Queen: Classic Or Dud

<i>Nobody has yet pointed out that "Long Away" from Day at the Races is one of the great straight power-pop tunes of our time or any other.

-- southern lights, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:10 (2 years ago) Link</i>

OTM. I had forgotten about this song until it popped up on my iTunes a couple of weeks ago. I thought that it was the Raspberries or something.

After learning "Body Language" and "Under Pressure" were from the same album, I suddenly am interested in hearing the rest of Hot Space.

Classic.Doin' Alright from the first one and It's Late from News of the World are two faves.

I wish I could hear exactly how 'Another One Bites The Dust' is so bad - it just sounds immense to me.

For an outrageous, theatrical band though, they do have some of the most boring well-loved hits ever - 'A Kind of Magic', 'I Want to Break Free', 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' are all terrible

Listening to the Greatest Hits box again, feeling like I am in love with the world and all that is Queen and Freddie...gearing up to try to say something smart and cool abt Queen and I read back on this thread and I find this so I can not say a thing and leave such things to the pros:

(LOL, btw)

Anyone who dares deem Queen a dud has lost control of his/her senses, and ought to be dunked in a barrel of rancid milk until reason reclaims its rightful iron fist on the steering wheel of their brain bus.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, March 28, 2003 3:15 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

HONOUR THE BICYCLE!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, March 29, 2003 7:36 AM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't know if Queen were ever really cool, what I like about them is their image and chops. I listened to that "Flash" thing, which was the album everyone laughed at when I was a kid.

I still marvel at something like Bohemian Rhapsody. Sure it's a punchline to a 90's joke but before that, I mean the first time I heard it as a teenager in English class of all things, it knocked me out. Stringing together all of the parts of that song together so seamlessly, it still kind of blows me away.

We had a Queen obsession when I was a kid, then that "Flash" thing came out and everyone laughed at how "dumb" it was "Flash Ah-ah". I listened to it though, it isn't bad.

it's weird how, 9 years ago, almost everyone on ILX was wrong about almost everything. raggett excepted, of course.

flash gordon soundtrack is patchy, but that song is great! damn sight better than "radio gaga".

Love "Flash". I liked parts of the movie (Ming!), but that theme song is still boss.

Yeah ILX was bummer city 9 yrs ago.

Queen were genius, "Flash" was horrible though.

You loveable scamp, you.

Heard an interview with Brian May with Terry Gross the other day (new? old? dunno), and she was he usual daft self.

Terry Gross: So, tell me how you came up with the name "Queen."
Brian May: Really, Terry? Come on.

Whomever upthread was going on about the rhythm section being plodding and groove-free need listen to one Van Halen.

Oh Terry.

it's weird how, 9 years ago, almost everyone on ILX was wrong about almost everything. raggett excepted, of course.

flash gordon soundtrack is patchy, but that song is great! damn sight better than "radio gaga".

― contenderizer, Thursday, December 30, 2010 5:28 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah ILX was bummer city 9 yrs ago.

― VegemiteGrrrl, Thursday, December 30, 2010 5:31 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

britishes can have pretty weird blinders about native acts that are even more ubiquitous over there than they are the US

Well I went through a phase of disliking Queen because of their ubiquity, then one day I had to have a word with myself. Loads of timeless songs.

Prophet song tape loop middle section on repeat forever

and now I know and now I know and now I know and now I knowwwwwww

I imagine reddie and Ronnie James Dio being bros up in heaven putting up on killer concerts: Ronnie & Freddie trading verses on Prophets Song. IMAGINE THAT

britishes can have pretty weird blinders about native acts that are even more ubiquitous over there than they are the US

― hann am0n tana (some dude), Thursday, December 30, 2010 11:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

more like lame poptimists can have pretty weird prejudices against shit that rocks

everybody loves A Night At The Opera and Queen II, but the real litmus test is late 80s Queen. if you can dig Live At Wembley '86 and The Miracle then you're the real deal

What was that Flash Gordon movie like? We weren't allowed to see it, because it violated cool norms of the day (or something). The plot looks good.

Mid-flight, the disasters become progressively worse and the pilots disappear from the cockpit. Flash takes control of the plane, and manages to crash land in a greenhouse owned by Dr. Hans Zarkov (Chaim Topol). According to Dr. Zarkov's research, the disasters are being caused by an unknown physical source in space which is sending the moon out of orbit and toward the Earth. Zarkov had been secretly working on a rocket ship for several years to test his theory, and now intends to go to the coordinates for the source of the attacks. He accidentally launches the rocket during a fight with Flash and all three fly off into space, even sailing into the black hole where they finally land on the planet Mongo. There, they are taken prisoner outside a grand city.

I have the theme stuck in my head, it can't be too bad. You're right though, it's no "Fat Bottomed Girls". 1980 was a weird year.

flash gordon movie is the best, you should see it

Football player goes into space, hijinks ensue

Ming the Merciless is awesome too btw

plus burly hawkmen, wanglike spacecraft, budget sleaze, FLASH! (ah-ah)

seems this is old news, but apparently queen albums getting reissued in 2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A71W120101108

The two "Greatest Hits" albums are already reissued, so no wonder the rest follows. About time actually, a lot has happened in remaster technology since 1994.

wonder if they're gonna package any neat extras into it. otherwise, I don't see much need to replace the originals I have.

if I had a state of the art stereo system, though, I would consider it

QUEEN’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION KICKS OFF
WITH DELUXE REISSUE OF
FIRST FIVE STUDIO ALBUMS, PLUS GREATEST HITS II,
“STORMTROOPERS IN STILETTOS” GALLERY EXHIBITION AND MORE

Queen’s 40th anniversary is now upon us, and the band plans to pull out all the stops to celebrate this historic occasion. “2011 is an important year for Queen,” said Brian May “and there will be a lot of activity.” Adds Roger Taylor, "I can’t believe it’s been that long and that we are still around in such a big way. I’m amazed and grateful!” This yearlong event will be marked by a series of releases, re-releases, special limited-edition items and events around the world.

This is a timeless band whose music retains such immediacy and undiminished power that new fans continue to discover and embrace it, along the way inspiring a host of diverse artists from Lady Gaga (who took her name from Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga”), and Katy Perry, through to the Foo Fighters. It’s worth noting that Queen’s videos have collectively generated well north of 300 million views online—a remarkable figure that figures to expand exponentially with the launch of a dedicated Vevo channel this spring, in yet another iteration of the anniversary rollout.

As the centerpiece in the 40th anniversary celebration, Queen’s entire 15-album studio catalog is being reissued in a series of deluxe editions. Every note is being tweaked, every piece of artwork is being cleaned, freshened up and resourced, wherever necessary, with the legendary Bob Ludwig doing the remastering, working from the original source material. The albums will be released in three waves, staggered over the next year, with the first wave—comprising the first five LPs—coming this May.

Each studio album will be released in a new two-CD edition, the first containing the updated, remastered original LP, the second disc packed with rarities—and we don’t use the term lightly. Some of these gems have never before seen the light of day, even in crappy bootleg form. To cite a particularly fascinating example, five first-album demos recorded at London’s De Lane Lea Studios in December 1971 were pulled from the only existing copy on the planet—an acetate from May’s personal archives. Not even his bandmates had a copy.

“A huge amount of work has already been put in behind the scenes to unleash a completely newly mastered set of the original Queen LPs and CDs,” May noted. “I know our fans will appreciate the attention to detail, bringing the early albums closer than ever to the magic of the vinyl originals, but with the benefit of up-to-the-minute quality technology.”

Bonus Tracks on the First Five Studio Albums:

QUEEN (1973)
1. Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
2. Great King Rat (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
3. Jesus (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
4. Liar (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
5. The Night Comes Down (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
6. Mad The Swine (June 1972)

QUEEN II (1974)
1. White Queen (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975)
2. See What A Fool I’ve Been (BBC Session, July 1973 - 2011 Remix)
3. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Instrumental)
4. See What A Fool I’ve Been (B-side Version, February 1974)
5. Nevermore (BBC Session, April 1974)

SHEER HEART ATTACK (1974)
1. Now I’m Here (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975)
2. Flick Of The Wrist (BBC Session, October 1974)
3. Tenement Funster (BBC Session, October 1974)
4. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (A Cappella Plus)
5. In The Lap Of The Gods… Revisited (Live at Wembley Stadium, July 1986)

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1975)
1. Keep Yourself Alive (Long-Lost Retake, June 1975)
2. Bohemian Rhapsody (Operatic Section A Cappella)
3. I’m In Love With My Car (Guitar & Vocal Version)
4. You’re My Best Friend (Backing Track)
5. ‘39 (Live at Earl’s Court, June 1977) TBC
6. Love Of My Life (Live Single Version, June 1979)

A DAY AT THE RACES (1976)
1. Tie Your Mother Down (Backing Track)
2. Somebody To Love (Live at Milton Keynes, June 1982)
3. You Take My Breath Away (Live in Hyde Park, September 1976)
4. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (Top Of The Pops, July 1977)
5. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (HD mix)

BBC showed this amazing first part of a 2 night special last night.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011pwd9/Queen_Days_of_Our_Lives_Episode_1/

Christ what a band.

i have a hard time understanding the vitriol this band inspired among rock critics. dave marsh, in a review of jazz (a great album IMO), called them "fascists." this seems all rather incomprehensible now. what was going on in the mid-late 1970s that made this band such an object of derision? just the theatricality? the lack of "seriousness"? were queen victims of rockism avant la lettre? or something else?

i have a v. hard time understanding how anyone could hate this band--what's to hate? i have to say that even the more overtly schlocky stuff in the latter half of their career sort of holds up well.

Have been forced to reasses them, given that my kids love this band, despite my discouragement. Big, bold primary colours, dumb, apolitical (and so right wing by default), but actually so good that they're impossible to hate.

Was listening to some of these reissues and my main reaction was how much I hated the echoey production - made it hard to hear what was actually going on.

Queen II still my favorite

apolitical (and so right wing by default),

explain, plz

i mean you could level that absurd charge at 99.9999% of pop music

actually that's so close to trolling i'm not even sure it's worth chasing after. is that what dave marsh had in mind?

Dave Marsh is also the luminary who said he held Ronald Reagan "responsible" for the death of his father.

Whatever its claims, Queen isn't here just to entertain. This group has come to make it clear exactly who is superior and who is inferior. Its anthem, "We Will Rock You," is a marching order: you will not rock us, we will rock you. Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band. The whole thing makes me wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas.

Dave Marsh was being his usual nasty self but I can't read this without laughing. I bet at least one person in Queen laughed too -- back in '79. "The first truly fascist rock band" would have been a great line to put on anyone's concert T-shirt, providing they even had a smidgen of a sense of humor.

Polluting ideas.

wow, that's ridiculous. so would marsh object to a funk band threatening to "funk you up" on similar grounds?

i mean it's hard to take anything dave marsh has written seriously after that. has he apologized for it?

"We Will Rock You," is a marching order: you will not rock us, we will rock you.

this dumbfuck has either never attended a sports game or has read too much Adorno.

if you check out google's home page today you're in for a surprise. a fucking awesome surprise.

i have a hard time understanding the vitriol this band inspired among rock critics. dave marsh, in a review of jazz (a great album IMO), called them "fascists." this seems all rather incomprehensible now. what was going on in the mid-late 1970s that made this band such an object of derision? just the theatricality? the lack of "seriousness"? were queen victims of rockism avant la lettre? or something else?

Yeah, this is a perfect example of why so much classic 70s-era rock journalism is so hard for me to relate to. It was like pop music critics really believed they were fighting some sort of ideological battle by reviewing rock albums. It's hard for me to imagine any contemporary band receiving the sort of attacks that Queen or ELP or Black Sabbath received, especially at that level of popularity.

we will rock you sounds kinda nuremberg-y

Classic, of course.

All of the albums from "Queen" to "A Day At The Races" are excellent, "Jazz" is VERY GOOD, "News Of The World" and all other albums they released aren't so good as albums - but consistently fantastic singles.

Innuendo is such a strange, fraught final bow. I think it says something that "The Show Must Go On," seen to be Mercury's farewell number, was actually written wholly by May, where Mercury's own acknowledgement was the seemingly trifling "I'm Going Slightly Mad," which apparently was his take on the frustrations of AIDS-related dementia. Leave it to him to find a way to address the subject in an intentional bout of misdirection.

The points above about the now-distant and apparently utterly deranged pop crit wars came to mind to me too after reading about the Google doodle and thinking about the band some more. I think it's interesting how the subjects which at the time were carefully obscured or relatively downplayed are now in retrospect the most absolutely compelling part of the story -- the idea that a gay/bi immigrant Parsi kid originally from Zanzibar with initial formal education in India would end up becoming this massive, iconic English-language singer seemingly designed for arenas and amplification in combination appears to be right out of fiction, and works now as both endless grist for sociological and academic studies and a fucking true to life Horatio Alger goddamn dream in an English context (and if the UK didn't have the social/art school support system in place for Mercury to fall into and work to the full, would any of it have happened as it did?). Mercury's personal shyness and ultimate stage flamboyance worked in perfect balance as well. As time passes it really becomes a 'how the hell did THIS happen?'

And a lot of the songs are just plain fun. REALLY fun. It's funny to me how "Don't Stop Me Now," just to pick the current song back in the popular consciousness a bit, feels so light and free, when back in the mid-1980s you had Little Steven-and-everyone-else's "Sun City" as the response song to Queen playing South Africa, an earnest outrage. The effect of a good Queen song is to erase both the actions of the band that are questionable at best (it's interesting to me that the two UK acts that seemed to get hit the most on the subject, Mercury-via-Queen and Shirley Bassey, both had direct African if not South African backgrounds) and to make something like "Sun City" seem like the lumpen who'd-want-to-listen-to-that-again thing it is.

Freddie's vocal on 'The Show Must Go On' never fails to astound me, really, especially during the final part of the song where he really seems to give it his all - and it's even more remarkable given the circumstances.

And a lot of their best songs work on several levels - yeah, a lot of their songs are plain fun, but they DO bear up to scrutiny - look beyond the fun and frolics, and there's a musical sophistication there.