|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 16:28:55 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 16:28:55 GMT
I agree that the lyrics of White Man are pretty bad. That's one of the reasons that the song didn't land with me upon first listen. I also feel like the songs about the plight of the Native American sound hollow in general, even if that's not their intention. But, much like Cherokee, and also Anthrax's Indians, I can overlook that because the music is good.
|
|
bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 17:41:53 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Oct 18, 2019 17:41:53 GMT
A Day at the Races is among my top 3 Queen albums, and definitely one of the ones I listen to most often. It feels as if they were just soaring on this unique energy, coming off A Night at the Opera, and yet they kind of dialed it back a bit to create something with a more restrained kind of opulence. Having said that, it’s an album that does deserve to stand on its own and not slink the in the shadows of its predecessor.
Somebody to Love is the album’s crown jewel - but so many of the other songs on this album are criminally underrated. The Millionaire Waltz, for example, is stunning, but relatively unknown, and I feel like that’s due to it being cheerful rather than tragic. The aching drama of You Take My Breath Away is another that comes to mind. The nostalgic Drowse is Roger’s best song yet, and even his lyrics are good! Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy is delightfully fun and so is the New Year’s Eve celebration of You and I.
Even though there is an equal balance between joyful and sombre numbers, more or less, on the whole it feels like a very celebratory album - at least I always come away from it feeling that way. I suppose the hopeful Teo Torriate is in no small way responsible for that. I love that they gave something special to their Japanese fans, the people who made them feel like the Beatles. It really demonstrates how they felt (and I think, still feel) about creating mutual, unbreakable relationships with their fans.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 17:49:32 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 17:49:32 GMT
A couple other things sprang to mind after reading some other takes.
KDS mentioned that it's only got one Brian May vocal, which I hadn't considered and thought initially must not be right ... but it's right. Just the one.
bellbottoms and KDS referenced Teo Torriate as a nod to the Japanese fans, and I think that's true. It's also probably an example of their canny marketing. They did something similar with Las Palabras de Amor as a nod to their Spanish speaking fans around the world.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 18:10:20 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 18:10:20 GMT
A couple other things sprang to mind after reading some other takes.
KDS mentioned that it's only got one Brian May vocal, which I hadn't considered and thought initially must not be right ... but it's right. Just the one.
bellbottoms and KDS referenced Teo Torriate as a nod to the Japanese fans, and I think that's true. It's also probably an example of their canny marketing. They did something similar with Las Palabras de Amor as a nod to their Spanish speaking fans around the world.
As far as I know, Queen only performed Teo Torriate in concert when it Japan. Brian and Roger continued to do that with Queen + Paul Rodger and Adam Lambert.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 18:14:49 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 18:14:49 GMT
It's cool they do it there, but a shame they haven't done it elsewhere all along. It's a beautiful song, a perfect singalong chorus, very powerful... I love the song. (So does my mom, of all people! Years ago, when I [as the youngest kid] went away to college, she put together a little homemade cookbook for each of us kids, and it included little sayings on the bottoms and tops of pages. One was the refrain of Teo Torriate! The English rendition, that is.)
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 18:50:45 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 18:50:45 GMT
I guess they really wanted that song to be special and unique to Japan, but I agree it would've been nice to play that song to everyone. It probably would've become more popular as a result.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 21, 2019 12:56:34 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 21, 2019 12:56:34 GMT
NEWS OF THE WORLD (1977)
With News of the World, I think Queen transitioned into their Arena Rock Era, which took them into the early 1980s. I think there's a bit of a shift from Days to News. Freddie started singing with a little more machismo, and I think the songs are great, but lack that certain over the top Queen-ness of those first five albums.
The album begins with the iconic one-two punch of We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions, two songs that are forever linked. To be honest, I've heard We Will Rock You so much at sporting events, that I rarely have any interest in actually sitting down to listen to it on its own. We Are the Champions is the boastful anthem that would sound pompous by any other band.
We Are the Champions is the popular power ballad on NOTW, but frankly, I think John Deacon's Spread Your Wings is a better song, despite the lack of background vocals, which is pretty odd for a Queen song, and one of several Queen oddities on this album. The others being the fact that Sheer Heart Attack and Fight From the Inside are almost entirely done by Roger Taylor. The former has Freddie on lead, and a couple guitar notes from Brian, but it's mostly a Roger project, and IMO, not a very good one. A little too punkish for my taste, and one of my least favorite 70s Queen songs. The later is a better song, but even more of a Roger only piece since he provided lead and background vocals. Queen was such a tight band that it makes little sense to me to have multiple songs that are basically solo songs.
Another misstep, in my opinion, is Get Down Make Love. Although the middle section, played by May's guitar is somewhat interesting. I feel like the subject matter has been handled far better by the likes of Bad Company, AC/DC, and even Queen themselves on the previous album's Tie Your Mother Down. But, like Sheer Heart Attack, it also became a live staple for about five years.
Brian May has two lead vocals with the piano ballad All Dead All Dead and the shuffle Sleeping on the Sidewalk. Both songs are pretty good, but IMO, nothing overly special.
The album closes in fine fashion, first with Brian May's It's Late, a song imagined as a three act play. While it doesn't measure up to some other Queen epics, I think the light / shade elements work very well on the song.
Freddie Mercury ends Queen's sixth album with My Melancholy Blues, another song with no backing vocals. Still a very nice ballad, and fitting closer.
Overall, I like News of the World, even if I think it's Queen's weakest offering of the 1970s. When it's great, it's great. But, there are some tracks here that are merely average.
|
|
bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
|
Queen
Oct 21, 2019 13:43:05 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Oct 21, 2019 13:43:05 GMT
I agree that It’s the beginning of their movement to arena rock, but I also see this album as capping off their first “era” (inclusively, 1973-1977) - despite the change in their sound and approach. My understanding was that paring things down was a direct response to the emergence of punk music - they were never going to go all the way with it, but I think they were aware that the scene was changing and they wanted to keep up with the times in their own unique way.
Personally I think this is a great album from start to finish, and it’s in my top 5 Queen albums for sure. WWRY and WATC are overplayed, of course, but that doesn’t subtract from the reason they’re overplayed - they are both visionary songs, and they’ve become a permanent part of popular culture across all kinds of boundaries.
I remember watching the video for WWRY back in highschool. It had been around for about 15 years by then of course, but I remember it became popular again (after the Bo Rhap resurgence had eased up a bit) and it went, for lack of a better term, viral around my highschool - as much as something could go viral in the 90s. The point was, everyone was tuning in to the video shows to watch it, as was suddenly in regular rotation. I remember my highschool boyfriend being quite obsessed with it, he used to watch it on repeat.
Anyway, I think this album contains some seriously underrated gems - Get Down Make Love, Spread Your Wings, and It’s Late being the big three. It’s Late has such a raw kind of power and it’s criminal to me that this song is not more well known.
KDS pointed out that some of the songs are basically solo songs. In that way it does look like they were less collaborative than they had been up until this point. That doesn’t bother me. I think it makes sense for them to have a cooling down period where some exploration of their divergent tastes and styles is necessary to keep things fresh and move forward.
It’s nice to see John Deacon contributing two songs to this album - Spread Your Wings and Who Needs You. I love his melodies, there really isn’t a John Deacon song that I don’t like.
Roger’s contributions are both solid as well. I like the punk-rockness of Sheer Heart Attack and I’m glad that song found a home on this album, it fits perfectly. The thing with Fight from the Inside, lyrically it sounds a lot like he may have fought hard to get this song on the album, or to be more recognized in general as a contributing member and not “just the drummer”. I don’t know if there is an actual story there, I’m just reading into it, but “you gotta fight from the inside, attack from the rear, fight from the inside, you can’t win with your hands tied” seems like a pretty clear statement that perhaps the honeymoon period was over with their biggest achievements behind them and it was starting to feel more like work now that the whirlwind of international fame and acclaim was settling down.
I enjoy the cooler, muted tones of Brian’s contributions as well. Sleeping on the Sidewalk kind of also lyrically tackles the idea that they’re dealing with changes to their status.
My Melancholy Blues is so Freddie. I think it’s a great way to close out the album - his final word on the matter. And such a great vocal performance.
Somehow, despite everyone kind of doing their own thing, this album manages to come together really cohesively. An absolute classic.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 21, 2019 14:37:02 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 21, 2019 14:37:02 GMT
I think it's a very good album, but to me, it's the only Queen album of the 1970s that I wouldn't deem a "classic." I actually think Get Down Make Love is overrated. I was a little surprised that hard rock / heavy metal talking head Eddie Trunk ranks it as his all time favorite Queen song. Maybe there's a happy memory associated with it or something.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 21, 2019 15:05:36 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kapitan on Oct 21, 2019 15:05:36 GMT
Really interesting observation that I don’t think I’ve ever really thought of, much less considered: this album is more a collection of semi-solo tracks as opposed to real group efforts. At least vocally, that is undoubtedly true. And once you remove “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” I have to admit that the overall quality of the songs is down a bit. There aren’t really any other top-notch standouts. (That said, though, how many albums have some top-notch standouts once you’ve removed their two best songs? Which in this case happen to be all-time greats?) Those two songs really deserve more attention, which sounds crazy considering their omnipresence. But I think many overplayed classics probably deserve more attention, because in becoming radio hits and commercial jingles and television soundtrack fodder, we lose the songs themselves. “We Will Rock You” isn’t a song, it’s a sports cheer; “We Are the Champions” isn’t a song, it’s a sports victory backdrop. But when is the last time any of us actually heard them, actually listened to them? “We Will Rock You” is so strange, especially when you think about it before it became that sports-event chant. Virtually a capella, but certainly not in the way you’d expect from a vocal band like Queen. Tough, defiant, nasty, and really deliberate: it’s not fast (except in the live, show-opening version with instrumental backing), it’s a brutal stomp. And then it is contrasted perfectly—I mean literally perfectly—with “We Are the Champions.” I actually don’t hear it as pompous or self-aggrandizing despite many of the lyrics (including the title) being as arrogant as a person could be. For me it always sounded more like deep insecurity, a kind of self-coaching therapy for the underdogs. It’s a song about things generally going badly and trying to maintain confidence in an ongoing struggle. Beyond these, I’m a very big fan of several of the songs even though I’ve already described them as obviously inferior to the band’s best work. “Who Needs You” might be my favorite of the remaining songs, but I also love “It’s Late,” “Sleeping On the Sidewalk,” “All Dead, All Dead,” and “Spread Your Wings.” And I even like “Sheer Heart Attack” to some extent, despite generally not much liking Roger Taylor’s songs. “Get Down, Make Love” is very, very far down my list, both on this album and in general. I can imagine Freddie Mercury wanting to bathe in that 1970s hedonism and shock people with his lyrics. I can imagine Brian May wanting the chance to play around with an extended solo again. But it’s just not an interesting or especially good song. That it remained in the live set for years is baffling to me, as I’ve always thought of it as a momentum-killer. I hadn’t really considered this as the beginning of the decline, but I think I see that opinion now. I’m not sure I agree, but I do get it. However, I think that while there aren’t as many great second-tier songs, almost everything fits just below that. It’s a deep album in that way (meaning lots of good songs, not meaning intellectually deep. Obviously.). It’s a band still really riding high and knowing how to keep it going by writing a big batch of tunes that were going to carry over very well to their live shows.
|
|
bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
|
Queen
Oct 21, 2019 16:18:49 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Oct 21, 2019 16:18:49 GMT
I'm kind of surprised about the lack of love for Get Down, Make Love. It's a standout track for me and I love the live versions of it as well. I really enjoy the shifts in tempo and how it moves between the sparse verses and the surging chorus, as well as Freddie's writhing vocals.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 21, 2019 16:24:54 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kapitan on Oct 21, 2019 16:24:54 GMT
I’ll say this, I do like the chorus. But that’s the only payoff, and it’s too little compared to the rest of it (which I don’t especially enjoy).
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 21, 2019 18:07:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by kds on Oct 21, 2019 18:07:41 GMT
I don't necessary see NOTW as the beginning of a decline, but more of a mild stumble, especially since the next two albums are very strong.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 22, 2019 13:52:20 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 22, 2019 13:52:20 GMT
As mentioned before, Queen doesn't really have a lot of non album track to discuss.
But, since we're on News of the World, it's worth mentioning that Queen arranged a rocked up, faster version of We Will Rock You, which they used to open their concerts for several years. They would, then, play the more traditional WWRY towards the end of the show. Versions of the fast WWRY can be found on Live Killers, Queen Rock Montreal, and Queen On Air.
|
|
bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
|
Queen
Oct 22, 2019 22:32:11 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Oct 22, 2019 22:32:11 GMT
As mentioned before, Queen doesn't really have a lot of non album track to discuss. But, since we're on News of the World, it's worth mentioning that Queen arranged a rocked up, faster version of We Will Rock You, which they used to open their concerts for several years. They would, then, play the more traditional WWRY towards the end of the show. Versions of the fast WWRY can be found on Live Killers, Queen Rock Montreal, and Queen On Air. That was a really genius thing they did with the faster version of WWRY, such a cool way to open the show. As for non-album tracks, there's also this, which I think is really good. Imagine it with trademark Queen backing vocals though!
|
|