I did a search of the ICE archives and found no Queen albums thread to be found, so....



QUEEN
(1973)

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 & Daughter
9. Jesus 3:44
10. Seven Seas Of Rhye

I like this album quite a bit, even though it's only a rough sketch for what would evolve over the next three albums. Some great stuff here including "Keep Yourself Alive" (a great FM rock radio song) and I also have a soft spot for "Doing All Right" and the quasi-epic and frantic "Great King Rat." This album only hints at the greatness to come, though it's one hell of a start.

IP (Pete), feel free to embellish this thread with any chart info, trivia, etc. You're the king for this kind of thing and I'm too lazy to track down the info myself.

Ha! Ok, Chris I shall do so.
"Queen" hit US #83 and failed to chart in the UK.
It would belatedly make UK #24 in 1974 however.

As for the album-I like some of it, but it's a bit too campy and out there for me at times. However, Mercury's vocals and May's guitars are significant right from the start. The songs Chris mentioned are the ones I like best along with "Jesus" and "The Night Comes Down". This album is an acquired taste, and I do like it, but don't love it.

Agreed, Pete. But a band's gotta start somewhere.

And thanks for the chart info -- I hope you will continue to add info with each successive album post.

Pre-Queen recordings by Smile (Roger Taylor, Brian May and Tim Staffell):

An album I came to enjoy belatedly. Always liked "Keep Yourself Alive", and came to like "Seven Seas Of Rhye" from the Greatest Hits album, but digging into this, I really like "Liar", "Great King Rat" and "Doing All Right". I've always enjoyed Roger Taylor's voice.

This album, while pretty good, merely hinted at what would come later.

Alan

I love the first 3 queen albums. The night at the opera and day at the races have some great moments. After that they went more into pop.

I really like the first Queen album. Second side does bog down a little bit, but the trio of Great King Rat/My Fairy King/Liar is superb. They probably should have found a way to fit Mad the Swine on the album as well, I like that one better than several of the tracks that ended up on the record.

The version of "Seven Seas Of Rhye" that appears on the first album is an instrumental.

The version you're referring to is on Queen II.

Epic fail.

Alan

I'm glad to see that the integrity of this serious musical analysis thread is being maintained.

I like the first album quite a bit, but then I prefer Queen's early catalogue. "Keep Yourself Alive", "Doing Alright", "Great King Rat" and "Modern Times Rock & Roll" are all favorites. I enjoy most of the tracks on this disc - "The Night Comes Down" is probably my least favorite. "Seven Seas of Rye" is really just a fragment of an idea at this point, but the band would bring that idea to fruition on Queen II.

All in all, a solid debut, IMO.

QUEEN II
(1974)

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. Fuuny How Love Is
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye

I have to admit, Queen II is an album that's always flown under my radar. It never grabbed me for some reason. So, in order to write about it, I listened to it today.

I see this album as a transitional album, one that sees the band employing the studio techniques (multi-tracking being most prominent) that would yield major dividends on the next two albums.

It's interesting that this is a concept album of sorts, something Queen has never done before or since. While nothing here jumps out at me like the songs on later albums would, it's an admirable effort. And it shows that Queen was willing to take risks and be as esoteric as they wanted to be.

And of course, the album cover is a classic and would be brought to life in the "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video not too far down the line...

This was probably the most difficult Queen album for me to appreciate. But I ended up falling madly in love with it.

As Chris said, this is an album that seems to elude notice. There are no big hits on it, and it's a transitional album. It probably doesn't help now that the cover image is so identified w/BR, but that track's not on the album. Some really good stuff here, but it's an album that's never fully carved out a spot for me. Other than I like "Seven Seas Of Rhye", even if I came to it through a greatest hits album, and it's a vocal version and....ah...

Alan

It's okay, Alan. Really.



I've listened to this one a handful of times over the years and it's never captured my imagination the way Sheer Heart Attack or Night At The Opera did.

But listening to it today, I admired its craftsmanship and the fact that Queen were starting to experiment with the studio techniques to achieve their sound. And what a sound it would turn out to be.

i like this one more overall than their debut. as said before; this is a transitional album, but you wouldn't have the rest of the canon without it.
my faves from this are 'some day one day', 'funny how love is', 'loser in the end' and the gorgeous 'nevermore'.

I have to say I'm surprised at the tepid response to this album. Only Dean LOVES it. I'm with Dean.

I've loved this album from the first time I heard it. Espcecially side 2. Flamboyant. Outrageous. Brilliant! My favorite track is March of the Black Queen. Ogre Battle and Fairy Feller's Master Stroke are also excellent.

OK. It's a little odd and doesn't hit the target quite as solidly as the next few, but wow. Courageous is another adjective that comes to mind. They sure weren't afraid to let it all hang out.

Vince

I don't think I'm familiar with any of the songs on Queen II. At least I don't recognize any of the titles.

I really didn't become a fan til A Night At The Opera. The only song I know from this one is Seven Seas Of Rhye that you occasionally hear on XM Radio.

Queen is one of those strange bands for me where I prefer many of the singles to the outright albums.

6. Ogre Battle from Queen II is a bloody classic, full on rock, I love that track.

IP, any chart info or trivia on Queen II?