Music Legends Queen Special Edition 2019

2
GET 20% OFF ALL CODA RECORDS

RELEASES ON CD AND VINYL
This eBook is brought to you by Coda Records Ltd. and entitles you to an exclusive
20% discount on all Coda Records releases on CD and vinyl purchased through
Amazon. Please note this offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.
To obtain your 20% discount, simply enter the following promotional code on the
payment checkout page:
CRPROMO20
Coda Records Ltd. is the home of rare and collectable performances by the greatest
music legends of all time including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen,
AC/DC, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and many more…
Details of all Queen CD and vinyl releases from Coda Records Ltd. can be found
throughout this eBook.
Click here to VIEW the FULL Coda Records

CATALOGUE ON our Amazon store
3
Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 5
Casting Calls .................................................................................................................... 9
The Dress Rehearsal .................................................................................................. 17
The Show Must Go On ........................................................................................... 45
The Grand Finale ....................................................................................................... 57
The Brian May Interview ..................................................................................... 65
Track-by-Track Analysis ........................................................................................ 75
Introduction
W
orld renowned as one of the most innovative British
rock bands of all time, Queen are still influencing
the biggest and best of pop and rock to this day.
Drawing inspiration from some of the most eclectic musical
genres one could possibly imagine – including glam-rock,
opera, flamenco and rockabilly to name but a few – the Freddie
Mercury-led superstars are also famed for their eccentricities and
larger-than-life appeal, surrounding them with an air of theatrics
and excitement.
The second biggest selling recording band in British history,
Queen come in at an admirable seventh place in the all time record
sales of either band or solo artist, only lagging behind the likes of
Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. As of 2006, their
‘Greatest Hits I’ album climbed to the top of the UK charts as the
biggest selling album of all time and, across the world, has sold
5
over 29 million copies to date. In spite of their recording career
as a full band coming to an unscripted end over twenty-five years
ago, the sales show little sign of slowing down, and the band are as
influential today as when ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ first hit the charts
all those moons ago.
Queen’s career falls into quite distinct stages thanks, in part,
to the release dates of their three greatest hits albums, Freddie
Mercury’s eventual passing in the autumn of 1991, and the very
distinct styles the band employed during the three decades of
their output. This account, therefore, also falls into convenient
chronological sections. From the early, pre-Queen days, the likes
of Smile, Wreckage and Reaction are explored, as Queen’s sound
begins to take shape.
In the early 1970s, their eponymous first album was released,
followed in relatively quick succession by both ‘Queen II’ and
‘Sheer Heart Attack’. From here, Queen really took off, and since
that time the band never looked back as the group took both sides
of the Atlantic by storm. With the 1970s claiming most of the
band’s most critically acclaimed work, studio albums ‘A Night at
the Opera’, ‘A Day at the Races’, ‘News of the World’, ‘Jazz’, ‘The
Game’ and ‘Flash Gordon’ are also explored, as well as various
major tours with the likes of Thin Lizzy and Mott the Hoople,
before ‘Greatest Hits I’ heralds in the 1980s.
The 1980s sees the band veering away from the glam rock and
operatic styles of their 1970s releases, instead experimenting
more with disco, funk and pop, garnering more of a mainstream
audience, but losing some of their critical acclaim. During this
time, we also see the band perform at Live Aid in 1985, as well
as collaborating with the likes of David Bowie and playing sell-
out gigs all over the world. A second greatest hits album was also
released, featuring the bands biggest and best from the decade.
In 1991, Queen released their last album – ‘Innuendo’ – before
the tragic death of exuberant front man Freddie Mercury would
6
QUEEN – HAPPY AND GLORIOUS
2 CD Set
Featuring the legendary live broadcast from the the Yoyogi National Gymnasium,
Tokyo on 11 May 1985. The show was at the end of The Works Tour, where the band
were promoting the album of the same name. The set from this tour involved multiple
levels based on a scene from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with huge rotating cogs backed
by a brightly lit cityscape.
Disc 1
1. Tear It Up 2. Tie Your Mother Down 3. Under Pressure 4. Somebody to Love
5. Killer Queen 6. Seven Seas of Rhye 7. Keep Yourself Alive 8. Liar 9. Instrumental Inferno
10. It’s a Hard Life 11. Dragon Attack 12. Now I’m Here 13. Is This the World We Created…?
14. Love of My Life
Disc 2
1. Another One Bites the Dust 2. Hammer to Fall 3. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
4. Bohemian Rhapsody 5. Radio Ga Ga 6. I Want to Break Free 7. Jailhouse Rock
8. We Will Rock You 9. We Are the Champions 10. God Save the Queen
Click here to purchase from Amazon
7
finally bring an end to the band as a complete unit. They would
release one more album in the 1990s, ‘Made in Heaven’, a collection
of songs constructed from Mercury’s final recording session in 1991,
as well as material left over from Queen’s previous studio albums,
and some of the group’s solo projects throughout the years.
This review also details tours by the band in the post-Mercury
era, various solo projects, re-releases and the like, as the Queen
legend continues to live on and on and on.
This retrospective also includes segments of interviews conducted
with all four members of the band throughout the years, including
some sad words from Brian May after Freddie Mercury’s passing.
It’s a grandiose story, and almost impossible to fit into a mere
20,000 words.
8
Casting Calls
O
n 5 September 1946, Jer Bulsara gave birth to a
handsome baby boy in Zanzibar, an African Island
situated just off the coast of mainland Tanzania.
Farrokh Bulsara was the first of two children born to Jer and her
husband Bomi, who was a civil servant working for the British
government. Living a fairly restricted childhood, Farrokh stated
years later, ‘I was a very insecure young boy, probably because I
was a bit sheltered.’
Raised a Zoroastrian, a devotee of a philosophical religion
based upon the idea of one true Creator, Farrokh (also known as
Freddie) grew up alongside sister Kashmira, and the two of them,
along with their parents, moved to India when he was just seven
years old. They were later educated at an English boarding school
near Bombay, and finally moved to England when Freddie was
seventeen, as a result of the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution.
9
Nearly 5,000 miles away in England – long before Freddie
had even set foot on its green and hallowed land – three other
boys were born between the years 1947 and 1951. Brian Harold
May was born at Gloucester House Nursing Home to Ruth and
Harold May, and would soon become fascinated in the industry
that would, only twenty years later, include the career in which he
would make his trade. ‘When I was a boy, we used to play a lot in
the lunch hour in the cycle sheds. We weren’t allowed to play in
the school ’cos rock music was unacceptable, not cultural, so it was
kind of underground. We’d go and see bands around Richmond
and Twickenham, and I saw people like The Yardbirds, The Stones
and Clapton at the local club – they were really hot news!’
Roger Taylor was born in 1948, and also recalled an early
fascination with music, reminiscing, ‘I remember when I was a
really young kid, I was inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard,
all the really early rockers. I didn’t even have a record player at the
Click the above photo for a video link

Freddie Mercury’s mother Jer Bulsara describes the star as a child.
10
QUEEN – WE WILL ROCK BUENOS AIRES
Limited Edition On Purple Vinyl
This limited edition vinyl album features the very best from the live broadcast of a
concert in Buenos Aires on 28 February 1981 when Queen were busy promoting
the album ‘The Game’. South America was always much more receptive to Queen.
and the Queen stage show had transformed into something which was now almost
unrecognisable from that which had gone before. Features the timeless classic
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
Side 1
1. Dragon Attack 2. Keep Yourself Alive 3. Flash’s Theme 4. The Hero
5. Crazy Little Thing Called Love 6. Bohemian Rhapsody
Side 2
1. Tie Your Mother Down 2. Another One Bites the Dust 3. Sheer Heart Attack
4. We Will Rock You 5. We Are the Champions
11
12
time! My cousin had one though. Later on my big all-time heroes
became Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Bob Dylan. Archetypal
influences I suppose, but why not?’
Three years later, on 19 August 1951, John Deacon was born in
Leicestershire, completing the foursome that would become one of
the biggest British rock bands of all time. The seeds of Queen had
been sown. This is their story…
An early band featuring a young Roger Taylor would be the first
to make a name for themselves. Taking on the rather spurious
name Johnny Quale and the Reaction, the future Queen drummer
would travel the length and breadth of the country with the band,
competing in various talent contests and battle of the bands.
Eventually downsizing their name to Reaction, they would be a
constant on the music scene throughout the mid 1960s.
At the same time, Brian May had taken inspiration from author
George Orwell, playing in a band named after one of Orwell’s
most famed novels – 1984. Even more successful than Taylor’s
Reaction, 1984 played sold out gigs left, right and centre, and even
picked up a support slot with Jimi Hendrix in 1967. Conflicts
within the band meant they split soon after, however.
As for Queen’s soon-to-be bassist John Deacon, he was also in a
mildly successful band at the time. With Deacon’s group getting
booked most weekends in The New Opposition, it was clear that
all three were on the rise.
In 1966, Brian May was busy studying for a degree in astronomy
at Imperial College in London. As well as performing with 1984,
May was also playing in a band called Smile with singer and
bassist Tim Staffell. Answering an ad on the Imperial College
noticeboard for a drummer, Taylor soon joined the band. Freddie
Bulsara was Staffell’s roommate at the time, and followed Smile
closely – turning up to rehearsals as well as most of the band’s gigs.
Freddie, of course, was also big on the scene at the time, singing
with the likes of Ibex and Wreckage.
13
With Freddie becoming closer and closer with the Smile boys
– as Staffell drifted further and further apart from them – it
wouldn’t be long before Staffell decided that Smile was not for
him, and Freddie replaced him as lead singer. The band also began
the long search for a new bass player, initially settling on Barry
Mitchell. Freddie quickly stamped his authority on the band,
changing the band’s name from Smile to Queen, stating, ‘Years
ago I thought up the name Queen… It’s just a name, but it’s very
regal, and it sounds splendid. It’s a strong name, very universal and
immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts
of interpretations. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations,
but that was just one facet of it.’ Also deciding his own name
needed a makeover, Freddie Bulsara found inspiration for a new
one when writing the song My Fairy King, which contains a verse
with the lyrics ‘Mother Mercury, look what they’ve done to me.’
Bulsara was quick to latch on to Mercury, and subsequently took
the stage name Freddie Mercury – arguably an attempt to detach
his stage persona (‘extroverted monster’) from his personal persona.
It would be another few years before the band would finally
become complete, when in 1972 bassist John Deacon joined the
group. Queen began to rehearse for their first full-length release
– the eponymously titled ‘Queen’ – but struggled to find a label
to market the finished product, as Roger Taylor recalled, ‘We had
quite a difficult genesis. It was very difficult for us to get a contract,
to be accepted in any way. But many groups went through that,
and it does engineer a kind of “backs to the wall” feeling in a
band. So we felt very strong together.’
When they were eventually picked up by EMI, it had been eight
months since the band had completed the album, by which point
the group themselves had almost grown out of it. Years later, Brian
May would talk about the lengthy process, stating, ‘The album
took ages and ages – two years in total, in the preparation, making
and then trying to get the thing released.’
14
QUEEN – NEWS OF THE WORLD – IN CONCERT
Limited Edition On Green Vinyl
This limited edition vinyl album features the concert broadcast from Houston on
the 11 December 1977, which captures the band hard at work promoting the album
‘News of the World’. Although Europe, South America and Japan all quickly fell in
love with Queen, North America was a much tougher nut to crack and this is a perfect
record of Queen working hard to achieve that elusive goal.
Side 1
1. We Will Rock You (Fast) 2. Somebody to Love 3. Death On Two Legs
4. Killer Queen 5. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy 6. Keep Yourself Alive
7. Love of My Life
Side 2
1. Now I’m Here 2. You’re My Best Friend 3. Bohemian Rhapsody
4. Tie Your Mother Down 5. We Will Rock You 6. We Are the Champions
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON
15
The press barely paid any attention to the group at first, yet the
album did succeed in giving the band their first radio hit through
‘Keep Yourself Alive’, which, as Mercury himself commented, ‘…
was a very good way of telling people what Queen was about in
those days.’
A mixture of mostly Led Zeppelin inspired rocking numbers, as
well as a hint of glam rock, Queen slowly bubbled under the radar,
and this album has been passed over by the critics and the band
alike to this day. Roger Taylor, for example, recently stated, ‘There
were lots of things on the first album I don’t like, for example the
drum sound. There are parts of it which may sound contrived but
it is very varied and it has lots of energy.’
Touring the album in support of Mott the Hoople, Brian May
would quickly become infatuated with the glam-rockers from
Hertfordshire, England, showing signs of the band’s influence
throughout his own writing career.

Freddie Mercury is interviewed about his stage persona in 1986.
16
The Dress Rehearsal
I
n 1974, Queen quickly followed up the small success that
their first studio outing had had with two new releases, the
first of which was ‘Queen II’, featuring hit single ‘Seven
Seas of Rhye’. Garnering the band a plethora of new fans, and
in spite of the album as a whole being highly experimental and
gaining little critical acclaim, ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’ went to No.
5 in the charts, and the band were more than pleased with the
results.
Roger Taylor would pronounce, ‘We took so much trouble over
that album, possibly too much, but when we finished we felt really
proud. Immediately it got really bad reviews, so I took it home to
listen to and thought, “Christ, are they right?” But after hearing
it a few weeks later, I still like it. I think it’s great. We’ll stick by
it. Considering the abuse we’ve had lately, I’m surprised that the
new LP has done so well. I suppose it’s basically because people
17
like the band.’ He added a few years later that, ‘It’s very difficult
to choose one album I prefer out of all of them. But I do like a lot
of the work on the second album, second side. It all runs into one,
very epic. Musically it’s quite daring because we did lots of counter
seven part harmonies and things.’
Later that same year, the third studio album ‘Sheer Heart
Attack’ was released. ‘Killer Queen’ – the album’s premier single
– would prove to be the album’s standout track, and a major
jumping-off point for the band. Shooting into the Top 10 of
the UK Single Charts, as well as peaking at No. 11 in the US
Billboard Single Charts, the track combined the Led Zeppelin-
esque sound of their first two albums, along with Mercury’s
grandiose music hall stylings. Brian May would quickly pick up on
the track’s importance: ‘“Killer Queen” in 1974 was the turning
point. It was the song that best summed up our kind of music,
and a big hit, and we desperately needed it as a mark of something

Queen producer Jeff Griffin displays his album gifted by Freddie Mercury.
18
QUEEN – PLAYING THE GAME
Limited Edition On Clear Vinyl
This limited edition vinyl album features the highlights from the live broadcast of a
Between the Houston show in 1977 and Argentina in 1981, a string of hit singles
and their involvement with the Flash Gordon movie, the Queen stage show had
transformed into something which was now almost unrecognisable from that which
had gone before.
Side 1
1. We Will Rock You 2. Let Me Entertain You 3. Play the Game 4. Mustapha
5. Death On Two Legs 6. Killer Queen
Side 2
1. I’m In Love With My Car 2. Need Your Loving Tonight 3. Rock It (Prime Jive)
4. Save Me 5. Now I’m Here
19
20
successful happening to us. We were penniless, you know. Just like
another struggling rock ‘n’ roll band. All sitting around in London
bedsits, just like the rest.’
As a whole, the album was a big success all over Europe, and
even managed to go gold in the United States – a sure sign that
this was a band to be watched. Speaking about the album, John
Deacon would say, ‘I have the feeling that the whole thing is
getting a bit more professional all round. We are, after all, on our
third album. I’ve got more confidence in the group now than ever
before. I was possibly the one person who could look at it from the
outside because I was the fourth person to join the band. I knew
there was something there but I wasn’t so convinced of it. Till
possibly this album.’
Mercury would expand on this after harsher critics would
describe the album as nothing more than a collection of singles, in
spite of it generally being seen as a cohesive long-player with a wide
variety of musical genres, including ballads, ragtime and heavy
metal. ‘Not a collection of singles, dear – although we might draw
another one off later for a single. I’m not absolutely sure about that,
though. No, not all the numbers last for ages. There were just so
many songs we wanted to do. And it makes a change to have short
numbers. It’s so varied that we were able to go to extremes. I only
had about two weeks to write my songs so we’ve been working
fucking hard.’
The band would also start making a name for themselves thanks
to their onstage theatrics, especially front man Freddie Mercury,
who had fast become quite the entertainer – dressing in satin,
sequins and gesticulating all over the place.
‘Sheer Heart Attack’’s follow-up a year later, ‘A Night at the
Opera’, would see the band under new management following
the dismissal of Norman Sheffield in the same year. The album’s
opening track, ‘Death on Two Legs’, would prove to be a reference
to the whole sordid affair, with Mercury later stating, ‘As far as
21
Queen are concerned our old management is deceased. They
cease to exist in any capacity with us whatsoever. One leaves
them behind like one leaves excreta. We feel so relieved!’ Queen’s
new management would be John Reid, who also handled Elton
John’s career at the time – an artist with whom the band would
collaborate later in their own career.
Considered by many to be the band’s strongest ever outing, ‘A
Night at the Opera’ featured what is also widely considered to
be the group’s strongest ever track in the massive worldwide hit,
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. No. 1 all over Europe, and even hitting
the Top Ten in the United States, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ earned
Mercury an Ivor Novello award, was promoted by a revolutionary
music video, and is the second most played song on British radio.
Mercury would, years later, try to explain the appeal of the track:
‘It’s one of those songs which has such a fantasy feel about it. I
think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then make
up their own minds as to what it says to them,’ going on to add,
‘“Bohemian Rhapsody” didn’t just come out of thin air. I did a bit
of research although it was tongue-in-cheek and mock opera. Why
not?’
The album also featured another major hit in John Deacon’s,
‘You’re My Best Friend’. Peaking at No. 14 in America, it was
unlike anything Queen had done up to this point, and proved to
be a forerunner for the myriad hits that the band would become
famous for. Deacon later talked about how Mercury originally
hated the track, especially the Wurlitzer organ that the bassist
had composed it on, stating, ‘Well, Freddie didn’t like the electric
piano, so I took it home and I started to learn on the electric piano
and basically that’s the song that came out you know when I was
learning to play piano. It was written on that instrument and it
sounds best on that. You know, often on the instrument that you
wrote the song on.’
Throughout this period, the band would spend much of their
22
Queen – THE GAME TOUR 1981
the album ‘The Game’. South America was always much more receptive to Queen
Side 1
1. Dragon Attack 2. Keep Yourself Alive 3. Flash’s Theme 4. The Hero
Side 2
23
24
time promoting and gigging the album, including a huge free gig
at Hyde Park in front of over 150,000 people. Brian May would
talk about the concert’s importance to the band a few years later:
‘I think that Hyde Park was one of the most significant gigs in our
career. There was a great affection because we’d kind of made it in
a lot of countries by that time, but England was still, you know,
we weren’t really sure if we were really acceptable here. So it was
a wonderful feeling to come back and see that crowd and get that
response.’
A commercial and critical smash hit, the album went three
times platinum in the United States, and this success, as well as
playing sold out venues all over the world, proved that Queen had
finally made it big on the popular music scene. ‘A Night at the
Opera’’s successor, ‘A Day at the Races’, was essentially the second
half of what could be deemed a split double album. With both
albums taking their names from famed Marx brother’s movies,
and featuring similar album covers, ‘A Day at the Races’ was
unable to eclipse its predecessor, yet still proved a huge success
in musical exploration. Staying true to their guitar-driven style,
and continuing in the vein of complex multi tracking, Queen’s
fifth studio album featured a number of chart hits that helped
the album break into the UK Top Ten Album Charts. The band’s
1977 American tour of the album saw Thin Lizzy as their support
act, with May announcing the importance of having a challenging
support act: ‘Thin Lizzy as a support band is a real challenge.
They’ll want to blow us off stage, and that can be a very healthy
thing. You feed off the energy of others and I know that if they
go down a real storm then we’re gonna go on feeling that much
higher. It makes for good concerts. We’ve had it the other way
around. I think that we gave Mott the Hoople a hard time on our
first tours of Britain and America.’
Queen would also go on to play two nights at Earls Court this
time around for Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee celebrations. Unveiling
25
their famed ‘crown’ lighting rig at the show – which reputedly cost
£50,000 – the group would go on to lose £75,000 over the two
nights, showcasing their love of pomp and glamour ahead of fiscal
success. Mercury himself affirmed, ‘The Jubilee’s quite fun isn’t it?
I love the Queen. I’m very patriotic. I love all this pomp, of course
I do. I love it. She does outrageous things!’
During the same year, Mercury and his long-term girlfriend,
Mary, would agree to a looser relationship, citing too much time
apart for their split, fuelling the rumours that Mercury was,
in fact, homosexual. Mercury would go on to pronounce the
importance of his relationship with Mary, asserting, ‘Our love
affair ended in tears, but a deep bond grew out of it, and that’s
something nobody can take away from us. It’s unreachable. All my
lovers ask me why they can’t replace her, but it’s simply impossible.’
He added, ‘I don’t feel jealous of her lovers because, of course, she
has a life to lead, and so do I. Basically, I try to make sure she’s
happy with whoever she’s with, and she tries to do the same for
me. We look after each other, and that’s a wonderful kind of love. I
might have all the problems in the world, but I have Mary and that
gets me through.’
During recording of the band’s next studio album, ‘News of the
World’, Queen would be in a studio next door to the Sex Pistols,
who were busy recording their breakthrough album, ‘Never Mind
the Bollocks’. In an hilarious encounter, Johnny Rotten had been
so eager to meet Mercury that he crawled on all fours through
his own studio, into Queen’s, sidled up the side of the piano
where Mercury was playing, and drawled, ‘Hello Freddie!’ before
crawling out again. During the same sessions, Mercury also had
a chance encounter with the Pistols’ tragic bassist, Sid Vicious.
Their brief conversation is rumoured to have gone something like
this: Sid: ‘Aren’t you that Freddie Platinum, who’s bringing ballet
to the masses?’ Freddie: ‘Ahh Mr. Ferocious, we’re doing our
best.’
26
QUEEN – RADIO GA GA IN TOKYO
In 1985 Queen were at the top of their game as a live, stadium filling act. This record
features the live broadcast from the only night Queen played at the Yoyogi National
Gymnasium in 1985. The show was at the end of The Works Tour, where the band
were promoting the album of the same name. The set from this tour involved multiple
levels based on a scene from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with huge rotating cogs backed
by a brightly lit cityscape.
Side 1
1. Under Pressure 2. Somebody to Love 3. Killer Queen 4. Radio Ga Ga
5. I Want to Break Free 6. Love of My Life
Side 2
1. Another One Bites the Dust 2. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
3. Bohemian Rhapsody 4. Seven Seas of Rhye 5. We Will Rock You
6. We Are the Champions
27
28
1977 saw the release of the album taken from these sessions –
an album that was actually critically panned at the time, but has
since proved to have more commercial and critical appeal. ‘News
of the World’ was to prove to be something of a ‘concert album’,
featuring tracks suited for gigging, and as close to stadium rock
as Queen would get throughout their career. Double A-side ‘We
Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are the Champions’ were the perfect
examples of this ‘new sound,’ together combining to give the
band their first No. 1 single in America. Mercury would state the
importance of the tracks – ‘We Are the Champions’ in particular
– declaring, ‘I have to win people over, otherwise it’s not a
successful gig. It’s my job to make sure people have a good time.
That’s part of my duty. It’s all to do with feeling in control. That
song “We Are the Champions” has been taken up by football fans
because it’s a winners’ song. I can’t believe that somebody hasn’t
written a new song to overtake it.’ He went on to add, ‘I was
thinking about football when I wrote it. I wanted a participation
song, something that the fans could latch on to. It was aimed
at the masses; I thought we’d see how they took it. It worked a
treat.’
Speaking about the album as a whole, Brian May would relate,
‘It’s a spontaneous album. I think we’ve managed to cut through
to the spontaneity lacking in our other albums. I have no apologies
to make for any of our previous albums. We’re proud of them and
wouldn’t have let them out if we weren’t.’
Going through yet another managerial change, the band parted
company with John Reid in 1978, as they felt they were becoming
far too successful for him to be able to cope with both them and
Elton John. Taking over the responsibility of their own affairs,
the band would go on to rule the roost over Queen Productions,
appointing themselves as directors of the company, and earning
£690,000 each during the fiscal year of 1978/9 – making them the
highest paid directors in British industry. Brian May announced,
29
‘We didn’t particularly want the job of managing ourselves, but
we decided it was the best way of getting precisely what we wanted
and controlling our own destiny.’
Following a sell-out tour of Europe, the band would release
seventh studio outing, ‘Jazz’, in the winter of 1978 to a rather
lukewarm response. Featuring a multitude of different musical
influences, including Arabic, rock, pop, funk, soul and just
about everything apart from jazz itself, the album saw the
band frustrated for the first time in their career, with Mercury,
in particular, noting his disappointment in the final product.
However, the album did include yet another hit, a double A-side
single in ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’/‘Bicycle Race’, which featured a
rather racy inlay and music video, replete with sixty-five naked
ladies riding bikes. Not that that decision didn’t lose Queen their
fair share of fans as well though, as Brian May recalled, ‘We lost
some of our audience with that. “How could you do it? It doesn’t
go with your spiritual side.” But my answer is that the physical side
is as much a part of a person as the spiritual or intellectual side. It’s
fun. I’ll make no apologies. All music skirts around sex, sometimes
very directly. Ours doesn’t. In our music, sex is either implied or
referred to semi-jokingly, but it’s always there.’
As a result of the album’s relative failure, the group decided that
a little more work needed to be done on their next release, so they
took a break from their schedule of one or more albums a year to
focus a good eighteen months on ‘The Game’, which didn’t come
out until 1980.
Before ‘The Game’ was released, however, the band were on the
road again, as another European tour followed. As well as this, in
response to the amount of money that live Queen bootleg tapes
were fetching, the band decided to release their first-ever live
album in ‘Live Killers’. Featuring tracks taken from the band’s
‘Jazz’ World Tour, the album went platinum all over the world.
Despite this, the band sparked controversy when they stated on
30
QUEEN – KILLER QUEENS
Side 1
1. We Will Rock You 2. Let Me Entertain You 3. Play the Game 4. Mustapha
5. Death On Two Legs 6. Killer Queen
Side 2
1. Keep Yourself Alive 2. Flash’s Theme 3. The Hero
31
32
record that they didn’t actually like the album – something which
has been repeated this very year by heavy rockers Deep Purple,
when the release of one of their live concerts was actually pulled by
their record company after the band urged fans not to buy it. One
particular criticism of the album was its inclusion of ‘Bohemian
Rhapsody’, a track which never held up as a live number, as Brian
May himself explained, ‘“Rhapsody” is not a stage number. A
lot of people don’t like us leaving the stage. But to be honest, I’d
rather leave than have us play to a backing tape. If you are there
and you have got backing tapes, it’s a totally false situation. So
we’d rather be up front and say, “Look, this is not something you
can play onstage.” It was multi-layered in the studio. We’ll play it
because we think that you want to hear it.’
Towards the end of 1979, the band also released ‘Crazy Little
Thing Called Love’, a single which brought the band chart success
once again, hitting the Top 10 in most countries around the world,

Freddie Mercury and John Deacon are interviewed about performing in Hungary.
33
and providing the band with their second No. 1 single in America.
Freddie said of the piece, ‘I wrote “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
in the bath. I actually grabbed an upright piano to my bedside
table once. I’ve been known to scribble lyrics in the middle of the
night without putting the lights on.’ Brian May argued against
the band’s reputation for being a singles band, saying, ‘We’re not
a singles group. We don’t stake our reputation on singles and we
never have done, but I think that it’s brought a lot of younger
people to our concerts.’
Around this time, Mercury was also performing with the Royal
Ballet – literally, as Sid Vicious had put it two years previously,
‘bringing ballet to the masses’ – dancing and singing to both
‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. He
also supposedly found love, albeit briefly, with the wardrobe man,
as his homosexuality had now become public knowledge.
Right at the end of 1979, the band embarked on the Crazy Tour,
so-called because the band were playing in such tiny venues, and
had so much equipment that the whole idea of the tour was both
‘crazy unthinkable’ and ‘crazy illogical’, as John Deacon would so
aptly put it. Roger Taylor would also recall the problems on tour,
stating, ‘I remember at the Lyceum gig in 1979 – the roof was
too small to fit in all our lights – so we cut two holes in it. We
got a call from Paul McCartney saying Wings were playing there
next week and they’d need a hole in the roof, so could he pay for
one of them? Just think – we became the first group to sell Paul
McCartney a hole!’
As well as working on ‘The Game’ during this sustained period
of touring, the band were also busy writing the soundtrack for
‘Flash Gordon’. Both albums saw the band experimenting with
synths for the first real time in their career, after their strict ‘no
synths’ rule of the 1970s. John Deacon would go on to explain,
‘We wanted to experiment with all that new studio equipment.
We had always been keen to try out anything new or different
34
QUEEN – NOW WE’RE HERE
unrecognisable from that which had gone before. Features the classic ‘Another One
Bites the Dust’.
Side 1
1. I’m In Love with My Car 2. Need Your Loving Tonight 3. Rock It (Prime Jive)
4. Save Me 5. Now I’m Here
Side 2
35
36
whilst recording. The synthesisers then were so good, they were
very advanced compared to the early Moogs, which did little
more than make a series of weird noises. The ones we were using
could duplicate all sorts of sounds and instruments – you could
get an entire orchestra out of them at the touch of a button.
Amazing.’
When finally released in 1980, ‘The Game’ proved to be a huge
commercial and fiscal success, turning out to be the group’s highest
selling album to date. It featured hit single ‘Crazy Little Thing
Called Love’, as well as ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. Interestingly
enough, the band only released ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ as a
single after Michael Jackson told the band he thought it would be
a hit. Inspired by the likes of Chic and the Sugar Hill Gang, the
track would stay at No. 1 for four weeks in America, spawning a
multitude of new fans. John Deacon, once again, explained the
composition of the track, ‘I listened to a lot of soul music when I
was in school and I’ve always been interested in that sort of music.
I’d been wanting to do a track like “Another One Bites the Dust”
for a while, but originally all I had was the line and the bass riff.
Gradually I filled it in and the band added ideas. I could hear it as
a song for dancing but had no idea it would become as big a hit as
it did.’
The album itself went four times platinum in America, and was
quickly followed up by the soundtrack album of cult sci-fi classic
‘Flash Gordon’. Performing badly as far as sales were concerned,
the album, nevertheless, was innovative, and showed the band
in a whole new light, as Brian May showed when talking about
the composition of the critically acclaimed soundtrack: ‘We saw
20 minutes of the finished film and thought it was very good
and over the top. We wanted to do something that was a real
soundtrack. It’s a first in many ways, because a rock group hasn’t
done this type of thing before, or else it’s been toned down and
they’ve been asked to write pretty mushy background music,
37
whereas we were given the license to do what we liked, as long as
it complemented the picture.’
By the end of 1980, with nearly a decade of hits under
their belts, Queen had sold over 25,000,000 singles, and over
45,000,000 albums worldwide, amplifying the fact that they were
easily one of the biggest bands of all time, and they still had a long
long way to go…
1981 kicked off with a massive stadium tour of South America,
cementing a relationship with the band’s South American fans
that would last forever. This was the first time any major western
band had ever done such a huge tour in South America and
Argentine fans, in particular, showed their appreciation by buying
enough Queen records to ensure that every release of the band
to date was in the Top 10 Album Charts during the tour. Brian
May remembered the time fondly: ‘It’s a long time since we’ve
experienced such warmth from a new audience. We feel really
good about it now, as our ambitions have been partly realized,’
with Roger Taylor going on to add, ‘I was surprised we didn’t get
more criticism for playing South America. I didn’t think we were
being used as tools by political regimes, although obviously you
have to co-operate with them. We were playing for the people. We
weren’t playing for the government.’
The remainder of 1981 saw the band in the studio recording
disco-tinged tenth studio album, ‘Hot Space’. Once again sharing
the studio with another famed artist, this time instead of being a
comedic affair it was a productive one, as the band collaborated
with David Bowie for hit single ‘Under Pressure’. Also finding its
way on to the album, ‘Under Pressure’ netted the Queen/Bowie
combo a No. 1 in the UK, as well as providing the memorable riff
for Vanilla Ice’s 1991 hit ‘Ice Ice Baby’, prompting a lawsuit over
the unrequested use of the sample. The band also released their
first ‘Greatest Hits’ album in 1981, featuring all of their biggest
hits from the 1970s.
38
QUEEN – UNDER PRESSURE IN AMERICA
This limited edition vinyl album features highlights from the concert broadcast from
Houston on the 11 December 1977, which captures the band hard at work promoting
the album ‘News of the World’. Although Europe, South America and Japan all
quickly fell in love with Queen, North America was a much tougher nut to crack and
this is a perfect record of Queen working hard to achieve that elusive goal. Also
available here are Queen’s classic performances on Saturday Night Live in 1982.
Side 1
1. Crazy Little Thing Called Love 2. Under Pressure 3. Keep Yourself Alive
4. Tie Your Mother Down 5. Somebody to Love
Side 2
1. Killer Queen 2. Now I’m Here 3. Love of My Life 4. Bohemian Rhapsody
39
40
1982 finally saw the release of ‘Hot Space’. Disappointing to
most for its lack of rock tracks and overuse of synths, it must
widely be regarded as the group’s worst outing. American fans
left in their droves. European fans were less fickle, however, and
stayed true to the band, making sure their tour of the same year
was, once again, sold out. The tour included a scheduled date at
Manchester that actually had to be cancelled due to the lack of
public toilets, as the Pope was also touring north England at the
same time! The final gig of the tour was more successful, however,
as in front of 37,000 fans at the Milton Keynes Bowl. Channel
4 recorded the concert to be played back in front of millions
of viewers. The band, however, were yet again not particularly
pleased with their performance, with Brian May recalling, ‘None
of us thought that it was a particularly good gig at the time, we
were wishing that they had filmed Leeds. I particularly found that
it was hard to get the sound right, and couldn’t hear the monitors

Actor Peter Murphy discusses the unique appeal of Queen.
41
very well. But Tyne Tees filmed it, and mixed it themselves, with
no help from us; and we now think that it’s one of the better
videos of our live shows.’
Following this, the band appeared on Top of the Pops for the
third time in their career, performing a version of new single, ‘Las
Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love)’, dedicated to their South
American contingency. This, of course, was also at the same time
that England was in major conflict with Argentina over the state of
the Falklands, and the release of the track in England was seen as
‘inappropriate’. In Argentina, as well, the band’s songs were banned
from public radio after their popularity was seen to ‘annoy the
government’. Roger Taylor would speak out against the decision,
pronouncing, ‘In Argentina we were No. 1 when that stupid war
was going on and we had a fantastic time there, and that can be
only for the good. Music is totally international.’
Not wanting to stay out of the limelight for too long, ever-
excitable front man Mercury spent some time recording with
Michael Jackson, explaining, ‘Michael has been a friend of ours
(Queen) for a long time. He’s been to our shows and enjoyed them.
We make a great team.’ He added, ‘I’d like to release something
with Michael because he is really marvellous to work with. It’s all
a question of time because we never seem to be together at the
same time. Just think, I could have been on “Thriller”. Think of
the royalties I’ve missed out on!’ Several tracks were put down, but,
unfortunately, none have ever surfaced, meaning Freddie never did
get his hands on those royalties!
The year ended with a massive tour of America and Japan,
which, in spite of the album’s frosty reception, was a huge
success. Worn out, and in need of a well-earned rest, the awesome
foursome took 1983 as a rest of sorts, as Roger Taylor explained,
‘After touring America, Europe and Japan we were totally
knackered, so we thought we deserved a bit of a rest… It also had
a lot to do with the last album (“Hot Space”) not doing as well
42
QUEEN – HOUSTON WE HAVE NO PROBLEM
Limited Edition on Red, White and Blue Swirl Vinyl
This is the powerful record of Queen broadcasting live in concert from the Houston
Summit in 1977. The band were hard at work performing a fantastic high-energy live
set to promote their new album, ‘News of the World’.
This is the ultimate collectors item, every copy of this collector’s limited edition is
pressed on tri-colour red white and blue swirl vinyl. The colours on which the album
is pressed form a random pattern making each individual record totally unique.
Side 1
1. We Will Rock You (Fast) 2. Brighton Rock 3. Death On Two Legs
4. I’m In Love With My Car 5. Get Down and Make Love
6. The Millionaire Waltz 7. You’re My Best Friend
Side 2
1. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy 2. White Man 3. Stone Cold Crazy
4. Bohemian Rhapsody 5. Sheer Heart Attack 6. Jailnouse Rock
43
as previous LPs. We realised that it hadn’t been what a lot of fans
wanted or expected from us, so we thought a break would give us
the opportunity to think things through a bit.’
44
The Show Must Go On
D
uring this time the band worked on various solo
projects, with Freddie working on a solo album in
Germany, Roger learning the art of skiing, and John
surf boarding. A mildly amusing tale also came out of 1983, as
Roger was arrested and imprisoned at the Monaco Grand Prix
after getting drunk with Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt, as
Parfittt himself recounted, ‘Yeah, I went to Monaco with Roger
and we finished up in prison. It was quite a funny night, we were
accused of something we didn’t do, but we sat in prison all night
and it rained all the next day so we didn’t see the race. We had a
thoroughly bad time, but we came home laughing.’
After the failure of ‘Hot Space’, work progressed in earnest on
the band’s new album towards the end of the year and through
the early part of 1984. Eventually released in February 1984, ‘The
Works’ would bridge the gap between pop and rock with the likes
45
of pop-tinged rock anthem ‘Radio Ga Ga’, written by drummer
Roger Taylor, who said regarding this, ‘I wrote it after watching
a lot of MTV in the States, and it seemed to me there was far too
much emphasis on a band’s visual image. I got the name “Radio
Ga Ga” from my son, Felix – he was watching TV with me and
started going around saying “radio poo poo” which changed to
“radio ka ka” and then eventually to “Radio Ga Ga”.’
Another massive number off the album, ‘I Want to Break Free’,
caused incredible controversy for the band thanks, once again,
to its controversial music video. Featuring the band dressed in
drag, in parody of a famous British soap opera, neither the band’s
fans nor the press got the joke, as Roger Taylor explained, ‘We
had done some really serious, epic videos in the past, and we just
thought we’d have some fun. We wanted people to know that
we didn’t take ourselves too seriously, that we could still laugh at
ourselves. I think we proved that.’
As with the disco-funk of ‘Hot Space’ before it, Brian May was
adamant that the ‘I Want to Break Free’ video harmed the band’s
sales in the United States in subsequent years. It didn’t much help
that, at the same time, Freddie was to appear in Vogue magazine,
modelling a diamond stud earring, enhancing the backlash against
Mercury’s at times extravagant nature.
As with ‘Hot Space’, the poor sales of ‘The Works’ prompted
the band into delving deep into their solo projects once more,
as both the critical and commercial acclaim that had come so
easily in the 1970s seemed to be on a steady decline. A successful
European tour towards the end of the year brightened things up
a little, before the band released a special edited version of ‘Live
Killers’, donating all of the proceeds to the Kultawamong School
for deaf and blind children. After dates in South Africa, however,
Queen were met with hostility on their return to England, with
both the press and the Musicians Union on their back, as Brian
May explained, ‘We’re totally against apartheid and all it stands
46
QUEEN – OUR GRACIOUS QUEEN
Limited Edition on Red, White and Blue Swirl Vinyl
This is the powerful record of Queen broadcasting live in concert from the USA,
Japan and Argentina. This is the very best of Queen broadcasting to the world and
performing their famous high-energy stage shows.
Every copy of this superb collectors limited edition is pressed on tri-colour red
white and blue swirl vinyl. The colours on which the album is pressed form a random
pattern making each individual record totally unique. Here is the ultimate Queen
collector’s item.
Side 1
1. Crazy Little Thing Called Love 2. Under Pressure 3. Keep Yourself Alive
4. Tie Your Mother Down 5. Another One Bites the Dust
Side 2
1. It’s a Hard Life 2. Hammer to Fall 3. Radio Gaga 4. I Want to Break Free
5. Seven Seas of Rhye 6. Love of My Life
47
48
for, but I feel we did a lot of bridge building. We met musicians
of both colours. They all welcomed us with open arms. The only
criticism we got was from outside South Africa.’ He also added,
‘We’ve thought about the morals of it a lot, and it is something
we’ve decided to do. The band is not political, we play to anybody
who wants to come and listen. The show will be in Botswana in
front of a mixed crowd.’ John Deacon was also quick to stick up
for the group’s decision to play there, stating, ‘Throughout our
career we’ve been a very non-political group. We enjoy going to
new places. We’ve toured America and Europe so many times
that its nice to go somewhere different. Everybody’s been to South
Africa, it’s not as though we are setting a precedent. Elton John’s
been there, Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard. I know there can be a bit
of fuss, but apparently we’re very popular down there… Basically
we want to play wherever fans want to see us.’
The band would return to their beloved South America soon
thereafter, performing at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, in front
of a record 250,000 people. Taking to the stage to near-deafening
applause, the response of the crowd was incredible, and all was
going well until the band’s performance of ‘I Want to Break Free’.
A democratic anthem across the whole of the continent, the crowd
began to boo and throw things at the band when Mercury entered
the stage wearing stockings and suspenders just as in the video,
seen to be degrading the piece. He was soon to whip these off after
the response, but this just seemed to be another example of Queen
not quite getting it right of late, as they seemed to be losing touch
with their audience.
More sold out concert dates were quick to follow in Australia
and New Zealand, however, as well as a number of gigs in Japan,
which was fast becoming like a second home to the band.
Queen were invited to perform at the benefit concert Live Aid
in 1985, and proceeded to steal the show in front of a worldwide
audience of millions, wowing all with their showmanship and
49
energy. Deacon would talk about the success of the concert after
the event pronouncing, ‘We didn’t know Bob Geldoff at all. When
“Do They Know It’s Christmas” was out, that was a lot of the
newer acts. For the gig, he wanted to get a lot of the established
acts. Our first reaction was, we didn’t know – 20 minutes, no
sound check…!’ going on to add, ‘When it became apparent that
it was going to happen we’d actually just finished touring Japan,
and ended up having a meal in the hotel discussing whether we
should do it, because obviously they wanted our answer, and we
said yes. We didn’t get involved in the running order thing, but
strangely enough we did well coming on when we did… It was the
one day that I was proud to be in the music business – a lot of days
you certainly don’t feel like that! But the day was fabulous, people
there forgot the element of competitivenes… It was a good morale
booster for us too, because it showed the strength of support we
had in England, and it showed us what we had to offer as a band.’

Brian May reminisces about performing at Live Aid.
50
QUEEN – GREATEST HITS FOR CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Limited Edition On White Vinyl
Get ready for some Baroque ‘n’ Roll… introducing the greatest music in the history of
rock as you’ve never heard it before…
This limited edition vinyl album features the music of Queen arranged for chamber
ensemble and cathedral organ. The outstanding quality of Queen’s music can be
found in the brilliant combination of melody and form which underpins the works and
which also allows Queen’s music to be presented in a challenging new shape. This is
the ultimate proof of the musical genius that is Queen.
Side 1
1. We Are the Champions 2. Killer Queen 3. Under Pressure
4. The Show Must Go On 5. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Side 2
1. You’re My Best Friend 2. Don’t Stop Me Now 3. Somebody to Love
4. Bohemian Rhapsody 5. God Save the Queen
51
52
So boosted was their morale, in fact, that Queen were quick to
respond to increased record sales by quickly going into the studio
to record ‘One Vision’, an up-tempo guitar-based song, which was
subsequently released as a single to great success. More controversy
abounded, however, when the press release for the single stated
that the band were encouraged to go in and record the track after
the success of Live Aid, which was then taken by the press to
mean that the song was written about the event, and, therefore,
the royalties should have gone to charity – which they didn’t. The
band were aghast, as Roger Taylor would disclose, ‘I was absolutely
devastated when I saw that in the press. It was a terrible mistake
and I was really annoyed about it. Some public relations person got
hold of the wrong end of the stick. I went absolutely bananas when
I saw that.’
1986 would see the band going in the studio to record new
album ‘A Kind of Magic’. Inspired by the hit movie Highlander,
and featuring the aforementioned single, the album was a fiscal
success, spawning a string on hits including ‘Friends Will Be
Friends’ and ‘A Kind of Magic’. Later that year the band would be
on the road once more, touring Europe in support of the album,
and playing venues in France, Italy and Germany to name but
three. One particular date in Hungary proved to be especially
successful, as Roger Taylor explains, ‘We had a wonderful time in
Hungary. I think everybody who came to the Nepstadion enjoyed
themselves. Especially the support! It was about 60 middle aged
ladies singing a Hungarian Folklore version of “Jumping Jack
Flash” and, believe me, it was different.’ Another highlight of the
tour was a date at Wembley Stadium, which was subsequently
released as both a live record and video. Somewhat prophetically,
Freddie Mercury teased the capacity crowd that Queen might be
breaking up, only to tell them it was nothing but silly rumour,
and that Queen would be together until ‘we fucking die, I’m sure!’
Hmm…
53
It was on this tour that the band would perform together for the
last ever time. Selling out Knebworth Park in under two hours, the
band would wow their sea of fans one last time, going out with a
bang.
Proving to be another year of rest for the band, the highlight of
1987 saw Freddy Mercury meeting opera diva Montserrat Caballe,
and forming an alliance together, promising to make an album
together. The hit single ‘Barcelona’ would be the first we saw of
the unlikely alliance, selling 10,000 copies in under three hours
in Spain. Also adopted by the Spanish Olympic Committee as the
theme for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, the single also
proved a successful Top 10 hit for the band in the UK. Also in the
same year, the band would receive an Ivor Novello award for their
outstanding contribution to British Music.
As the 1990s fast approached, the band would have to endure
a few personal problems before their thirteenth studio outing,

Brian May describes his approach to live performances.
54
QUEEN – HAPPY AND GLORIOUS
Limited Edition On Inca Gold Vinyl
In 1985 Queen were at the top of their game as a live, stadium filling act. This limited
edition vinyl album features the legendary live broadcast from the the Yoyogi
National Gymnasium, Tokyo on 11 May 1985. The show was at the end of The Works
Tour, where the band were promoting the album of the same name. The set from this
tour involved multiple levels based on a scene from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with huge
rotating cogs backed by a brightly lit cityscape.
Side 1
1. Under Pressure 2. Somebody to Love 3. Killer Queen 4. Radio Ga Ga
5. I Want to Break Free 6. Love of My Life
Side 2
1. Another One Bites the Dust 2. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
3. Bohemian Rhapsody 4. Seven Seas of Rhye 5. We Will Rock You
6. We Are the Champions
55
‘The Miracle’, was released. Brian’s father died just days before
the Prince’s Trust Gala Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and
then soon after May left his wife for British actress Anita Dobson,
promptly having his name bandied around the British tabloid’s
front pages.
‘The Miracle’ was released in 1989, and finally brought the
band together in a way that no previous album had, as, for once,
all songs were credited as being written by Queen, rather than its
individual members, as past albums had held it. Having shied away
from being interviewed as an entire band for some time, they were
finally persuaded to do so in the spring of 1989, when Freddie
revealed his reluctance to perform live again, stating he was tired
of the ‘album–tour, album–tour’ cycle, adding he had ‘been there
and done that’ and citing exhaustion as a major factor, prompting
rumours that he was ill.
Before the band’s final album as a complete unit came about
in 1991, they would go on to receive a special BPI award for their
outstanding contribution to British music in 1990, as well as
ending their association with Capitol Records in the United states,
instead signing a deal worth in excess of $10,000,000 with Disney-
owned Hollywood Records.
56
The Grand Finale
I
n the early part of 1991, rumours began escalating that
Mercury’s unwillingness to tour again, and his apparent
fatigue, were due to the fact that we was suffering from
AIDS. Flatly denying the claims, despite the fact that they were
actually true, Mercury and the band decided to carry on and
record their fourteenth studio outing regardless.
Fighting through the pain, Mercury put in a courageous
performance for his contributions towards ‘Innuendo’, and the
album was mostly well-received by the press.
Mercury, however, was declining fast. On 23 November 1991,
Freddie Mercury would confirm the worst by issuing a statement
confirming that he did have AIDS. By 7pm the next day, Freddie
Mercury was dead.
‘I was numb the first night after it happened,’ said a grief-
stricken May. ‘We all met and talked and I couldn’t even cry.
57
Then the next day I fell to pieces completely, couldn’t do anything;
crying.’
May would go on further still, adding, ‘It’s a big thing. It’s like
all your adult life is over. It’s irrational, but it feels that way, losing
your best mate. It’s just a major, major hurt.’ Crediting the fight
in Mercury – a metaphorical God to millions all over the world
– May would divulge that, ‘He sang, literally, as long as he could
stand. He sang till he dropped, like he said he would. He worked
on the last two albums, at least, under great difficulty.’
The band themselves issued the following press release: ‘We have
lost the greatest and most beloved member of our family. We feel
overwhelming grief that he has gone, sadness that he should be cut
down at the height of his creativity, but above all great pride in the
courageous way he lived and died. It has been a privilege for us to
have shared such magical times. As soon as we are able we would
like to celebrate his life in the style to which he was accustomed.’

Roger Taylor and Brian May are interviewed about Freddie Mercury.
58
QUEEN – TEAR IT UP IN TOKYO
Limited Edition On Grey Vinyl
In 1985 Queen were at the top of their game as a live, stadium filling act. This limited
edition vinyl album features the legendary live broadcast from the the Yoyogi
National Gymnasium, Tokyo on 11 May 1985. The show was at the end of The Works
Tour, where the band were promoting the album of the same name. The set from this
tour involved multiple levels based on a scene from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with huge
rotating cogs backed by a brightly lit cityscape.
Side 1
1. Tear It Up 2. Tie Your Mother Down 3. Keep Yourself Alive 4. Liar
5. Instrumental Inferno
Side 2
1. It’s a Hard Life 2. Dragon Attack 3. Is This the World We Created…?
4. Love of My Life 5. Bohemian Rhapsody
59
60
Freddie’s cremation was held on 27 November 1991, and was a
private Zoroastrian ceremony attended by Mercury’s closest friends
and family. On 20 April 1992, a more public mourning took place,
through The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, held at Wembley
Stadium. Featuring the likes of Elton John, David Bowie,
Metallica, Seal, Roger Plant, George Michaels and Guns ‘n’ Roses,
the concert sold out in less than six hours, and was a massive
success. In fact, in 1993, an EP was released on the anniversary of
the concert, featuring tracks taken from the event.
With the band coming back together as an incomplete
threesome in 1994, work began on their fifteenth, and final, studio
album. ‘Made in Heaven’ would prove to be the band’s swansong,
in spite of them never officially disbanding. Released four years
after Mercury’s death, the album was constructed from Freddie’s
final recording sessions in 1991, as well as material left over from
the band’s previous albums.
For the next ten years or so, the band were rarely seen together
as a complete unit. Appearing from time to time – minus bassist
John Deacon – the group took part in numerous small projects,
featuring various guest musicians, but it wasn’t until 2005 that
the band would begin touring properly again. Replete with Paul
Rodgers of Free, Bad Company and The Firm as lead singer,
Queen’s tour of Europe in 2005 was a massive success, and sold
out all over the likes of Spain, Holland, Austria and Sweden.
Taking us up to the present day, the band undertook a
major American tour in the autumn of 2005 and the spring of
2006. As well as this, in June 2005, in the list of the Queen’s
list of birthday honorees, Brian May was awarded the title of
Commander of the British Empire. In the autumn of 2006,
Brian May confirmed through his website that Queen and Paul
Rodgers would begin producing a new studio album beginning in
October, to be recorded at a secret location, with an unscheduled
release date.
61
And as for the future? Well, on top of a prospective exciting new
album, currently Lebanese-American, British-based pop singer
Mika is riding high in the UK charts with his Mercury-esque
vocals, and Queen-like lyrical stylings, showing, once and for all,
that great bands never fall out of fashion.
Has any British band ever had as much impact on the face
of innovative rock music in the twentieth century as Queen
have? Well, it’s certainly arguable – one can look at the likes of
Led Zeppelin and Blur, to name but two – but surely there has
never been a band as exuberant, excitable and flamboyant as the
Mercury-led quartet, whose humble beginnings took in cold, dank
pubs across the length and breadth of England, and who ended up
playing glamorous venues all over the world. Queen are as much
an inspiration for up-and-coming bands today as they were in their
late 1970s heyday.

Brian May discusses the musical future of Queen.
62
QUEEN – CRAZY LITTLE THINGS
Side 1
Side 2
1. Keep Yourself Alive 2. Flash’s Theme 3. The Hero
63
64
The Brian May Interview
T
his interview took place in the waning months of
1983, about ten years after Queen first released their
eponymous debut. Simultaneously they issued their
first single, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ and unleashed on the world
a swirling blend of symphonically orchestrated rock revolving
around Freddie Mercury’s operatic-like vocals and Brian May’s
lush and layered guitar harmonies. They built on this success
with ‘Queen II’ and ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ and then in December
1975 they elevated their music to the next level with a series of
Marx Brothers-influenced album titles including ‘A Night at the
Opera’ and ‘A Day at the Races’.
This former record included the epic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’,
a 6-minute overture that combined disparate sections with
intricately-developed vocal lines and would maybe become most
well known for becoming the unofficial theme song for the rock
65
parody movie, ‘Wayne’s World’. The group would go on to record a
series of other albums and always seemed able to produce that one
sterling single that kept them in the public’s eye. Variously, they
created ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ (‘Jazz’), ‘Crazy Little Thing Called
Love’ and ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ (‘The Game’).
Steven Rosen recalls: ‘This interview took place at the Sunset
Marquis in West Hollywood, a very swank and expensive hotel
where only rock’s nobility were able to lay out a welcome mat.
Queen, at this time, were extraordinarily successful and Brian, in
particular, was most gracious and obliging in answering all manner
of question – relevant or ridiculous.
‘I did remind him of our almost-first encounter some years
earlier. I was in England in the summer of 1972, just generally
doing the gypsy thing with backpack but also trying to make some
connections with English newspapers, publicists, and the like. I
hadn’t really started writing yet but I knew that’s what I wanted
to do. I met a Mr. Tony Brainsby, a high-profile publicist who
handled a number of bands at the time including Paul McCartney
and Wings, Fleetwood Mac, and Queen. I remember going to his
office and seeing a white test pressing of this album by a group
called Queen. He asked me if I wanted to interview them, that
they were a new group with a new album out, and they were going
to be huge. I thought about it one stupid second and replied, “No,
I don’t think so, Tony. That’s a dumb name for a band and they’ll
never make it.”
‘All these years later I could shoot myself for that absurd remark.
I told Brian the story and he just quietly laughed.’
Q There has always been this sort of undercurrent that Queen

came in and filled the void left by Led Zeppelin. Do you agree
with that at all?
I don’t think we were close to Zeppelin, I think we were closer to
the spirit of the ‘Truth’ album. We wanted this heavy atmosphere
66
and excitement and adrenalin and stuff but we wanted it to be very
melodic. We wanted the harmonies to scream over the top of this
heavy backdrop.
Q Had you seen Jeff Beck perform with Rod Stewart?

Oh, yeah, that made a lasting impression. And also Cream, I
was a huge Clapton fan. I saw those early shows at Eel Pie and it
was obviously an adventure for them at that point; it was really
electric, they were all feeling each other and it was amazing. And
very single-minded; they knew exactly what they were doing.
The Cream were a standout for me. The fire and the aggression of
his playing, the sheer beauty of the sound. And they were doing
harmonies, too, two-part harmonies mainly; they did ‘N.S.U.’ and
I think Ginger was even singing.
And really Hendrix was my biggest idol; I saw him a lot in
England. I loved him. I saw him in the very early days when he
was supporting The Who and everyone was sort of skeptical and
didn’t want to think he was that good and I was so knocked out
I couldn’t believe it. I never really copied him but the style and
the feel influenced me a lot. I think he made the guitar something
better than it was before he came along. He was using just one
Marshall stack which was pretty ordinary, and a Stratocaster, and
The Who at that time were using like four stacks each. And I saw
him with The Move and they had four Marshall stacks each. And
Hendrix came on and just blew them totally away.
Q So, you were influenced by the trio format because Smile

was a three-piece, right?
Yes. We did a heavy version of ‘If I Were a Carpenter’ and a
lot of jamming that would start with a riff. We had an elemental
version of ‘Doing All Right’ which was on the first Queen album
and a particular track called ‘Earth’ which was a Smile single and
sold zero. We did heavied up versions of Motown songs and some
67
68
Cream songs, ‘N.S.U.’ and ‘Sweet Wine’. And all this time and
even before this I had a group called 1984 and I was using my
guitar.
Q How did Queen evolve from Smile?

Smile split up and got very disillusioned because although we
put a record out, it didn’t do anything and it seemed like we were
going nowhere. We directed our efforts towards writing and Queen
started to come together at that time. We already knew Freddie
because he was a friend of Tim’s [Smile’s bassist] and he’d been to
some of our shows and Freddie was very keen. Actually I shared a
flat with Roger and Freddie would come to stay sometimes and we
talked and talked and Hendrix had come along and changed all
our lives.
We spent about a year rehearsing, a lot of time together, and
the single thing that helped was a friend of mine knew somebody
who was going to be an engineer at the new De Lane Lea studio
and they said, ‘If you want to come along and make some noise
so we can do our acoustic tests, we’ll make some demos for you.’
So, we made four demos with Louie Austin who was one of the
engineers there. We had some friends who took them around to
record companies and most of them weren’t interested; EMI were
fairly interested but wouldn’t commit totally at that point. Trident
were interested, who weren’t actually a record company, they were
a production company, and for some reason we decided that was
a good idea. Make the album and then go back to the record
company. Trident is a long story and it went very, very sour in the
end.
We took another eighteen months before we actually had the
album finished and it was terrible, agony. We took it around to the
record companies again and this time most people were interested.
EMI were the keenest and we got a message from them saying,
‘Don’t sign with anyone until you talk to us.’
69
Q What were your feelings about the first album and how
you came across as a guitar player? Had you already sort of
developed that orchestral sense of playing?
I wanted to do that orchestrated stuff but we didn’t have the
time; we were stuck in there at odd hours between other sessions.
So we concentrated on putting out an album that was a reflection
of what we were on stage at that time.
We went on tour and we were lucky enough to get the support
spot to Mott the Hoople. It was an ideal platform for us because
their audience was potentially our audience. We came to America
in ’74 and we already had the second album out [‘Queen II’]. The
second album was much different from the first; then we had the
chance to do with the studio all the things we’d wanted to do:
multi-part guitar stuff. I’d actually done a multi-part guitar song
on the Smile record, very early on, but I really wanted to go to
town and have all this sort of orchestral guitar effect behind the
main guitar.
So the first thing that you hear when the song ‘Father to Son’
gets going, although ‘Procession’ starts it, but when the song comes
in and you expect the crunch of the guitar, you have the wash of
harmony guitars behind. Which I’ve always wanted to do. And
that fulfilled a dream for me; I wanted to get that on record. I
was very upset because I’d heard Mike Oldfield was doing guitar
orchestras like that with ‘Tubular Bells’ and I wouldn’t let myself
listen to it. Because I was afraid that he was doing what I’d always
wanted to do first. But it turned out, it was very different.
And when it came out, it really didn’t connect with a lot of
people; a lot of people at that time thought we’d forsaken rock
music when they first heard it. And they said, ‘Why don’t you play
things like “Liar” and “Keep Yourself Alive”?’ And we said, ‘Give
it another listen, the heaviness is there but it’s very layered. It’s a
new approach.’ And nowadays people say, ‘Why don’t you play like
“Queen II”?’
70
71
I like that album a lot; it’s not perfect, it’s got a lot of the
imperfections and excesses of youth.
Q How did you have the knowledge to orchestrate guitars in

that fashion?
Musically, my background was I was taught the piano so I
learned harmony structure from there. I used to listen to my
father’s records and figure out all the harmonies that Buddy Holly
and The Crickets were doing, and The Jordanaires behind Elvis,
and that was a real passion of mine. I was always interested in
how those effects were built up and I used to sing along with
the records and sing all the parts so I knew what everyone was
doing. So I had a feel for what harmonies could do and how they
could produce tension and emotion. So I applied that to what I
was doing with the guitars. Technically it wasn’t that hard; we
had Roy [Thomas-Baker, producer] who, at that time, was a very
technical person. He’d come up as an engineer, working with the
producers of the day, and he was possibly the number one state-
of-the-art technical producer. And we were already big-headed
enough to think that we were producing it anyway. We knew what
we wanted, we had the sound in our heads, and in Roy we had
someone who always could come up with a way of doing it. He
knew about multi-track and bounces; we worked on 8-track in
the beginning and then 16-track and we quickly ran out of tracks.
Some of the first album was 8-track and then taken into 16-track,
but mainly 16-track on those first couple of records.
Q So it’s basically you in the studio with an amp, playing a

part and then playing the next part? How were you able to
match vibrato and attack and those types of elements? There
was so much delicacy and finesse in what you played.
Well, just work on it. The reason I was doing it, rather than put
an organ behind there, was because the guitar is an emotional
72
thing and you play it consciously, you consciously mark out the
notes and squeeze the string, but there’s a sort of unconscious
thing there too. And the emotion comes from that; there are things
going into there where you almost don’t realize you’re putting
in. And I wanted the orchestra behind, every one of those parts,
had to have that tension in it and that emotion in it. So I didn’t
want someone just going like that on a keyboard [mimics a hand
hitting a chord above an imaginary keyboard], and synthesizers
were already beginning to be around and I didn’t want synthesizers
which at that time were very cold.
And every part, I was out there putting everything into it that I
could, all the emotion. And bending just where I thought it should
be bent. And the thing about guitar harmonies which still a lot
of people don’t realize, is that they shouldn’t be parallel any more
than vocal harmonies should be parallel. They should do all this
crossing over, and little dis-chords, they should be weaving in and
out of each other. Just the same way as people build up orchestral
scores, that’s how you get the most out of them. So, that’s what I
was trying to do.
Indeed, Brian May established himself as the premier virtuoso

of creating layered guitars around a rock backdrop. At the time of
this interview, he had just recorded ‘Star Fleet Project’, a sort of
quick in/quick out affair that found Eddie Van Halen on board.
There was not much substance here and in fact, Queen would
never again assume the position they did back in the 70s and early
80s.
In 1985, the band turned in a stunning performance at the
much ballyhooed Live Aid show though subsequent albums like
‘A Kind of Magic’, ‘The Miracle’ and ‘Innuendo’ failed to raise the
bar on any music previously recorded. On 23 November 1991, just
months after the release of this latter album, Freddie succumbed
to AIDS. In his honor, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was re-released and
73
once again winged its way to the top of the charts. The following
spring at Wembley Stadium, rock’s elite (Guns ‘n’ Roses, Elton
John, George Michael, Def Leppard) congregated to honor it’s
fallen leader.
Recently, it has been announced that Paul Rodgers would
assume the position of lead singer. While it’s difficult to imagine
the ex-Free/Bad Company frontman singing these songs, only time
will tell.
74
Track-By-Track Analysis
T
his track-by-track analysis of Queen’s vast recorded back
catalogue aims to provide a clear, concise and unbiased
evaluation of each of the band’s studio albums.
Each song and album has been given a rating out of five, as
follows:
�� Essential
�� Great
�� Good
�� Average
� Poor
75
76
Queen
(13 July 1973)
Tracklisting: Keep Yourself Alive / Doing All Right
/ Great King Rat / My Fairy King / Liar / The Night
Comes Down / Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll /
Son and Daughter / Jesus / Seven Seas of Rhye
Keep Yourself Alive ��

‘But if I crossed a million rivers, And I rode a million miles, Then
I’d still be where I started,’ a good, fast-paced introduction to both
Queen the band, and ‘Queen’ the album, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’
features plenty of Brian May’s guitar riffery, strong drumming
from Roger Taylor, and a solid introduction to Freddie Mercury’s
famed vocal work.
Doing All Right ��

Originally a number by the first incarnation of Queen, Smile,
‘Doing All Right’ changes throughout, from acoustic led guitar
pop to near metal sections. One of the few tracks in Queen’s back
catalogue to feature May on melancholic piano, the track could be
best described as a ballad.
Great King Rat ��

A Freddie Mercury penned track, ‘Great King Rat’ showcases
Queen’s hard rocking side. A thundering piece, the lyrics, however,
tend to leave a little to be desired – ‘Where will I be tomorrow?
Will I beg or will I borrow? I don’t care I don’t care anyway, Come
on come on the time is right.’
My Fairy King ��

The mythical ‘My Fairy King’ deals, lyrically, with Freddy
Mercury’s childhood fantasy world of Rhye – a place the band
revisit throughout their career. Borrowing liberally from Robert
77
Browning’s poem, ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’, musically the track
features high pitched harmonies, and top notch musicianship
overall.
Liar ��
Written by Mercury back in 1970, ‘Liar’ sounds not unlike a
forerunner to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. One of the standout tracks
from this eponymously titled first album, ‘Liar’ is a hard rocking
number, and, albeit a little repetitive, really thunders along
admirably.
The Night Comes Down ��

‘Holding the world inside, Now all the world is grey to me,
Nobody can see you gotta believe it.’ Featuring time-honoured
Brian May lyrical themes such as nostalgia over the loss of
childhood and the difficulties in becoming an adult, ‘The Night
Comes Down’ seems to reference The Beatles’ ‘Lucy In the Sky
With Diamonds’, and changes the pace and feel of the album, with
its ballad based stylings. Okay.
Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll ��

Written and sung by drummer Roger Taylor, ‘Modern Times Rock
‘n’ Roll’ is a fast paced, snappy rock song, coming in at under
two minutes. Well paced. ‘With the temperature down, And the
juke box blowin’ no fuse, And my musical life’s feelin’, Like a long
sunday school cruise.’
Son and Daughter ��

Influenced by heavy guitar sounds and blues rock, ‘Son and
Daughter’ is typical of Queen’s early sound. With a riff that
the likes of Metallica would be proud of, it is easily the heaviest
number on the album, and works well.
78
Jesus �
‘It all began with the three wise men, Followed a star took them
to Bethelehem, And made it heard throughout the land, Born was
the leader of man.’ An über-religious number, ‘Jesus’ is – obviously
– a tale of Jesus Christ. Featuring a nice Brian May guitar riff, this
track, unfortunately, is a little too psychedelic and offers very little
of note.
Seven Seas of Rhye �

A short instrumental version of ‘Queen II’’s full-length hit single,
‘Seven Seas of Rhye’ feels nothing more than ‘thrown in for good
measure’, in spite of its distinctive arpeggiated piano intro.
Conclusion
Queen’s eponymous first studio album peaked at No. 24 in the
UK album charts, where it stayed for eighteen weeks. Strong in
parts, weak in others, the album doesn’t particularly benefit from
poor recording quality. Influenced by both heavy metal and prog
rock, ‘Queen’ is one of the least Queen albums in their back
catalogue, but is well worth a look nonetheless.
Overall rating: ��
79
Queen II
(8 March 1974)
Tracklisting: Procession / Father to Son / White Queen
(As It Began) / Some Day One Day / Loser in the
End / Ogre Battle / The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke /
Nevermore / The March of the Black Queen / Funny
How Love Is / Seven Seas of Rhye
Procession ��
A short and sweet instrumental, ‘Procession’ is a passable start to
the album, and marks good, and primary, use of May’s guitar as
string section technique. Sounds vaguely similar to the last part of
Father to Son ��

‘A word in your ear from father to son, Funny you don’t hear a
single word I say, But my letter to you, will stay by your side,
Through the years till the loneliness is gone.’ A lengthy piece
at over six minutes long, ‘Father to Son’ is a cracking rock epic
featuring both piano parts and heavy metal sections. Sounds a
little like The Who.
White Queen (As It Began) ��

A love song, of sorts, this Brian May written piece features strong
Mercury vocals, including some multi-tracked harmonies used
to evoke the sound of a huge choir. A good use of the quiet verse,
loud chorus formula, ‘White Queen’ also features some rousing
lyrics, ‘My goddess hear my darkest fear, I speak too late, It’s for
evermore that I wait.’
Some Day One Day ��

Featuring May on lead vocals, ‘Some Day One Day’ contains a
complex, harmonious guitar arrangement. Sounding somewhat
80
81
like an old English folk song, it’s the softest track on the album,
and adds variety to an otherwise Led Zeppelin influenced album.
Still, nothing special.
Loser in the End ��

Roger Taylor penned and sung, ‘Loser in the End’ is one of the
lesser tracks on the album. In spite of some good drums and an
interesting guitar sound, the track really does feature some pretty
poor lyrics – ‘So listen mothers everywhere, To just one mother’s
son, You’ll get forgotten on the way, If you don’t let them have
their fun.’
Ogre Battle ��

The heaviest track on the album (if not Queen’s career as a whole)
‘Ogre Battle’ includes some very prog rock ideas, including
reversed snare rolls, a heavily reverbed gong and wild screaming.
Very thrash; pretty good.
The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke ��

Inspired by Richard Dadd’s painting of the same name, ‘The Fairy
Feller’s Master-Stroke’ is an intricate piece with plenty of piano and
harpsichord. Labelled Queen’s ‘biggest stereo experiment’ by Roger
Taylor, the track is claustrophobic, and a somewhat bizarre, jaunty
little number. Harmonies aplenty. Stays with you.
Nevermore ��
‘Can’t you see, Why did you have to leave me, Why did you
deceive me?’ More multi-tracked Mercury vocals here, in a ballad
tinged with piano ‘ring’ effects. Styled in the same vein as the likes
of later Queen track ‘Love of My Life’.
The March of the Black Queen ��

More prog rock on show here, in ‘The March of the Black Queen’.
82
Fantastical, and clocking in at over six minutes, it is an ambitious
piece that is wonderfully over the top and has some great moments,
but is very disjointed at times.
Funny How Love Is ��

Mercury penned and pianoed, ‘Funny How Love Is’ is a simple
number – all chorus, and no verse. Catchy, yet a little tiresome –
‘If you gotta make love do it everywhere, That’s what love is, that’s
what love is.’
Seven Seas of Rhye ��

An enhancement of the instrumental piece of the same name from
their debut album, ‘Queen II’’s closing track, ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’,
features more distinctive arpeggiated pianos, as well as a cross fade
outro, with instrumentation blending into a sing-a-long rendition
of ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’. Queen’s breakthrough
track.
Conclusion
In spite of not actually being a concept album, nearly all of the
songs are connected either lyrically or musically. Very much
influenced by Led Zeppelin, ‘Queen II’ is an admirable affair, split
into a ‘White’ and a ‘Black’ side. The ‘Black’ side (side two on
original vinyls) is entirely Freddie composed, whereas the ‘White’
side contains tracks composed by both May and Taylor. The album
took only one month to record, yet is better produced than their
debut. Its no surprise that it fast became Queen’s first UK Top 5
album. Performed badly in the US, however.
83
84
Sheer Heart Attack
(8 November 1974)
Tracklisting: Brighton Rock / Killer Queen / Tenement
Funster / Flick of the Wrist / Lily of the Valley / Now
I’m Here / In the Lap of the Gods / Stone Cold Crazy /
Dear Friends / Misfire / Bring Back That Leroy Brown
/ She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos) /
In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited
Brighton Rock ��

A Brian May tour-de-force, hard rocking piece, ‘Brighton Rock’ is
replete with May’s trademark multi-tracked guitar solo. Starting
with the whistling of ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’, ‘Sheer
Heart Attack’ picks up from where ‘Queen II’ left off – literally.
Well produced.
Killer Queen ��

The band’s first major international hit, ‘Killer Queen’ is pure
Mercury pomp and show, in a track built on a taut piano chord.
Very Mott the Hoople, ‘Killer Queen’ features some of Brian May’s
most interesting, and incisive, guitar solo work. The recording of
the track is pure Queen excess, containing, as it does, elaborate
four part vocal harmonies. Great stuff.
Tenement Funster ��
‘I got a way with girls on my block, Try my best to be a real
individual, And when we go down to smokies and rock, They line
up like its some kinda ritual.’ Taylor penned, and sung, ‘Tenement
Funster’ is a typical Led Zeppelin-esque rocking number. Echo
effects on May’s guitar and Taylor’s impressive vocals drag this one
out of the dirge.
85
Flick of the Wrist ��
Taylor’s drums are particularly prominent here on this brisk and
urgent number. Pure rock. ‘Flick of the wrist – he’ll eat your heart
out, A dig in the ribs and then a kick in the head.’
Lily of the Valley ��

One of two short, but sweet, piano ballads on ‘Sheer Heart
Attack’, ‘Lily of the Valley’ is one of May’s favourite Mercury
penned tracks. ‘Messenger from Seven Seas has flown, To tell the
King of Rhye he’s lost his throne, Wars will never cease, Is there
time enough for peace, But the lily of the valley doesn’t know.’
Now I’m Here ��

One of the best tracks on the album, Brian May’s ‘Now I’m Here’
is a heavy rocker featuring more multi-tracked guitars, as well as
stereo panning vocal effects. Possibly a little too over-produced,
the subtle use of organ is a nice touch. Mercury’s high notes are
something special.
In the Lap of the Gods ��

The direct prelude to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’? So says Freddie
Mercury. I’n the Laps of the Gods’ is all fast piano arpeggios and
operatic screams. ‘Think all my thoughts with you and only you,
Anything you ask I do for you, I touch your lips with mine, But
in the end I leave it to the Lords, Leave it in the lap of the Gods,
What more can I do?’
Stone Cold Crazy ��

An underrated gem, ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ predates thrash metal by
ten years. Credited to all four members of the band, this is a two
minute crackerjack and features some impressive lyrical work from
Mercury. A huge influence on metal, this is almost a five-starrer,
but not quite.
86
Dear Friends ��
‘So dear friends, Your love has gone, Only tears to dwell upon.’
A short piano ballad, ‘Dear Friends’ really demonstrates May’s
songwriting versatility. Mercury’s vocals are pretty solid too.
Misfire ��
The first ever John Deacon composition to appear in the Queen
repertoire, ‘Misfire’ is a jaunty pop song hinting at the hits that
Deacon was to write as the years went on. ‘Your gun is loaded, and
pointing my way, There’s only one bullet, so don’t delay, Got to
time it right, fire me through the night.’
Bring Back That Leroy Brown ��

Both written and sung by Freddie Mercury, ‘Bring Back That
Leroy Brown’ features May playing a banjo, and Deacon playing a
double bass in this nice 1920s pastiche complete with treated vocal
effects.
She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos) ��

With Deacon on acoustic guitar, ‘She Makes Me’ is a Brian May
number with an outro consisting of real night-life recordings from
New York, such as police sirens and the like. Abstract, possibly
even a little too abstract.
In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited ��

A forerunner, of sorts, to ‘We Are the Champions’, ‘In the Lap of
the Gods… Revisited’ is all powerful chorus and stadium rock
stylings. Also has a touch of ‘Hey Jude’ about it to boot.
Conclusion
‘Sheer Heart Attack’ is a rocking album, full of hits that ran
throughout their career. Their first real commercial success, the
record coincided with Queen’s first tour of Japan, and peaked at
87
No. 12 in the American Billboard Album Chart. An underrated
gem, replete with all the Queen staples – multi-tracked guitars,
multi-tracked vocal harmonies, dynamic production, and
Mercury’s stunning vocals.
88
89
A Night At the Opera
(21 November 1975)
Tracklisting: Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to…)
/ Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon / I’m in Love with
My Car / You’re My Best Friend / ’39 / Sweet Lady /
Seaside Rendezvous / The Prophet’s Song / Love of My
Life / Good Company / Bohemian Rhapsody /
God Save the Queen
Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to…) ��

A hate song aimed at Queen’s ex-manager, ‘Death On Two Legs’ is
a snarling rocker, opening this classic album up with an admirable
bang – ‘You’re just a sewer rat decaying in a cess-pool of pride.’
Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon ��

Mercury penned ‘Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon’ is the polar
episode to ‘Death On Two Legs’, switching mood to one of
over-the-top silliness. Ridiculously jolly, ‘Lazing On a Sunday
Afternoon’ shows Mercury’s penchant for songs about high society
to good effect.
I’m In Love with My Car ��

A Roger Taylor stalwart, ‘I’m In Love with My Car’ also features
Taylor on lead vocals. Filling in the gaps with squealing race-car
impersonations on his guitar, May’s work is also admirable here. It
should come as no surprise that this was a live favourite for many,
many years.
You’re My Best Friend ��

John Deacon’s first single contribution, ‘You’re My Best Friend’ is a
song written for his wife, with piano and overdubbed bass lines. A
simple, yet beautiful, song of love and devotion, some great electric
piano features here.
90
’39 ��
An acoustic number, ‘’39’ features Brian May on lead vocals, and
really showcases his talents to great effect. ‘Sci-fi skittle’ in nature,
the track also features some pretty good double bass from Deacon.
Great stuff. ‘In the land that our grandchildren knew…’
Sweet Lady ��
‘You call me up and feed me all the lines, You call me sweet like
I’m some kind of cheese, Waiting on the shelf, You eat me up, You
hold me down, I’m just a fool to make you a home.’ A Brain May
penned heavy metal track, ‘Sweet Lady’ is loud and riff-heavy.
Nothing spectacular, this is probably the album’s worst.
Seaside Rendezvous ��

With their voices alone, Taylor and Mercury imitate piccolos,
flutes, trumpets and tubas on this one. They also imitate tap
dancing sounds with their fingers. Ridiculously innovative,
‘Seaside Rendezvous’ is another Mercury high society track – ‘I feel
so romantic can we do it again? Can we do it again sometime I’d
like that, Fantastic c’est la vie mesdames et messsieurs.’
The Prophet’s Song ��

A Brian May epic, ‘The Prophet’s Song’ features some stunning
guitar work, and complicated production. Multi-layered and multi-
tracked all over the place, this track still doesn’t feel too over-
produced. Well thought through.
Love of My Life ��

One of Mercury’s most covered songs, ‘Love of My Life’ is a
tender piano and harpsichord number, influenced by Chopin and
Beethoven. A passable ballad.
91
92
Good Company ��
With vocals and ukelele by May, ‘Good Company’ is another
Brian May classic to rival ‘The Prophet’s Song’. The jazz break at
the end involved the complex recording of May’s guitar in every
possible way imaginable. The lyrics, too, are particularly poignant
here.
Bohemian Rhapsody ��

The crown jewel track of (arguably) Queen’s crown jewel album,
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ couldn’t get anything other than five stars.
In the style of a rock opera, and with the most unusual structure
for a piece of popular music, the track’s six different sections
feature both a cappella and heavy metal arrangements. Nothing
short of incredible. ‘Shall we do the fandango?’
God Save the Queen ��

A possible homage to Jimi Hendrix’s version of ‘The Star-Spangled
Banner’. Overt, and over-the-top. Pure Queen excess.
Conclusion
One of the greatest rock albums of all time, ‘A Night at the Opera’
peaked at No. 4 in the US Album chart, and has been certified
triple platinum. Ranked thirteenth in Channel 4’s ‘Greatest
Album of All Time’ poll, this fourth studio outing also features
in a myriad of other surveys and polls. May stated that had the
album not been a success, Queen would have more than definitely
disbanded. Thank goodness it was then…
93
A Day At the Races
(10 December 1976)
Tracklisting: Tie Your Mother Down / You Take My
Breath Away / Long Away / The Millionaire Waltz /
You and I / Somebody to Love / White Man / Good
Old-Fashioned Lover Boy / Drowse / Teo Torriate (Let
Us Cling Together)
Tie Your Mother Down ��

Preceded by a one minute instrumental that also features as the
outro to the album’s final track, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ is a blast
of pure energy, featuring one of rock music’s most recognisable
guitar riffs.
You Take My Breath Away ��

Showcasing Freddie Mercury’s multiple songwriting personalities
to good effect, ‘You Take My Breath Away’ is a romantic ballad,
but possibly a little too long for good standard’s taste.
Long Away ��
‘You might believe in heaven, I would not care to say, For every
star in heaven, There’s a sad soul here today.’ Utterly forgettable, in
all honesty.
The Millionaire Waltz ��

A multi-key and multi-metre song in the same vein as ‘Bohemian
Rhapsody’, ‘The Millionaire Waltz’ uses abrupt arrangement
changes and multi-tracked guitars from Brian May. Okay. ‘Once
we were mad, we were happy, We spent all our days holding hands
together, Do you remember, my love, How we danced and played.’
You and I ��

A John Deacon penned track, ‘You and I’ features Mercury playing
94
Elton John-esque piano parts, and continues Deacon’s growing
skills in the songwriting department. ‘You know I never could
foresee the future years, You know I never could see, Where life
was leading me, But will we be together forever?’
Somebody to Love ��

Mercury, Taylor and May multi-track their voices here to emulate
the sound of that of a 100-voice gospel choir. Staying true to
Queen’s musical stylings, it is also replete with a Brian May solo,
and thundering drums to create a thrilling sound.
White Man ��
‘I’m a simple man with a simple name, From this soil my people
came, In this soil remain, oh yeah, oh yeah.’ With lyrics eluding
to the suffering of the Native Americans at the hands of European
immigrants, ‘White Man’ is musically similar to ‘The Prophet’s
Song’, but fails to stand up as strongly as the original.
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy ��

Featuring co-producer Mike Stone singing lead vocals on one line
– ‘Hey, boy, where’d you get it from? Hey, boy, where did you go?’
– ‘Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’’s multi-track vocals enhance
the song, which continues in Freddie’s obsession with vaudeville
mock-musical hall music. Good stuff.
Drowse ��
‘It’s the fantastic drowse, Of the afternoon Sundays, That bored
you to rages of tears.’ Nothing special here, in this Roger Taylor
penned number. ‘Drowse’ has some nice guitar work, but it is
mostly forgettable.
Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together) ��

May’s tribute to Queen’s Japanese fans, ‘Teo Torriate’ is a balladic
95
affair and a nice way to end the album. Interestingly, two verses
are actually sung in Japanese, but this song is nothing more than a
conversation piece.
Conclusion
Queen’s first self-produced album, ‘A Day at the Races’ peaked
at No. 1 in the UK, in Japan and in the Netherlands. Also
peaking at No. 5 on the US Billboard Album Chart, the album
is, nonetheless, not quite as proficient as the previous outing, yet
stands up pretty well regardless.
96
97
News of the World
(28 October 1977)
Tracklisting: We Will Rock You / We Are the
Champions / Sheer Heart Attack / All Dead, All Dead /
Spread Your Wings / Fight from the Inside / Get Down,
Make Love / Sleeping On the Sidewalk / Who Needs
You / It’s Late / My Melancholy Blues
We Will Rock You ��

‘Buddy you’re a young man hard man, Shoutin’ in the street
gonna take on the world some day, You got blood on yo’ face, You
big disgrace, Wavin’ your banner all over the place.’ Simple and
anthemic, ‘We Will Rock You’ has one of the most recognisable
power choruses in rock history. The classic stamping effects
were created by the band in an old church, using the wooden
floorboards to produce the sound.
We Are the Champions ��

Another power ballad, ‘We Are the Champions’ is based around
Mercury’s piano, with Deacon and Taylor providing percussion
backing. One of the more classically Queen-sounding numbers,
‘We Are the Champions’ can get a little tiresome. ‘And bad
mistakes, I’ve made a few, I’ve had my share of sand kicked in my
face – But I’ve come through.’
Sheer Heart Attack ��

Half-finished at the time of its eponymous album, ‘Sheer Heart
Attack’ is fast, energetic and intense. A staple encore in Queen’s
live set for a few years subsequently, the track is very much punk
rock. Not bad.
All Dead, All Dead ��

Brian May’s tender and melancholy ‘All Dead, All Dead’ switches
98
the mood of the album, and contains more of his complex multi-
tracked guitar work. Mercury features on backing vocals here.
Spread Your Wings ��

‘Spread Your Wings’ is a John Deacon number, whose sparse
production values actually add an extra dimension to the track,
and are rare in a Queen song. Features some nice acoustic guitar
work, but (surprisingly enough) no vocal harmonies.
Fight from the Inside ��

Built around an infectious jangly guitar riff, ‘Fight from the
Inside’ focuses more on the percussion section than anything
else – another first in Queen’s back catalogue. Also noteworthy
are Taylor’s trademark snarls that accentuate the refrain. Predates
‘Another One Bites the Dust’ as the band’s first foray onto funk.
Get Down, Make Love ��

A Freddie Mercury number, ‘Get Down, Make Love’ is amongst
Queen’s most sexually-orientated songs. Stark production rules
again here, bringing Taylor’s drums to the fore alongside Mercury’s
lusty vocal gymnastics. May’s guitar sounds are very other-worldly.
Sleeping On the Sidewalk ��

Assembled mostly from the original studio take, ‘Sleeping On the
Sidewalk’ doesn’t feature Mercury in any way. Almost blues in
nature, it is a good-natured number and sees Queen at their most
loose and relaxed.
Who Needs You ��

‘Oh I believed you, Went on my knees to you, How I trusted you,
But you turned me down.’ Written by Deacon, ‘Who Needs You’
features May’s Spanish guitar, as well as maracas, and Mercury’s
cowbell. Simply produced and arranged.
99
100
It’s Late ��
Big, powerful stadium rock, ‘It’s Late’ makes good use of guitar
tapping, and was released as a single in the US, only peaking at
No. 72. A muddy, dirty sound, it is overblown, but not necessarily
over-produced.
My Melancholy Blues ��
Featuring no backing vocals or guitars, ‘My Melancholy Blues’ is
more related to jazz than blues, and is a subdued comment on the
downfall of living a glamorous lifestyle. Okay, yet nothing overtly
spectacular.
Conclusion
Queen’s joint best-selling US album, ‘News of the World’
successfully bridges the gap between the operatics of ‘A Day at the
Races’, and the poppier sound of ‘Jazz’, which came a year later.
The album also represents Queen’s acknowledgment of the public’s
shift towards a dirtier, stripped down sound. A refreshing move
forward, and, generally, a pretty good outing.
101
Jazz
(10 November 1978)
Tracklisting: Mustapha / Fat Bottomed Girls /
Jealousy / Bicycle Race / If You Can’t Beat Them / Let
Me Entertain You / Dead On Time / In Only Seven
Days / Dreamer’s Ball / Fun It / Leaving Home Ain’t
Easy / Don’t Stop Me Now / More of that Jazz
Mustapha ��
A bizarre opening track if ever there was one, ‘Mustapha’’s lyrics
consist mostly of Arabic-sounding nonsense. A solid fusion of rock
and Middle Eastern inspired music, ‘Mustapha’ closes with some
nice vocal harmonies.
Fat Bottomed Girls ��

A country-flavoured stomp, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ isn’t one of the
best cuts from the album, in spite of its popularity. May and
Mercury share lead vocals here, in one of the few Queen songs to
use drop D tuning in the guitars.
Jealousy ��
Featuring some of Mercury’s most understated vocals, ‘Jealousy’ is
sad, soothing and optimistic all at the same time. May’s acoustic
guitar is synched up in such a way that it is a little reminiscent of
a sitar. All parts were recorded simultaneously in this spontaneous
take of the track.
Bicycle Race ��

More complex than most people give it credit for, ‘Bicycle Race’
features unusual chord functions, several modulations, and a race
of guitars emulating the bicycle race in question. Also famed for
its bicycle bell solo, the track certainly stands the test of time, and
sounds great to this day.
102
If You Can’t Beat Them ��
‘If you cant beat ’em, join ’em, You’d better do it, ’Cause it makes
you feel good, If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, You’re never gonna
help yourself.’ Composed by John Deacon, ‘If You Can’t Beat
Them’ was a live favourite of the band in the late 1970s, and
features a myriad of odd chord processions. A little too weird for
once maybe.
Let Me Entertain You ��

Aimed at the audience, and written by Mercury, ‘Let Me Entertain
You’ has its own subtle complexity, and is easy to appreciate. ‘We’ll
give you crazy performance, We’ll give you grounds for divorce,
We’ll give you piece de resistance, And a tour de force of course.’
Dead On Time ��
‘Leave on time leave on time, Gonna get your ticket but you leave
on time, Put it in your pocket but you never can tell.’ A rock
and roll number, ‘Dead On Time’ includes a sound of thunder,
which is credited to ‘God’ on the album sleeve. Okay, but nothing
spectacular.
In Only Seven Days ��

In some way resembling ‘Spread Your Wings’, Deacon’s ‘In Only
Seven Days’ takes some time to grow on you, but grow on you
it does. Still, nothing spectacular if truth be told. ‘I wish Friday
could last forever, I held her close to me, I couldn’t bear to leave
her there.’
Dreamer’s Ball ��

Brain May’s tribute to Elvis Presley, ‘Dreamer’s Ball’ is pure
music hall swing. Light and different, this ballroom dance
number really shows off the group’s ability to pull almost any
sound and style off.
103
Fun It ��
A disco-funk track from Taylor, ‘Fun It’ features shared vocals
from both Mercury and Taylor. The contrast between the vocals
works well, yet the track itself is a little droll.
Leaving Home Ain’t Easy ��

‘I’m all through with ties, I’m all tired of tears, I’m a happy man,
Don’t it look that way?’ A Brian May ballad, ‘Leaving Home
Ain’t Easy’ features May’s vocals sped up in the bridge. A little
repetitive, however.
Don’t Stop Me Now ��

Here, May’s only input is a short guitar solo, in one of Queen’s
most famous songs. ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is based around
Mercury’s piano playing, with Taylor and Deacon providing great
backing percussion. The lyrics, as well as having cosmic imagery,
are also blatantly sexual in nature – ‘I’m gonna go, go, go, There’s
no stopping me, I’m burning through the sky, yeah, 200 degrees,
that’s why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit.’ Its introduction is like a
coiled spring that really takes off by the twentieth bar.
More of that Jazz �

Not a particularly strong ending to the album, ‘More of that
Jazz’ is ‘Fun It’, but without Mercury’s impressive vocal stylings.
Also includes a clip of all other songs towards its close, which is
a little pointless, and not a particularly clever social commentary,
in spite of the fact that it’s supposedly meant to be. One of their
worst.
Conclusion
The band’s seventh studio outing, ‘Jazz’ comprises a number of
different styles of music, which has been both praised and criticised
in spades. The album peaked at No. 6 in the American Billboard
104
105
Album Chart, and temporarily reunited Queen with former
producer Roy Thomas Baker. However, it was to be the last album
Baker produced with the band.
106
The Game
(30 June 1980)
Tracklisting: Play the Game / Dragon Attack /
Another One Bites the Dust / Need Your Loving
Tonight / Crazy Little Thing Called Love / Rock It
(Prime Jive) / Don’t Try Suicide / Sail Away Sweet
Sister / Coming Soon / Save Me
Play the Game ��

Written by Mercury after splitting from his lover at the time, ‘Play
the Game’ sees Mercury perform piano and lead vocals on this
number. Having just taken up smoking, the effects are noticeable
on Mercury’s vocals here. Commencing with a series of overlapping
rushing noises, the track heralds the band’s acceptance of synths to
their sound.
Dragon Attack ��

Featuring a funky bass solo, ‘Dragon Attack’ is a great groove
based song that captures the band playing off each other well. The
melody line is somewhat similar to ‘We Will Rock You’ – ‘take me
to the room where the red’s all red.’ Originally conceived out of a
jam session.
Another One Bites the Dust ��

The enormously bass driven ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ was
originally written by Deacon with cowboys in mind, but then
changed to make it more suitable to the band. No synths here,
the main feature is, of course, one of the most recognisable bass
grooves in pop music history. A gritty, down-to-earth rocker.
Need Your Loving Tonight ��

Influenced to the nth degree by the Beatles’ ‘Eight Days a Week’,
‘Need Your Loving Tonight’ is a John Deacon number that
107
108
benefits more in the live versions thanks to May’s backing vocals
and Mercury’s piano work.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love ��

Laid-back, neo-rockabilly obsessed ‘Crazy Little Thing Called
Love’ utilises more Beatles-esque work in its ‘Lady Madonna’ like
hook. Written by Mercury, and recorded with Taylor and Deacon
after a few drinks, May only just managed to add backing vocals
and a guitar part before the single’s release. Mercury’s voice is more
than a little reminiscent to Elvis Presley’s.
Rock It (Prime Jive) �

Lyrically juvenile – ‘You really think they like to rock in space –
well I don’t know’ – ‘Rock It (Prime Jive)’ was composed by Roger
Taylor, and caused much controversy within the band’s ranks
after Brian May suggested Mercury would sound better on vocals.
Taylor, eventually, got his own way, and also provides rhythm
guitar and bass here. Pretty basic.
Don’t Try Suicide ��

‘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.’ A Mercury track featuring some slap-bass
from Deacon, and piano parts by the exuberant front man. Most
noteworthy for it’s opening riff, which is more than a little similar
to The Police’s ‘Walking On the Moon’.
Sail Away Sweet Sister ��

May takes on both verses and choruses here, although Mercury
does take over vocals for the middle eight. Soulful and bassy, this
is an admirable composition. ‘Sail Away Sweet Sister, Sail across
the sea, Maybe you’ll find somebody, Who loves you half as much
as me.’
109
Coming Soon ��
‘The same old babies with the same old toys, The neighbours
screaming when the noise annoys, Somebody naggin’ you when
you’re out with the boys.’ Another Taylor number, this time sung
as a duet with Mercury. Taylor also features on the pounding,
rocking rhythm guitar.
Save Me ��
Written by May about a friend whose relationship had ended,
he takes on piano, synths and guitar duties here in the rocking,
bombastic ‘Save Me’. Soulful and powerful. ‘The slate will soon be
clean, I’ll erase the memories, To start again with somebody new,
Was it all wasted, All that love?’
Conclusion
The only Queen album to reach No. 1 in both the United
Kingdom and the United States, ‘The Game’ is tied with ‘News of
the World’ in US sales. Launching the band into global megastars,
it is the first Queen album to include synthesisers, as well as a new
producer, and a more basic approach to songwriting. In many
respects, however, it is a little too stripped-down, and almost a step
down musically. Still, very good in parts.
110
Flash Gordon
(8 December 1980)
Tracklisting: Flash’s Theme / In the Space Capsule
(The Love Theme) / Ming’s Theme (In the Court of Ming
the Merciless) / The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction of Dale) /
Football Fight / In the Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise)
/ Execution of Flash / The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash) /
Arboria (Planet of the Tree Men) / Escape from the Swamp / Flash to the Rescue
/ Vultan’s Theme (Attack of the Hawk Men) / Battle Theme / The Wedding
March / Marriage of Dale and Ming (and Flash Approaching) / Crash Dive on
Mingo City / Flash’s Theme Reprise (Victory Celebrations) / The Hero
Conclusion
The soundtrack album to the cult sci-fi classic movie Flash Gordon,
‘Flash Gordon’ makes extensive use of synths, and is stuffed full
of great instrumental music, ranging from the moody ‘Execution
of Flash’ to the full-on rock of ‘Football Fight’ and ‘Battle Theme’.
Inclusion of dialogue and repetition of ideas don’t necessarily lessen
this album, if anything they enhance this über fun, über kitschy
affair.
111
Hot Space
(21 May 1982)
Tracklisting: Staying Power / Dancer / Back Chat /
Body Language / Action This Day / Put Out the Fire /
Life is Real (Song for Lennon) / Calling All Girls / Las
Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love) / Cool Cat /
Under Pressure
Staying Power ��
After the success of über-bassy ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ from
the previous album, the first five tracks of ‘Hot Space’ all try to
benefit from the single’s success, all being based heavily around
massive bass riffs. Interestingly, however, this track actually
contains no bass, just an extra guitar line.
Dancer ��
Influenced by heavy metal, as well as dance, ‘Dancer’ is almost a
follow-up to ‘Dragon Attack’. The bass line is synth-based and is,
alongside some passable lyrics, the most prominent thing on show
here.
Back Chat �
Written by bassist Deacon, ‘Back Chat’ is highly influenced by
soul, rather than rock and roll. Funky, yet not especially Queen-
like, and not particularly good either.
Body Language �
No guitars at all here, Mercury’s own ‘Body Language’ is all synth
bass, and has little in common with 1970’s bombastic Queen.
Possibly the worst single in the band’s back catalogue.
Action This Day ��

One of the two Roger Taylor tracks on the album, ‘Action This
112
113
Day’ was influenced by the New Wave movement of the time, and
is driven by a pounding electronic drum machine, and – surprise,
surprise – bass synth. Still, its actually not too bad.
Put Out the Fire ��

An anti-firearm song penned by Brian May, ‘Put Out the Fire’ is
the most traditional Queen song on the album, being replete with
a May guitar solo for once.
Life is Real (Song for Lennon) ��

A tribute to John Lennon, ‘Life is Real’ features a sparse piano-
based arrangement and is one of Queen’s more melancholic
numbers. It also stands up as being one of the few Queen songs
whose lyrics were written before the music.
Calling All Girls �

Another Roger Taylor track – and a single to boot – ‘Calling All
Girls’ was compose by Taylor entirely on guitar, and is more than a
little forgettable.
Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love) ��

‘Sleeping is my leisure, Waking up in a minefield, Dream is just a
pleasure dome, Love is a roulette wheel – life is real.’ Inspired by
Queen’s relationship with their South American fans, ‘Las Palabras
de Amor’ features May on piano, synths and lead vocals here.
Pretty good.
Cool Cat ��
Co-written by Deacon and Mercury, ‘Cool Cat’ originally featured
David Bowie on backing vocals, but he was unhappy with the
results and had them removed. Mercury sings the track in an
impressive falsetto.
114
Under Pressure ��
Undoubtedly the best track on the album and first a single, ‘Under
Pressure’ was the result of an impromptu jam session. Part of the
chord progression is based on a rough demo of Roger Taylor’s
unreleased ‘Feel Like’. ‘Pressure pushing down on me, Pressing
down on you, no man ask for, Under pressure, That burns a
building down, Splits a family in two, Puts people on streets.’
Conclusion
A notable – yet questionable – shift in direction towards disco
and dance, ‘Hot Space’ was, for the most part, influenced by the
success of their 1980 smash hit ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.
A little cynical maybe, but pretty much true in this case. A
major blow to the band’s otherwise good media and commercial
reputation, the album can only be described as a flop by the band’s
otherwise high standards.
115
116
The Works
(27 February 1984)
Tracklisting: Radio Ga Ga / Tear It Up / It’s a Hard
Life / Man On the Prowl / Machines (Or ‘Back to
Humans’) / I Want to Break Free / Keep Passing the
Open Windows / Hammer to Fall / Is This the World
We Created…?
Radio Ga Ga ��
Taylor sings all backing vocals here, in his self-penned pièce de
résistance. A classic eighties commercial pop-rock number, ‘Radio
Ga Ga’ is all stadium rock with hand claps and the rest.
Tear It Up ��
‘Give me your mind baby give me your body, Give me some
time baby let’s have a party, It ain’t no time for sleepin’ baby.’ An
impressive hard rocking number from guitar virtuoso Brian May,
‘Tear It Up’ revives Queen’s old hard-hitting sound.
It’s a Hard Life ��

With an operatic intro, this could only be a Freddie Mercury song.
‘It’s a Hard Life’ features Mercury on both piano and vocals, and
is very ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’-esque. It has also been criticised for
sounding too similar to ‘Play the Game’. Still, its a fine slice of
operatic brilliance.
Man On the Prowl ��

A three chord rockabilly number, ‘Man On the Prowl’ features
Mercury on rhythm guitar, while May plays the passable guitar
solo. This 1950s number is nothing better than a rehashed ‘Crazy
Little Thing Called Love’, however.
117
Machines (Or ‘Back to Humans’) ��
A Taylor and May collaboration, ‘Machines’ is a fairly passable
cocktail of synths, computerised vocals and a slightly over-
produced guitar from May. A hard rocking guitar anthem, this one
isn’t particularly spectacular.
I Want to Break Free ��

‘I want to break free, I want to break free, I want to break free
from your lies, You’re so self satisfied I don’t need you.’ Shorter
than the single mix, the album version of ‘I Want to Break Free’ is
an incredible synth-based pop song.
Keep Passing the Open Windows ��

Written for the film version of John Irving’s ‘The Hotel New
Hampshire’, ‘Keep Passing the Open Windows’ is a rocking ballad,
penned by Mercury, with a strong feel good factor to it. Pretty
good.
Hammer to Fall ��

Another rocking Brian May number, ‘Hammer to Fall’ seems to
refer to the Cold War – ‘For we who grew up tall and proud, In
the shadow of the mushroom cloud’ – but also references death
and inevitability – ‘Rich or poor or famous, For your truth it’s all
the same’. High powered, ‘Hammer to Fall’ is a real explosion of
sound.
Is This the World We Created…? ��

‘Is this the world we created? What did we do it for? Is this the
world we invaded, Against the law?’ Acoustic ballad ‘Is This the
World We Created…?’ is a little too reminiscent of the band’s live
version of ‘Love of My Life’ to be anything that special.
118
Conclusion
The band’s eleventh studio album, ‘The Works’ marked a return (of
sorts) to Queen’s rocking roots, albeit with a much lighter, poppier
approach. The album’s title – mildly interestingly enough – comes
from a comment skins man Roger Taylor was said to have made as
recording began – ‘Let’s give them the works!’
119
A Kind of Magic
(2 June 1986)
Tracklisting: One Vision / A Kind of Magic / One
Year of Love / Pain Is So Close to Pleasure / Friends
Will Be Friends / Who Wants to Live Forever / Gimme
the Prize / Don’t Lose Your Head / Princes of the
Universe
One Vision ��

‘One man one goal one mission, One heart one soul just one
solution, One flash of light yeah one God one vision.’ It has been
argued that ‘One Vision’ leans toward big dumb stadium rock, but
its more admirable than ‘We Are the Champions’.
A Kind of Magic ��

A classic pop song, ‘A Kind of Magic’ is technically astounding, and
timeless in its composition. ‘The waiting seems eternity, The day
will dawn of sanity, Is this a kind of magic, It’s a kind of magic.’
One Year of Love ��

A Deacon piece, ‘One Year of Love’ sees the band going for a more
soulful, slow ballad track with passable effect.
Pain Is So Close to Pleasure ��

Released as a single, but only making it to No. 26 in the Dutch
charts, ‘Pain Is So Close to Pleasure’ finds Mercury in pure camp
mode, as he sings falsetto in this mimicking of 1960s girl-group
pop.
Friends Will Be Friends ��

‘It’s not easy love but you’ve got friends you can trust, Friends will
be friends, When you’re in need of love they give you care and
attention.’ A Mercury-led piano ballad, ‘Friends Will Be Friends’
120
121
owes a lot to former Queen crackers ‘We Are the Champions’ and
‘Play the Game’. Written with cynicism, perhaps.
Who Wants to Live Forever ��

A Brian May composition, ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’ is a duet
between himself and Mercury. A great, symphonic moody number,
it is one of the best compositions the band had recorded since their
1970s heyday.
Gimme the Prize ��

‘I have something to say – It’s better to burn out than to fade
away.’ With lyrics straight out of Highlander, ‘Gimme the Prize’
is a hard-hitting rocker but, unfortunately, a little too rock-by-
numbers for good nature’s taste.
Don’t Lose Your Head ��

‘No don’t lose you head, Don’t lose you head, Hear what I say,
Don’t lose your way – yeah.’ A Taylor number, ‘Don’t Lose Your
Head’ is a pounding number, replete with a massive keyboard riff.
Princes of the Universe ��

Highlander’s theme song, ‘Princes of the Universe’ is a complex
heavy piece of work, with sections of choral singing. A much more
interesting hard hitter than most of Queen’s work since the 1970s.
Conclusion
Queen’s twelfth studio outing is based on the hit movie
Highlander, and although it only managed to make it to No.
46 in America, ‘A Kind of Magic’ topped the charts in the UK,
remaining there for sixty-three weeks, and spawned three hit
singles. Arguably Queen’s best album of the 1980s.
122
The Miracle
(22 May 1989)
Tracklisting: Party / Khashoggi’s Ship / The Miracle
/ I Want It All / The Invisible Man / Breakthru / Rain
Must Fall / Scandal / My Baby Does Me / Was It All
Worth It
Party �
One of the most lyrically banal Queen tracks in their back
catalogue. A weak opening track.
Khashoggi’s Ship �
Mercury’s ‘Khashoggi’s Ship’ is led directly into by ‘Party’, and is a
short, but far from sweet, track which would have been better left
on the cutting room floor.
The Miracle ��
One of Mercury’s most complex songs from his last years, ‘The
Miracle’ is ambitious, but not quite convincing. Somewhat cheesy,
but better than the previous two numbers.
I Want It All ��

A hard rocking number, ‘I Want It All’ utilises synths, classical
and electric guitars, and Taylor’s double-kick bass drum to pretty
good effect.
The Invisible Man ��

Taylor’s first song on the album, ‘The Invisible Man’ is fast and
funky, with an infectious bass hook. The names of all four band
members are ‘hidden’ in the lyrics. Get it? ‘The Invisible Man’…
Breakthru ��
Another infectious bass hook here, on Roger Taylor’s ‘Breakthru’.
123
124
Good harmonies, and a radio-friendly feel, but it doesn’t quite
sound right when done by Queen. Reminiscent of Don Henley’s
‘Boys of Summer’.
Rain Must Fall �

A Deacon/Mercury collaboration, ‘Rain Must Fall’ features
another strong bass line, but is nothing more than a horrible,
calypso tinged piece of synth-pop. Worst Queen song ever anyone?
Scandal ��
‘Scandal – now you’ve left me there’s no healing the wounds, Hey
scandal – and all the world can make us out to be fools, Here
comes the bad news, open the flood gates.’ A hard rocking number.
My Baby Does Me ��
Another Deacon/Mercury collaboration, ‘My Baby Does Me’ is
restrained and laid back, but sounds a little dated, if truth be told.
Was It All Worth It ��

‘What is there left for me to do in this life, Did I achieve what I
had set in my sights, Am I a happy man or is this sinking sand,
Was it all worth it, was it all worth it?’ The only sign that this
could be a farewell album came with this track. ‘Was It All Worth
It’ is a hard rocking piece.
Conclusion
‘The Miracle’ was recorded as the band recovered from Brian
May’s marital problems, Freddie Mercury’s AIDS diagnosis and
the group getting dangerously close to splitting. Maybe that’s why
it was such a mixed bag. Still, it managed to peak at No. 1 in the
UK, but is one of the band’s worst efforts.
125
Innuendo
(4 February 1991)
Tracklisting: Innuendo / I’m Going Slightly Mad /
Headlong / I Can’t Live with You / Don’t Try So Hard
/ Ride the Wild Wind / All God’s People / These Are the
Days of Our Lives / Delilah / The Hitman / Bijou /
The Show Must Go On
Innuendo ��
Full of flamenco influences, and a guitar solo from Yes man Steve
Howe, ‘Innuendo’ is a six and a half minute epic, and a mirror to
Queen’s past. With a Roger Taylor drum roll intro it is musically,
and lyrically, a return to form.
I’m Going Slightly Mad ��

Part Noel Coward frippery, part Freddie Mercury tragedy, ‘I’m
Going Slightly Mad’ appears light-headed, but is given a whole
new meaning considering Mercury’s AIDS induced ‘madness.’
Taken as a standalone piece, however, it’s nothing spectacular.
Headlong ��
‘And you’re rushing headlong you’ve got a new goal, And you’re
rushing headlong out of control, And you think you’re so strong,
But there ain’t no stopping no there’s nothin’ you can do, About it.’
A pretty solid rocker, with a great upbeat tempo.
I Can’t Live with You ��

Originally written for May’s solo album, ‘I Can’t Live With You’
features low-key synthesised percussion. Not bad. ‘I can’t live with
you, But I can’t live without you, I can’t let you stay, Ooh, but I
can’t live if you go away.’
126
Don’t Try So Hard ��
Mercury penned, ‘Don’t Try So Hard’ features a strong falsetto
performance from the exuberant front man. ‘When your problems
seem like mountains, You feel the need to find some answers, You
can leave them for another day, Don’t try so hard.’
Ride the Wild Wind ��

‘Ride the wild wind, Gonna ride the whirlwind – It ain’t
dangerous – enough for me, Tie your hair back baby – We’re
gonna ride tonight.’ A Roger Taylor composition, ‘Ride the Wild
Wind’ features so-so duelling vocals between Taylor and Mercury.
All God’s People ��

A gospel-inspired number, ‘All God’s People’ is another one of
those tracks that tends to be a little too religious for good nature’s
taste. Passable.
These Are the Days of Our Lives ��

A reflective Roger Taylor track, ‘These Are the Days of Our
Lives’ is one of the most simple songs in the band’s history. With
sentimental, almost heart-breaking lyrics and vocal delivery, this is
a love song of sorts that stands the test of time well.
Delilah ��
A rather tired sounding vocal on this one, dedicated by Mercury to
his favourite cat – ‘Delilah’.
The Hitman ��
Another Mercury piece, ‘The Hitman’ features backing vocals
from May, and is almost heavy metal in nature. Lyrically, this
track leaves a lot to be desired.
127
Bijou ��
Rushed out in a hour without any input from either of the
percussionists, ‘Bijou’ feels more like an experiment in songwriting
than anything more tangible. Nothing special.
The Show Must Go On ��

Co-written by the entire band, Freddie’s swansong (of sorts),
‘The Show Most Go On’ is, in hindsight, heart-breaking. With a
stirring melody, and lyrics fitting to the life of both Mercury and
Queen as a whole, it encompasses all of the things that Queen did
best – multi-tracked vocals, May’s distinctive guitar work, and
massive widescreen sound. ‘I can fly, my friends.’
Conclusion
‘Innuendo’ turned out to be Queen’s final studio album composed
entirely of new material. Strong in some parts, weaker in others,
the album as a whole is a mixed bag, yet spawned some of the best
songs of the band’s career in the likes of ‘Innuendo’, ‘These Are the
Days of Our Lives’, and ‘The Show Most Go On’. Topping charts
all around the world, ‘Innuendo’ is one of the band’s most eclectic
albums.
128
129
Made In Heaven
(6 November 1995)
Tracklisting: It’s a Beautiful Day / Made in Heaven
/ Let Me Live / Mother Love / My Life Has Been Saved
/ I Was Born to Love You / Heaven for Everyone / Too
Much Love Will Kill You / You Don’t Fool Me / A
Winter’s Tale / It’s a Beautiful Day (Reprise) / Yeah /
Untitled
It’s a Beautiful Day ��

Recorded by Mercury back in 1980, ‘It’s a Beautiful Day’ features
Deacon’s oboe, but is more of a sampling of what could have been
rather than a great piece of finished music, heralding the overall
sound of the album to come.
Made in Heaven ��
Another Freddie Mercury solo number, ‘Made in Heaven’ is more
rocked up in this number, but it all feels a bit tacked on, if truth be
told.
Let Me Live ��

‘Why don’t you take another little piece of my heart, Why don’t
you take it and break it, And tear it all apart, All I do is give, All
you do is take.’ With lead vocals shared by Mercury, May and
Taylor, gospel tinged ‘Let Me Live’ features good harmonies, and is
one of the better tracks on an otherwise average album.
Mother Love ��

The last song Mercury ever penned alongside Brian May, ‘Mother
Love’ is a moody, bleak, yet moving, track. Mercury died
before the final verse could be recorded, but the piece still feels
complete.
130
My Life Has Been Saved ��
Previously released (albeit in a different format) as a B-side, ‘My
Life Has Been Saved’ features Mercury on lead vocals. Pretty
forgettable.
I Was Born to Love You ��

Another Mercury solo effort, ‘I Was Born to Love You’ is
reworked, reimagined, redone if you will, but, yet again, it feels
like the new arrangements have been tacked on, and aren’t meant
to be there.
Heaven for Everyone ��

‘This could be heaven for everyone, This world could be fed, this
world could be fun, This could be heaven for everyone, This world
could be free, this world could be one.’
Too Much Love Will Kill You ��

A love ballad – one of the best of its kind, in fact. Possibly a little
too saccharine for some, ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ was
previously a Brian May solo hit. Somehow fits May’s voice better
than Mercury’s.
You Don’t Fool Me �

‘You don’t fool me – those pretty eyes, That sexy smile – you don’t
fool me, You don’t rule me – you’re no surprise, You’re telling lies
– you don’t fool me.’ A track from the ‘Hot Space’ era. Probably
would’ve been better off left there. Repetitive disco-funk.
A Winter’s Tale ��
Somewhat emotive, sometime pleasant, ‘A Winter’s Tale’ features
a good Brain May solo. Christmassy. ‘So quiet and peaceful,
Tranquil and blissful, There’s a kind of magic in the air, What a
truly magnificent view.’
131
132
It’s a Beautiful Day (Reprise) ��
Contains samples of ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’. Rocking, for the most
part. ‘Its a beautiful day, I feel good, I feel right, And no-one, no-
one’s gonna stop me now, Mama.’
Yeah �
Four seconds long.
Untitled ��
A twenty minute, experimental piece, ‘Untitled’ is purely ambient.
Works quite nicely, but isn’t very ‘Queen’.
Conclusion
Peaking at only No. 58 in the US Billboard Album Charts,
but topping the charts in the UK, final studio outing ‘Made in
Heaven’ is a little all over the place in its composition, which
comes as no surprise considering the story of its foundation.
133
134

Music Legends Queen Special Edition 2019

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Music Legends Queen Special Edition 2019

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2

GET 20% OFF ALL CODA RECORDS

Click here to VIEW the FULL Coda Records

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON

Click the above photo for a video link

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Click the above photo for a video link

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Q There has always been this sort of undercurrent that Queen

Q Had you seen Jeff Beck perform with Rod Stewart?

Q So, you were influenced by the trio format because Smile

Q How did Queen evolve from Smile?

Q How did you have the knowledge to orchestrate guitars in

Q So it’s basically you in the studio with an amp, playing a

Indeed, Brian May established himself as the premier virtuoso

Keep Yourself Alive ���

Doing All Right ��

Great King Rat ��

My Fairy King ���

The Night Comes Down ��

Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll ���

Son and Daughter ���

Seven Seas of Rhye �

Overall rating: ���

Father to Son ���

White Queen (As It Began) ���

Some Day One Day ��

Loser in the End ��

Ogre Battle ���

The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke ���

The March of the Black Queen ��

Funny How Love Is ��

Seven Seas of Rhye ����

Overall rating: ���

Brighton Rock ���

Killer Queen ����

Lily of the Valley ���

Now I’m Here ���

In the Lap of the Gods ���

Stone Cold Crazy ����

Bring Back That Leroy Brown ���

She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos) ��

In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited ���

Overall rating: ���

Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to…) ���

Keep Yourself Alive ��

My Fairy King ��

Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll ��

Son and Daughter ��

Overall rating: ��

Father to Son ��

White Queen (As It Began) ��

Ogre Battle ��

The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke ��

Seven Seas of Rhye ��

Overall rating: ��

Brighton Rock ��

Killer Queen ��

Lily of the Valley ��

Now I’m Here ��

In the Lap of the Gods ��

Stone Cold Crazy ��

Bring Back That Leroy Brown ��

In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited ��

Overall rating: ��

Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to…) ��

Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon ��

I’m In Love with My Car ��

You’re My Best Friend ��

Seaside Rendezvous ��

The Prophet’s Song ��

Love of My Life ��

Bohemian Rhapsody ��

Overall rating: ��

Tie Your Mother Down ��

The Millionaire Waltz ��

You and I ��

Somebody to Love ��

Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy ��

Overall rating: ��

We Will Rock You ��

We Are the Champions ��

Sheer Heart Attack ��

All Dead, All Dead ��

Spread Your Wings ��

Fight from the Inside ��

Sleeping On the Sidewalk ��

Overall rating: ��

Fat Bottomed Girls ��

Bicycle Race ��

Let Me Entertain You ��

Dreamer’s Ball ��

Don’t Stop Me Now ��

Overall rating: ��

Play the Game ��

Dragon Attack ��

Another One Bites the Dust ��

Need Your Loving Tonight ��

Crazy Little Thing Called Love ��

Sail Away Sweet Sister ��

Overall rating: ��

Overall rating: ��

Put Out the Fire ��

Life is Real (Song for Lennon) ��

Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love) ��

It’s a Hard Life ��

I Want to Break Free ��

Keep Passing the Open Windows ��

Hammer to Fall ��

Overall rating: ��

One Vision ��

A Kind of Magic ��

Pain Is So Close to Pleasure ��

Friends Will Be Friends ��

Who Wants to Live Forever ��

Princes of the Universe ��

Overall rating: ��

I Want It All ��