A One-Paragraph Review of Every Queen Album

Discography Digest: Queen

[This is the fourth entry in a series — including David Bowie, Pearl Jam and Leonard Cohen — in which I listen to an artist’s entire discography of studio albums in chronological order over the course of a week.]

Everyone knows Queen’s big hits and loves at least a few of them. I never really got past the hits, but I liked everything that I knew of them. I always felt like there was a link between Queen and David Bowie — not just through their debut on “Under Pressure”. Being a big Bowie fan, I thought I should probably explore more of the Queen catalog.

We’re living in troubling and uncertain times, but the music of Queen celebrates freedom, joy, love, friendship and overcoming the crap that life throws at you. At the same time, it’s badass and defiant. And that’s a powerful combination.

This catalog includes 15 studio albums (including one released after Freddie Mercury’s death), and it took me four days to listen to in its entirety.

Queen (1973) — If it weren’t for Freddie Mercury’s distinct voice, much of Queen’s debut could be mistaken for a Led Zeppelin album. It’s good but fairly generic ’70s guitar rock. Although some of the places where they begin to explore their own sound are spotty and overstuffed, they find some real magic on songs like “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Jesus”, “Doin’ Alright” and “Great King Rat”. [Pay attention to the note about the album in “Catalog Observations”. I’m rethinking my initial take.]

Favorite Song: “Keep Yourself Alive”

Queen II (1974) — No hits on this album. This was 100% new to me. It’s a loose concept album with Side White (written mostly by May) and Side Black (written by Mercury). It’s not a competition … but Side Black wins. The second half of this album is where they seem to really figure out what kind of band Queen is.

Favorite Song: “The March of the Black Queen”

Sheer Heart Attack (1974) — This feels really transitional. There’s still some fairly bland, bloated classic rock, but they start getting really into the catchy, fun, epically harmonic, theatrical rock that they’re often known for. Songs like “Killer Queen” and “Bring Back Leroy Brown” must have been a shock to the system for fans who viewed Queen as a rough and tumble, Zeppelin-esque group of hard rockers. Absolutely the best album so far.

Favorite Song: “Killer Queen”

A Night At The Opera (1975) — It’s amazing that this album is just two years after their debut. They’re finally in full-fledged Queen mode. This album is so joyous and imaginative. It’s equally explosive and playful. They sound really confident and like a band in their prime. I love this.

I feel like “Bohemian Rhapsody” deserves a separate paragraph, because it’s THE BIG QUEEN SONG™. It’s clearly the standout track on the album, but it didn’t have the same impact that I expected. As I listened to it, I tried to imagine that it was the first time that I was hearing it. With those ears on, it’s not until you’re about halfway through the song that you realize that you’re listening to something special. Still, it’s on an album full of fireworks and theatrics. It’s the standout track, but not to the degree that you might expect.

Favorite Song: “Bohemian Rhapsody”

A Day at the Races (1976) — I keep focusing on the hits, but this album is all about “Somebody to Love”, monstrous gospel barnburner. This album is expertly crafted, but it’s also easy to ignore. Then, all of a sudden — BAM! I couldn’t help but think of the recently departed George Michael, who killed “Somebody to Love” at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1991. Also, the half-Japanese closer “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)” is strange, serene and wonderful.

Favorite Song: “Somebody to Love”

News of the World (1977) — This was the only Queen album that my dad owned on vinyl. Did “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” make this the Jock Jams of its day? This album is noticeable less aggressive than previous albums. They’re pretty far from their hard rock roots. That’s not a bad thing.

Favorite Song: tie — “Spread Your Wings” and “It’s Late”

Jazz (1978) — In case you’re curious, this album contains no jazz. This is definitely the most light-hearted Queen album so far. Some of it works better than others. I used to think that “Don’t Stop Me Now” was an outlier for Queen. In reality, they have a lot of fairly similar songs. It just works so much better than the previous iterations. Also, I’ve had enough of Roger Taylor. His songs are the worst.

Favorite Song: “Fat Bottom Girls”

The Game (1980) — This is a stripped down, funky rock and roll record, and it’s freakin’ fantastic. It drags a bit toward the end, but it might be their most consistent album yet.

Favorite Song: “Another One Bites The Dust”

Flash Gordon (1980) — WTF did I just listen to? So … Queen, one of the greatest rock and roll bands of its time, decided to the soundtrack to a campy superhero movie. One of rock’s greatest vocalists said, “I know. Let’s make an album of mostly instrumental songs.” Someone sensible (probably Brian May) said, “But don’t you think people will want to hear the human voice on this album?” Some unflappable moron (most definitely Roger Taylor) said, “I’ve got it! Let’s just use audio clips of dialogue from the movie. That’s much better than having Freddie Goddamn Mercury sing.” The end.

Favorite Song: “Flash’s Theme” Sure. Why not.

Hot Space (1982) — There’s nothing hot about it. Well, there is one thing. They tack “Under Pressure” (aka my favorite song of all time), which had been released as a single in 1981, on to the end. Other than that, this is mostly hacky ’80s schlock. Half of these songs remind me of “The Stroke” by Billy Squier. That’s not a compliment.

Favorite Song: “Under Pressure” By the largest margin imaginable

The Works (1984) — This is not a very interesting album, but it’s a pretty enjoyable one. It’s biggest hit, “Radio Ga Ga” and “I Want To Break Free”, are two of the band’s blandest singles and two of my personal favorites. Also, am I wrong, or is this the first album where Mercury sings lead on every song?

Favorite Song: “Hammer to Fall” (I really expected it to be “Radio Ga Ga”.)

A Kind of Magic (1986) — Let’s be straight: It’s not really accurate to use words like “boring” or “lifeless” to describe any song sung by Freddie Mercury. That said, this album is full of boring, lifeless songs. The sprawling “Who Wants to Live Forever” sounds eerie now knowing that Freddie Mercury would be diagnosed with AIDS the following year.

Favorite Song: “A Kind of Magic”

The Miracle (1989) — More of the same. Pass.

Favorite Song: “Breakthru”

Innuendo (1991) — Released less than a year before Mercury’s death, this is the final true Queen album. Much of it returns to the harder sound and complex arrangements of their earlier work. “Those Are the Days of Our Lives” should be corny and overly sentimental, but it’s powerful and heartbreaking in context. In order to bring a sense of unity and camaraderie to the recording sessions, all songs on Innuendo were given equal songwriting credits to all band members — breaking from the tradition of the other albums.

Favorite Song: “The Show Must Go On”

Made in Heaven (1995) — After the recording of Innuendo, Mercury knew that his time was limited. He recorded as much music as he could and instructed his band mates to finish it once he was gone. (Two cuts are recordings of songs from Mercury’s solo career.) This is a pretty unpopular album with Queen fans, but I think it’s far better than it has any right to be. It’s inconsistent and disjointed, but it’s a beautiful, joyous coda to a Queen’s brilliant career and Mercury’s legendary life.

Favorite Song: “Let Me Live”

Final Analysis

• Most Essential: A Night At The Opera
• Least Essential: Flash Gordon
• Overlooked Gem (Album): News of the World (It’s “overlooked” only in that it’s the one Queen album with several incredible songs — “It’s Late”, “Spread Your Wings”, “All Dead, All Dead”, “Sheer Heart Attack” — that were not the album’s biggest hits.)
• Overlooked Gems (Song): In the Lap of the Gods (Sheer Heart Attack), “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)” (A Day at the Races), “Hammer to Fall” (The Game)
• Best Moment: “GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE! [sonic explosion]”

Catalog Observations

• I was struck at how positive and inspiring much of Queen’s music is. Although their songs touch on a wide range of ideas and subjects, so many of them — “Spread Your Wings”, “I Want to Break Free”, “You’re My Best Friend”, “If You Can’t Beat Them”, “Under Pressure”, “We Are The Champions” — are about love, dreams and making the world a better place.
• POINT: If Freddie Mercury is your lead singer, don’t have other guys sing lead on a couple of songs. Brian May and Roger Taylor have very nice voices, but never make Freddie Mercury sit on the bench.
• COUNTERPOINT: Some of the songs sung by May and Taylor are really nice (like News of the World’s “All Dead, All Dead”), and they provide a nice balance to Mercury’s dynamism.
• Queen is an unusual band in that every member independently writes the songs. I can now usually tell which songs is written by which member. Here’s how I’d rank (worst to best) and describe them as songwriters :
• Roger Taylor — Generic meaty hard rock songs.
• John Deacon — All over the place, but often very twee and positive tunes
• Brian May — Soaring, triumphant guitar songs
• Freddie Mercury — Theatrical, imaginative and jumping into unexpected genres
• Even while listening to them in the context of the entire Queen catalog, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” are inseparable from their cultural baggage. They’re both good songs, but you can’t hear them without thinking of thousands of drunken sports fans. It’s particularly weird that they’re the first two songs on an album. I wonder what people thought of those songs when they were released.
• The song “Sheer Heart Attack” is not on the album Sheer Heart Attack. The album Sheer Heart Attack does not include the songs “Sheer Heart Attack”. That’s all.
• Although I didn’t think much of their debut when I first listened to it, “Doin’ Alright” and “Jesus” have really stuck with me. After listening to album after album from this band, those are the songs that I continue to find myself humming to myself.
• It’s worth pointing out that the song “Delilah” (Innuendo) is about Freddie Mercury’s cat. It includes him “meowing” and the lyric, “You make me slightly mad when you pee all over my Chippendale Suite.” Roger Taylor hated it — proving yet again that he was the band’s creative weak link.