I am in full & wholehearted agreement with the author of this YouTube piece.
The album in question is Queen II.
This is the oldest LP in my collection (*) and I bought it, having heard and seen Seven Seas of Rhye on UK TV (on Top of the Pops - in Feb 1974) - and bought that single.
Wow. This is a version of Queen few of their legions of fans would recognise. Full on Prog Rock - but with all of Queens later trademarks. The March of the Black Queen is sometimes quoted by Metal fans. Its also one of the prototypes or try outs for THAT song.
Queen II - not as well known as the later albums, butā¦ well worth a listenā¦ IMOā¦
YMMV as always.
(* - there were LPās I bought before this, but they are best passed over - and were long ago got rid of)
Wow. I only have my original, bought in 1974, UK vinyl copy - and the remaster UK CD version.
When I played the CD fir the first time, I was surprised to still hear some of the strange ānoisesā which I had thought were due to my LPā¦!! Most were due to Brian Mayās Red Special - which at that point had not (yet) been āimprovedā to the degree it has now beenā¦
I think I have all of Queenās albums, though I do prefer the earlier ones.
I have seen Queen in concert four times, most recently in Birmingham last year (Mrs R is an Adam Lambert fan).
My most played Queen album is Sheer Heart Attack.
I also rather like their debut album (we used to have Liar blasting out of the pub jukebox on auto repeat back in the day) though the album seems a bit unpolished against Queen II.
I like the loose āwhite side / black sideā concept of Queen II and it works well in LP format. Now that you have prompted me, I must give it a spin tonight.
Queen 2 and Sheer Heart Attack. I was the only person at school into Queen, before Bohemian Rhapsody came along. Stopped listening to Queen, when they released News of the World.
I stopped at A Day At The Races - didnāt buy it. Returned for The Game and/or Live Killers. A friend was so impressed with LK that he wanted to see them live. Well, not wanting to disappointā¦ They were still pretty good - although I didnāt quite āgetā the singalongsā¦
News of The World was the first album I bought, when it was released in 1977.
As a consequence I played it to death as it was the only album I had for a while (until my second bought with my Christmas money, The Clash. Followed by Parallel Lines, Darkness on the edge of town, Give āem enough rope, then Jazz).
I can still sing along to about 95% of the lyrics, despite not being able to hear parts of it at the time. I was playing it on ancient (even for then) all in one unit and didnāt realise it was supposed to have a second speaker attached, so I was missing one channel. Not good given Queenās liking for tinkering with stereo effectsā¦Still have those 6 records which seem to have formulated my listening for the following 45 years!
My Dad had SHA, DATR and NATO so was familiar with those already but it was some years later before I played Queen and Queen II. I was underwhelmed at the timeā¦
That - was my first Queen albumā¦ Well, there were only 2 back thenā¦!!!
I donāt think I realised how good it really was - how many different styles were on show - how amazing the writing & playing was. I certainly didnāt know how unusual it was to produce the sounds that Brian May got - from just one guitar and a lot of clever studio work. To me - it was just Queen.
[Having discovered music in the 70ās, I though that bands like Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, etc - were ānormalāā¦]
My point was that the standard of musicianship was (arguably) very high, in a lot of bands - but we didnāt realise this at the time. It was ānormalā.
[quote=āIanRobertM, post:11, topic:29928ā]
ā¦.the standard of musicianship was (arguably) very high, in a lot of bands - but we didnāt realise this at the time[/quote]
Queen I and NoTW for me, followed by SHA. Saw them in the late 70s at Manchester Apollo and at Birmingham NEC few years later. NoTW I think was not well received, so to me thatās the most underrated.
Hot Space anyone? My daughterās favourite Queen track is Cool Cat though, and itās probably the track I hear most when I go out.
I was part of theā¦ confused crowd at the MK Bowl concert. That was the last time I saw Queenā¦
I was living in Japan, when Freddie died. I used to buy the Japan Times every day, at the station, on my way to work. I was shocked to read one day, that Freddie had confirmed he had been diagnosed with AIDās - but imagined that he would get the best treatment. In the next days paper, his death was announcedā¦
Lols. I drove there. Getting out at the end was an absolute nightmareā¦! (It made me appreciate how well sorted the Birmingham NEC was and still isā¦! )
Interestingly, I found that Heart were one of the support bands. As were I think Echo & the Bunnymen - who were given a very hard time by some of the audience.
Queen were fine - it was just the Hot Space stuff which was not well received. By this point, Queen also had an off stage keyboard player - which was Morgan Fisher. I still feel that was not right. OK but make them visibleā¦
I was at the MK Bowl for that concert too. That was the second time Iād seen Queen. The first was at the free concert at Hyde Park at around the time of A Night at the Opera.
Queen 2 and Sheer Heart Attack. I was the only person at school into Queen, before Bohemian Rhapsody came along. Stopped listening to Queen, when they released News of the World.
I was 15 when I bought Queenā¦!
