Queen's Prog Moments & Album Ranking

[JJ88]

Beyond 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'I Want To Break Free', The Works always struck me as a 'box ticking' album, with various songs directly recalling some of their earlier triumphs*, after the relative failure of Hot Space which was considered by some to be too much of a shift. Having said that, it worked, because after The Game, it's the only other solid album of that decade. The rest are extremely patchy, IMHO.

*'Is This The World We Created' the new 'Love Of My Life' guitar/vocal singalong, 'Man On The Prowl' the new 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', 'It's A Hard Life' being in the vein of their 70s ballads such as 'Somebody To Love' etc.

[JJ88]

I saw them on this tour, their last in the USA. This is better than the studio version, it rocks a bit more. But it still pales to me in comparison with their 70s material. There are the roots of a good song here, but it just doesn't develop, nothing stands out. It's a dance groove. It's fine for what it is, but even as a dance/pop song, this is pretty unmemorable.

'Staying Power' live is more of an example of their excellence as a live band. The song itself is still nothing special as you say, it just sounds much better than it does on the album where it's a bit stiff. The songs on Hot Space are simply weak by their standards and nothing changes that, IMHO.

Of the 80s live releases, I like the Montreal live album the most from a performance perspective. The crowd is very lethargic (hence Mercury's 'they don't know it'/'move it you fuckers' comments!) but they were on first-rate form musically, Mercury especially who is really going for the big notes that he sometimes didn't in a live situation. My opinion totally changed on this Montreal performance when the restored version (Queen Rocks Montreal) came out ten years ago. The CD has two songs which never made the film- 'Flash' and 'The Hero'- so is worth seeking out.

[Trane]

Freddie M ruined Queen

[GuitarGeek]

'

Of the 80s live releases, I like the Montreal live album the most from a performance perspective. The crowd is very lethargic (hence Mercury's 'they don't know it'/'move it you fuckers' comments!) but they were on first-rate form musically, Mercury especially who is really going for the big notes that he sometimes didn't in a live situation. My opinion totally changed on this Montreal performance when the restored version (Queen Rocks Montreal) came out ten years ago. The CD has two songs which never made the film- 'Flash' and 'The Hero'- so is worth seeking out.

I have the old We Will Rock You film on VHS. I always thought it was a good performance, but I remember that bit where Freddie says "You don't know it", because the audience wasn't singing along during the first part of Love Of My Life. But I thought the band sound good on it. I think the only thing I didn't like was they only do the first half of Keep Yourself Alive, which then segues into a drum solo (this being the last tour where Roger did one), before Brian launches into the Brighton Rock guitar solo.

I never did get the Queen Rocks Montreal version, which I understand to be a completely different edit, mix, etc. One thing I've heard that's different is, because of the way the edited the footage in the original (mixing audio and film from two different nights), there's a shot during Killer Queen, where you hear Freddie's voice, but his lips aren't moving. I understand that doesn't happen in the new version.

The On Fire At The Bowl and Wembley Stadium DVD's I think are both awesome. Whatever you may think of the records they were making at the time, they still knew how to deliver the goods onstage.

BTW, talking of Love Of My Life, Brian does that song now, when he and Roger perform, and the last time I saw them, when we got to the end of the first verse, he says to us, the audience, "Oh, you've been practicing!". I thought that was fun.

[Vic2012]

Prophet's Song. Their most brilliant, epic track (among others mentioned). PS is just grand.

ANATO
II
SHA
Queen
NOTW
ADATR

That's all the Queen I need. Lately I've listened to the later albums in YT, and some documentaries, and Brian May interviews. Brian's the main reason I like Queen.

[miamiscot]

1. Night At The Opera
2. Sheer Heart Attack
3. Day At The Races
4. Queen II
5. News Of The World
6. Queen
7. Everything else

[MudShark22]

SHA
Queen II
Jazz
Innuendo
Queen
ADATR
ANATO

Then a big mush of stuff.

I will state that A Winter's Tale (from Made in Heaven) is my fave Queen track post The Game album.

[BravadoNJ]

Queen songs with a PROG influence:
Great King Rat, Liar, March Of The Black Queen, In The Lap Of The Gods I&II, Death On Two Legs, Prophet's Song, Bohemian Rhapsody, Millionaire Waltz, Somebosy To Love, Bicycle Race, The Miracle, Innuendo.

[señormoment]

From Guitar Player magazine, 1977:

“Q: Are there guitar players you listen to?

FZ: There are a few that I've heard recently who I think are real good. I like Brian May of Queen-I think he's really excellent. And I always did like Wes Montgomery until they started smothering him with violins...”

Maybe some of Zappa’s guitar playing was influenced by May, like on ‘Sofa,’ for instance, which was around ‘74.

[No Pride]

"The Prophet's Song" is the only thing close to prog if you ask me, but there are proggy moments in a fair amount of their material.

1: Night at the Opera
2: Day at the Races
3: Queen II
4: Jazz
5: Sheer Heart Attack
6: The Game
7: The Miracle
8: A Kind of Magic
9: Made In Heaven

[No Pride]

“Q: Are there guitar players you listen to?

FZ: There are a few that I've heard recently who I think are real good. I like Brian May of Queen-I think he's really excellent. And I always did like Wes Montgomery until they started smothering him with violins...”

Not surprisingly, Frank had great taste in guitar players. Including his accolades for Allan Holdsworth, his faves are all in my Top 10 list.

[Jerjo]

In terms of proggy, there's "White Man" off of ADATR which has the same building blocks as "Prophet Song". And the beautiful "Teo Torriatte" remains one of my fave Brian May compositions.

Favorites - pretty much the same as everyone else, the initial run from II to News, The Game was half great half meh, and Innuendo was a fitting finale and a damn fine return to form.

[Poisoned Youth]

Queen are one of the important bands I grew up with and one of the first albums I bought as a young teen in the 80s (The Works). I am still listening to them quite a bit these days in spite of all the other music I've collected over the years.

Proggy moments: "Proggy" is the right word, because rarely did they go full blown. I think you can look at "Side Black" from Queen II which strings together Ogre Battle, Fairy Feller, Nevermore, Black Queen, and Funny How Love Is and call that a pretty progressive suite of tunes. Death on Two Legs, The Prophet's Song, Bohemian Rhapsody, White Man, Innuendo, and that hidden track at the end of Made In Heaven () are among their proggier moments imo.


My album ranking (studio only)

We are the Champions
1. A Night at the Opera
2. Queen II

There may be a few weaker songs but as a whole these are very strong examples of unique concept albums in rock music, in both sound and style.

Killer Queen
3. A Day at the Races
4. The Works
5. Sheer Heart Attack

Granted, The Works has been with me for 35 years, so it ranks higher than many people would likely do it. But for me, it remains their strongest post-70s work. A Day at the Races and SHA, aren't quite up to the standards of II or NatO, but there are some of the finest examples of Queen music (and as a band effort) in the whole catalog.

Princes of the Universe
6. Queen
7. Innuendo
8. A Kind of Magic
9. Flash Gordon
10. The Game

The first album has some really strong formative material. Innuendo is a personal favorite. Flash Gordon is remarkably fun. I think you'd struggle to find many soundtracks in which a rock band was able to capture (for better or for worse) the campiness of that movie in musical expression.

Doing All Right
11. News of the World
12. The Miracle
13. Jazz

These albums all have good selected tracks, but represent for me where at least half the songs don't do it for me.

Another One Bites the Dust
14. Hot Space
15. Made in Heaven

Hot Space use to be last on my list, but some of those boogie tracks are catchy.

[JJ88]

I'd speak up for Made In Heaven. Not in terms of 'prog' content but I would say I like it more as an album than several of their 80s releases. And when you look at how it was painstakingly pieced together from B sides, side projects, demos and vocal fragments, it's even more impressive. That should have been the last full Queen album, IMHO.

In terms of proggy, there's "White Man" off of ADATR which has the same building blocks as "Prophet Song". And the beautiful "Teo Torriatte" remains one of my fave Brian May compositions.

'White Man' never did it for me, for that reason- a bit of an inferior re-run. They even used to medley that with a bit of 'The Prophet's Song' which heightens the similarity.

I think as a singles band they remained brilliant throughout the 80s, BTW.

[Poisoned Youth]

I'd speak up for Made In Heaven. Not in terms of 'prog' content but I would say I like it more as an album than several of their 80s releases. And when you look at how it was painstakingly pieced together from B sides, side projects, demos and vocal fragments, it's even more impressive. That should have been the last full Queen album, IMHO.

True, it was impressive, but the end result didn't do much for me. Part of that had to do with the fact that many of the songs were re-treads or re-constructed. So it came off to me exactly like a "collection of b-sides" that was more of a tribute to Freddie than anything else. And in that context, it's wonderful.

That said, my favorite song on the album is "You Don't Fool Me" as it's constructed from a few lyrics sung that were not really part of an actual song and is different from most of their recorded work.

[Vic2012]

I'm not hearing any progginess at all in White Man. I hear hard rock. That song, and Tie Your Mother Down are my favorite tracks from ADATR.

[MudShark22]

If one had to introduce a proggy fan to Queen, I would never lay out a bunch of tracks to sample.

And while SHA is my fave as listed above, I would use Queen II as the intro album.

As for Made in Heaven, IMO it craps all over duds like Hot Space and The Miracle from eight miles high! lol

Rightfully or not, to these ears, it took the arrival of The End and its immediate aftermath for the Band to focus more and deliver a last batch of above average tuneage.

Except for Deliah. That should never have been made.

[Sputnik]

I'm not hearing any progginess at all in White Man. I hear hard rock. That song, and Tie Your Mother Down are my favorite tracks from ADATR.

Totally with you on this. White Man is one of my favorite Queen songs, but I hear no Prog in it. But, what is Prog anyway? Let's not go there.

Bill

[Rick L.]

Totally with you on this. White Man is one of my favorite Queen songs, but I hear no Prog in it. But, what is Prog anyway? Let's not go there.

Bill

"What is prog?" is like a box of chocolate answers. You never know what answer you're gonna get.

[chalkpie]

Not surprisingly, Frank had great taste in guitar players. Including his accolades for Allan Holdsworth, his faves are all in my Top 10 list.

He did. May is a killer player with such a soulful touch - great bends, killer tones and great technique.

[GuitarGeek]

He did. May is a killer player with such a soulful touch - great bends, killer tones and great technique.

And he's been playing the exact same guitar, with only rare exceptions, for what is it? 50 years, now? And he still plugs into a bunch of Vox AC-30 amps.

[arabicadabra]

This thread proves to me that, just like me, many of us like all kinds of cool, creative stuff that doesn't fall under the heading of prog.

[Jerjo]

Mandatory image

fat_bottomed_girls.jpg

[JKL2000]

ThomasKDye and JJ88, I completely agree with your descriptions of the album "The Works." I do just like most of the good songs, so I like the album more than not.

And jeez, just realized I've NEVER heard the "Made in Heaven" album and always forget it exists. But the song Made in Heaven on Freddie's album "Mr. Bad Guy" is a great song. I used to listen to that album to death, but foolishly sold off the CD during some ill-conceived purge.

BTW, what is the state of affairs RE: Queen's catalog on CD? I know there were some questionable reissues at one point. I would actually love a complete queen CD box set reissue ala what Kate Bush has just done. The earlier years and the later years. Too many Queen greatest hit collections, IMO, though I have a 3CD one that I like.

[BravadoNJ]

ranking the albums by group....

TOP:
Queen II
Sheer Heart Attack
A Night At The Opera
Jazz
Innuendo

Middle:
Queen
A Day At The Races
News Of The World
Flash Gorden (Sndtrk)
The Miracle

Just OK- could have been better:
The Game
Hot Space
The Works
A Kind Of Magic
Made In Heaven