impressive and enjoyable release.

The album leads off with what are still two of the biggest arena anthems ever written. Any major sporting spectacular that you go to, you are a big chance to hear either one or both of these songs sometime within the framework of the event taking place. “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” surely need to have nothing said by me in regards to their greatness as songs and to their transcendence through all musical genres. They stand alone on their own as pillars, but when played back-to-back create the perfect atmosphere for anyone who needs a pick-me-up before a performance before an audience. Forty years on and surely no better anthems have been written.
The track “Sheer Heart Attack” was apparently only half written when the album of the same name came out, and so it appears here some time afterwards. Roger Taylor wrote the song and sings in the chorus, and plays on most of the instruments as well. It rattles along pleasingly after the opening salvo. “All Dead, All Dead” follows the opening blast triumvirate, and reels the mood back in fiercely, with this soft and slow piano based song written and sung by Brian with Freddie providing backing. It’s a tough ask to place this song after those first three tracks, and also to have it followed by yet another blockbuster in “Spread Your Wings”. As a result it feels a little lost, and perhaps out of place. “Spread Your Wings” is yet another of John Deacon’s amazing contributions to the band, and is highlighted by Freddie’s amazing vocal performance and the short sharp lead burst from Brian, which punctuates the middle of the song.
Following on from this, “Fight From the Inside” is an almost complete Roger Taylor composition - written by him, sung by him, featuring him not only on the drums by he played bass and rhythm guitar as well. Thus it isn’t surprising that “Fight From the Inside” does sound familiar to many songs that appear on Roger’s first solo album “Fun in Space” where he did practically everything. This is followed by Freddie’s “Get Down, Make Love” where he makes a loud statement in uncompromising terms.
“Sleeping on the Sidewalk” is a harmless song that lacks the kind of things that made Queen songs great. There is no great majesty of about the song, and Brian’s vocals are muted most of the way through, such that it is a quite soft and shallow song. “Who Needs You” is another Deacon song with Spanish guitar and maracas, and though it also is a good song with its own character, the softer side of these two songs also seem to change the course that the album was heading.
“It’s Late” almost bounds off the vinyl at you in comparison to the songs that preceded it, loud and proud, not only with Freddie taking centre stage but with the choir vocals filling the mix, and the drums, bass and especially lead guitar pounding out of the speakers. It’s a real theatrical hard rock song, with each member playing their part with boundless enthusiasm. “My Melancholy Blues” closes out the album with some trademark Freddie piano-based softly spoken vocals which sounds like it is being performed in a piano lounge, with just John’s bass and Roger’s drums in accompaniment.

This album flows evenly between the two sides of Queen’s imagery, with the hard rock anthems balanced by the thoughtful and less raucous piano and acoustic settings. It’s what Queen has always been about, combining the individuals styles into an album based on their strengths without compromising on quality. While there is a mix within the content that may be difficult for some to accept, overall this album provides you with the best of each individual without necessarily showing their combined talents together. For some that will make it feel unhinged rather than a group effort.

Rating:  “Kicking your can all over the place”  4/5

970. Queen / Sheer Heart Attack. 1974. 4.5/5

Queen is the servant of all varieties of music. There is no one way to try and pigeonhole what genre of music they sit in, because each writer and performer has a different style, strength and love. The fact that they have been able to marry that all up over the years and make albums that don’t turn people off because of it is amazing. Here on “Sheer Heart Attack” this is true as it always is.
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.

968. Queen / Live Killers. 1979. 5/5

Queen’s growing success over the 1970’s decade came on the back of critically accalimed albums, mega successful singles that proliferated radio stations all over the world, and their amazing stage presence on their live tours. Each of these elements would grab different sections of the listening public, and then draw them in to the other aspects of the band, creating a total fan base.
Having released seven studio albums in quick succession (all came in the space of just five years between 1973 and 1978), each followed by largest and further reaching tours, the one thing the band lacked at this point of their career was a live album, to showcase to their fans who were unable to see them in concert just how they sounded and performed on stage. As a result, a number of concerts on their European tour to promote the “Jazz” album were recorded with this in mind throughout February 1979. The resulting recordings were then put through the ringer, choosing the best version of each song to put on the album. The band and their label decided to release “Live Killers” as a double LP, but even so time restrictions meant that they would not only have to leave some songs off the album, but also change the order of some of the songs from the set list in order that they would fit better onto the double vinyl. In interviews the following year, when promoting what would be their follow up album “The Game”, the band commented that they were unhappy with the production of the album, a role that they had taken on themselves in their new studio in Montreux.
From my own perspective, I have often wondered if they could have just released an album that concentrated on just one performance, and left it in the set list order. There were obviously reason why this didn’t happen, and often didn’t happen with live albums from many bands in the 1970’s. As to the quality of the production, to me it has never been in question.

To be fair, Queen chose a pretty awesome time to record a live album, as the set list that they played on this tour was second to none. Certainly, the absence of any material from their first two albums is perhaps an oversight, but by this stage of their career, with so many successful singles and songs that were fan favourites, and seven albums worth of material to choose from, making set lists was never going to be an easy thing. Would I like to have had songs from that era represented? Absolutely. But choosing songs to leave out would have been the hard part. And the fact that a song like “Somebody to Love”, which was the third song played on most nights of this tour, was left off the album, is incredible to believe. So yes. Choices to be made. So, let’s just be thankful for the songs and album that we have here to enjoy.
One of the great parts about this album and set is that “We Will Rock You” is represented twice. Firstly, as the opening track, with the so-called ‘Fast Version’ leading the band out of the pack. I have always loved this version of the song. Sure, it moves away from the ‘crowd participation’ song that it is heralded as being written as by Brian May, but it’s a great hard rock song, opening the album with a great fury. Later in the set and album, the more recognisable version is played in its usual form, and place, prior to the song it is always paired with, “We Are the Champions”. But the fiery open to the album (due to the deletion of “Somebody to Love” and “Fat Bottomed Girls” from the album) is then continued with a blazing version of “Let Me Entertain You”, where Brian attacks ferociously on guitar again and Freddie getting the crowd up and moving from the outset. The triumvirate of great tracks then concludes with a rousing version of Freddie’s anger-fest “Death on Two Legs” which is always such a perfectly conducted track, and the live version ere is just as wonderful. The easy segue of the piano chord straight into “Killer Queen” is performed seamlessly and beautifully, the change of mood carried through without any loss of momentum. This continues as the song then moves into “Bicycle Race” and then “I’m in Love with My Car”, all without skipping a beat, and all interconnected as though they all belong together. It’s a great streak of music, and still wonderful to experience.
“Get Down, Make Love” is a good live version of this song, and is followed by the perennially popular and beautiful John Deacon track “You’re My Best Friend”. Side two of the first LP kicks off with a sensational extended version of “Now I’m Here” with Freddie creating some crowd participation in the middle of the track. I love this song, and especially this version. This is followed by the acoustic session, with “Dreamer’s Ball”, Freddie’s amazing “Love of My Life” with more crowd singing, and Brian’s still beautiful “39”, while the first album concludes with the effervescent “Keep Yourself Alive”, the lone representative of those first two Queen albums.
Into the second LP, and it is a cacophony of hard rock hits, rolling in one after the other. It opens with a rousing version of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, backed up by a soaring rendition of Deacon’s “Spread Your Wings” with further help from the crowd in attendance. One of the best songs on the album in the extended 13 minute version of May’s “Brighton Rock” where he extended and amplifies his solo section through the middle of the song. Brian showcases all his skills throughout, and it is a joy to listen to every time.
Onto side 2, and the final two songs of the show, the crowd favourite “Bohemian Rhapsody” followed by the hard rock favourite again with “Tie Your Mother Down”. Both are as terrific as they always are. The Short break is followed by the encore, which is pretty difficult to top. Another hard rock ripper from Roger Taylor with his “Sheer Heart Attack”, leads into the songs where the crowd comes into the show fully, with “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”, performed to perfection to complete the show and album, with an overture of “God Save the Queen”.

Queen is a band that I knew I loved from the first instant I heard their songs on the radio, musically and vocally. There is always something magical about their songs, and the wide range of song styles that they are able to compose and yet still be Queen. It’s what sent me down the track with 1984’s “The Works” and then everything that came before it and also what followed.
My first experience with this album was the “Queen Live” single album that was released in Australia in 1985, which was a chopped-up hybrid of this album that was released to coincide with Queen’s tour of Australia in early 1985. Though I did not get to see them on this tour, which turned out to be their last of Australia, I got the album for Xmas that year and loved it. Then the following year, on a school trip to Sydney to see the play Barefoot in the Park, a friend had his tape player and was playing what I thought was the “Queen Live” album, but I began to hear songs that I didn’t know at all, and versions of others I’d never heard. I was eventually informed that what I was listening to was in fact called “Live Killers”, the full double album to the single hybrid version that I owned. Good knowledge to have. I didn’t end up getting my own copy until I got my first stereo with a CD player which was in 1990, and I bought this on double CD around that time. And it was immediately so much better than the version I still owned. And for me, no other Queen live release has been close to it. In recent years they have issued other live recordings, which have been great, but this honestly still takes the cake. The songs, and the way they are performed, is magnificent. The band may have been disappointed in the production, but I think it portrays how the band sounded live, not with absolute precision recording of their instruments, but in how they were. The extra loud crashes of the cymbals to me exemplifies how good this is, while some so called experts feel it harms the audio. Rubbish. It makes it a live album. All four members sound great and can be heard in the mix. It is a triumph. If you haven’t heard this, make sure you do. It is more than worth it.

810. Queen / Made in Heaven. 1995. 3.5/5

It's a difficult task to not only explain how I feel about this album, but also to give it a rating that is fair for all of the factors taken into consideration in regards to its writing and recording. Posthumously released albums are not unusual or new. Posthumously recorded ones, well that's a different story. Given all of what went into releasing this album, and the significance behind it, I still have mixed feelings over this final album release of Queen's stellar career.

I won't lie to you. When it was announced that this album was being released, containing material recorded before the final demise of lead singer Freddie Mercury, I was excited. What kind of stuff would it contain? What style of music would there be? How much did Freddie contribute to it? There is little doubt that I expected too much. Having loved almost everything of the previous four albums as I grew up in the 1980's, I guess I was expecting it to be a lot like them. That was never likely to be the case, but hopes ran high.
I bought this on the day it was released, and returned to the home I was sharing with two of my best mates at the time, and we all listened to it that night, the stereo booming out into the lounge room with the lights out, me lying on the floor in contemplation. Then we listened to it again. From the next day though... well... it probably didn't get quite the reception that I had envisaged. It wasn't until I actually had the album in my hands that I was aware of the way that it had been... constructed. Only three of the songs were close to fully realised in this time, those being Mercury's "A Winter's Tale", Mercury and May's "Mother Love" and what would become "You Don't Fool Me". All three are good songs in an atypical Queen way. Brian sings the final verse in "Mother Love" as Freddie was never able to return to the studio to finish recording the vocals, while "You Don't Fool Me" is actually snatches of vocals sung by Freddie in his final days in the studio, and then cut and pasted and arranged into a song. Amazing.
Other songs here are original versions of the vocals recorded of songs on other albums, with the music re-recorded and "Queenified" to make it feel authentic. Two of those songs, "Made in Heaven" and "I Was Born to Love You" came from Freddie's solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, "Let Me Live" was recorded during the sessions for The Works album, "Heaven For Everyone" came from Roger Taylor's band The Cross album Shove It, and "Too Much Love Will Kill You" had originally been planned as a Queen song that Freddie had sung on, but was eventually first released by Brian May on his solo album Back to the Light. "My Life Has Been Saved" was originally a B-side to the single for "Scandal" from The Miracle. In all of these songs, the band and producer David Richards have done a magnificent job. They sound terrific, and in throwing in bits and pieces from the past into the mix, it brings the album together as a fitting tribute to the spirit of Freddie Mercury.
Still, given that there were essentially very few songs that had been completed by the time of Freddie's death, was this a necessary release? What the band has done in re-invigorating some other tracks with Freddie's vocals by recording updated music to them, or pasting and cutting vocals and grafting them to music, was any of this a necessary device, if only to have these final recordings of Freddie released as a full album? Could it have been done in a different fashion? Whatever the case, Freddie went through a lot in order to do these final recordings, and he obviously wanted them to find their way into our hands, so we can't be too hard on the effort that was made to do so.
My opinion has changed over the years in regards to this. From my initial excitement, I began to feel that this would have been better left alone, and let the magnificent Innuendo be the final crowning moment of the band and its wonderful lead vocalist. In recent times though, I have come to appreciate this release much more, and enjoy it more and more as I listen to it. I love knowing the ins and outs of how this was recorded, and hearing the different versions of those songs that had been recorded before. More than anything else, I love hearing the band together, and Freddie's voice resonating from the speakers with the love and joy he had for his music.

This will never be considered a classic album. It can't, and the circumstances around its recording is the major reason behind that. But if you take everything in your stride, and concentrate on the brilliance of all four members of the band at work, then like me you will be able to draw enough out of this album to still raise a smile.

Rating:  You'd give your life, you'd sell your soul, but here it comes again.  3.5/5

793. Queen / Queen II. 1974. 4/5

Queen has always been amazing in the studio. The way that they record their instruments and their vocals, and layer them over each other a thousand ways and the get the sound onto their albums that they do is remarkable. With equipment in the modern age it is a whole lot easier to do, but to do it well still takes talent. These guys were able to do it on limited studio time and budgets, and come up with amazing sounding albums. It is quite possible that in this regard, “Queen II” is the standout.
As was related in the episode in Season 5 of this podcast on Queen’s debut album, the delay in its release meant that the band had already moved on from those songs by the time it was released, and had already not only been writing new material but playing new material in their live sets. The first recording sessions for this album actually came less than a month after the first album’s final release, such was the desire of the band to move on from that experience and begin creating even more elaborate and complex songs that their first experience in the studio had been incapable of producing.
Having spent their time on the debut album recording in off hours of Trident Studios to save on costs, this time the band insisted on being able to use the studio during more regular hours. They also had a number of songs already written, but because of their complexity, and the desire of the band to make sure that they were given the time they deserved, they had held them back to be recorded at a time when they had greater freedom to express themselves in the studio, something they had created for themselves with the delivery of that first album.
Recording took place over a number of months, interspersed with short tours in support of bands such as Mott the Hoople as well as their own shows. Their record company wanted to hold back the release as long as possible, as the debut album had only come out recently in some territories and they did not want to overlap the sales of that album with the release of the follow up. It became one of the most ambitious projects of the band’s career, providing such a unique collection of tracks and wall of sound recording techniques that it not only inspired a new generation of recording artists with its sound, but found a fan base that accepted its virtues without really being sure of how they felt about it.

The band's little gimmick for this album was that rather than have the album with Side A and Side B, they chose to have Side White and Side Black, which also had differing personalities of the music as a result. The White side of the album was almost completely composed by Brian May, apart from the last song which was composed by Roger Taylor, while the Black side was completely composed by Freddie Mercury. It’s interesting that they claimed that this was because of the style of music rather than the composer, something that would surprise those that know the style of music each artist preferred to write.
After opening with the instrumental piece "Procession" the album moves into "Father and Son". There are so many pieces to this song that it is hard sometimes to take it all in. There are the quiet, slower parts where the piano or acoustic guitar may be playing, with Freddie's mellow voice singing his sweet vocals over the top, and other pieces where Roger's drums and Brian's guitar crash in and play in an almost heavy metal way, before coming to a conclusion in a more typical Queen type atmosphere. There's a bit of everything here, and it is not the only song that has this. "White Queen (As It Began)" was apparently written some years earlier by Brian, and once again mixes a multitude of guitars and slightly heavier moments with greater moments of acoustic guitars and of reflection from Freddie. It is interesting listening to these songs given Brian’s and Roger’s preference for more uptempo and guitar/drum invested hard rock. "Some Day One Day" is another of Brian's songs, the first to have Brian on lead vocals for the entire song. Again, the acoustic guitars dominate, while another mix of many electrified guitars punctuate through the middle and end of the song. The closing song of the White side is Roger's "The Loser in the End", on which he also sings lead vocal throughout. I always enjoy Roger’s contributions to Queen albums, and when he sings lead vocal as he does here it adds to the depth of the album.
The Black side of the album continues the rare mix of acoustic and electrified timing changes along with the multi-layered instrumentalising that preceded it, but perhaps with a greater frenzy. "Ogre Battle" would be a case in point. The beginning of the song is actually the end of the song in reverse, before bursting into a heavy drum beat and guitar riff from Brian and John. Freddie and Roger's vocal melodies scream over the top, while the middle of the song is a cacophony of guitars and Freddie 'ogre' screams. An ogre battle indeed, this ranks as one of Queen's heaviest songs. This then segues into "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", by which Freddie was inspired by the painting of the same name by Richard Dadd. The chaotic and frenetic qualities of the song could be accurately portrayed by the painting itself, which surprisingly when you look at it you can feel the way Freddie wrote this song. Terrific. Another segue moves into "Nevermore", another quieter and soothing song following the energy that has been used in the previous two tracks. This short break is then followed by "The March of the Black Queen", where the sound levels are cranked up again, unleashing the boundaries of Queen's every resource. Fast and heavy drums and guitars mix with quiet vocal melodies over acoustic guitar, and multi layered guitars and vocals blend into piano driven choirs of tunes. As they were to do again in the future with similar success, several different pieces of music has been fused together to create a spectacular piece. This is still an amazing song, and when you listen to it you can understand why it just couldn’t be reproduced to be played live on stage. It is a production in itself, a song that for a band’s second album is truly remarkable. "Funny How Love Is" follows this, built around a wall of multi-tracked vocals, piano and guitar, with Freddie's lead standing out at the front of the song. To complete the album is the brilliant and timeless "Seven Seas of Rhye", now in its completed form with lyrics, after an uncompleted section appeared on their first album. This was the only single lifted from the album and was the band's first Top Ten single in the UK.

For those who are paying attention to my Queen album retrospectives, you already know that my discovery of Queen came by the radio singles, and then the arrival of “The Works”, which recently received its own episode here on this podcast. And it wasn’t for a few years after that moment that I went back to listen to all of the albums from the 1970’s rather than concentrate on the “Greatest Hits” album and the “Live Killers” album. And it is fair to say that when I got around to “Queen II” for the first time, it was completely different from anything I expected. And it still is today. There’s no ‘singles’ being written for radio airplay here. This is an album that utilises every recording technique that can be found in the studio (no synths though! - that much is made clear in the linear notes). The songs rise and fall, fade and then bounce back hard in your face. Guitar on guitar on guitar, vocals layered time and again. A cacophony of sound, coming at you out of the speakers. It was all a lot to take in those first number of times I listened to the album, and perhaps it isn’t a surprise that it didn’t grab me at first. In fact, it took quite a while to grow on me. I went through much of the remainder of the band’s catalogue, and knowing what I liked and didn’t like, before I finally settled on “Queen II” again, and listened to it again. And, perhaps finally, having it on my stereo, and just sitting back and appreciateing it rather than playing the album while doing other things, and looking to radio songs to sing along to, is where I found my goal. The amazing way the band has constructed the album, to appreciate their incredible musicianship throughout, and enjoy the way the songs opened themselves out. Yes, it really did take me some time to get this album, but once I did, I discovered something unique and special, something that in the years since has allowed me to marvel at this album along with those who have always marveled at its wondrous sounds.
Along with the debut album that followed it, “Queen II” was the opening act of Queen’s career, as they experimented with their own influences to make a sound that was uniquely theirs, something with which they succeeded. From “Sheer Heart Attack” onwards there was a more structured way about the songs the band wrote (albeit still in a unique and multi-faceted way). What you have here is a band that was willing to do things their way, and record songs in a way that emphasised and utilised their many boundless talents to create an album that sounded bigger than an album with four members had any right to be. While it made playing some of the songs live an impracticality, it makes for an amazing sounding album. Not everyone will get it or perhaps be able to appreciate it for its brilliance, and of course it took me a long time to discover this myself. I for one now continue to marvel at the techniques used here, and the material that it provides.

712. Queen / The Works. 1984. 5/5

In 1982 Queen had released the album “Hot Space”, one that had both pushed the envelope from what Queen had built their sound on for the past decade, as well as making a musical statement that utilised the technology of the time and looked to create their own version of the direction. That direction was more in the domain of bass guitarist John Deacon, whose favoured style of R&B was incorporated into the synth-dominated album, and lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, who was obviously influenced by the music he heard in night clubs and wanted to bring that to his music as well. The direction that “Hot Space” moved in was not something that the other two band members, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, were fans of, and indeed they were critical of Freddie’s personal manager, who they believed was influencing his thoughts and decisions in and around this time. “Hot Space” was an experimental haze and had divided Queen's fan base, with many unable to dissect what they were trying to achieve with the vast change in style the album contained, something that you can discover by listening to the episode dedicated to that album in Season 2 of this podcast. When the band toured to promote the album, they found that parts of their fan base were unreceptive to the new material, with Freddie at one concert reportedly saying “If you don’t like it, leave!!”
Following the tour, the band had a 12 month hiatus. During this time May worked on a project called “Star Fleet Project”, where he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen. Taylor and Mercury both worked on solo projects, with Taylor’s “Strange Frontier” album eventually released later in 1984 and Mercury’s “Mr Bad Guy” album coming out in 1985. All used different levels of electronica and synth in their music, the basic ingredient of that age of the early 1980’s.
After nine months the band came back together and prepared to write and record their follow up album, which was titled “The Works” apparently after a line used by Taylor in the early sessions where he suggested that for the fans they should ‘give them the works!’ On the new album, Queen continued to push ahead with their trailblazing feats, one that mixed radio hits that reclaimed their identity as one of the world's biggest bands, but mixed style and substance with a variety of music genres that continued to allow them to market themselves to the widest possible audience. It probably did not win back all of those disgruntled fans, the ones that had been with the band since their inception. However, a new crowd of teenagers climbed on board with their radio hits, and then absorbed the approach of the songs that make up the whole album.

Kicking off with the unapologetic pop anthem "Radio Ga Ga", this is very synth based in a similar style of the previous album, but comes through tougher in the chorus with a crowd-like chant which gives it a rock feel that defies its musical background. This kicked goals for Queen on the radio as it was given huge airplay, and was the perfect anthem for the times, with its nostalgic view of the importance of radio in the past and how it was being overtaken by visual media in the present. "Tear it Up" follows and is Brian May's attempt to revive the hard rock edge of Queen, hailing back to a style more reminiscent of their earlier albums. This May and Taylor at their best with the hard riffing guitar and heavy hitting drums. It is the first noticeable effort by May to reclaim the harder edge of Queen and it does the job well. This is replaced by Freddie Mercury's "It's a Hard Life", which is dominated by his soaring vocals and melodies, only broken up by May's wonderful guitar solo in the middle of the song. Once again there are no synths in this song, just the guitars, drums and Freddie’s piano, and again is a more traditional Queen song that older fans could relate to. This is one of many underrated Queen songs that those who only know the ‘greatest hits’ should be listening to. Everything about this track is superb, from the building of May’s guitar through the middle of the song, to the chorused backing vocals behind Freddie’s main vocal. It still send shivers down the spine listening to Freddie sing it.
"Man on the Prowl" is reminiscent of another of Freddie's rockabilly songs, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". However, on an album where I find every other song has an impact and a place, this has always been the one song which makes me a little less enthused. Even on an album that has this much variety in its song structure, I still find this is out of place. That doesn’t mean that I dislike the song, but I would suggest this is the weakest track on the album and to close out side one of the album.
This is recovered immediately as you flip the vinyl by the unique and brilliant "Machines (Back to Humans)", a song that again has a heavy use of synths to create the robotic performance the song was looking for. I love the way that Taylor has created this song, with both Freddie and Brian singing harmony vocals throughout, while Roger himself provides the ‘robotic’ voice through his vocoder. This is still experimental, but for me retains a heavier side of the song that differentiates it from the songs of the previous album.
John Deacon steals the show again with his hit single "I Want to Break Free", which got mega air time on music video channels with the video for the song. Like his best songs, "I Want to Break Free" juts along with his terrific bass line, while the others fall into line around it. It was the music video, with the four members of the band dressing up in a parody of the British hit series “Coronation Street” that caused some rumblings for them in the US. Why? Well, some people have unusual views on music and art. This was Deacon’s only contribution to the album, and once again it proved to be a hit single.
Then we move into the part of the album that I still consider to be one of the best of the band’s career.
"Keep Passing the Open Windows" is another Freddie special, where he again writes spectacularly for his own vocals, which convey all the right emotions of the song. Initially it was composed for a movie called “The Hotel New Hampshire”, which the band had initially agreed to write the soundtrack for. Apparently, this was the only song that was completed. This another of those underrated Queen songs that the ‘Greatest Hits’ listeners don’t know, and it is a shame. It has always been my second favourite song on this album. My favourite, perhaps obviously, is the thundering "Hammer to Fall", which, while always sounding great in this studio version, has always been a live song, and one that grows in stature in that environment. This is May’s second true hard rock song of the album, his response to the composing of the previous album, and it is a belligerent one. Everything about it is magnificent, from the opening riff to Freddie’s anthemic vocal rising, to Brian’s brilliant guitar solo that is then followed by the softer call that rises to the vocal of the masses. Another shivers down the spine track, and hearing and seeing it at Live Aid on TV the following year was one of those life moments that you never forget. The album then concludes with the beautiful thought piece "Is This the World We Created?", which was written about the poverty in Africa, where Freddie and Brian again find a way to compose a magnificently perfect song, that was subsequently played at Live Aid as an encore.

I recognise that Queen built their following through the 1970’s, where they just kept releasing albums that caught the imagination of their fans, and writing amazing songs that became huge radio hits. For those that grew up during the 1970’s the band’s finest era was then, and their output in the 1980’s was barely worthy of mention. I respect those views, because I agree that those albums are for the most part spectacular.
But I grew up in the 1980’s, from the age 10 to 20. And while I knew the songs from Queen that were singles on the radio up to that time, I didn’t own or know any of their albums. That changed when “The Works” became one of the first albums I ever bought, and my music world changed with it. Everything fit for me, and this is one of those albums that taught me how important it was to buy albums of bands and listen to all the music they compose at that time, and not just rely on listening to songs written and released as singles. And that is a very important lesson to learn.
Man, I used to listen to this album. I’d come home from school and listen to it over and over. I’d have the mic and swing around my bedroom singing like Freddie Mercury – well, nothing like him actually, but singing nonetheless – and playing air guitar and the whole shebang. And to be honest the past few weeks having it on again hasn’t been much different, just a lot older and a lot worse singing. And this is still an album that rarely goes too long without being placed back on the turntable or in the CD player, because it is an album that I not only love, but WANT to listen to, time and time again.
I’m occasionally asked which Queen album I believe is my favourite. There are always several reasons why someone would choose an album to be number one on a list, and for me any of four or five Queen could easily rank as my favourite.
For me it comes down to quality and memories. The singles were prominent on the radio on their release and became favourites, especially with the video for "I Want to Break Free" on MTV and other music video platforms. It was also released at a time when I was first becoming interested in albums as a whole rather than just individual songs, and at that time this grabbed my attention. It also has a mix of the synth, keyboard and drum machine style that was popular with the new wave bands of the time, and the hard rock guitar and drums that was becoming more important to me as I moved through my teenage years. The songs had great 'sing-along" parts and anthemic qualities, and every song plays its part in the continuity of the album. Nothing proved this more than the band's appearance at Live Aid, and their performance of both "Radio Ga Ga" and "Hammer to Fall" still send shivers down the spine. Both are all time favourites for me, with "Hammer to Fall" perhaps my favourite Queen song. As with all great albums, the supporting cast have to do their job as well, and I think that occurs here with underrated and somewhat maligned songs such as "Tear it Up", "It's a Hard Life" and the quite brilliant "Keep Passing the Open Windows" being great strengths.
Favourites aren't always bests, because bests can be argued from different angles. But this is my favourite, the Queen album that not only gives us 80's popular music but 80's hard rock, touching songs and anthems. Freddie's vocals reign supreme, John's bass lines hold the rhythm together with Roger's great drumming, and Brian's guitar is superb, showcasing everything he is best at.
This for me was the start of a four album run that is as amazing as it is emotionally charged given the reason that album run came to an end. Tie as it is to my growing from age 14 to 21, that probably isn’t a great surprise.

698. Queen / Queen. 1973. 4/5

Like most people of my generation, I came to know and love Queen from the singles that were played on the radio. For me, my first memory of Queen was "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" back when I was ten years old in 1980. The first Queen album I ever purchased was 1984's The Works. It wasn't until the 1990's, when I finally had an income of my own, that I started to go back and find all those albums from the 1970's that I had rarely heard apart from the singles and the live albums, and it was then that I first laid my ears on their eponymous debut album.
Queen is a product of its era, of a band trying to find its own sound. The songs here can be heard to be a meshing together of different types of music genres that were making themselves heard at the time leading up to the recording of this album. There is a hard rock element, driven at those times by Roger Taylor's crashing drums and Brian May's superb guitar work. Along with this can be a quieter introspective tide, while the use of longer freeform instrumental jamming that was prevalent during the late 1960's and early 1970's is also in effect. This album is different, almost unique from the albums that followed, which also moved with the times that they were recorded in.
The great danger in knowing so well what the band produced in the 1980's and coming back to listen to their earlier recordings is dismissing it because it is different, and not what you know. That would be a great shame, because this still an excellent album to this day. It has their earliest efforts in producing their layered vocals, and while the production mightn't be at its best, you can still appreciate the quartet's wonderful brilliance.

"Keep Yourself Alive" is still one of the band's most famous and great tracks, rumbling along with terrific guitaring and Freddie's vocals. It should always come under mention when you discuss the best ever "Album 1, Side 1, Track 1" songs. "Doing All Right" is one of those songs from that era which has a little bit of everything. It was quiet acoustic and piano parts, with Freddie backed by Roger and Brian's vocals, then without warning jumps into hard and heavy, almost punk guitar riffing with drumming to suit, then back to the quiet verse, and so on. It is a strangely formulated song, almost in a progressive rock kind of way. Something for everyone there. "Great King Rat" again has a somewhat hard rock progressive way about it. It is a heavier song throughout, dominated by the guitars of Brian and John Deacon and the thumping drums of Roger, with some time and tempo changes throughout the song. In fact, it can almost fool you into believing it is two songs, such is the change about halfway through, where a quiet interlude then crashes out into what is actually the second half of the song, but could easily be mistaken for the next song on the album. "My Fairy King" is full of what would become the trademark Queen vocal harmonies and overdubs. Roger Taylor can be clearly heard hitting the highest notes within the song, something that he probably doesn't receive enough credit for in his singing with the band.
"Liar" is another of the band's better known early songs, and again shows their ability to change between toying with a heavy sound and the quieter thoughtful process again in the construct of the same song. "The Night Comes Down" is a quieter song, and is followed by the Roger Taylor written and sung "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll" which is much more up-tempo than its predecessor. This flows straight into "Son and Daughter", which perhaps best reflects the blues and heavy metal sound that was being produced by bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin at the time. Brian and John's guitars certainly reflect that sound throughout the song. "Jesus" finishes with an instrumental flurry, which itself goes into "Seven Seas of Rhye", a 75 second instrumental that concludes the album. Apparently Freddie had been writing this during the recording of this album, but hadn't finished it when it was time to publish. As a result, this is what was recorded, and the full finished version of the song with lyrics was released on Queen II.

I think this is a good album, full of good songs and plenty of initiative. Those that grew up with this album are more of the opinion that Queen was at their best in the era of the 1970's, while those who grew up with their 1980's music often feel the reverse. I don't have a solid stance either way, though if I was to rank my favourite Queen albums the majority at the top would probably be from the 1980's. Nevertheless, this is an album full of good things, and should not be dispersed without giving it a fair hearing.

561. Queen / Innuendo. 1991. 4.5/5

In a different time and age, it was sometimes difficult to find out what date albums would be released, and then it depended on what record store you were going to, and whether they kept your genre of music, as to whether they would even have it on said date. Innuendo for me was one of those albums that I got on the day of release, forgoing my lunch break to rush off to the record store to secure my copy.
Given that touring was no longer an option for the band with Freddie’s illness, the band had plenty of time to spend in a studio, allowing them to experiment and throw in whatever instrumental pieces they wanted to, almost like The Beatles had in their latter years. Most of that is showcased here, with an eclectic mix of faster, slower, intricate, big-band, orchestral and quieter songs.

There are absolute gems. “Innuendo” is almost an album in itself, the work that goes into that song is amazing. “Headlong” is probably the best pure hard rock song on the album. “I Can’t Live With You” is another great song, Freddie’s vocal’s here are just awesome, reaching all the depths and heights without a care in the world.
“Ride the Wild Wind” is one of my favourite all-time Queen songs, as much for John Deacon’s fantastic bass line running through the song. It is the perfect combination of all of their talents - Brian’s eclectic guitaring, Roger’s perfect drum beat and Freddie’s vocals. It is the equal, if not the better, of every other song in their catalogue. Many people feel that “The Show Must Go On” is the song that has become the final legacy of Queen. For me it is “Ride the Wild Wind” – for me everything that is great about Queen is in this song.

There are also the average, the songs that just don’t quite seem to fit, the songs that are just that little too much varied in their style for my liking on the album. “All God’s People” and “Delilah” are two songs that for me bring down the quality of the album, not from a musicianship sense, but just in the sense that they are probably not my style of song. You can add to this “These Are the Days of Our Lives” – not because of the quality of the song, but again just not to my individual taste. Ditto for “Bijou”.

Having torn the album apart to try and give a rating song by song, when you listen to it from pillar to post, it all comes together in a wonderful meshing of all styles, and just becomes Queen. Whilst in my personal opinion there are albums that are marginally better than this one, this is still at the top of the pile.

532. Queen + Paul Rodgers / The Cosmos Rocks. 2008. 2/5

No one who has heard anything of Queen + Paul Rodgers recently will have any thoughts that either party will reach the heights that they once did. While their coming together has been a good thing for them, allowing them to tour and play a whole variety of songs, they are a new band. In fact I would preferred to have seen them take a new name for the band, so as not sully what have been great careers to this point.

Anyway, the first release from this trio and their band partners is here, and it is a departure from what one would have liked to have heard, but is unsurprising that it is not. Gone is the innovation that is one of the hallmarks of Queen’s background, and gone are the strong vocals that Paul Rodgers has in his earlier incantations. What we have instead is a selection of songs that are disappointingly average. What ‘rock’ songs there are on the album tend very much toward the pop side of rock.
The presence of Brian May’s scintillating guitar is toned down into the wash, where it rarely comes into its own. Ditto Roger Taylor's drumming. The beauty of Queen’s album’s was that they were always interesting, and they always tried new ideas. It is the lack of anything outstanding or new here that drags it into the mire. It feels almost like a 70’s pop album.

So no. It doesn’t work, and that’s a shame. No doubt there are people out there who will enjoy this, but it just doesn’t feel right from the first time you put it on. There is no spark, there is no fire. As an easy listening album you might get marks, but for guys that have set the bar so high in years gone by, it ranks as a fizzer.

Rating: Disappointingly average. 2 / 5.

509. Queen / Hot Space. 1982. 3/5

Even though I wasn’t old enough or interested enough in the history and the rolling development of bands through the 1970’s and the early 1980’s, it is pretty easy to trace just how the burgeoning career of Queen moved throughout that period. Their popularity grew with each album, and singles such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” gained plenty of airplay. But it was the single from their album “The Game”, John Deacon’s “Another One Bites the Dust” that outsold them all, and is seen as the reason that the band went down the path that eventually led to “Hot Space”. The popularity of that single, especially in dance clubs and as a dance track, directed much of the writing for the band’s next album after “The Game” and “Flash Gordon”. In many ways, the album just heads in the same direction music around the world was going at that time. The emergence of both disco and new wave following the rise and fall of the punk movement dictated a popularity phase that you can only imagine band front man Freddie Mercury found very much to his liking, and John Deacon’s preference for music that was not as heavy as that preferred by the other members of the band, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, gave that momentum towards that sound.
In recent years, it has also been postulated that Freddie’s ‘personal manager’ Paul Prenter had been encouraging Freddie every step of the way to go down this path, which helped to convince the singer to move in that direction. Roger Taylor is hilariously quoted as saying “Prenter wanted our music to sound like you'd just walked in a gay bar...and I didn't".
The use and experimentation with new devices though helped to bring that sound to the album as well. There was a greater emphasis on synthesizers, as well using a drum machine for the first time. The style of music is a definite change in direction from the general rock and hard rock that had been their staple, now introducing and concentrating on the disco and dance new wave genre that was so prevalent in that age. I mean, for goodness sake, even Kiss dabbled in it with their “Dynasty” album. So they weren’t on their own in mixing up their sound for this album, but it was at the risk of alienating everything they had done up until this point of their careers.

OK, so let’s get this out of the way from the get go. This is a Queen album, so if you like Queen, then you have a reasonable idea as to what you are walking into. Now, think about Queen, but heading more towards a disco angle than a rock angle. Got it? Well now you have a better idea of what awaits you. It’s quite the eclectic mix of tracks,
“Staying Power” and “Dancer” start the album off with plenty of energy, but it takes some getting used to. “Staying Power” has synth bass played by Freddie rather than John’s bass (he actually plays guitar on the track) and with horns dominating the track with the drum machine. On “Dancer” the bassline is actually just Brian on synth, so it’s quite a change from that rock base the band had utilised on previous albums. “Back Chat” is one of John’s tracks and he plays bass rhythm and synth on it. It has a very R&B sound to it, utilising that groove to manoeuvre its way through the track, before Brian’s solo provides the best part of the song, almost as a retaliation to it. “Body Language” cuts even further back, helmed by a bass synth and Freddie’s vocals and little else. This was released as the second single from the album, and I literally have no idea how it managed to have the reasonable sales that it did... oh wait... there are some gay overtones in the lyrics aren’t there... and the video for it was quite... provocative... so I guess that’s your answer. All of these songs have a sound that to me reminds me of the dancing troupe “Hot Gossip” who appeared on the various Kenny Everett TV shows of the time. Hot Gossip could only have improved them, I feel. “Action this Day” closes out the first side of the album and is very tied to the era, with the drum machine and the saxophone, drawing in those new wave elements.
The second side starts off with Brian’s “Put Out the Fire”, the one song on the album that resembles the band’s earlier work. Great vocals, great beat, great guitar. Yep, still like this song. This is followed by “Life is Real (Song For Lennon)”, written by Freddie and sounds remarkably like a John Lennon song, even the vocal in places is sung to resemble him. A nice touch. “Calling All Girls” is a straight forward rock track that was the fourth single, while “Las Palabris De Amour (The Words of Love)” is a Queen rock ballad that was also released as a single and was regarded much more favourably than the first single. “Cool Cat” has all instruments almost completely performed by John. This is a lounge act song, I can imagine the stage and the piano as the singe on stage croons along. It is about as far away from Queen as I could imagine.
The album concludes with the Queen and David Bowie song “Under Pressure”, a song that doesn’t fit in with the style of this album at all. In fact, it was recorded well before the writing for this album really took place, and it is noticeable. Was it a cynical inclusion here in order to increase the sales of the album, with a song that had already proven popular and would draw people in – or was it always going to be a part of this collection? I don’t know the answer, but it feels more like the first answer than the second.

This review was always going to test me. Just about every band that you love has that one skeleton hiding in the closet, the closet you rarely frequent, and when you do it is with a deal of trepidation. And for me “Hot Space” was definitely that moment in the Queen discography. Because when I first heard the album, I wasn’t even sure it was a Queen album. I’m pretty sure my first reaction to it was that it had to be a joke, a bunch of demos collated together of tracks the band had dabbled with and then rejected for better material. But no, it was the real deal, and it really was released. And even when I went through and eventually bought all of the albums on CD so I had copies of my own, I did think twice or three times as to whether I would buy “Hot Space”, because I just couldn’t imagine when I was ever going to go to my shelves and take it off to put on and listen to it.
That being said, I’ve never enjoyed this album more than I have over the last four weeks. And that would no doubt come from the fact that I listened to it at least once or twice every day at work during that period, the whole album through. In the past when I have listened to it, whether it was at home or at a friends house, it would be on in the background, and I mostly would not have been in the mood for its quirky tones, and probably thinking I should be listening to just about any other Queen album instead. But for this month that has not been the case. I have had it going around on my playlist with up to six other albums, such that it becomes a part of the mix. And it certainly is plain when it comes on because its style is so very different from the other albums I have been listening to at during this time – check out the recent podcast episodes to see what those albums were, and you'll see what I mean.
So I can honestly say that I appreciate “Hot Space” a lot more now than I did up until a month ago. Which does prove why I do this podcast and that for some albums it has the desired effect. Does that mean it will come back off the shelf again any time soon? Well... perhaps for its 50th anniversary...

477. Queen / Heaven For Everyone [Single]. 1995. 4/5

This was the first single released from the ‘final’ Queen album, Made in Heaven. It obviously got heavy radio exposure, especially as it was released almost four years after Freddie Mercury’s death.
It contains the single, plus three remastered classics, “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Seven Seas of Rhye” and “Killer Queen”. Funny then that the single is the weakest of all tracks.

Rating: The single is reasonable, backed by great followers. 4/5.

456. Queen+ / Greatest Hits III. 1999. 2.5/5

OK – now we might just have pushed this concept a little bit too far. Whether the band agreed to this release, or it was just record company eyes lighting up with dollar signs, I don’t know, but I think their luck ran out.
That’s not to say all of the material isn’t worthy of the album. If for no other reason, this release may well have come in order to rectify the almost blasphemous effort of leaving off “Princes of the Universe” from Greatest Hits II. It also came with the final Queen single to feature John Deacon, “No One But You (Only The Good Die Young)”.
The rest comprises a number of songs done at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with various singers lending their voices, some solo work from both Freddie and Brian, and a couple of the final album, Made in Heaven.

So, in all fairness, rather than a greatest hits compilation, this is a collection of songs drawn together from the final stages of the band’s career with Freddie Mercury before his untimely death. It isn’t the kind of thing I pull out often and listen to. There are better examples of all of this work than what is found here.

Rating: Reasonable without being exciting. 2.5/5

455. Queen / Greatest Hits II. 1991. 5/5

Not many bands could ever realistically imagine releasing two Greatest Hits albums, but Queen is certainly one of them.

Spanning their great albums of the 1980’s and into the (very) early 1990’s, this release showcases the majesty and changing styles of not only Queen’s music, but all music, during that decade. One of the interesting facts is the almost total and complete ignorance of material from the Hot Space album. It is probably the most maligned of all of Queen’s albums, and with only “Under Pressure” able to make the cut here, it doesn’t help to raise its awareness in the community.

Once again, as with Greatest Hits this is a superb collection, featuring an absolute array of classic songs. And as with the first collection, there are just as many great songs that haven’t made the cut. The mark of a truly wonderful band.

Rating: Almost impossible to argue with again. 5/5

454. Queen / Greatest Hits. 1981. 5/5

The mother of all greatest hits packages. To me, this is the quintessential Greatest Hits Album, with every song a certified winner. Released at what many fans consider to be the end of Queen’s Golden Age (I beg to differ, but that’s another story), this album is filled with brilliance from start (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) to finish (“We Are The Champions”).

There will always be arguments that personal favourites didn’t make the cut. From A Night at the Opera alone you could have had tracks such as “Death on Two Legs”, “I’m In Love With My Car” and “39”. What you can’t argue with is the quality of the songs that did make the album, and it truly is representative of the best work that Queen has produced – or at least had up until that point of their career.

Apart from the radio, this was my first real compilation of their great songs, and it still get a flogging in our household. Whenever we are searching for some music to pacify every generation, this is still the best album to grab.

Rating: Perfect. 5/5

424. Queen / The Game. 1980. 4/5

The turn of the decade came at a time when Queen had advanced their reputation to become one of the most recognisable and biggest bands in the world. Having developed their artistry with multilayered guitar and vocal tracks that created a wall of sound on their albums, allowing an almost operatic style to converge throughout their first five releases, their albums of the latter part of the decade had also incorporated solid hard rock tracks that caught the attention of the radio listening public, and furthered their ability to sell more albums across various fan bases. Their album “Jazz” had seen two high selling singles in the double A-side of “Bicycle Race” and “Fat Bottomed Girls” along with the high intensity of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, both of which did well around the world and indeed became fan favourites. The tour to promote the album had taken the band all over the world, and with shows being recorded eventually led to the release of the band’s first live album, the double LP “Live Killers”, which showcased their amazing skills in the live environment for the first time. On the back of those two best selling albums, the band then recorded and released a new track in October 1979, the then-non-album track “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, which eventually peaked at number 2 on the UK charts. The release in the US in December 1979 and Australia early in 1980 saw the song go to the top of both of those singles charts, in the US for four weeks and in Australia for seven straight weeks. This was followed by “Save Me” in January 1980 and “Play the Game” in May 1980, both of which also charted well.
After those initial session in June and July of 1979, which had resulted in those first two singles, it had given the band a chance to tour on the back of the success of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, before returning to the studio in February to spend another three months to complete the sessions for their new album, the first of the new decade, and one that brought about the title of “The Game”.

The is a similarity of a couple of the tracks on this album to those that appeared on the band’s next release, the soundtrack album to the movie “Flash Gordon”. Given that they were at one point almost working on the two albums consecutively, that isn’t a real surprise. The first one of those is the opening track to this album, “Play the Game”. The fade in at the start of the track, the piano into the first guitar riff from Brian, has a feel that this song could easily have appeared on that soundtrack album as well. This was certainly written in those combined writing sessions at the start of 1980, which does explain the slight similarity. The synthesizer used by Freddie in the track also melts it into that style. Brian May’s “Dragon Attack” follows this, with the funk bass line from John being the main basis of the track for the most part, at least until Brian rips in on his solo slot. This is almost like the experimental hybrid songs the band used to create on the first albums, but here in a simple hard rock tone rather than the multi-layered guitars and vocals, just the single layer of each, and the song played out by the four combatants on their own instruments. The funky bass segues straight into the recognisable John Deacon bassline that underpins his wonderful song “Another One Bites the Dust”. The wouldn’t, or couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be anyone in the world who doesn’t know this song, such has its impact been since its release. Once again simplicity works the best, with the two-tiered bass riff through the song, the looped rum track, and the high-powered guitar through the middle making it the perfect song. The fac that it became an anthem both in movies and at sport events showcases its cultural effect over the last 45 years. One of the band’s best. John backs up with writing the next song as well, “Need Your Loving Tonight”, with this one moving away from the moody feelings of the previous track to mirror late 70’s AOR bands and songs in a way, an inoffensive break up or lost love song lyrically, with Freddie’s upbeat vocals keeping the mood light and breezy. To finish off the first side of the album we get the previously successful number one single “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, Freddie’s rockabilly styled song that caught the imagination of the listening public at the time. Having this song on the album here, following its commercial success, was a no brainer for the band, and ends the first half of the album on a high note.
The second half of the album does not have the heavy hitter status of the first side, but does have tracks that are of an interesting style and substance. Roger Taylor’s “Rock It (Prime Jive)” slowly builds into the true start of the song, with Freddie singing the opening lines before Roger takes over for the remainder. In many ways it is a typical Roger track, combining different themes and musical styles that he manages to pull together to make an entertaining track. His vocals here again are also one of the starring attractions. The is followed by Freddie’s track “Don’t Try Suicide”. The guitar twang and bass mirrors The Police track “Walking on the Moon” which was released the previous year and is a little disconcerting at times. Freddie’s jaunty way of expressing “Don’t try suicide, nobody’s worth it, don’t try suicide nobody cares, don’t try suicide, you’re just gonna hate it, don’t try suicide, nobody gives a damn” actually makes the song more affecting. Brian’s “Sail Away Sweet Sister” is the third change of style in three songs on side two of the album. Brian’s vocals are just as wonderful as always, while Freddie comes in and sings the bridge to terrific effect, and followed by Brian’s solo. It is one of those Queen songs that doesn’t get a lot of publicity or love, mainly because it is nondescript in the way it is placed on the album. But the performances of all four on this track in its own quiet way makes it an excellent underrated Queen song. “Coming Soon” is a great rock song from Roger with a circumspect drumbeat from him through the base of the track. The album concludes with another song that sounds as though it could have slipped into the Flash Gordon soundtrack, “Save Me”, lyrically and musically. It also received a release as a single at about the time the band was returning to the studio. It is in that almost anthemic style that fits the movie’s music (though with less synth) and has that uplifting feeling about it in composition. All in all, it’s a great way to complete a terrific album.

In some quarters this has been called 'the last great Queen album'. I don’t agree with that assessment, though my tastes have been obviously flavoured by having grown up with those albums released from this point on. Indeed, it was “The Works” that became one of the first albums I ever purchased myself, and that album along with those that followed it were where I gained my knowledge and love of Queen the band. Also of course was the “Greatest Hits” album released in 1981, which was where my first delving of love came from the albums that preceded those, and indeed include several tracks from “The Game” itself. However, as the band moved from the 1970's and into the 1980's, and having seen off the onset of popularity of punk during this time, it probably called for a special album to hold its own through this period. “The Game” certainly does so in this argument.
The album does signify a slight change in musical direction from their earlier years with shorter and more succinct tracks, along with using a synthesizer for the first time. As all Queen albums do, it contains several singles which are the better-known tracks, while the excellence of the other tracks on the album give it a much rounder feel. It is also important in the more equal sharing of writing credits for the songs on this album that not only gives us that variation in themes and musicality, but offers the best of all four composers and musicians. When I listen to this album today, there are still the songs that I knew from that Greatest Hits album that initially caught my eye when I finally got around to going back and discovering those albums from the Queen discography that I didn’t know. They are still, after all these years, the most familiar tracks, mainly because I had already played those songs so many times before getting this album. But I still think this has the great ‘second level’ tracks that makes a good album great. “Dragon Attack” and “Need Your Loving Tonight” from Side A, and most of that second side of the album. They all help to raise the profile of this album, and make it something that is worth listening to all the way through, and not just spot checking the occasional song.
I have spent the last week listening to this album all over again, a number of times. Most recently I was listening to this album as a part of the podcast episode I did with the erstwhile Anthony called ‘The Queen Retrospective’, which you can find a few episodes back on this podcast. There I was judging it as a moment in their back catalogue. Here, I was simply enjoying it for the album that it is. And to me, it is still terrific. It is easy to listen to, it has a number of highlights, and the other tracks are all almost just as good. As an album, it (to me at least) doesn’t have any flaws. Why then, when I ranked all of the albums from the Queen discography, did I only rank it as #10 out of the band’s 15 studio albums? In the long run, there are about six albums in the middle of that ranking conglomerate that are separated by the width of a gnats wing, and on any given day that ranking could change significantly. On a personal level I still love this album, with the A side almost the perfect five songs, and the B side also very good. The even split in song writing and even vocal credits between the four members here continues to utilise all of their talents and produce what is a terrific album.