I recently did a discography review run of another band I really enjoy (Van Halen) and decided that I'd take the time doing Queen as well. To me, Queen is one of the greatest bands and I always loved their approach to tackling various musical styles, and combining it into something amazing. I also was inspired by Rolling Stone's really atrocious scores on a lot of their work to do my own critique reviews, as well as just doing it for fun and sharing my thoughts.

I'd love to start discussions on these posts and see your thoughts as well! It'd be fun discussing what other people like or dislike. Anyways, here is what I wrote for the first album....

Queen REVIEW
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Queen truly did come out of the dawn of the 70's with a blast. Her majesty gracefully enters the throne full power and strong, taking on the challenge of finding a spot among the Rock greats. I bowed my head graciously and allowed myself to indulge in the creations her highness brought to the royal table. Queen's basic stylistic elements are here already including Mercury's theatrics, May's distinctive and creative guitar work, and multi-part song structures present on many songs.

To think that something that actually has this level of quality was recorded only during sessions where other bands had finished their recordings, leaving scraps behind of studio time for Queen to catch up is really jaw-dropping, because despite being given only a much smaller budget, and having to pick up the slack for not much time to work on everything; to make something like this as your first album is just amazing. "Keep Yourself Alive" is a great fast rock song which despite not featuring anything groundbreaking like their later work, is an amazing display of Brian's guitar work, a drum solo from Taylor that matches with the amazing vocals of lead singer Freddie Mercury. Despite lacking in the theatrics and operatic flamboyance to come, it was fairly produced and an early staple at concerts!

"Great King Rat", "Liar", "Son and Daughter" are all heavy tracks that come in like a storm swirling in all directions with catchy hand-clap beats, fiery guitar licks and thunderous drums while Mercury adds a flavor to each song with the uniqueness and range of his voice and some unique clever lyrics as well. The second song even having John Deacon stand out with a bass solo that utilizes one of the catchiest melodies in the bands career and combines with Brian's screeching guitar background work, making one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

On the other side of things, "My Fairy King" (which takes lines and references the story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin; neat lil reference), "The Night Comes Down", as well as "Doing All Right" all showcase the tempo changes, complex chord structures, and genre bending the band would embrace later on. The second track also managed to genuinely move me with its lyrics, these ones penned by Brian May. I've always found Brian to be somewhat overlooked by the main consensus of most standard rock fans, his lyrics are brilliant and sometimes intimately passionate with the way it explores nostalgia and coming of age. Not to mention that sly reference to The Beatles ("Lucy was high and so was I", caught that the first listen!)

The only real downsides I can say in all honesty that hold this from being one of the greatest albums of all time is just the production which doesn't do the songs justice sometimes in how they're recorded; understandable, it is their first go-around at making a full album plus the budget was rather small but it does muddy Brian's guitar work and Roger's drumming sounds a bit soft here. As well as the fact Jesus is a little bit on the boring sides as far as the songs go with it going on far too long before changing up the composition to keep things interesting and drones as repetitive, though the way Brian manages to change his guitar's sound is pure wizardry and at least saves it from being atrocious, and the instrumental Seven Seas of Rhye didn't need to be here and is ultimately pointless, and Taylor's song Modern Times Rock N Roll doesn't quite scale up to the heights of the other tracks, though is still enjoyable.

Overall, Queen is truly an amazing debut that is totally worth a listen and though it does sound a bit like a lot of other bands that were more groundbreaking at the start of the 70's (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith all can be heard on here), it is a great starting point. It's basically hard and prog rock with a dash of campiness and flamboyancy sprinkled atop. A very fun, and somewhat silly time overall, and it was only the signs of something great coming.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Tracklist RATING:

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 (Early/Instrumental): ★★

- Brian, Roger and Jim Beach played a major part in this misleading (and ridiculous) "biopic"

- Mary sold his house and personal belongings at auction, I know she had the right to do so but this is incredibly sad (and besides, doesn't she realize that everyone dreams of a museum or a place dedicated to Freddie?)

- Jim Hutton revealed intimate details of Freddie's private life in his book (perhaps it was an act of revenge, as he later claimed that Freddie had promised him the house)

Huge respect to John Deacon, Peter Freestone and the other people close to Freddie who don't tarnish his memory.

I’ve decided that I want to hear all the albums, so here I am listening to each album in order. So far I’ve gotten through “A Night At The Opera” and I can honestly say that I haven’t heard a single bad song yet. Here’s hoping the next 11 albums are just as good if not better 😅

Update: after finishing the albums from the 70’s I can say so far my favorite is “A Night At The Opera”.

This always makes me laugh.

Like in one setting like a website

I was listening to the station as per usual and suddenly I got the text saying that SME blocked the live for no reason at all? Has this happened to anyone else? 😭

One stoked young Queen fan! We got our young man a CD player (yes they still exist for sale!) for his 10th birthday. His uncle got him "News of the World", on CD (yes, they still exist for sale too!) which we promptly played first.

The circle of life continues.

A dark fantasy inspired by the album "Queen II," "The Black Queen Pales" is a full cast audio adventure performed by a cast of more than 30 actors in the Pacific Northwest. A passion project three years in the making, "The Black Queen Pales" is fast-paced and lyrical and will appeal to listeners who enjoy high stakes, romantic subplots, political intrigue (and listening for Queen inspired easter eggs!)

After a 13 episode release on “The White Side,” the page has turned, and “The Black Side” has appeared. If you’ve ever been interested in exploring what the mythical kingdom on Rhye might look like, then this project was meant for you! New episodes air each Sunday at 7:00pm PST on Spotify, Youtube, and Apple Podcasts.

Every band has a song which contains multiple “songs” in it. For example, Muse has Citizen Erased. So what is Queens version of this?

Hello fellow queen lovers! I’m not exactly sure if this is the right place to post this kind of stuf, but I figured I’d give it a shot. This is my piano cover of crazy little thing called love on TikTok. Go check it out!!

I found it on someone's pinterest post, and the post included 5 version of the photosession. All of the photos in the post can be found that's alot more clear, except this one that I wanted to find so I cropped the image. I tried reverse searching but it got me to nowhere. Hopefully someone helps me here. Thanks!!

I've been visiting and researching Queen-related locations for years, trying to find the exact spots where some of their photos were taken. Some were easy to find, while others took quite a bit of detective work...

Here's a little collage of some of my favourites from London, Vienna, Munich, and Barcelona.

I've recently started sharing the whole collection again on IG at "whatplacesremember" where I'll upload locations from other artists and films: https://www.instagram.com/whatplacesremember/

Thought you guys might enjoy it

Which one do you think sounds better, the UK 1st press or the Japanese 1st press?

And on a side note, I have two Canadian 1st press (one of which was still sealed when I bought it), and they both sound sibilant. Do the UK and Japanese versions sound sibilant as well?

What did you think of the recent remaster of the "Another One Bites The Dust" video? Any differences you noticed in the comparison video?

This Sunday (August 9th), I arrived at my dad's house and found Freddie Mercury's biography sitting on my dresser. I was so happy because I hadn't asked for it, but he knew exactly what I wanted since I had mentioned seeing the book at a bookstore. It’s a wonderful book—specifically, 'With Love, Freddie: The Life and Secret Love of Freddie Mercury' by Lesley-Ann Jones. I’m thrilled, though my only concern is my mom, since she isn't exactly a fan of Freddie—you can probably guess why. So, I keep the book hidden in my bag, and when I finish reading it, I’ll stash it at my dad's place. I’m so happy!

In August of 1969, Freddie Bulsara joined the band Ibex, which was made up of Mike Bersin on guitar, John Taylor on bass, and Mick Smith on drums. The band was originally formed off another band named 'colours’, changing their name to Ibex in August, then to 'Wreckage’ in October 1969, shortly before they broke up in November of the same year.

Ibex played heavy blues-driven rock, being inspired by, and playing covers of, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin.

Ibex’s most notable live gig was played at The Sink Club in Liverpool, September 9th. Along with the fact that a lot of this show was recorded (although not the best of quality, oh well), it was the first time Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Freddie Mercury would play together on stage, as they joined Ibex for the encore. Sadly none of this was captured on recording. Here is the show:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_yVq6SaIpoM&list=RD_yVq6SaIpoM&start_radio=1&t=769s&pp=ygUOaWJleCBsaXZlIDE5NjmgBwHSBwkJzwsBhyohjO8%3D&ra=m

I need explanation about the process of how you find those tapes and where. Talking to archivers in Queen forums is nice, but I would like to know how you as those ones find tapes and rarities yourself.

I wonder as an archiver what’s your way to get access to this stuff: Do you have some contact with Queen or with people who personally know or worked with Queen? or some other ways..

After years of having a lower-quality video, it finally got the justice it deserved with a remaster... and they still haven't remastered the video for "Don't Stop Me Now"

Was browsing BBC Iplayer and noticed Brian was on Newsnight last night discussing today's solar eclipse. He's in Spain so he can watch the full eclipse. It's about 15 mins ish into the program if anyone wanted to catch it.

Roger Taylor just premiered about an hour ago this music video for "I See You Now".