The Cavern
Rock & Words
QUEEN II (Album, 1974)
Artist: Queen (C+)
Recording Dates: Aug 1973
Release Date: March 8th, 1974. UK
Record Label: EMI / Parlophone
Producer: Roy Thomas Baker / Robin Cable / Queen
Rating: 8
Era: The Great Transition (1970-1980+)
Subgenre: Progressive (1969-1976+)
Best Song: Ogre Battle
Tracklist: 1) Procession; 2) Father To Son; 3) White Queen (As It Began); 4) Some Day One Day; 5) The Loser In The End; 6) Ogre Battle; 7) The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke; 8) Nevermore; 9) The March Of The Black Queen; 10) Funny How Love Is; 11) Seven Seas Of Rhye.
With Queen II, the band began that transition towards more artistic and conceptual sounds that makes them so difficult to categorize, especially at this early stage. Queen flirted with diverse genres, refusing to be pigeonholed into just one, as seemed to be the case with their debut album, which was much heavier than this one. Here they play with the music, they have fun, they rock out on one hand and on the other they create complex structures, impressive choruses, majestic, multi-part solos, and they seem to take their role as musicians very seriously. There's the band's hard rock side , which is most evident in these early albums, where they sound incredibly powerful, as in the middle section of " Father To Son," which must be one of the heaviest parts recorded in 1974. And then there's that ambitious, pretentious, artistic, conceptual side, which at times brings them closer to progressive rock, as in the suite "The March of the Black Queen."
also begin to experiment with conceptual ideas. Personally, I don't find many differences, but the album is supposedly divided into two parts: the first side dedicated to the White Queen, followed by a transition with "Ogre Battle," and the subsequent tracks on side B dedicated to the Black Queen. Musically, the differences aren't noticeable; there isn't one side with progressive ballads and another with furious rockers . Even though there are songs where one style dominates more than the other, the band focuses more on integrating both musical facets into the same song, especially in the multi-part tracks . Therefore, we often have songs with quiet sections, full of arpeggios and pianos, that suddenly explode violently without warning. That's why it's impossible to say they belong to the Hard Rock genre (or even metal; Metallica themselves have stated that they were heavily influenced by Queen in creating Thrash ) or that they are purely Progressive or "Art-Rock."
Another duality of the album lies in its composition. The white side is composed almost entirely by Brian May, with the exception of the closing track , "The Loser In The End," which was composed by Roger Taylor. The Black Queen side, on the other hand, was composed entirely by Freddie Mercury and is more fantasy-influenced.
Another point is that this album marks the beginning of a shift towards the style of songs that would become universal anthems. It's not that the songs on this record have become timeless classics (only "Seven Seas of Rhye" is, and it's not one of the songs I'm referring to), but rather that you can perceive the intention and the seed for creating songs purely for the stage, to be sung along with ecstatic crowds raising their hands with lit lighters, as in " Father to Son" or "Funny How Love Is ," which are already geared towards the massive stadium concerts that Queen would become the ultimate representative of. The band was still relatively unknown, and neither Queen I nor this album were particularly commercially successful, so they rarely played to huge crowds yet, but this is the style they would later adopt, and we can't deny that these kinds of songs, along with those they would perfect later, are a trillion times better suited to live performances than studio versions. Queen is undoubtedly a band that thrives on live performance. Firstly, because they knew how to choose their best songs and left out a lot of filler from their LPs ; secondly, because they included anthems that created an immediate connection with the audience; and thirdly, because Freddie Mercury had an overwhelming personality and became the model frontman for those who later followed that stadium concert style. Anyway, I've digressed, and Queen still has a long way to go before reaching that stage, but the point is that Queen I lacks these kinds of songs, making it the band's first foray into this sound.
Even so, I think it's a slight step backward compared to their debut. Nothing alarming, the album is still good and very listenable. There aren't any truly bad songs, and even the one sung by Roger Taylor is considerably better than the one on Queen I, but there are many songs that range from mediocre to average, losing some of the freshness, power, and above all, sincerity of their debut. Here, the band already shows signs of ambition and pretension , but they fall short of creating a truly conceptual work, and seem to cram too many ideas and too much energy in without arranging them properly.
The album opens with "Procession", an instrumental track by Brian May that serves as a kind of intro and entrance march for the White Queen. He recorded the song using multitrack recording, layering tracks to create his signature three-finger effect. It wouldn't be the first or last time he used this technique. He also used John's Deacy Amp bass amplifier to add some effects (the one that sounds like trumpets). Beyond that, there isn't much else to say about this piece.
Next up is “Father To Son”, a song that feels somewhat awkward to sing in a stadium with the band . It's a kind of overly long anthem or gospel-like chant , a clear example of Queen wasting their talent. The six-minute song is at least twice as long as it should be, has awfully universalist lyrics, but features a truly bombastic, ferocious middle section starting at 2:10. It's some of Queen's heaviest work, at times putting Zeppelin and Sabbath to shame. May's solo is impressive, again utilizing multi- tracking ; and Deacon's bass riff, upon which the rest of the arrangement rests, is a behemoth tearing everything down, with massive drum rolls as the middle section nears its end. This part is tremendous, certainly, a sublime musical chaos, but it completely undermines the song's supposed intention, which is to please the crowds. What redeems the song, despite its utter contradictions, is that musically it's very good. If you can manage to ignore the lyrics and consider it as two songs in one (a quasi-metal track intersecting with a quasi-hippie anthem), you might even enjoy it. I do… sometimes.
Next comes “White Queen (As It Began)”, which is one of the “lighter” tracks, lacking the tremendous power of some of the others. The song is a beautiful and delicate ballad, with Freddie showcasing his gifted vocal cords, singing in an almost operatic style, yet sounding enchanting from beginning to end. Not only that, but he even sounds sincere, and the way he sings and the feeling he brings to the sublime vocal melody truly touches the heart. The atmosphere is minimalist, with guitar effects ( with phasing ??? ) that create an ethereal synthesizer effect in the background during the first part. Then, at 2:45, comes an acoustic solo by May with a zither effect. After the solo ends, the band slightly increases the intensity for another solo, this time with distortion and three fingers, and all the instruments creating an almost celestial coda to finally close in an intimate and almost whispered way. Excellent song, and great timing!
We continue with “Some Day One Day”, a song composed by May, but, as usual, also sung by him. His low vocal register bears a certain resemblance to Freddie's, but it lacks modulation, making the vocal melody sound flat, unfinished, and incredibly repetitive. Boring. Just as a side note, Brian does practically everything; the song features acoustic guitar riffs and some electric guitar embellishments, but in the final solo, he plays up to three guitars in the long fade-out. The novelty is that he doesn't layer them, creating that triple stridency so characteristic of his style, but instead arranges them separately on the three guitars. Even so, I insist, boring.
Roger Taylor continues to deliver the gem that he contributes to each album. “The Loser In The End” is a rocker with a powerful riff , but it feels unfinished. Even so, it's not as bad as “Modern Times Rock & Roll,” and at least the raspy vocals suit the song's raw, gritty vibe better. I wonder what Freddie would have thought? Or better yet, how would Deep Purple have sounded with a bit of polishing? It sounds much more like their style, doesn't it? Thus ends this relatively weak A-side, or white side, in which none of the tracks were composed by Mercury.
“Ogre Battle” opens side B, and it's a kind of gray transition between the black and white sides. Freddie composed it in 1972, but it didn't make it onto the debut album because they wanted to dedicate more recording time to perfecting it. On this album, they obviously didn't have to record from 3 to 7 am and were able to create this complex piece that truly sounds like an ogre battle. But in a good way. The song's immense power, combined with the operatic choirs, gives it an experimental feel, but it ends up being very good overall—in fact, the best track on the album. The reversed drum intro is monumental, giving the song a monstrous, dizzying energy. It's actually the same drum intro that closes the song, but reversed, including the gong that ushers us into the song at the beginning. May's work also stands out, alternating that magnificent, almost epic-sounding guitar with the heavier, almost metal sound of the monstrous riff (I don't recall if this was the track Metallica claims to have been inspired by) at a frenetic speed. An excellent, monstrous, and bizarre song, thanks to its grandiose operatic choirs mixed with the raw power of thrash .
Follow “The Fairy Feller's Master -Stroke", composed by Mercury after being captivated by Richard Dadd's painting of the same name, which, personally, leaves me indifferent, much like this song. You can already see an approach to the operatic side that they would explore more fully on the next two albums, but here it simply feels like a collage of too many disjointed ideas, with good harmonies, but without a core melody to unify the whole piece. The noteworthy detail is that Freddie plays a harpsichord here to enhance that fantastical feel.
Then comes "Nevermore", linked to the previous track by the piano arpeggio that ends one and begins the other. It's a beautiful, delicate, inoffensive ballad, barely 1:25 long, in which Mercury once again tugs at our heartstrings and moves us with his vocal prowess. Very cute, but it can't really be considered a great song.
The ninth track is “The March of the Black Queen”, a multi-part suite with almost progressive undertones. However, it still sounds somewhat disorganized, like too many loose pieces randomly thrown together, and a bit too pompous for my taste. Freddie wrote the song on piano, and the rest of the band followed along. The curious thing about the track is that some sections have polyrhythms , with the lead vocals in 8/8 time while the backing vocals and other arrangements are in 12/8, which is extremely rare in rock and makes it sound even more extravagant. Needless to say, it was impossible to perform live. I'm not going to go into detail explaining each section, since many mid-sized bands could have gotten enough ideas for an entire discography from this single song, so let's move on to the next one.
“Funny How Love Is” is an acoustic ballad that emerged from improvisation in the studio. With an acoustic base and attempting to emulate Phil Spector's “Wall of Sound”, it 's undeniably catchy, but also incredibly cheesy. It's one of those songs clearly intended to be a concert hit, with the audience singing along to Freddie. Ultimately, they never played it live because Freddie strained too much to reach the high notes. It's cute , but while some see the resemblance to what ABBA would later do (which I agree with) as a virtue, I see it as a flaw. I can tolerate Queen pseudo-metal . Queen pseudo-progressive, too. But Queen pseudo-ABBA???
The album ends with “Seven Seas of Rhye”, which had been left unfinished on the previous album, and of which only a fragment of the dizzying arpeggio was included to close it. Originally, I think they were going to add it as the first track on this album to give a sense of continuity, but I don't know why they didn't. The song is a foray into pop, and it was the single that catapulted the album to success. Of course, it's undoubtedly a more commercial and radio-friendly song , but in my opinion, it's very well done. The melody works very well, Freddie's voice sounds powerful, and that incredibly fast piano arpeggio, while a captivating hook, is anything but easy to execute. It's not groundbreaking; ultimately, it 's a very well-produced pop song, but for me, it works.
OK. It's a decent album, plain and simple. The element of surprise from their debut, which truly revolutionized many aspects of music, is gone. There's little progress here; the band sounds slightly more pretentious, and they begin that slow transition to an operatic sound, but without fully developing it.
Oh, and the cover! I almost forgot. This is another one of those iconic covers, which almost everyone confuses with A Night At The Opera simply because that album includes " Bohemian Rhapsody," and the band used the same concept for the music video for that amazing song . This is another sign that everyone thinks they know Queen and are a die-hard fan without ever having listened to the albums. Later, it became a cliché for 70s bands, but I love the cover with the faces blurred in the shadows, a kind of evolution of With The Beatles.
By Corvan
Oct/28/2009
