| 4 x Vision 24.05.2009 21:14 |
I got into Queen in 91. 1st album was GH1... hooked. I then looked for more. I can actually remember each album i got since then. It was great cos I got albums in a very different order to their original timeline releases. I then got GH2... no brainer, loved it. Then Innuendo was loaned to me, loved it. Then Classic Queen... got to hear KYA... couldn't stop listening to it. BUT then I got Sheer Heart Attack... which I really couldn't get into. It really let me down. Some really poor songs (IN MY OPINION). Didn't like Brighton Rock, hated Tenement Funster, disliked Dear Friends, Misfire, She Makes Me. But it had some saving graces... a la the rest of the songs not mentioned... especially LOTG... revisted. I remember vividly being really let down cos I spent quite a bit of my pocket money to buy it lol (I was younger) and really wished I'd got a different one. (Luckily I got A Day At The Races next and i was blown away... fucking loved Millionaire Waltz). As I got more into the band, SHA album did grow on me and after a good few listens as I aged I appreciated it more and more. To anyone in the same boat who got to buy the back catalogue like me after 91 in any particular order, what albums first truly disappointed you? |
| 4 x Vision 24.05.2009 21:15 |
I'm gonna guess HOT SPACE comes up quite a lot he he (which I liked... although it was really strange to listen to first time... grew on me very quickly tho). |
| Yara 24.05.2009 21:37 |
Hi, Van Basten! Is it because of the Dutch (?) player? My father liked him a lot. :-) I'm sure many people will come to join the thread, but, for the time being, so you can already have a taste of what people here on Queenzone think about it, take a look at this thread: http://www.queenconcerts.com/queenzone/1177095.html It's pretty helpful and compreheensive in the sense that many people took part in it and it addressed all these questions: the worst album, the worst song, and then the best album and the best songs. Some users made some helpful comments and there was discussion here and there regarding some of the albums. I hope you enjoy it. Take care and have a nice week! Yara |
| Lookin' Divine In Good Ol' '89 24.05.2009 21:38 |
Yeah Van. I got the albums afterwards too. My first Queen album was actually Sheer Heart Attack. I kind of liked it but not extremely. It grew on me though, after a few listens and is now one of my favs. Queen I, for some frickin' reason, I can't get into. The songs are good, but it's not as aurally attracting as say The Miracle. Queen II I mainly liked but couldn't understand. Dont know why. I love it now however and it is great. Especially Ogre Batlle and Father To Son. Love Opera, Races and Jazz. I, for some time, hated The Game and News because of their genericism. Their great though after a few true listens though i dont overplay them. Hot Space actually is one I loved right off the bat simply because of its true difference from the other albums. I LOVE Calling All Girls and Staying Power. The Works Is a great album where even the non-hits are hits if you know what i mean. It also sounds really good. Magic I disliked at first because of the OKAY mid-eighties production. But Queen are the only band that could pull that off. With the massively booming drums commonly found on 80's records nowhere in sight, and great rockers such as Vision, Princes, Prize and the live version of Magic, I was attracted to it further. The Miracle: HO SHIT! I LOVE THIS ALBUM! I have no idea why, but i am drawn to this album like a fly to a lamp. Its got so many great rockers and pop songs and is HIGHLY underrated and often disliked for reasons unbeknownst to me. Innuendo. I used to think it had some weird but good sound to it as compared to the other albums. Great songs and great Fredward vocals. Now Made In Heaven. Different story. I actually almost hated it originally but in the years past it has grown on me. I recently caught MIH fever and would listen to it about 3 to 5 times a day. he songs make me really sad and happy at the same time as i have experienced major losses of life in my lifetime. As you can see, many albums i disliked, but they grew on me. This was not the case with Cosmos. I am open to the whole Q+PR thing and was expecting a great album. I was wrong. It has about 4 or 5 good songs, but I just cant be bothered to find the time to fully listen to it yet after having it 10 months. I guess in no short story, this paragraph answers your question. |
| 4 x Vision 24.05.2009 21:45 |
Yara wrote: Hi, Van Basten! Is it because of the Dutch (?) player? My father liked him a lot. :-) I'm sure many people will come to join the thread, but, for the time being, so you can already have a taste of what people here on Queenzone think about it, take a look at this thread: http://www.queenconcerts.com/queenzone/1177095.html It's pretty helpful and compreheensive in the sense that many people took part in it and it addressed all these questions: the worst album, the worst song, and then the best album and the best songs. Some users made some helpful comments and there was discussion here and there regarding some of the albums. I hope you enjoy it. Take care and have a nice week! Yara Thanks Yara, interesting thread, but I'm really wanting to know of which album kind of stopped people's momentum of getting into Queen and finding their back catalogue? SHA to me kind of shocked me as it was a let down compared to what I'd already bought/heard/loved (even though it was mainly the GHs I'd only heard so obvious to why it might have been the case I'd dislike a proper album). It was the JAZZ thread that's running that made me think about it... got me thinking of what album put some doubts into my mind about Queen (very short lived doubts I must admit ha ha). |
| steven 35638 24.05.2009 23:36 |
Interesting thread, Van. When first getting into Queen, which was six or seven years ago, I first bought their Greatest Hits [Hollywood Records] and naturally progressed to Classic Queen [Hollywood Records]. Soon afterwards, I bought Greatest Video Hits II, which formally introduced me to the image of the band. I then bought A Night at the Opera, then Queen II, etc. In all the time that I collected, I not once found a studio album that I actually disliked -- in fact, I thought each album was a delight! It wasn't until after collecting all of their material that I became aware of the albums that I found "less than ultimate satisfactory." So, to answer your question, during my years of collection I never really stopped to think, "Wow, this record blows." But now, after speculation, I do consider the following albums less than ultimate satisfactory, although I do not dislike them per se: Jazz (least favorite), The Works, and A Kind of Magic. |
| lalaalalaa 25.05.2009 00:15 |
I never disliked any of the albums, but QII took longest to get into. I also had trouble getting into the song Innuendo because I was a little more focused on the video than the music which kind of ruined it. |
| john bodega 25.05.2009 00:24 |
I'd have to say the Magic album, definitely. The thing about Hot Space was that I had many warnings in the form of fan reviews. I knew what to expect and thus it never let me down. With Magic, I knew I loved some of the Highlander tracks, and totally wasn't expecting the album to be so short or crap. "Pain is So Close to Pleasure" literally made me throw my headphones off and exclaim "what the HELL is this shit??". I remember that very well because it made everyone in the house look at me funny. Ah well. |
| Yara 25.05.2009 00:53 |
Hi, Van Basten! Thanks for the thread! The first album I was not that excited about was Innuendo. I started off with A Night At the Opera and A Day At The Races, and then I found the cover of Innuendo cute - lol, it's serious - and since it was one of Queen's last albums, I decided to give it a try, after having already had my Eureka moment, which happened when I first played News of The World, my favorite Queen album up until today. The reason: I didn't like the way Freddie sounded in the album at all. It may come across as a despicable heresy, I know, but the tone of his voice was unpleasant to me at that point. Plus, I couldn't relate that much to the songs - Delilah got me very embarrassed, it didn't seem like the band which had released the "robot album", as I called "News of The World" when I was a kid, hehe. The whole album seemed to rely on very predictable clichés at the time I listened to it, so it was kind of a shock - maybe Queen wasn't as good as I thought. ;-) Then I got to listen to the other albums and thoroughly enjoyed most of them. I listened a lot to Sheer Heart Attack and Jazz. I had always liked Queen II. The Game was, at first, disappointing. I remember really disliking - I still do - "Another One Bites The Dust". Freddie's vocals were shrill, the song sounded to me boring, flat and dull. I didn't enjoy the rest of the tracks either - the redeeming songs were Dragon Attack, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and I Need Your Loving Tonight. I didn't know what to make out of "Save Me" and "Play The Game" at that point - I only came to love both songs when Milton Keynes and Montreal 81 were released. When I listened to how those songs sounded live, I felt in love with them - both the studio and the live versions. Hot Space renewed my interest on the band and is still one of Queen's most interesting albums to me - if the album consisted only of Action This Day, Staying Power, Put Out The Fire and Under Pressure, I'd have been satisfied, but I enjoyed the other songs as well - Back Chat, and so on. About this time my interest in the band ceased. I wasn't curious to get to know the rest of the material - "that was it", for me. Then my father, who was no Queen fan, told me that the band I liked so much had become quite legendary because of a performance in a festival held back in 1985 - it was Live Aid. I loved Radio Ga-Ga and Hammer To Fall so much when I watched the performances that I decided to get the album - strangely enough, I love "The Works". It's an album I thoroughly enjoy. I love it. It's unexplainable, yes, maybe a guilty pleasure, but I do love it. :op I was interested again in the band just to lose all the interest when I first listened to "The Miracle". It was for me the debacle - I said to myself: "This is really bad". I didn't like Innuendo and I could barely stand Made in Heaven. My views changed over time. The album I like the least, an album which I did come to like, but not so much as the others, is "The Miracle", but the first one which got me frustrated was "Innuendo". Nowadays I'm an acritical hysterical stupid blind fan, but it has not always been like this. :op End of story. Hehe. |
| mike hunt 25.05.2009 02:27 |
believe it or not "a day at the races" was my least favorite when I first started listening to queen. The only stuff I knew was the first 8 albums, and to me races was a weak attempt at trying to recreate opera. back then I was more of a hard rock guy and races I thought didn't have enough of them. Now of course it's different, races is in my top 3 queen albums, and keeps getting better with age. 80's Queen in general was a nice surprise, i heard horrible things about the 80's stuff. I remember going to the record shop and trying to buy hot space and the worker told me not to bother buying the CD. Stick with 70's queen, but I had all of the 70's, I wanted hot space for my collection. I finally convinced him to sell me the CD, lol. I didn't listen to it for weeks, and then decided to pop it in the player. I was surprised it actually had some quality songs, and the same for the other 80's albums. Expected the worst, but they wern't as bad as I thought. Of course not the quality of the 70's, but I think the horrible 80's Queen is so exaggerated. |
| john bodega 25.05.2009 02:47 |
It really does depend who you ask. I've been told that Races was a pale imitation of Opera, but honestly I think it was a case of lightning striking twice and then some. They managed to write songs in the same categories as those on the first album, but there was no real rehashing going on. I think it was inspired! |
| mike hunt 25.05.2009 04:38 |
Races is an album that gets better as you age, it's simply a brilliant album. Opera has higher moments, but Races is a little more consistent. Love them both. |
| Back2TheLight 25.05.2009 05:36 |
Jazz and Hot Space are tied for least favorite albums for me, however, having said that, both albums have their merits...Fat Bottomed Girls is always a jam, as is Put Out the Fire...Jazz just sounded like Queen lost their direction. The Game was cool, but I don't know what happened with Hot Space. Yeah, it was the times, ok fine, but from a rock band of Queen's stature? I thought The Miracle and Innuendo were some of their finest moments, really...esp. Innuendo...regardless whether or not it was Freddie's real last true "album", Innuendo was a straight masterpiece across the board...minus Delilah...never really cared for that song, even tho the guitar solo is cool... |
| gooddrills 25.05.2009 07:29 |
I too got into Queen in 1991 when I was 11. It started with GH1 when I found my Dad's cassette copy, I played it to death. I loved the diversity of the music and basically became addicted to Freddies voice, as I still am today. I progressed through the albums in no particular order, whichever ones I found at the record store or car boot sales. I found their later stuff more accessable at that age and the rest grew on me with time. I'm not sure I could pick a least favourite album, hand on heart I love them all. Some just took me longer to get into, such as Queen 2, but once I did there was no looking back. I guess like others on Queenzone I've gone through stages of playing certain Queen albums more than others and switching from time to time. They all have their own unique qualities. I can appreciate peoples opinions on albums such as the Miracle, some of the songs are a bit cheesy I guess but I still really love them all the same, they're just good fun songs. It's cool because I've grown up with them different songs mean different things to me and take me back to different parts of my life. My favourite album is possibly Innuendo, fantastic production and amazing vocals from Fred considering. In reference to AKOM I actually really like PISCTP! Sorry but I do. Anyway, it's all about personal taste, if we all liked the same stuff it would be boring. Maybe Flash would be my least favourite album, it works well as a soundtrack but I wouldn't stick it on in the car! The Hero is a wicked tune though. |
| andreas_mercury 25.05.2009 07:31 |
made in heaven i could never love it at first because freddie was gone forever and it just hurt to be so close to hearing new QUEEN but knowing that it was a trick and could never be ............ |
| Mr Mercury 25.05.2009 09:18 |
The first album I liked least (at the time) was The Game. It just didnt do anything for me. Its one of three albums by the band that I hardly ever play. Its not my least favourite now, of course. That mantle goes to either The Works or The Miracle (and sometimes Hot Space, depending on my mood at the time) |
| SaskQueenFan 25.05.2009 10:27 |
It was not an album that I loathed first.. it was the combined We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions... its not that I disliked the songs, but they were played to death on the radio.. you couldn't go 5 mins without hearing it... it made me despise the songs. After that, a friend turned me on to Queen after listening to the Game. I went out and bought some of albums I could find, Opera, Races, News of the World(that is when Rock You/Champions started to grow on me.) The album that disappointed me was Hot Space. I did buy it when it first came out, but the whole first side was disappointing, with the minor excpetion of Body Language. Then came Put Out the Fire... I nearly took the record off the turntable. Then the Song for Lennon, Calling All Girls and Las Palabras De Armour... redeemed the album a bit. Those three songs were the ones I waiting for... the real Queen. Those three songs... along with Body Language and Under Pressure kind of saved the record. The rest you can toss out. Queen also redeemed themselves with the Works , which to me, the best album they recorded in the 80's, after the Game. |
| JacquesDaniels 25.05.2009 11:39 |
Dislike first? The first Queen album I bought... no, make that a plural - were NOTW and AKOM. Both were slightly disappointing at first, but grew on me with a few listens. I had listened to many other albums for a couple of years until I managed to start collecting them on my own, so I started with ones I hadn't heard at all yet, aside from the songs on the GH albums. The first - and only - Queen album that I really couldn't bother listening to for a while since purchase was Flash Gordon. But now I love even that one. =) I can see that most of the people here who are bound to get disappointed to some Queen albums are those who are genre-specifically oriented music listeners anyway. Understandably, those of you who hate funk and disco and other groove-driven music, can't stand most songs on Hot Space and The Miracle. Then there's the strictly-rock-type people here who seem to find fault with every song that isn't of the "guitar-based trio plus vocals" type straightforward rocker -- except for Sweet Lady. Well, I dislike songs that have not been given too much thought by the musicians before putting it on the record. My top 5 Queen songs that make me go "aargh" at the moment, in not any particular order, and not counting Q+PR stuff: Gimme The Prize, Jesus, Delilah, We Will Rock You, More Of That Jazz. |
| Amazon 25.05.2009 12:37 |
My least favourite album, among the 14 original studio albums, is The Miracle, however there are two albums that really trouble me: ADATR and Innuendo. I can't get into either. Alot of Queen fans rave about ADATR and Innuendo, and so I've tried to give them a chance, but I honestly can't. Regarding ADATR; I find the production to be really dull and nowhere near as fresh as that of Sheer Heart Attack and ANATO, and I think that the album suffers greatly coming after ANATO; Queen's greatest album IMO. Tie Your Mother Down, although good, is a really disappointing way to start the album; it doesn't have the freshness or pure aggression of Brighton Rock and Death On Two Legs. Album openers are important; Brighton Rock suggested that SHA was special, that it was different and that it was essentric. Death On Two Legs (probably Queen's best ever opener IMO) epitomised the brilliance and daring of ANATO. Tie Your Mother Down, however, just comes across to me as lame. Well, not maybe lame, but it's certainly not among my 20 favourite Queen songs. Beyond that, I don't love Long Away which IMO is a poor man's version of '39; I've never been able to get into Drowse, Teo Torriatte or White Man, and I used to love Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy but now I greatly prefer Seaside Rendezvous. Additionally The Millionaire Waltz and You TAke My Breath Away have amazing voacls but are not among my favourite songs while You and I is good but pales in comparison to what I consider to be John's masterpiece, In Only Seven Days. The one genuinely awesome song on the album is Somebody To Love, which is generally the major reason why I ever listen to the album. The reason why I consider The Miracle to be my least favourite album, and not ADATR, is that I've listened to the Miracle in full from start to finish, which I have not done with ADATR. I've listened to the songs individually, and several of them not in a while, and I don't think I can really judge it unless I listen to in full. The problem however is that it's just so difficult. Perhaps if they had a different opener. The album just doesn't welcome me in the same way that most other Queen albums do, and I think it's a combination of inconsistent and less than amazing songs, a disappointing opener and overrated production. Innuendo is another album that troubles me as it is the only other Queen album which I'm yet to listen to in full. The major reason is that I find it to be quite cold to begin with. It's well made, like almost all of Queen's music, but it alienates me. Additionally, I don't believe that the songs on the album are as wonderful as many fans make them out to be. There are songs that I really like and in some cases love; The Show Must Go On, These Are The Days of our Lives, All God's People, Headlong, I Can't Live With You, and one or two others. But generally speaking, the songs don't thrill me in the same way that many other Queen songs do, and alot of them leave me cold. I do think that Queen released a masterpiece during the 90's, but IMO it was MIH. Anyway, like ADATR, I can't really judge it as I'm yet to listen to it in full from start to finish, which is why The Miracle is my least favourite album, and not either ADATR or Innuendo. BTW, I've had a complicated history with ADATR and Innuendo. Many years ago, I bought the two albums, didn't like them and replaced them with Hot Space and Queen Rocks. In the past 3 or 4 years, upon completing my collection, I finally acquired these two albums. |
| pittrek 25.05.2009 13:23 |
I think the first album which I didn't like was Queen II, which is pretty strange since it's one of my favorites now :) |
| nmkosak 25.05.2009 13:41 |
I started with GH I & II and then continued with AKOM and Live Magic. Then I got a couple of the older albums and at first I honestly didn't know what to do with QUEEN, their first album. I even had my doubts then that QUEEN could really become my favourite band. The music was hard to get into (except Keep Yourself Alive, which I loved from the first time I heard it). I thought I could NEVER know those melodies and lyrics by heart, but now I do. It's still one of the QUEEN-albums I don't listen to very often, but I like it and I think it's a very good debut. |
| ITSM 25.05.2009 20:26 |
I didn't like A Day At The Races for many years, but it's now my favourite (and it has been for many years). |
| comingsoonkid 29.05.2009 14:18 |
definately made in heaven... Its ok but Ive never really liked it... |
| bohemianrhap84 23.06.2009 14:18 |
I'm probably gonna catch flac for this but I hated Queen II when I first listened to it, with the exceptions of White Queen, The March Of The Black Queen and Seven Seas Of Rhye. But it slowly grew on me and now I enjoy listening to it with the exception of Some Day One Day and Father To Son (depending on my mood whether or not I enjoy this song) |
| doxonrox 23.06.2009 21:26 |
Hot Space - I ran to the store to buy it, ran home to listen to it, and then ran back to the store to return it. I can find things I like about it now, but back then it was a major disappointment. |
| Saint Jiub 24.06.2009 00:11 |
I was somewhat disappointed with The Game, as they added synths, became more poppy predictable, rocked less, and lost their Bo Rhap feel. It was a notable "drop off" from their trademark sound in the 70's. The Flash Gordon soundtrack had about 10 good minutes, but the rest was very blah. Hot Space, in my opinion, was a wrong turn by Queen, and the emphasis on funk was disappointing for me. However there was some excellent tracks on these albums, and I did not stray from Queen (like most of the USA). |
| dragon-fly 24.06.2009 12:06 |
My "Queen story" started from "Highlander"- the movie which impressed me a lot. In some magazine I read that soundtrack for it was made by the band "Queen". So I asked my cousine for details. Of course, first of all he told that Queen is over by now, that Freddie Mercury died of AIDS and that he was gay. By the way, lots of people doesn't know about Bohemian Rhapsody, great Red Special or collaboration Mercury with Caballe- but everybody knows about We Will Rock You/Champions and AIDS- weird attitude... Than my cousine let me to listen Bijou (in fact it was first Queen song which I listened properly). It was fantastic! Than I bought Greatest Hits 3. Than I got A Day At The Races- and it brought me confusion. I just didn't know how to react on You Take My Breath Away, Drowse and Millionaire Waltz- what is that? I can't say I disliked it, but I was a bit weird for me. Than were some more albums- my desire to know more pushed me ahead. Next surprise Made On Heaven- which I suppose lighter than the others. And a shock followed with Queen- the first one. That one was the closest to the word "dislike". But now I love all of tham, and especially their versatility! |
| MercuryArts 27.06.2009 10:16 |
Least favorite, handsd down... A Kind Of Magic. Followed closely by The Works. Both albums are entirely to short. Apart from the good, not great songs on Magic, the ones that are generally agreed to be junk; Pain, Friends, DLYH even Prize isn't anything to write home about, although I do like the "bag pipes" in the solo, just kill the album. It's almost unlistenable. |
| John Oswald 27.06.2009 13:53 |
The first album that I wasn't that keen on was Queen 1. Although I do love Keep Yourself Alive I wasn't that keen on the album itself |