The Queen Appreciation Thread

Queen was, in my opinion, one of the most truly talented bands to come out of the 70s.

- Freddie Mercury (Faroukh Bulsara): Always had an incredibly expressive voice that never really lost any of its range (even when he neared death).
- Brian May: An innovative guitarist who built his own guitar (with the help of his father). Early albums had variants of 'no synthesizers!' on the album covers so that people would know that all of the sounds came from Brian's guitar. He also had a solid voice that was usually used for harmonies.
- Roger Taylor: A rock solid drummer with another harmonic voice.
- John Deacon: A solid bassist who, although fairly quiet, contributed some of the biggest hits to the band.

Their early albums (Queen, Queen II, and Sheer Heart Attack) are largely hard rock/metal albums. More pop sensibilities started to appear on Sheer Heart Attack however, leading to the breakout smash that was their 4th album: A Night At the Opera. Their albums got more and more poppy as they progressed, but they never really lost their hard rock edge until the Flash Gordon Soundtrack and The Game. It was also around this time that they actually did introduce synthesizers into the group.

Hot Space continued their dalliance with dance grooves (The Game had 'Another One Bites the Dust', one of their biggest hits), putting off alot of their fans BUT, ironically, earning them some of their best critical reviews. They lost alot of the their American appeal with the video for 'I Want to Break Free' (from The Works), but their popularity remained undiminished in the rest of the world. Innuendo, their last album while Freddie was alive, showed that they never really lost their touch to craft a decent tune, although it sounded NOTHING like their first album.

I always respected the band for being willing to try anything: Opera, Dixieland, Disco, etc.

I'm personally a fan of the band's heavier side. For me, Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack are the band's two best efforts.

I love Brian as a guitarist, but his solos tend to have a certain 'sameness' about them. You can really hear alot of the same structures, especially in many of the later albums.

I really admire his use of the echoplex in the early Queen albums. The harmonies that he was able to create with the overlapping solos are quite astounding, especially in 'Brighton Rock'.

Elvis: 'Sheer Heart Attack' and 'A Night at the Opera' are probably the best entrypoints. The first album has its moments, but it's pretty raw with quite a few underwritten songs. 'Queen II' isn't an easy first listen as most of the songs on it are fairly uncommercial. It's a great piece of work once you get into it, though.

Most of that tone comes from his technical genius, especially in his use and customization of Vox AC-30 amplifiers. He's able to produce one of the most beautiful, piercing guitar tones in the world with his setup.

I was 'that guy' in college, so I know what you mean. I was pretty thrilled when Hollywood records re-released their entire catalog back in 1991. My collection of Queen stuff probably rivals yours.

'Under Pressure' is an awesome song, made even better by the fact that it was whipped out (lyrics and music) in essentially ONE day. It was one of those spur of the moment, 'let's make a song together' situations that produced pure gold. Roger Taylor considers it the very best thing that the band ever produced.

Same here, hence the thread. I've been listening to 'Jazz' alot lately; the song 'Dead on Time' should have been a single.

'Sheer Heart Attack' - Probably my favorite. They still have some of the prog/art rock sensibilities that dominated much of 'Queen II', but they are also starting to create really solid, catchy songs with more commercial appeal. The Queen sound has started to really gel; this is the first album that really SOUNDS like stereotypical Queen, and it's also their heaviest (most metal) album. 'Brighton Rock', 'Killer Queen', 'Now I'm Here', and 'Stone Cold Crazy' are the highlights from the album, but the rest of the songs are anything but filler.

What are your favorites?

To his credit, George Michael did a fantastic version of 'Somebody to Love' with the rest of Queen at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. You'll never replace Freddie, but he would have been an acceptable substitute for him if he had ever outright joined the band.

They're pretty extraneous, nothing more. They didn't replace the original mixes with them, so I'm not upset.

Agreed, johnnycinco.

VH1 Classic did one of their 'Classic Album' episodes featuring 'A Night at the Opera'. Brian May had some interesting things to say in this episode regarding the singles that were chosen off of their various albums. As he put it, every song that gets released as a single has a very short period of time to connect with the listener and achieve a timeless status; because of decisions that were made by their management, the record company, and the band members themselves, alot of songs that could/should have been released as singles never were. He particularly singled out '39' and 'Long Away' (from 'A Day at the Races') as prime examples of single-worthy songs that he had written that were never given a chance. I happen to love both of those songs.

In summary, there's a lot of great music by this band that you've NEVER heard before if you've only listened to the greatest hits packages.