scapp70's Full Review: Sheer Heart Attack by Queen/Orchestra Regina
This review is based on the Hollywood Records release.
Well, in case you are not that familiar with Queen let me explain why I would entitle my review "Queen's bold new direction."
This is their 3rd release. Their debut Queen is a collection of songs that Queen were performing over the last three years (from 1970-1973). Queen is basically real heavy art rock on some songs, and real heavy blues rock and roll for the remainder. Their second, Queen II came out some months later in early 1974, and was all art rock, super heavy.
Now a couple of months later in late 1974 Queen released Sheer Heart Attack. This release is a bit more poppy, more mainstream, yet still hard and heavy.
Queen, always had direction, people may disagree, but Queen's style has changed every album, so how could you say the earlier two lacked direction?
The first song, Brighton Rock, is written by Brian, this song starts off with noises and sound effects that resemble a fair. You hear carnival music, people laughing and talking, and a whip cracking somewhat in beat with the song that is about to start.
Brian's guitar fades in very fast for a couple of measures and then the bass and drums kick it into gear.
The lyrics are dialogue between a boy and girl which when Freddie sings the words, his voice brilliantly changes from falsetto, then to a sharp and powerful booming voice. This is definitely one of Freddie's best vocal performances.
This song incorporates a lengthy guitar solo that Brian used to do on tour during an earlier song from their first album called Son And Daughter. He polished it off, made lots of edits and made it work here nicely.
The song Killer Queen was a real attempt by lead singer Freddie Mercury at a big hit single, and it was. It reached #2 on the UK charts and #12 in the USA. It was recorded by Freddie, John, and Roger while Brian was recouping in the hospital from some sort of hepatitis. He came in later to finish off a few of the songs that had to be done without him.
This song starts off with Freddie's finger snaps and leads into a poppy pretentious piano song with lots of harmonies. Classic Rock radio plays this song to death here in the States now, while they pretty much ignored it when it was first released.
Tenement Funster is written by drummer Roger Taylor, and he sings it as well. It has a bluesy feel to it. It starts off with acoustic guitar with a lot of reverb. Roger sings most of the backing vocals too, as he usually does on the songs that he writes. This track segues perfectly into the next... Flick Of The Wrist.
This is a dark, heavy song written by Freddie. It starts off in the segue with some great piano playing and then Brian's guitar sneaks in playing sounds almost evil on this track. This song always reminded me of Freddie's Death On Two Legs from their next album A Night at the Opera - a song about a shady guy who wishes to do you harm. The song has great backing vocals, a la Queen II. This is probably the last song that Queen recorded that contained these types of answering backing vocals, the kind that was present in about every song from Queen II's Side Black. Again, this song leads into the next via a seamless segue.
Lily Of The Valley is written by Freddie, and the shortness of the song (1:43) leads me to believe that the song's main purpose is to tidy up this three-song medley. Freddie had done the same thing on their second album Queen II with a song called Nevermore. Having said that, the song is hardly a throw away, as it does have it's charm. It's a gentle ballad, and Brian does some nice orchestral sounds with his guitar over Freddie's piano. Lily Of The Valley is somewhat art rock lyric's wise, perhaps a remnant from their Queen II album.
Queen released another single in the UK from this album with Now I'm Here. The song reached #11 in the charts. It almost starts immediately after Lily of the Valley. This song is a straight forward mainstream rock and roll song, a little reminiscent of The Who's style, which makes it a more accessible song from Queen. They incorporated this song right away on the Sheer Heart Attack tour, and in fact it opened the show for this tour. They never got rid of this song from the setlist either; it stayed with Queen on tour until the last show in September 1986.
Freddie writes the next song, In The Lap Of The Gods. It starts very dramatically with a BOOM and a very high pitched screaming from Roger Taylor. Unfortunately on this Hollywood records release, it has two seconds mysteriously omitted from the original track, (It has since been corrected on the SHA CD contained in the Hollywood Records box set, The Crown Jewels).
Freddie's voice is eerily slowed down on this song and he sounds a little creepy. It is somewhat of an upbeat number though. This song segues right into the next song brilliantly. Stone Cold Crazy is the heaviest song on the album and one of Queen’s most heavy over all. This song is the first song credited to all four members, and it is one of the oldest of Queen's originals as well. They have been playing this song in concert since 1971. Stone Cold Crazy contains really fast drums and guitar, and super fast singing by Freddie. The song had received the most recognition when trash metal gods Metallica covered the song years later.
Dear Friends is a song written by Brian May and is another piano ballad that clocks in at a super short 1:07. It only has two verses and Freddie sings them very Brian May-ish. Meanwhile, Misfire marks the first song on record that is written by bass player John Deacon. It took him three records, but it's a good debut for him too. The song is very catchy and shows the direction his songs would take in the future. His writing is much more accessible, and with the Top 40 in mind. John went on to write some of Queen’s biggest singles, like You’re My Best Friend, Another One Bites The Dust, and I Want To Break Free. Misfire is a fast acoustic guitar song. Freddie's vocals are way up in the upper registers with this one, like on Funny How Love Is on Queen II. This song sort of segues into the next.
The song Bring Back That Leroy Brown is written by Freddie, and is a very barber shop quartet type of song. It's probably about four Freddie's singing throughout the song. Leroy really showcases the talents by all four band members and their respective instruments. Great piano playing by Freddie, John Deacon shines here on the bass as well and Brian plays the ukulele as well. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos) is written by Brian, and the only song he sings lead on this album. This is a slow number, a big acoustic guitar sound accented with heavy marching style drums that are reminiscent of Crimson and Clover from Tommy James and the Shondells. The song’s subject is a bit down, but still very beautiful. The song has a lot of reverb and echo and it adds to the emotion of this song of Brian's yearning for this chick he is singing about.
In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited is totally different from the song with (almost) the same title above. This song stayed in the set list for a couple of years, up until their Jazz tour in 1978/1979. Then, it was again introduced on their last tour in 1986. This song is written by Freddie of course, and it is, I think, his first attempt at a sing-along, stadium type of song, or rock anthem if you will. He and Brian perfected this with We Will Rock You & We Are the Champions from their 1977 album News of the World. Freddie sings this with a lot of emotion, and very powerful.
The bonus track here is a 1991 remix by record producer Michael Wagener of Stone Cold Crazy. So there’s nothing new here song wise, but it is still nice to have because this version is even better than the original. The song is identical except for the amazing production. This remix has a lot more energy than the original. I guess Michael Wagener had access to the EMI tapes because there are little quips of Freddie's voice here and there that were not in the original. This bonus track serves as an excellent addition to this classic album. No unheard songs here, like on Queen's debut (Mad The Swine), but it will do for now until the box set comes out whenever that will be. (I’m still waiting 8 years by the way㏻/2006)
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