Queen II (1974)
1. Procession
2. Father to Son
3. White Queen (As It Began)
4. Some Day One Day
5. The Loser in the End
6. Ogre Battle
7. The Fiary Feller's Master Stroke
8. Nevermore
9. The March of the Black Queen
10.Funny How Love Is
11.Seven Seas of Rhye
 
Queen's second album is exactly what
every second album should be. It has many many similarities as the
band's first record, yet manages to make many improvements at the very
same time. The sound here is a bit leaner, a bit more direct, and it
really does sound like the guys were simply channeling their energy
better. When a band can always keep the exact same members throughout
its history, this is always a bit easier to do. It also seemed to help
that even though these guys were diverse, they always seemed to be on
the same page musically. So whatever styles they pursued (and they
would pursue many) it never seemed forced or uncomfortable. Mostly what
we have here, though, is a style very similar to their freshmen release.
They're still singing about fairies, queens (white and black) and ogres,
so they haven't left the fantasy trademark behind. They still seem a
bit more "glam" and not quite "rock", but the rock side definitely shows
its face. Brian May has already established his killer wailing guitar
sound, while Freddie Mercury proved to have one of the strongest,
melodic voices of the rock and roll genre for his time. He's perfectly
comfortable belting out rockers as he is the slowed down ballads - and
they are both featured here a-plenty. Then there are the harmonies.
Yes, these guys had that department licked as well way back then, and
it's nice to hear that this distinction never left the band.
Something that may appear as a bit of a drawback here, is that this
album really doesn't have any stand out songs. A quick
glance at the tracks won't help many people who aren't hardcore fans.
This really isn't much of a deterrent, though, since the whole album
seems to flow as a whole. As a matter of fact, side 2 of the album
almost plays like a complete piece, and you have to wonder if they were
really trying to record something like Bohemian Rhapsody (from A Night at the Opera) here, but maybe
chickened out since the idea was so strange, and they may just not have
quite had the confidence. You can definitely hear similarities, though,
and it's hard to imagine any fan of this band not liking this album,
even if it doesn't have that trademark killer single somewhere.
Roger Taylor gets a turn at the mike, this time on The Loser in the
End which seems a bit out place, but still is satisfying. His drum
work on the track is impeccable as well. The only song that sort of
slows down the pace is Brian May's Some Day One Day which is a
bit tiresome. Yes, the closing track Seven Seas of Rhye is the
same title of the last track on Queen, and
it is essentially the same song. This one adds lyrics and is a bit
longer. A bit weird. It's as if they wanted to "fix" the version from
the first album.
Although many critics always hated this band, smart music fans could
probably tell that these guys were winners, and it would only be a
matter of time before they broke out big.
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