.

British rock band Queen are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year (2011), and since they broke away from EMI Records and signed with Universal's Island Records, the band is releasing their entire back catalog in three installments. The first wave of releases focused on the years 1973 to 1976, and along with it, they released a compilation album of some of the lesser known, yet their best tracks in a single CD called Deep Cuts Vol. 1: 1973-1976. This summer at the end of June, they released their second wave of albums from 1977 to1982, and along with these, along comes Deep Cuts Vol.2: 1977-1982.

Queen's Brian May (guitarist) and Roger Taylor (drummer) have done the right thing by focusing the larger part of the album's allotment on the remainder of the 1970s output, News of the World (1977) and Jazz (1978). Although as I listen to the outcome, I wish John Deacon (bassist) would have had some say as well. All of the fourteen tracks except for four are either Brian May songs or Roger Taylor songs. This of course gives them a bigger percentage of royalties, but the main point that bothers me is that this era feels purposely skewed to make the listener think that Queen was still a fully fledged hard rock band, and this wasn't the case at all. Ever since 1980, Queen had crossed the line from rock/hard rock to pop rock/singles band, that is with the exception of the Flash Gordon soundtrack.

When 1982 came around and as Queen were hot off the success of Another One Bites the Dust, a huge disco hit, the band decided to try and capitalize on the song's success, and released Hot Space, an album half dedicated to the genre that made them so much money two years before. Out of three songs here representing their "funk/black" genre only Freddie's Staying Power showcases the depths the band had sunk in order to make that buck. In all fairness, the heavy bass track isn't that bad at all. The musical style lies somewhere between Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and Thriller albums, and with the added horns arrangement from the late Arif Mardin, there is a middle section which ventures into a Latin dance beat. The other two songs here chosen by Roger and Brian are songs written by the aforementioned writers. Action This Day is Roger's funky pop music, although his brand is more in line with what David Bowie was doing at the time. Freddie gives an awesome vocal alongside Roger's monotone lines answering Freddie's voice. Brian then attempts to place a positive spin on this dark album by choosing Put Out the Fire, a hard rocking typical May offering in lieu of one of the dancier songs like Dancer, Cool Cat or Back Chat. Unfortunately, Brian's ode to Lennon and gun control is one of the worst offenders from Hot Space despite it's edgier feel.

The four songs from 1980 stand up much better. During this year, Queen released The Game and Flash Gordon (1981 in the US). This was the year took over the world with their huge #1 hits Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Delving into the more obscure tracks, they choose one of Roger's best tracks Rock It (Prime Jive). Freddie sings the intro with spine-tingling effect, but then Roger Taylor takes over the lead vocals on a heavy 1950s style of rock and roll. The song is infectious as it ties seamlessly Roger's role in Queen and his solo album Fun In Space (which emerged a year later) with the synthesizers accenting the heavy guitars and drums. Brian chose two of his from The Game, Sail Away Sweet Sister, a lush ballad in which he sings lead himself; and Dragon Attack a heavier more rock-oriented version of John Deacon's Another One Bites the Dust. The bridge of Dragon Attack makes it one of the best songs from The Game. Only one song was pulled from the Flash Gordon Soundtrack, Brian May's Battle Theme, which closes out this album. The movie noises like laser guns and sounds of intergalactic war makes the instrumental work as it did the whole album. I would have preferred the superior Roger Taylor track In the Space Capsule instead from Flash Gordon.

The last seven songs are from the wonderful 1970s, the decade where Queen had a clear vision of making fabulous albums. Mustapha opens the CD as it does on the 1978 album Jazz. The fantastic liner notes from Gary Taylor and Greg Brooks gave me a new and different perspective on the Arabic-sounding song. The song opens with a cry from Freddie Mercury, ♫'Ibrahim, Ibrahim, Allah Allah Allah will pray for you...'♫. The note is powerful yet comparatively at a lower decibel than the rest of the song. They describe the song as starting small, in mono and very compressed, which then opens up into a bombastic full stereo naturally filling the song with raw power. Dead on Time, also from Jazz is one of the best songs from guitarist Brian May ever. It has the lightning speed vocals like Stone Cold Crazy from half a decade before, and the wicked guitar riffs reminiscent of something like Death on Two Legs or Now I'm Here. The last song pulled from Jazz is Mercury's Jealousy which also has an eastern feel to it, like Mustapha, courtesy of Brian May's sitar sounding guitar. The liner notes blew me away when I read that the version from Jazz was never quite right, as the bass drum was accidentally left out of the mix. This is akin to the revelation that The Doors' Light My Fire was accidentally sped up when first released in 1967, and it wasn't corrected until the new millennium sometime. I can only hope that the upcoming releases will have more revelations like this, as Jealousy is like a whole new song even for someone like me who is very familiar with the obscure track.

From my favorite Queen album, News of the World, they used a John Deacon song, Spread Your Wings, Roger Taylor's Sheer Heart Attack, and two of Brian's tracks Sleeping on the Sidewalk and It's Late. It's a shame that they didn't opt for a Mercury-penned song like My Melancholy Blues or Get Down Make Love. Spread Your Wings was a single after all, and It's Late can be found on the Rocks Vol. One compilation. I do love the John Deacon sing-along Spread Your Wings, but the more obscure flamenco-flavored Who Needs You would have added a bit more variety on the album. The same goes for Roger's Sheer Heart Attack, while it's one of the heaviest tracks in their repertoire, it was also on the Rocks Vol. 1 album, and I feel that sheer presence still says that even though punk rock music, a passing fad in 1976 and 1977 still has Britain on edge. They treat the movement like America treats Nevermind. Sheer Heart Attack has almost a speed-metal quality to it, silently screaming that even Queen can keep up with the latest trends in music. Yet Sheer Heart Attack may have some punk elements, it misses the whole genre and instead jumps ahead four years to another kind of music. Brian's Sleeping on the Sidewalk is a brilliant choice for this CD, as it shows a whole different side to the guitarist and the band as well. Sleeping on the Sidewalk can almost be viewed as an homage to Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix's style of loose blues riffs that guitarists love to play.

This album like the first one is truly Queen at their finest moments. Taking fourteen of their best tracks from five different albums, and compiled it here. While I still feel like it's a bit lopsided - favoring the guitarist Brian's compositions, it still manages to give the listener a real feel of what the best of Queen has to offer. Once again, the songs are remastered which truly brings out a new crystal clarity, which was never heard outside of the recording studio. If you missed the last couple of times Queen remastered their back catalog, don't miss this one! Surely, these discs will be the standard for the band for the next couple of decades.



Queen
Deep Cuts Volume 2
Length: 53:17 minutes
Released: 6/27/2011
Rating: 4 stars
the Songs:

1. Mustapha
2. Sheer Heart Attack
3. Spread Your Wings
4. Sleeping on the Sidewalk
5. It's Late
6. Dead On Time
8. Sail Away Sweet Sister
9. Dragon Attack
10. Action This Day
11. Put Out the Fire
12. Staying Power
13. Jealousy
14. Battle Theme


.
For more QUEEN compilations...
Classic Queen  *  Greatest Hits (Hollywood 1992)  *  Greatest Hits 2  * Queen Collection played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra  *  Greatest Hits 3  *  PreOrdained  *  Tributo a Queen  *  The Crown Jewels  *  Queen Rocks Vol 1  *  Stone Cold Queen - A Tribute  *  Greatest Hits (Hollywood 2004)  *  Killer Queen - A Tribute to Queen  *  Stone Cold Classics  *  Q is for Queen: The a-z of Queen  *  Absolute Greatest  *  Deep Cuts (1973-1976)  *

Recommended: Yes