Stone POLLd Crazy: The ILM Queen Poll Voting Thread (#68? in a series)

Anyone like their novelty pastiche numbers? Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Seaside Rendezvous etc. Did they pretty much drop them after A Day At The Races (Crazy Little Thing Called Love excepted I guess)?

― めんどくさかった (Matt #2), Monday, September 14, 2015 5:36 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Detractors might say that every Queen track qualifies as a novelty pastiche number! And in fact I'd say that a fair chunk of their catalogue can be appreciated in that vein; there's usually at least an element of tongue-in-cheek involved. But on the other hand, I agree with Turrican's point about the more 'serious' mood that pervades Innuendo ... or at least parts of the album (e.g. the title track, 'Don't Try So Hard' 'All God's People', 'Bijou', 'The Show Must Go On', etc.)

One of the things I've always loved about Queen is their ability to constantly shift moods across an album, or indeed within the space of a track. I can think of a lot of acts who can do 'bipolar' shifts from soft to loud, sad to joyful, or what have you, but not many acts can jump around within a palette of moods like Queen can. Critics and fans will often point to the band's willingness to dabble in many styles and make them their own, and the fact they had four talented songwriters. No doubt these factors overlap with and contribute to the multiplicity of moods in their work. But it's one thing to 'capture' a mood; it's something else to dance across and between moods, and to make this seem effortless--and for me this is what Queen can do when they're on song.

listening back to the albums now - "Jealousy" is such a nice little number

yes, all of that is very true, Wordy. at the same time, i can't help but think that Queen's final albums are characterised by a newfound investment in expressing the gravid authenticity of particular moods rather than the invention of mood for the sake of artistic leverage. this change, conscious or otherwise, lends some of the later stuff a kind of earnestness that i am still a little bit ambivalent about. i mean, a song like Bohemian Rhapsody has undeniably sad moments, but it's a cabaret-style sadness that is patently light-hearted at its core, therefore enabling the flippant and frequent shift of moods that is so emblematic of Queen at their most inspired. a song like The Miracle seems to be contained by its own moralism, not that i think the band weren't entitled to sing about moral issues, or that these themes weren't relevant to Freddie's plight in his last years.

yes, Jealousy is a tasty discovery for me also.

x-post

i feel like a lot of musicians rate their more sentimental work more highly than others do. it makes sense, really, they probably wouldn't take a turn for the sappy in the first place if they didn't believe in it.

― some dude, Tuesday, September 15, 2015 12:24 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes, I think you're probably right.

And I also agree with your points about the shift in the final albums, where there does seem to be more of an investment in authenticity (of mood), and an earnestness that tends to come with this. I'm happy to admit that 'Innuendo' (the song) can come across as earnest--but I still love it, whereas something like 'The Miracle' just makes me cringe for the most part. Not entirely sure where the difference lies, but I guess I can buy into the hope of 'Innuendo' when it's alloyed with the 'whatever will be, will be' attitude and the sheer beauty and complexity of the piece. Whereas 'The Miracle' seems forced; the hope seems closer to naivete and the wonder is oh-so-subtly underscored by those clichéd 'miraculous' synth lines.

In other news ... ballot sent!

thanks Wordy - received!

by the way: even if you're the most casual of Queen fans or not a fan per se at all, i urge you to cast a ballot. surely everybody knows and loves 20 Queen songs.

Thing is, I actually like 'The Miracle' ... it's got a great set of chord changes!

'Jealousy' also, in my humble opinion, is one of Queen's most underrated ballads... having said that, I think the majority of Jazz is underrated.

Jealousy is beautifully song. it's easy to lose sight of this at first due to the subtlety of the vocal line.

beautifully SUNG.

Another deep cut worthy of consideration...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaSB0M7iTpA

Also, I'm surprised we've got this far in the thread without anyone mentioning 'The March Of The Black Queen'(!)

That was in my top 3. Love everything about that glorious tune.

Really pleased to see Drowse, Father To Son, Jealousy and especially She Makes Me already being referenced, looking forward to a nice diverse result list.

I know I'll throw together my ballot in under four minutes at the last possible chance and don't feel like revisiting much of their albums atm, but what this thread already made me do is flick through some obscurities, b-sides and the unreleased stuff that popped up even on the official channels over the years. Especially Soul Brother would have been a nice touch on (the unfairly maligned) Hot Space, and there are several incredible live renditions of Hangman for which apparently not even an unreleased studio version exists.

Speaking of Hot Space, and while it's easy to see why it drew so much hate, I find myself playing this more often than any other album lately. Way more fun than the imo plodding and calculated The Works.
Back Chat could well make it on the ballot.

'Back Chat', 'Under Pressure' and 'Put Out The Fire' are probably the only songs from Hot Space that I'd consider for inclusion on my ballot (which I haven't put together yet, and will probably put together at the last minute) ... I've never liked 'Soul Brother', it's nothing more than a jam session with Freddie singing various Queen song titles really.

I think calling The Works "calculated" is a bit harsh, though. Yes, I guess there was a sense of Queen trying to win back their audience after they didn't take to what they were doing with Hot Space, but The Works is a mix of not only songs in recognisable past Queen styles, but also material that was undoubtedly influenced by what was going on at the time. I don't think they were consciously trying to ape any past Queen album with it, and it helps that the tracks on there that are recognisable as being styles that they'd touched upon before were good, even great songs.

One could argue that Hot Space was "calculated" in the sense that it was an attempt to build upon the audience that had fallen in love with 'Another One Bites The Dust'.

i do actually also find The Works to be a bit calculated, mainly due to some especially flashy playing from May that tends to shape a lot of the songs before you're able to properly sink your teeth into them.

i've been playing Hot Space quite a lot recently, though admittedly strictly with this Poll in mind. it has revealed itself to be an enjoyably unique experiment, the anomalies of which are flattered by perspective, which enables us to situate the album as an interesting deviation in the band's diverse overall picture. i can see why it might have been considered a disappointment at the time.

the results are starting to take interesting shape. i'm having a lot of fun with this - please keep your ballots coming!

I almost don't want to send one! I'd feel like the guy who goes into mock drafts and takes Tim Tebow* in the first round.

_________

* A much ballyhooed American football player who's handsome and Christian and has 10 million fans, but can't throw a ball to a receiver to save his life.

haha well you could submit a Queen ballot that's wall-to-wall radio staples and it would still be inspired, such is the unconventional nature of so many of their best-known tracks (the appeal lay so often in the sophistication of arrangement and performance rather than a strict adherence to anything overly formulaic), and the diversity in compositional outlook supplied by the input of four distinct songwriters.

kinda wishing i voted for Sheer Heart Attack (the song), because it's growing on me to the point that i can't stop playing it.

Does anyone have suggestions for tracks they rate from the solo records? I have this suspicion I'll be wasting my time on investigating Roger's albums in-depth...

Fun in Space is probably your best bet as far as Roger's albums go. Future Management is one of the highlights there.

favourite Freddie track is probably There Must Be More to Life than This.

never made it very far with Brian's solo records.

I've just drawn up my first draft of my ballot and now down to the difficult pruning/ranking stage, it's so difficult to put a list together of 20 tracks for a band that have 14 studio albums! I'm increasingly thinking that the "deep cuts" only route is the way to go...

Er, 15 studio albums, rather. I'll be very surprised if many of the songs on my ballot place.

agree that it was pretty daunting. i kind of had to bite the bullet at the expense of a lot of great songs.

these guys really had a huge volume of great songs.

without giving anything away, 1st place is a very close race at this early stage with no less than 4 songs vying for the top spot.

well, that's some great motivation to get my ballot done!

i would hope so! but at the same time, totally unnerstan' these things being last minute based on my experience running a previous poll, but also more tellingly voting in them (i don't think i've ever jumped in well ahead of the deadline).

you have the weekend and a bit to finalise your ballots and get them along ! remember: your votes have a good chance of shaking things up.

how many ballots in so far?

not so many just yet... about 16 or 17? probably not many for a band that everyone knows the songs by.

in other words: make sure you get a ballot in, everyone! :)

You Take My Breath Away is really kinda wonderful when you listen to it in the right mood.

love how the guitar line creeps in to sit on top of the piano melody towards the end of the song.

I remember in high school, wanting to sing that song as my Senior solo for our final choir concert. I played it for my dad and he was like -- "this? ain't nobody gonna know this song", so I went with Elton John's "Your Song".

I just love the haunting piano line.

I should have mine in within the next few hours or so :)

As long as we're talking about over-the-top Mercury ballads on Day at the Races, dig the "where the hell did that come from?" insane bass playing on Millionaire Waltz, which given the mix and Deacon's unexciting tone back then I had never noticed before.

Ballot sent!

I must have re-done that several times over and I'm still not quite satisfied with it, but it'll have to do - if it had been 30 songs instead of 20 it would have been so much easier!

Yeah, the bass playing on 'The Millionaire Waltz' is great... it's strange, but I often find Deacon gets overlooked as a bass player sometimes - there's some great playing throughout the Queen catalogue. Usually, when Deacon is discussed it's usually for his songwriting.

Having made my anti-Taylor position clear, I think a lot of the problem is that they were a terribly mismatched rhythm section -- and I suspect that Deacon spent a lot of time trying to keep out of Roger's way and keep things moving.

Deacon's approach varied from song to song, really... if it was a Freddie-composed piano song, more often than not he was trying to lock in with what Freddie was doing with his left hand on the low end of the piano, on the more riff-based songs like 'Ogre Battle' and 'Dragon Attack', of course he was doubling up with the riff, on his own material written in the funk style like 'Back Chat' and 'Another One Bites The Dust', the bass tended to be the lead instrument etc.

Although, on 'Liar', he does kinda get a bass solo!

Millionaire Waltz really does do some interesting things musically. really warming to a lot of Day At The Races, actually. it's not necessarily a very immediate album - it helps to spend a little time with it.

okay, so we're getting to crunch time in the voting! make sure you keep them coming in. i guess there's only around a day of voting left?

what time zone are you in, Charlie?

ballot sent!

thanks balls!

i live in Sydney, Australia, but am very flexible with the deadline/ other time zones etc.

by my lazy calculations, those in the States are probably settled in at work now, and those in the UK about to finish up for the day. perfect timing for all parties to throw together that last minute ballot!

I'm pretty excited about the forthcoming roll-out, actually... even if hardly any of my tracks place, I suspect I'll still be more than happy with what does, particularly if there's a few surprises there. It's also going to be interesting to compare people's ballots, as I'm sure that different locations are going to have different preferred Queen eras, and it's also going to be interesting to see how different Queen eras fare in the final results.

the spread of appreciation across different Queen eras is something i've really enjoyed noticing as the ballots have trickled in.

for those yet to vote: even at this late stage, it is within your power to influence the order of the highest-ranking songs through what you choose to include, but also what you don't choose to include.