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QUEEN
(10 reviews sent in so far)

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA  
by Darius Henry
December 4, 2009
Rating: 9.5

A Night at the Opera is one of those great 1970s albums. Queen is one of the best Rock & Roll bands of all time. They played a wide range of music. From Opera to Classical, to Jazz, to Music Hall, to Hard Rock to even Heavy Metal, Queen is one great band that anyone, from Metal fans to even Hip-Hop fans, can love and truly enjoy. And A Night at the Opera is the perfect example of that.

This album starts off with “Death of Two Legs”. It sounds like a classical song at first, but then turns into a Hard Rock song. Great song about how crucial the record company can be. I love the guitar. And I love Freddie Mercury’s vocal on here as well. The next song, “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon”, is another great song on this album. Nice, little Pop tune in this song. Love the piano and the guitar solo on here. Mercury is great in this song. This song goes straight to the next song, Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor's, “I’m in Love with My Car”. This time, Taylor sang this song and it is a great Hard Rock song about the love of his car. Love the way he sang this song and love the drums. Just love the music overall. The next song, “You’re My Best Friend”, is actually written by the bass player, John Deacon, about his wife. Nice smooth song on this one. Love the way Mercury sings this. “’39” is a great little Science-Fiction Folk song by Brian May about the year of 1939. Great vocals by May himself and great way to play his guitar. “Sweet Lady” is a personal favorite of mine. Another great Metal song by May, but sung by Mercury. Love the guitar on here and the drumming. Mercury's vocal is epic. I don’t understand why people don’t like this song as much. I totally dig it. “Seaside Rendezvous” is nice Ragtime song. Love the piano and the Kazoo on here. I dig the vocals on here as well.

“The Prophet Song” is possibly my least favorite song on here. It’s a cool Progressive Rock song, but it’s not the one that I can totally dig, though. “Love of My Life” is one of the beautiful Pop songs on this album. Love the music on here and love the beautiful vocal on here by Mercury. I don’t care if he was gay or bisexual; if you can sing as great as Mercury, you’re great. “Good Company” is another great Jazz song by May. Love the mixture of Banjo and Ukulele. Love the way May sang this one. And love the guitar on this one. The next song is “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Many felt that this is one of the greatest songs of all time. I’m not sure about that, but it is great damn song, no doubt about it. It is the best song on here. Love the mixture of Ballad, Opera, and Metal into one song. One great Alternative song. Love Mercury's vocal on here, love the bass, love the drumming, and I love the guitar on here the most. Love the piano and the opera vocal between Mercury and Taylor. Great song. What not to love about this song! While I’m still not sure if this is the greatest song of all time, I can understand why people make that claim. This album ended with the Britain’s national anthem “God Save the Queen”. Nice ending to this album and nice guitar solo on this song.

No question about it, this is one of those great albums of the 1970s. One of the epitomes on great the 1970s Rock & Roll music was. Of course, this album is not the only reason, but this is a classic album to love. You must own this album to see how great Queen really were and they were one hell of a band.

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
by Kyle
December 19, 2007
Rating: 10.0

What can be said about the magnum opus of Queen's A Night at the Opera? It is a powerful monster of an album that knocks you on your butt while offering you a nice cup of tea.

It begins with the anthem of fury we call “Death on Two Legs” by Freddie Mercury, in which his fierce piano skills, searing vocals, and Brian May’s roaring guitar are all working to show that you should never steal money from Queen. Without a beat, with tongues-firmly-in-cheeks, it transitions into Freddie’s music-hall masterpiece, “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon,” which is harkened again a few songs later in “Seaside Rendezvous.” Then we have the song by the lead drummer, Roger Taylor, “I’m in Love with My Car.” With his raspy voice and the sounds of revving engines, this is clearly one of his best self-sung compositions. After this, you have one of the most infectious songs ever written by a rock band, “You’re My Best Friend”, by the relatively quiet bass player John Deacon.

Brian May wrote the song “’39.” With great guitar, ethereal sounds, and the really cool mixture of folk and science fiction, it proves to be a truly great song. This is followed by another of his songs, “Sweet Lady.” This is a very good song, though it is probably the least memorable song on the album. After “Seaside Rendezvous,” we have Brian May’s epic, “The Prophet Song,” with mysterious ambiance, apocalyptic themes, an intricate and building vocal canon, and truly raging guitar. “Love of my Life”, by Freddie, follows seamlessly, and gives us one of the most gentle and moving love songs ever written. “Good Company,” once more by Brian May, is a really fun song in the style of an old-fashioned jazz band.

And now, the song that is repeatedly voted as the greatest song of all time in the UK charts. This song is, in my book, the absolute greatest song…EVER! It is…“Bohemian Rhapsody.” The world has never seen anything like it before or since. From the haunting a cappella opening, to Freddie calling to his “Mama,” to the heartrending guitar solo which transitions perfectly to the surging wall of sound of the operatic section, to the famous head banging section, and then to the slow close of gentle cooing, piano, guitar, and then a final soft gong, the entire thing is an encapsulation of artistic brilliance.

With Brian May’s rendition of “God Save the Queen”, which is supposed to be a tribute to Jimi Hendrix’s “Star-Spangled Banner,” one of the greatest albums of all time comes to a close, along with this review.


A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
By Rob
October 30, 2004
Rating: 10.0

Pure Rock Classic, are three words that sum up Queen's 1975 release. The start of what would be Queen's most successful era, this album holds some of rocks best ever songs. Starting with the lyrically nasty 'Death On Two Legs', written by Freddie Mercury about a certain person who was keeping royalties from the band at Trident Studios at the time of the albums release. The comes the short and camp 'Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon' which has Freddie written all over it, then without going into a break the song goes straight into Roger Taylor's 'I'm In Love With My Car,' a great song which really should of been a single with Roger's unique voice taking the lead vocals. Then 'You're My Best Friend,' only John Deacon's second composed song and his first single, a big Queen classic. '39' is Brian's creation and shows his interest in science fiction. 'Sweet Lady,' is a great heavy metal track with good guitar work, followed by 'Seaside Rendezvous,' another of Freddie's songs along the same line as 'Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon'. Next is the eight and a half minute 'The Prophets Song, ' with its apocalyptic story line and one of many operatic tracks, then comes 'Love Of My Life,' which in later years Freddie considered a ballad between him and fans at most of Queen's tour. 'Good Company' is the only slight let down of the album, but still keeps the great momentum leading up to the rock opera extravaganza 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' which is without a doubt one of the best ever written rock anthems and unique song ever. The album closes with Brian's own instrumental tribute to Queen's homeland 'God Save The Queen', which would be used to finish all of Queen's concerts from then on. A Night At The Opera is without a doubt one of (if not the)best rock/heavy metal/glam rock albums ever to be created.


A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
By Ed Reznecki
August 14, 2001
Rating: 10.0

Giving this album less than a 10 is a sin. Without a doubt one of the greatest albums ever recorded during the mid-seventies, A Night At The Opera combines the excesses of Glam rock with primitive Heavy Metal for a truly energetic result. "No synthesizers", Queen's mantra for the early part of their career, is splashed across the inner sleeve of the album, and it's impossible to imagine such an extravagant record being recorded without the luxury of a synthesizer. From the opening chords of Freddie Mercury's vicious 'Death On Two Legs' to the closing drum rolls of 'God Save The Queen', though, the only instruments the band uses are Brian May's homemade Red Special guitar, a bass guitar, drums, piano, and Freddie's voice, in addition to other minor instruments (ukuleles, toy kotos, etc.). Every song is a winner and is hands down Queen's greatest achievement; even if 'Bohemian Rhapsody', undoubtedly the greatest mini rock opera ever written (Pete Townshend, eat yer heart out), hadn't been included, the sheer beauty of 'The Prophet's Song' (the album's other epic), 'Love Of My Life', 'You're My Best Friend', and the hard-rocking 'I'm In Love With My Car' would still qualify the album as Queen's greatest achievement. With 'Bohemian Rhapsody', though, it's not only Queen's greatest achievement, but rock 'n' roll's greatest album EVER.

To listen to some soundclips from A NIGHT AT THE OPERA or to purchase it click on: Queen - A Night At The Opera CD

News of the World
By ClassicLou
August 16, 2007
Rating: 7.5

After the incredible success of Queen’s magnum opus, A Night at the Opera, and its popular follow-up album, A Day at the Races, it seems that Queen was screwed. These two albums launched them into superstardom, and the expectations for the band were high, as were the stakes: if the album failed to do well, their reputation would be ruined (as proven by their flop of an album Hot Space five years later.) What could Queen do to save themselves? There was no possible way they could top (or match, at that matter) A Night at the Opera, but anything less would result in their own destruction.

And then they apparently decided that the solution was to go in an entirely different direction from the previous two albums: instead of the epic, almost operatic hard-rock they had done so well in the past, they attempted a new direction, and this is what turned out: anthemic, bluesy, funky, soft, and sexy all rolled into one… sometimes even appearing in the same track. If this was their plan, it worked and managed to save their reputation among the hard-rockers, and most people were pleased with this new result, despite the large difference between this album and the previous two.

So what do I think? Certainly an overrated album, News of the World has some good songs (“We Are the Champions,” “All Dead, All Dead,” and the awesome “It’s Late”)… and some not so good songs (“Sheer Heart Attack,” “Who Needs You,” and the annoying “Get Down, Make Love”.) Overall, the album is a mixed bag, although the good does manage to outweigh the bad. It’s certainly a necessity in the collection of any Queen fan, and really a favorite of most classic rock fans. I would suggest, however, that instead of News of the World, a new fan of Queen start with A Night at the Opera, The Game, or Innuendo first.

SUMMARY: A fairly good album, certainly overrated and definitely not one of Queen’s best.

News of the World
By Jacob
June 15, 2005
Rating: 9.0

News of the World is Queens finest album next to Night at the Opera. It has a cool variety of songs from nice and moving to in your face hard rock and more.

 It starts off with the very popular duo 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are the Champions' played at many sports stadiums. 'Sheer Heart Attack' originally didn't hold my attention, since I thought it was to crazy heavy, but it grew on me and it's insane and crazy heavy! In your face! If that makes sense. 'All Dead, All Dead' is a nice little song, very calm following 'Sheer Heart Attack'. 'Spread Your Wings' really grabbed me the first time I heard the album, its quite a powerful moving song. 'Fight From the Inside' is just a really cool Queen song that I really enjoy every single time I listen to it. Along with 'Get Down Make Love' it makes me want to do what is says and the best part of the song is when it comes out of the weird instrumental part in the middle with some hard drumming going back into the song. 'Sleeping on the Sidewalk' is my least favorite tune on the album. 'Who Needs You' is a fun little tune. 'Its Late' is another good song. Then it ends with 'My Melancholy Blues' which isn't so bad either.. All together its a pretty cool album, but the first seven songs are the better songs by quite a bit then the last few songs.

To listen to some soundclips from News of the World, or to purchase it click on: News Of The World

Sheer Heart Attack
By Rob
October 14, 2004
Rating: 9.0

Sheer Heart Attack was Queen's third album and second in 1974 The other being Queen II. This album contained Queen's first two mega hits, 'Now Im Here' which was a used in many of Queen's concerts and 'Killer Queen' which would become on of the bands best known classics. Other great songs include 'Brighton Rock' which has Brian May indulging in a 3 minute guitar solo that is pure classic rock guitar work, and Frddie's 'Flick Of The Wrist', whose lyrics seem similar to 'Death On Two Legs' which appears on the next album A Night At The Opera. Roger's 'Tenement Funster' is a also a great rock song, 'Stone Cold Crazy', 'She Makes Me' and John Deacons first self written song 'Misfire' are all rememrable tracks. 'Lily Of The Valley' is a pleasant song but doesn't live up to the standards of the previous mentioned songs and 'In The Lap Of The Gods' was a popular track, but in my opinion there's others on here that are a lot better.'Dear Friends' is a easy missable song, which the album could of done without and ' Bring Back Leroy Brown' is easy to not take to seriously but still can be enjoyable. Overall this is a greats album and marks Queen hitting the big time and showed that even better thing where soon to come.

To listen to some soundclips from Sheer Heart Attack or to purchase it click on: Sheer Heart Attack

Queen
By Rob
June 11, 2004
Rating: 9.5

The album that marked the begining of one of the greatest rock bands ever. Released in 1973, no band could ask for a better beginning. The album starts with Queen's first single "Keep Yourself Alive" written by Brian May, this track is a typical Brian song with a fast moving beat and dominating guitar riffs which would be a Brian May trademark through the years. Next is "Doing All Right" , which was done by Brian May and Ex Smile band mate Tim Staffel, which has a slow meldoic start and has a fast heavy guitar solos through out the song, then is Freddie Mercury's first song " Great King Rat" which is one off Freddie's more faster heavier songs and one off his most underrated, it's even good enough to have been a single. Another Freddie creation "My Fairy King" which could be an original origin for the idea of "Bohiemien Rhapsody". Then comes "Liar" which also has diffrent styles of heavy sections and slower sections like "Bohieimein Rhapsody" and one of the album high points. "The Night Comes Down" one of Brian May's slower songs lacks the creativity that nearly all of Queen's songs have thus making it a slight weak point of the album but still enjoyable to stronger Queen fans. Then comes the heavy metal track "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll" is Roger Taylor's first song under the Queen name and also sung by Roger, though rather short it makes it's mark as one of the album best tracks and shows that Queen is capable of creating any type of song from slow melodic soulful songs to full out powewrful heavy metal songs, the same goes for "Son And Daughter" though the meaning of this song is not really clear and trying to understand it will leave you scratching your head it's a typical 70's rock sound that will get you moving every time you listen to it. The comes "Jesus", this song from Freddie is really a sore spot for this album like "The Night Come Down" it lacks to much creativity and the album could off done with out it, or it could off done with a bit more work done to it. The album ends with "Seven Seas Of Rhye" a short insrumental with great piano work from Freddie that would have lyrics added to it and made longer for the second album and become the bands first charting single. This album shows that Queen where only starting out when it was released but it is still a great classic album that told the world that Queen where born and where here to stay and conqure.

To listen to some soundclips from Queen or to purchase it click on:

The Miracle
By Rob
May 1, 2004
Rating: 10.0

The Miracle is one of Queens greatest accomplishments, written in 1989 and the second to last album with Freddie Mercury alive. The album starts with the light hearted and fun 'Party', not the best of Queens songs but definitely one thats is easy to like, next is 'Kashoggis Ship', basically about the same topic as 'Party' and joined together without any space in between songs ( a trend that was common on albums like Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack ). Then comes the album title, things slow down a bit here and the song message suddenly becomes more serious, but still a very likeable song even though a bit nyeave. Then comes 'I Want It All' - you can't get any better than this.Freddies shows that he can sing heavy songs as well as ballads, and Brian May makes his mark yet again as one the best guitarists ever, definitely one of Queen's greatest songs ever. It was a shame it was never played live. 'The Invisible Man' follows with a typical 1980's sound with the keyboards and a very light hearted and fun lyrical concept, also a hit single. Even better is 'Breakthru', a very, very energetic but also emotional
song, made even better with it's film clip, where Queen are seen playing the song on the back of a train dubbed The Miracle Express. Probably the only slight let down in my opinion of the album is the next song 'Rain Must Fall'. Not the greatest effort by the band but after a while it probably will grow on you. Then comes 'Scandal', on the same level as 'I Want It All', as the album's highest peak. This albums message is very deep and personal to the band members, being about the rotten and untrue things the media made up and said about the them. 'My Baby Does Me' is another one of those naughty sounding songs with a sexual meaning to it, but also a light hearted bit of fun. It's not the best track but still a good song to listen to. Then finally 'Was It All Worth It',  seems to be about Freddie, or the others, or another person refeclting on their life as a Rock N Roll musician and if they are happy with it. Not being totally sure about this, but it could of been Freddie saying his life as a rock singer was worth it and he was happy, due to the fact when this album was released Freddie was suffering from AIDS. The CD version of The Miracle includes the B-Side 'Hang On In There'. A big pity it was never put on as a song from the beginning, but as a bonus track is does justice to the song. Any Queen collection should not be with out it, it is definitely one of Queen's greatest albums and one of the most well put together albums ever. The only disappointment was that none of these songs where ever played live.

To listen to some soundclips from The Miracle or to purchase it click on: The Miracle

Queen II
By Rob
September 24, 2004
Rating: 10.0

Queen II in my opinion is one of Queen's greatest albums. Though it was early in Queen's career and is considered by some as mearly an experimental album and doesn't hold any real known classics like the albums A Night At The Opera and The Game does, though a lot of the songs on this album are worthy of being classics. Songs like 'Father To Son' and 'March Of The Black Queen' have great riffs and Freddie's voice on these are superb as always. 'Loser In The End' is a great effort by Roger Taylor on vocals with Brian May blasting out great guitar riffs showing everyone that Queen can be a quite a heavy metal band when they want to be. 'Orge Battle' and 'Fairy Feller's Master Stroke' are two songs that have fantasy and mythological meanings to them which was common for Freddie to write on the first three albums, and both are worthy of single status.'White Queen', 'Nevermore','Someday One Day', and 'Funny How Love Is' are the albums slower melodic songs which are of very high standard but are not quite up there with the heavier ones of this album. The only single on this track, 'Seven Seas Of Rhye' show Freddie's spectacular piano work and his fantastic voice. Don't in any way disregard this album as a pure work of art because it has only one single and songs that a really known well by big Queen fans, because this album is very highly underrated and holds some of Queen's most unique and great sounding rock songs.

To listen to some soundclips from Queen II, or to purchase it click on: Queen II

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