Music Reviews

Roger Taylor’s contribution to Queen II is a generic Taylor Tune. Mid-tempo, downbeat, slave to its rhythm (hey, he’s a percussionist!). Roger would get this formula right in a few records and eventually score a number one hit about 13 years later with it. I should make a Roger Taylor Continue Reading

In a few weeks we will get to the track that made me fall completely in love with Queen. Because I thought they were Fleetwood Mac. And it’s not like I love FM.This isn’t that song, but it’s very similar. Just about every Queen album includes a skiffly acoustic track Continue Reading

(Update: This post was accidentally named for the song that follows. I apologize for any confusion. Don’t be confused! All 3 of you that read this blog!) Continuing the Brian May dominance on Side White of Queen II, the lead guitarist offers the sadly lovely White Queen (As It Began). Continue Reading

Okay. Now that we’re done with the shite that was that first record we can get to the album that really begins to solidify the Queen sound and sensibility. I came to Queen II late in my adoration of the band. I think I was 15 and had no idea Continue Reading

Much as I would love to be moving on the next Queen record (which is a personal favorite) I would be remiss if I didn’t include the previous to 1991 unreleased “Mad the Swine”. According to Wikipedia the reason it was left off was that producer Roy Thomas Baker and Continue Reading

Okay, today’s a bonus day. Two songs for one day! But, not really. Jesus is awful. It’s a trippy, neo-quasi-semi psychedelic telling of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. It wasn’t uncommon for metal bands to mine the bible (or Tolkien, or the middle ages) for material. I don’t recall Continue Reading

Jeez, guys, Sabbath much? This is Queen at its heaviest. Sludgiest. One of the (few) things I like about this song, as opposed to dislikes, (like freddie’s mic…) is the sudden burst into multi-harmonies from the vocals. It doesn’t last long but it’s a high point and it aims right Continue Reading

For years this was my favorite song on what I would have described as a half-assed attempt to be current, schizophrenic debut. It’s barely a blip, coming in at under 2 minutes. It’s speed metal with feedback, full stops, lightning solos and, surprisingly no drum flash. Given that it was Continue Reading

Oh, if ever there was a song that sounded like a band obsessed with Jimmy Page it’s this one. Written by May between Smile and Queen it smacks of all that is annoying about 70s frilly-hippy-metal rock. Goofball lyrics (“Lucy was high and so was I), a sound so desperate Continue Reading

Liar opens Side Two of Queen and it is truly the moment when the band declared their importance in the pantheon of theatrical rock. It’s credited to Freddie Mercury but that was mainly because he decided that the lyricist (and hence the writer of the melody) should be the writer Continue Reading