The Cavern
Rock & Words
QUEEN (Album, 1973)
Artist: Queen (C+)
Recording Dates: 1971-72
Release Date: July 13th, 1973. UK
Record Label: EMI, Parlophone
Producer: John Anthony, Roy Thomas Baker, Queen
Rating: 9
Era: The Great Transition (1970-1980+)
Subgenre: Progressive
Best Song: Keep Yourself Alive or Liar
Tracklist: 1) Keep Yourself Alive; 2) Doing All Right; 3) Great King Rat; 4) My Fairy King; 5) Liar; 6) The Night Comes Down; 7) Modern Times Rock 'N' Roll; 8) Son And Daughter; 9) Jesus; 10) Seven Seas Of Rhye; 11) Mad The Swine.
Queen was formed in 1968 after a call for musicians was placed by young guitarist Brian May in a school newspaper, seeking members for a Cream-like band. Bassist Tim Staffell and drummer Roger Taylor responded, and this first group was called "Smile". In 1969, the band signed a contract with Mercury Records, which had no connection to Freddie Mercury, and began recording at Trident Studios . Staffell , an art student, introduced them to a classmate named Farrokh Bulsara, who became a fan and started attending all their rehearsals. Bulsara was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania. He was later sent to Bombay, India, where his parents were from, and there he received his Western education and had his first experiences with the piano, showing great talent from a young age. He later joined his parents in Zanzibar, and when the revolution broke out in 1964, the family fled to England. Farrokh was 17 at the time and already known as Freddie, so he adopted that name upon arriving in London. He studied design at Ealing Art College, where he met Tim Staffell, who invited him to listen to the band he played in. He attended so many "Smile" rehearsals that he ended up joining the group as lead singer in 1970. By this time, he had already changed his surname to Mercury ( really, his real name was Farrokh Bulsara! ) and convinced the others to change the band's name to Queen, which, according to him, has many interpretations, but he never denied that one of them was a reference to his sexuality. Anyway, Staffell left the band, and Queen went through a huge number of bass players who either didn't fit in or lacked chemistry, until in early 1971 John Deacon clicked with the others (no pun intended) and joined permanently, thus beginning rehearsals to record their first album.
However, they faced a million problems recording and releasing this debut album. They spent a lot of time going from one record company to another because no company wanted another Led Zeppelin. Oh! Just to clarify for those who haven't heard all their albums, in their early days, Queen was a powerful, essentially hard rock band, with only a few rock opera influences, although this mix changed over time. So, Queen I and II are strong albums, and in fact, at times they rock like Zeppelin. But they don't sound the same, and perhaps the executives only heard "Keep Yourself." " Alive " and got the wrong idea. The band finally landed a record deal in 1973 and released the album, which included many tracks from those three years; "Doing Alright " is even a song from "Smile." This frustrated them greatly because the sound already seemed dated for 1973. Another problem was that they had to record during the studio's "dead time," when other artists weren't recording, leaving them with a schedule from 3 to 7 am. But I think one of the reasons this album sounds SO good is that they had three years to refine their songs and choose from their best material, resulting in a fresher, more powerful, more original sound, and less pretentious . This debut is one of the Queen albums I dare to recommend without hesitation. It showcases an almost unknown side of the band, leaning more towards hard rock, multi-part , progressive-tinged arrangements, and a freshness I wish they had maintained over time. time. I could even say that I like it more than the hyper-mega-overproduced albums that would come out later, and it is my favorite with the exception only of "A Night in the Opera" and "A Day In The Races " and "Jazz".
The album begins with “Keep Yourself Alive", with a rare and grating effect of scraped, echo-laden strings, which David Gilmour would later use in songs like "Run Like Hell". But that vibrant chug- chug - chug- chugga is simply exquisite, and the riff (not that aforementioned effect, but the actual riff) is majestic. Check out Taylor's drum roll at 2:15 and the guitar solo immediately after at 2:30, with those soaring high notes from May that are already his trademark. In my opinion, this song should be among the band's great classics, a good rocker , catchy and very well structured. The only downside is that Brian May interlude where he sings "Do you think you're better ev'ry day ... bla bla” at 2:55.
Next comes “Doing Alright”, an adorable ballad from the “Smile” era. It has the freshness and naiveté of a fledgling band that would completely disappear the following year, but that's precisely what makes it so good. Musically, it begins with Queen's most minimalist sound, with very discreet and sweet instrumentation that highlights Freddie's magnificent voice until the middle section, where out of nowhere the musicians go wild and insert a furious rocker (which some even call metal) and superb backing vocals, before returning to the tranquility of the beginning and finishing at full throttle with a great guitar solo. It might seem like two different songs overlapping, but the contrasts they achieve sound interesting and not as out of place as one might think. Incidentally, Queen would become masters at creating contrasts within their songs, and this is the first great example.
“The Great King Rat” completes the formidable trio that kicks off this album. From the very beginning, Roger Taylor sounds devastating and carries the song on his shoulders, showing he's no run- of-the-mill drummer. The song is a tremendous hard rocker, full of power and fury, but it already displays some operatic undertones, with time signature changes and impressive choruses. The lyrics are supposedly anti-religious in nature. The wah- wah guitar solo The "wah" at 1:35 is very good, and there's another one without this effect at 4:20. Any second-rate band could have released a whole album with the number of ideas and hooks that Queen put into this single song.
The fourth track is “My Fairy King” ( the lyrics, oh my God, the lyrics! ), where they slow the tempo a bit and lean more towards pop compared to the previous songs, but in return, they showcase a vocal harmony that simply transforms them into an exquisite polyphonic monster. It's also the first song where Mercury displays his piano skills, with a breathtaking solo at 3:25 that's truly remarkable.
Then there's "Liar", with a powerful Page-esque riff that serves as an introduction and then alternates with those answering choruses. Here we find a mix of pop, very intimate vocal moments with Freddie, symphonic guitar work, great drumming, and harmonies very much in the style of Argent. And yet it sounds very different from everything else; you can't just call it "Hard Rock." The song is a great multi-part piece that could easily fill an entire album, but it's constructed with great intelligence, resulting in a work that's fun, silly, and intellectual all at once, with a multitude of influences. The "mmmm-ama I'm" part gonna be your " slave " is incredibly catchy and fun, leading to a breathtaking musical orgasm where May shows why he is one of the greatest guitarists in history.
Next comes “The Night Comes Down” with a muffled guitar intro that sounds very strange. It lacks melody and sounds rather weak. Freddie sounds overly saccharine, and although he gives a good vocal performance, reaching impossible notes, it sounds forced and too operatic. The song lacks coherence and this time seems more like a collage of noises with a directionless and very affected voice.
Then there's "Modern Times Rock n' Roll", a rocker that's far too fast and repetitive by Queen's standards, and where Roger Taylor commits professional suicide— errr … as a singer. The only good news is that it doesn't even reach two minutes. These two tracks are what keep the album from being a perfect 10.
Fortunately, they redeem themselves with "Son and Daughter", which features a tremendous, incredibly heavy, and somewhat slow riff , often compared to Led Zeppelin's " Heartbreaker ," but which, in my opinion, is even denser. The vocal harmonies are otherworldly, and the chorus achieves a mesmerizing effect with the "I – WANT – YOUUUU – to be a woman ! " This studio version doesn't include the solo that May would add live and on other recordings, but instead has a stunningly sharp guitar solo that begins at 1:50, which led to Queen being falsely accused of using synthesizers on this debut album when it was simply an unusual guitar pedal. A magnificent song!
Then there's "Jesus", which I've grown to dislike less over time, though it's not one of the album's highlights. The main theme is a very pronounced two-tone change that works initially, but then becomes tiresome and repetitive, as this is one of the band's less elaborate tracks, with only a single change at 1:50 that serves as the basis for a rather unremarkable solo. The lyrics, written by Mercury, deal with the birth of Jesus, a theme that truly surprises us considering that Farrokh Bulsara practiced Zoroastrianism .
Next comes an instrumental fragment of “Seven Seas of Rhye” that gives us a taste of Mercury’s magnificent piano arrangement. The version lasts barely a minute, and presumably they didn’t have time to complete the song, but on Queen II the following year they would record the full version, a true work of art.
Finally, we have “Mad The Swine” (Hahahahahahahahahaha, if we changed it to The Mad Swine, it could be the perfect soundtrack for the global paranoia of the last month, hahahahahahahahahahaha ). And well, the song is very simple, with pretty and somewhat naive harmonies. The lyrics aren't about the flu, or even about pigs, but again, they have somewhat ambiguous religious allegories. But I insist that's not its strong point. The song is weak compared to the rest, especially to close an album that had glorious moments of Hard Rock, but it's nice and has its charm.
This is a great debut album, and it's a real shame that it's almost unknown, since those who don't go exclusively for the " Greatest Hits" usually start with "A Night at the Opera." It gives me the impression that Queen could have been one of the greatest hard rock bands in history, but later they opted for a more operatic and sometimes more commercial sound. And although it's heavier, the essential ingredients of the stadium-filling Queen that everyone loves are already here. Brian May plays with plenty of distortion, making his guitar flash intelligently, and it's perhaps his peak as a guitarist, while Freddie already has masterful control of his tremendous voice. The album is full of surprises and innovations for the time, and we can't deny that this is the album where Queen revolutionized music, not "A Night at the Opera. " Are they waiting to hear it ?
By Corvan
May/26/2009
