Jump to content

Official Queen Thread


Recommended Posts

Sheer Heart Attack just turned 40!

 

This is from Ultimate Classic Rock...

 

 

Queen‘s self-titled debut hardly raised the pulse within the general population, and their second gave an increasing number of listeners heart palpitations. But it was the group’s third studio effort, released Nov. 8, 1974, that produced a genuine and widespread ‘Sheer Heart Attack.’

 

In retrospect, the band’s rise seems altogether, pardon the wordplay, mercurial. But to the members of Queen — singer/pianist Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and, to a lesser degree, late arriving bassist John Deacon — nearly half a decade and much work and toil had gone into developing their sound and honing their talents since Queen’s very first manifestations in 1970.

 

First came a four-song demo in February 1971, then their first concert that July, followed by a management arrangement in 1972 that gave them almost free reign to experiment at Trident Studios. That duly resulted in a proper recording contract with EMI, and spawned those initial two records.

And still, the fledgling Queen had to weather very mixed reviews and prove their mettle on stage over the next two years, undertaking numerous jaunts across the U.K., including a famous stint in support of good friends Mott the Hoople. They also made their first trip to America, although that had been rudely cut short by a serious illness that temporarily sidelined Brian May.

 

In fact, the band had to start working on the sessions for what would become ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ without their valuable guitarist, but May thankfully recovered to bring his contributions — both instrumental and compositional — to bear on this most intriguing and eccentric of classic rock long players.

Right off the bat, a flourish of carnival music assaulted the senses, inviting listeners to run off to the circus with Queen. Among the main attractions were Brian May’s magnum-guitar symphony, ‘Brighton Rock,’ the staccato bombast of ‘Now I’m Here,’ and the flamboyant whimsy of breakthrough single ‘Killer Queen.’ But also featured among the sideshows were Taylor’s cheeky ‘Tenement Funster,’ which bled straight into the muscular cynicism of ‘Flick of the Wrist’ and flowed seamlessly into the surprisingly fragile ‘Lily of the Valley.’

 

Side two took this contiguous musical approach to even more daring heights. It opened with the disorienting ‘In the Lap of the Gods’ and the speed metal convulsion of ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ before settling down into May’s soothing ‘Dear Friends’ and Deacon’s incredibly mature first contribution to Queen, ‘Misfire.’ But just as quickly, it shifted gears into the ragtime curiosity of ‘Bring Back that Leroy Brown,’ the dreamy glam fantasy ‘She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos),’ and, finally, the reprise of ‘In the Lap of the Gods…Revisited.’

 

Ultimately, ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ was simultaneously schizophrenic and of-a-piece. It set the adventurous template that seduced fans and then kept them on their toes every time a new Queen album landed on record store racks, bearing astonishing gifts of outlandish imagination and brilliant songcraft.

In other words, though future Queen albums may have boasted bigger hits and even more consistent material, it is ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ that crystallized their inimitable style and showed the way forward for the band, and they never looked back.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only bad, and worst Queen studio c.d., and album release has been "Flash Gordon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". The rest of their studio c.d., and album releases have been great.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, invisible airwave said:

 

 

I saw that!

 

Took em long enough. Elton, Paul, and Mick have been Sirs for ages!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Entre_Perpetuo said:

 

 

I saw that!

 

Took em long enough. Elton, Paul, and Mick have been Sirs for ages!

Rod the mod is the most recent one if I recall correctly. 

 

David Gilmour has been a CBE since 2003.  You better believe Roger the grouch wants no part. :laugh:

Edited by invisible airwave
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, invisible airwave said:

Rod the mod is the most recent one if I recall correctly. 

 

David Gilmour has been a CBE since 2003.  You better believe Roger the grouch wants no part. :laugh:

Roger Waters doesn't deserve it. He's burned all the goodwill he would have garnered by being the curmudgeoniest of cumedgeons. Give it to Nick Mason instead!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, invisible airwave said:

Cool! I wonder if it's Sir Dr. Brian May?  :biggrin:    Probably Sir Brian May, PhD.  Congrats to him!

Edited by blueschica
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, blueschica said:

Cool! I wonder if it's Sir Dr. Brian May?  :biggrin:    Probably Sir Brian May, PhD.  Congrats to him!

 

I bet you Brian would rather be called Dr. than Sir.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...