Queen - Jazz

Japanese Version featuring a Limited Edition LP Style Slipcase for Initial Pressing Only. Album Details

This album goes all over the place and I like it that way!

You listen to it and by the time it's over you'll wonder what the hell just happened. It's just musically diverse and all out crazy. The only problem I have with it is that there is no Jazz whatsoever. October 30, 2008

Don't shun it, Fun it!

The last of Queen's "No Synthesizers" albums was an incredibly mixed bag. From the opening oddity of "Mustapha" to the pastiche of the album that closes "More of The Jazz," this album found Queen running amok through their stylistic grab bag, but without the coherency that marked their best albums News of the World and A Night at the Opera. Despite the inconsistency, "Jazz" includes two of the band's goofiest singles, the classic "Fat Bottom Girls" and "Bicycle Race."

"Jazz," like "News of the World" before it, continued Queen's indulgence of excess. How else does one explain the gloriously over-the-top "Mustapha," one of the oddest album kickoffs for a major label and arena rock band, ever? There's even the parade of glorifications in "Let Me Entertain You."

"If you wanna see some action
You get nothing but the best!
The S&M attraction
we've got the Pleasure Chest.
Chicago and New Orleans
we get you on the line.
If you dig the New York scene
We'll have a sonofa b**ch of a time
C'mon, Let me entertain you."

The band was so self-assured at this stage that their promotional stunts became legendary, including the controversial nude bicycle race and the poster that came with early copies of "Jazz." As far as Freddie Mercury was concerned, there was nothing too far-out to try and little too weird to record. There was heavy ("Dead On Time"), music hall lite ("Dreamer's Ball") and a great Beatlesque Brian May ballad ("Leaving Home Ain't Easy"). To foreshadow the next album, Roger Taylor drops the mechanical funk of "Fun It." (Actually, a close kin to NOTW's "Get Down Make Love.")

Queen was at the top and they darn well knew it. They wanted to be bigger than The Beatles and the one thing bigger (as the album notes explained, "Thunderclap courtesy of God"), and would spare neither expense nor excess. "Jazz" was the last album before slickness and the times overtook them on The Game. October 28, 2008

A Masterpiece by Queen

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. By 1977, Queen would ascend into the upper echelon of Rock with their sixth album "News of the World". This album would feature the monster hits of "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions". However this album would offer so much more as it showed Queen as a band not afraid to innovate and explore new horizons. Following up a such an effort is often not easy, but with the release of their seventh album, "Jazz" - Queen would undertake what might have been their most ambitious effort to date. "Jazz" would showcase Queen's innovation like no other album they had done before that. While many didn't consider "Jazz" to be up at the level of "News of the World" - I would whole-heartedly disagree - this album is a masterpiece.

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.

While the title of this album is "Jazz", Queen explores a multitude of musical styles, but Jazz isn't one of them. On "News of the World", Queen opted for a more "stripped down" Rock sound. On this album, we still Queen integrating different musical styles into their core sound. The result is something special. Here is a synopsis of the 13 original tracks:

"Mustapha": As the title indicates, this album has a Middle-Eastern feel to it. Most of the lyrics were also done in Persian. May and Deacon really help set the tempo with their guitar and bass work respectively. Mercury does a great job with the Persian lyrics - especially has he raises his voice up some octave levels during the chorus midway through the song.

"Fat Bottomed Girls": Legendary song by Queen. May's guitar gives this song a Rock feel, while the combined harmonies of Mercury and May show a traditional Queen theatrical feel. The line "Get on your bikes and ride" establishes some synergy with this track and the fourth one, "Bicycle Race".

"Jealousy": This is a ballad by the band that is highlighted by the piano and a simulated sitar sound. Mercury shines on vocals, but when the background harmonies are needed by May and Taylor, they are spot on.

"Bicycle Race": Another masterpiece. In general the chorus gives you a feel for pedaling on a bicycle. I particularly like the tempo and melody changes. Parts of the song have the classic theatrical sound. The reference to "Fat Bottomed Girls" provides synergy back to the track with that name.

"If You Can't Beat Them": Great song written by Deacon. While Deacon wrote this song, the big highlight is a two minute guitar solo by May which is as good as any guitar solo I ever heard.

"Let Me Entertain You": Deacon's bass work is spot on with this song, but I also give credit to May's guitars. Great harmonies as well. This song establishes synergy back to "Teo Torriate" on "A Day at the Races" with the reference to "We'll sing to you in Japanese".

"Dead on Time": A similar tempo to "Keep Yourself Alive" from Queen's debut album, but with a more modern twist. This song is simply Hall of Fame quality. It's a complete effort by the band by ultimately its May who generates some powerful guitar riffs that shines.

"In Only Seven Days": This is a softer song by Deacon. This song gives Mercury the opportunity to shine. Not the best song on the collection, but not a bad one.

"Dreamers Ball": This is more of an acoustic song. It almost sounds like a cross between ragtime and tropical island music providing for a unique and innovative sound.

"Fun It": This song has more of a dance beat to it. Taylor takes the lead vocals and his higher octaves are perfect on this track. It's a different sound for Queen, but I got used to it.

"Leaving Home Ain't Easy": May takes the lead vocals on this ballad. Not a bad track at all.

"Don't Stop Me Now": Legendary track with a classic Queen theatrical feel. I love the tempo change from the soft intro.

"More of that Jazz": Underrated song by Queen. Taylor takes the lead on vocals. I particularly love the innovative montage of the other tracks on the song "Dead on Time", "Bicycle Race", "Mustapha", "If You Can't Beat Them", "Fun It", and "Fat Bottomed Girls".

Don't listen to the critics. This is album is simply a masterpiece. Definitely worth checking out. September 18, 2008

Queen's last great album of the 70s

A worthy follow-up to 1977's News of the World, Jazz continues the Queen tradition of making a very diverse album, though not so over-the-top as, say, A Night at the Opera. "Fat Bottomed Girls" is the best tribute to "heap-big women" ever put to vinyl, "Bicycle Race" and "Don't Stop Me Now" are both classic and a lot of fun. "Jealousy" is a typical overblown Freddie Mercury ballad, that works. "Leaving Home Ain't Easy" is a sad/breezy Brian May ballad, and "Dreamer's Ball" is lighthearted and jazzy, with a sad undercurrent. There are a few weaker moments, including Roger Taylor's rather lame "Fun It" (he was always the band's weakest songwriter) and John Deacon's pedestrian "In Only Seven Days." On the whole, however, this album works, and is notable as Queen's last of the 70s, the end of an amazing run. As with many artists, the 80s would prove to be trickier and a bit uneven music-wise. July 13, 2008

One of Queen's best albums...

Wow. Simply, wow. This album slams you from the very beginning of the first song, "Mustapha," and keeps beating you over the head mercilessly with Queen's absolutely masterful rocking. The entire album is one of their most cohesive, and highlights all the members' insane musical abilities, from Brian May's intense guitar work ("Dead On Time" is an excellent example) to Freddie Mercury's piercing vocals. This album is just good fun and good music. Queen's tongue-in-cheek sense of humor is rampant ("Let Me Entertain You" and "If You Can't Beat Them"), and this album is polished and sharp in its manic pace. This album is for the listener looking for an album to just let loose and rock out to. It's not a casual listening album, but it is guaranteed to entertain you, no pun intended! With the possibility of redundancy on my part, it's GREAT! March 16, 2008

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