Hello again back with another review of the third queen album 'sheer heart attack' my favourite album by queen, taking a rather different direction fom the previous albums and recorded in different circumstances too.
Recorded in 4 studios air,wessex,rockfield and trident from mid 74 to autumn 74 whilst the band were in the middle of a tour in the usa,brian may is struck down with hepatitis and bed ridden for months the guys started without him on this outing whilst brian set down his stuff later when recovering from a duodencal ulcer also POOR CHAP!!.
Brighton rock starts off the album with freddie singing with a falsetto voice about the gay illumnations along the promenade and a great middle section from brian with delays counter harmonies galore, obviously improved on since it's foetus 'blag' was created some 5 years before.
Killer queen next a song written by mercury about a high class call girl a classic queen song and one which was kept off the number 1 spot by david essex's song 'gonna makke you a star' there's no justice is there!!.
Tenement funister great song written by roger and his third outing on a queen album i love this song, roger's vocals suit this song and it features IMO one of the best guitar solo's ever by brian it then segues into
Flick of the wrist written by mercury apparantly something to do with the management they were under at the time, a good song both studio and live sounding great it then leads into
Lily of the valley mercury penned lovely ballad from freddie written about his obvious love life and searching for the right one for him, i like the guitar part at the end nice touch.
Now i'm here finishes side 1 brian penned this tune written as a tribute to mott the hoople this song was also released as a single and did well,it was usually a show starter in late 74 and later grew and grew in every way.
Side2 starts with In the lap of the gods mercury penned track starts with roger's screams as if his bollocks were jammed in a vice and mercury sings thru this starter before screaming into
Stone cold crazy the first "may taylor mercury deacon" collaboration a fast rocker that blasts it's way thru before having chance to take in some air.
Dear friends may penned track a short song ballad nice number to ease up the pace of the album.
Misfire next and mr deacon's first written track on a queen album and what a debut great vocals from freddie and almost all guitars by john deacon, obviously brian was ill when this was recorded.
Bring back that leroy brown mercury penned track with fred in one of his sillier moments added with ukelele banjo no less.
She makes me(stormtrooper in stilettoes) may penned track about WHAT EXACTLY this song has to be the worst they ever done,it goes nowhere and that's all i can say about it.
In the lap of the god's(revisted) ends the album with a mercury penned track leaving it in the hands of the god's nice track, kinda sounds like "hey jude" nearer the end wo wo la la wo la ooh indeed and then the studio blows up at the end to finish the album.
Fantastic album full of rock,pop slow ballad type tracks and a deacon penned song and one album that's always looked at by rock mags as one of the best rock albums ever, and i think it recently made no.7 in the best albums ever by kerrang so it can't be that bad especially with B.rock killer queen now i'm here and stone cold crazy on it.
It was almost no.1 in the album charts peaking at no.2 making it their most successful to date until the next time........ .
Yeah i do like the way brian sings she makes me but i don't like the music very much, very repetitive and lily of the valley IS about his love life check out the documentary "freddie mercury and kenny everett" and it's widely discussed as a part of freddie's life he was struggling with,hence his own sexuality and therefore the lily of the valley doesn't know.
Ask others i'm sure they've seen this documentary mind you thomas your from holland so unless you have a copy you might not know,it was showing on channel 4 a few years ago and it details freddie and kenny's connection with each other and a certain russian who was to play a deadly part in both their lives.