Queen - News of the World

So much more than "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions"

Looking back at the 1970s, sometimes many forget how big the band Queen was. Even as Queen moved into the 1980s, while their popularity did slightly decline in the United States, it continued to be very high in Europe. Their performance at Live Aid is widely considered one of the greatest of all-time and their subsequent "Magic" tour is considered one of the all-time greatest concert tours. If it weren't for Freddie Mercury's death in 1992, we might still be talking about Queen being as big a band as the Beatles. When Queen released their 1973 self-titled debut album, it showed all of the signs of greatness to come. This album would show how the band embraced a "theatrical" feel to their music as well as embrace a sound that would evolve into what would become Heavy Metal. Queen's next four albums would move more toward the theatrical sound and to some extent move away from that Heavy Metal sound (although there would be some highlights through these albums). They would also expand their horizons such as incorporating such sounds like ragtime. Also during this time Queen would establish themselves as a major force in the music business, but it would be their sixth album "News of the World" that would cement their standing as a commercial and creative force in the music business. At the same time, Queen would continue to innovate and explore more new horizons. Much of the popularity of this album would be on the songs "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions", but this collection offers so much more.

Queen is an example of the sum of the parts actually being greater than the whole. However, if you take each of the four members of Queen, they easily stand on their own as a top musician in their profession. Freddie Mercury is easily known to be the emotional and flamboyant lead vocalist of Queen who indeed has a legendary voice. Brian May is the legendary lead guitarist and probably the second most popular member of the band. Roger Taylor and John Deacon go extremely underrated. Listen to Taylor's thundering drumming in the studio or live and one can easily understand why he was asked to participate in an All Star Drum Jam (The S.O.S. All-Stars) at the Live Earth concert. As for John Deacon, he might be one of music's all-time underrated bass players. Many of his bass lines have proven to be the foundation for Queen's musical sound. In addition to being top musicians, all four members play integral roles in the songwriting.

On "News of the World", Queen goes for more of a "stripped down" Rock sound. Here are the highlights from each of the tracks.

"We Will Rock You": This is a well-known and legendary track by Queen. This song sets the tone for the "stripped down" sound of this collection. Everyone knows about the background clapping behind Mercury's a cappella-like vocals. However May's guitar work toward the end of this song is often overlooked.

"We are the Champions": Obviously this is the other well-known song. There isn't much I can add to what many already know. I always saw this song as a cross of Arena Rock meeting Theatrical Rock - great stuff.

"Sheer Heart Attack": This song features Mercury and Taylor on lead vocals. This song has a raw feel to it. There are lots of guitars and a blistering tempo to the song that almost could put it into a punk category.

"All Dead, All Dead": For the most part, this is a piano ballad. May takes the lead vocals and Mercury takes the background vocals. There is a psychedelic sounding bridge midway through the track. To some extent there is a theatrical feel to this song - especially on the chorus.

"Spread Your Wings": This song is highlighted by great guitar and piano work. This song is sung as a narrative about someone named Sammy who works as a janitor at a Rock bar. Deacon is the songwriter on this one and does a great job at painting a visual in this narrative story. This is a rare Queen song without backing vocals or harmonies.

"Fight From the Inside": This song features Taylor on lead vocals. As always, Taylor doesn't disappoint on the lead vocals. Also stripped down, this song has more of a slant on the percussion and bass than most Queen tracks. Taylor's higher octaves (compared to Mercury) as perfect for this track.

"Get Down, Make Love": This might be one of Queen's more "risqué" songs. It has a psychedelic feel to it. This might be one of Queen's strongest tracks because each of the four members of Queen get to showcase their musical talents at one point or another in the song: Mercury (Vocals, Piano); May (Guitars); Deacon (Bass); Taylor (Drums). Deacon's bass especially shines. This song shows why each member of Queen is at the top of their profession.

"Sleeping on the Sidewalk": This song has a classic Blues feel. With May on lead vocals, he too proves how good a lead vocalist he is as he flawlessly pulls of the Blues sound.

"Who Needs You": Great Spanish sounding acoustic guitars are the highlight of this track. The maracas help add to the Spanish feel.

"It's Late": This song also has a stripped down Rock feel to it. This song to some extent also has a theatrical feel to it - especially on the chorus.

"Melancholy Blues": This song has a stripped down sound, but that is because there are no guitars on this song. Piano and bass are prominently featured on this one. This song has a "supper club" feel to it.

Like many Queen albums, this album did require a few listens by me in order to get into it. There definitely is more to offer than the well-known songs of "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions". Highly recommended August 28, 2008

Tune In For More About the Robot.....

With the exception of the over-raunchy "Get Down Make Love" and that horrid remix of "We Will Rock You", every song on this album is a classic. Roger Taylor's "Sheer Heart Attack" is campy punk, but "Fight From the Inside" is more of a funky "message" song (note that he played most of the instruments on both tracks). John's "Who Needs You" features some unique Latino-jazz (with some fine acoustic work from Brian). "Spread Your Wings" is classic Queen, one of those message songs not to let others discourage you, especially jerky bosses whose only concern is that you "sweep up the emerald bar (it didn't sell well as a single, though). Now for the hits "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions"- though they are almost always played together, they are 2 different songs. Brian came up with the stomp-stomp-clap at a church and the idea worked! Freddie had said that all Queen fans were the champions, all on the same team. "It's Late" is a poignant rocker(which is a mini-soap opera story from Brian) and "All Dead All Dead" is about the passing away of Brian's cat. "Sleeping On the Sidewalk" is a charming blues shuffle and "My Melancholy Blues" has more of a swing-jazz feel, two of Queen's most unique songs ever. July 19, 2008

Queen's response to punk

In many ways, this seems to be Queen's 1977 answer to punk rock, and it holds up remarkably well after 30-plus years. The opening pairing of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" may seem overplayed today, but at the time they were also a statement of purpose. "Sheer Heart Attack" is another blistering rocker. "Get Down, Make Love" is blatant sexuality set to music, making nice use the of pauses between the notes, as well as a mid-section that sounds a bit like a game of pinball gone haywire. There are many different bases covered here musically, just in a more stripped-down fashion than usual (not as many layered vocals, overdubs, etc). "It's Late" is a slow-building guitar track, "Who Needs You" has a laid-back Spanish feel, and "My Melancholy Blues" is a perfect album closer, as if Freddie Mercury were singing this piano ballad in some smoky after-hours jazz club. Somehow it all manages to hold together -- and to still sound very much like Queen. July 13, 2008

A Critical Look Back

Queen's prolific output in the 70s was typically schizophrenic and News of the World represented the extremes of Queen's capabilities. With everything from rock to soul to ballads to jazzy blues standards thrown in - the album's repertoire reflected the individual musical personalities of the band occasionally working together (as with the opening songs), or at times, diverging in their own style.

The album's strongest tracks - We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions - defined the group as a superband, and made them instant legends. Even if they had never recorded another song, those two tracks would remain synonymous with Queen. Unfortunately, because of this as well, the rest of the album (in my humble opinion) has had a somewhat tougher time living up to its knockout opening. Where A Night At the Opera builds up towards the majesty of Bohemian Rhapsody, the trajectory and magnetism of NOTW tapers off a bit.

That's not to say that this is a bad album. But I've found it (like A Day at the Races) slightly fragmentary. But no-one should be surprised, for to listen to Queen is to invite the unexpected.

The other real gems for me here are Spread Your Wings - another classic Queen song - and Melancholy Blues.

Fight From the Inside is aggressive and cool. Get Down Make Love is pure Queen camp and kitsch (ala Death on 2 Legs), while Sheer Heart Attack is Queen's versatile nod to punk rock. It's Late is nice too. All Dead All Dead is incredibly melancholy. The remaining tracks - while not filler, don't hold up so well for me and have been performed better by the band in other similar incarnations.

Although the album remains indispensable for most Queen fans, I'd like to say this is really a 3.5 star album for me compared to Night at the Opera. Far better than A Day At the Races, it's worth getting to experience Queen approaching their 70s peak. Queen was truly astonishing in their abilities and this album displays some of their genius. April 29, 2008

Lean & mean

After two over the top productions, Queen decided to offer something leaner and meaner.
The result was an album that at times sounds a bit stripped down and yet retains a lot of power. It's not a perfect album by any means. Some of the songs sound kind of like demos (Spread your wings, My melancholy blues & Sleeping on the sidewalk)
I find the track listing a bit odd too. Over all it's a strong album. Songs like "All dead, all dead", It's late, Get down, make love & "Sheer heart attack" are amazing and have some pretty spectacular moments worthy of any Queen recordings. After listening to those numbers you get the feeling the four of them were not all pulling in the same direction as in previous years. So you can hear some conflict.
It's defiantly a great addition to any CD collection.
March 13, 2008

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