Queen - The Game (+ Bonus Track)

Japanese exclusive 2001 remastered reissue of 1980 album. Album Description

The Emporer's New Clothes

This was the album that opened Queen 2.0. For the first time, the band declared they would use synthesizers on record, after being almost militant about not using them. So how best to state the obvious? Make a huge descending set of synth sweeps the first sounds on "The Game." So opens the last really great Queen album and ended their hot streak on the Elektra label.

Those synth sounds, and the ensuing album, found Queen sand-blasting their sound down radically. Gone where the 1,000 voice overdubbed choirs, muliti-tracked to oblivion guitars, and epic theatrics. Instead, the band crafted an arena ready parcel of big popo-rockers (like the terific "Dragon Attack") with an eye towards the wave of stripped down bands entering the scene. For example, there's the chiming guitar in "Don't Try Suicide" that cops directly from The Police's "Walking On The Moon" and the The Stray Cats faux rockabilly of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." After being the Kings of Excess for so many years, it was as if Freddie Mercury and company opted to prove that they could do it without the pomp.

Nowhere is this more evident than the monster hit "Another One Bites The Dust." Blatantly lifting from Chic's "Le Freak" (Chic successfully sued), it was Queen's most successful foray into funk and highlights the underrated bassist John Deacon's playing and songwriting. It also emphasized that Queen, even if they weren't layering it on musically, was still willing to step outside expectations and make an extraordinary song outside their usual realm. Same for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," a song so classic that Dwight Yoakam eventually covered it without any irony involved whatsoever.

Thing is, this was the first album where Queen seemed less interested in strutting their stuff than blatantly pleading for your attention. "The Game" is so eager to please (right down to Freddie's new haircut), so straight-ahead poppy, that you wonder what was motivating them. This is still among their most consistent albums (matching News of the World or A Night at the Opera), but other than the hits, there's nothing particularly regal here. Given that the band would completely loose focus on the follow-up, Hot Space, "The Game's" new direction and stunning commercial success seems almost an accident. October 29, 2008

As Strong as Queen Gets - John Deacon Takes Center Stage

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 (which was something seen by other bands such as the Kinks) as well as embrace a sound that would evolve into what would become Heavy Metal. In 1977 Queen would achieve their greatest commercial success with "News of the World" (spurned by the hits "We are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You"). Their follow-up "Jazz" wasn't quite as successful, but I felt was a superior effort to "News of the World". The reason why "Jazz" is better is because Queen does an incredible job at incorporating a variety of styles into their music. However, Queen would achieve even bigger success than "News of the World" with the release of "1980's The Game". While this is a short album from Queen, it is not short of effort - this would prove to be even a better effort than "Jazz".

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. This is the album where we really see Deacon come into his own - as a songwriter and as an all-time bass player.

On "The Game", Queen would move away from their heavy metal sound and the ragtime sound (found on "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races"). This album is more pop-friendly in some ways, yet Queen continues to do some trademark innovating. In addition to the stellar bass work by Deacon, this would also be the first Queen album to incorporate significant use of the synthesizer - showing that Queen was ready to usher in the 1980s. Here is a synopsis of the ten original tracks.

"Play the Game": The opening sequence immediately showcases the use of the Synthesizer. The song features trademark Queen's theatrical sound. Great piano work by Mercury and outstanding guitar by May.

"Dragon Attack": This track has a definite funk feel to it. May's guitars are brilliant as always, but here we see how good Deacon performs on bass as he demonstrates how it can be a lead instrument. Look for Taylor's marching band style drums almost two minutes into the track.

"Another One Bites the Dust": Everyone knows this classic tune that has a funk beat to it. Deacon's bass line is legendary on this one. This is not only a song where Deacon showcases the bass as the lead, but he also reinforces himself as an awesome songwriter.

"Need Your Loving Tonight": Here is another Deacon penned tune - and this one is completely underrated. It has a pop friendly feel to it. Great guitar work on this one.

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love": Everyone knows this to be Queen's foray into Rockabilly. Deacon's bass is spot on again and plays an integral role in the sound. Mercury plays acoustic guitar on this one - something he did in concert. May's guitar solo is awesome on this one.

"Rock It (Prime Jive)": Underrated song. I love how Mercury sings the slower intro and then turns it over to Taylor when the song hits a faster pace. Lots of synthesizers on this one. Taylor's naturally higher octaves work well here.

"Don't Try Suicide": Once again, Deacon takes the lead with some great bass work. At times this song has a blues feel to it. This is another underrated track.

"Sail Away Sweet Sister": May takes lead vocals on this. This song has a classic Queen theatrical feel to it. Super guitar solo by May on this one.

"Coming Soon": This song was written by Taylor. May's guitar work is awesome on this one.

"Save Me": The album wraps up with a classic Queen theatrical-styled song. Great harmonies. The song almost has a "Beatles"-like interlude toward the end.

Overall, this would prove to be Queen's strongest effort they would put out to date. While many may know this album for "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", there is so much more that this collection offers. Deacon's contributions should not be overlooked either. Finally, the songs aren't long, but you will get the most out of them. Highly recommended.

October 12, 2008

Crazy Little Band Called Queen

This album has to be Queen's most transitional album. There is less heavy metal style guitar (as featured on Queen, Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack) and even less campiness (which was featured on A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races and Jazz). On the liner notes, they admit that they used synthesizer "for the 1st time" (for the 1st 6 albums, they proudly boasted that synthesizers were not used at all). They even looked different with the shorter haircuts (sans Brian, whose long curly locks remained unshorned). But I digress. On with the review.

4 of the songs were written and performed for a mini tour called the "Crazy Little Tour." One of them, an uncharacteristic rockabilly tune "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," which lead singer Freddie Mercury wrote. This gave them a big hit in the 1980's. 2 of the songs are sensitive ballads written by versatile guitarist Brian May, "Sail Away Sweet Sister" (Brian sings lead on this, with Freddie singing on the bridge) and the powerful "Save Me" (a minour hit in the UK). Drummer Roger Taylor penned "Coming Soon," which sounds a lot like the Cars (he was the band's true classic rock fan).

The rest of the album was recorded in the 1980's. Around the same time, Queen was preparing the Flash Gordon soundtrack (that's another review). The Game opens with Freddie's "Play the Game," which captures Queen's "classic" sound and features an interesting synthesizer intro (a minour hit for them). Bass player John Deacon had his biggest hit with the funky "Another One Bites the Dust" (he admits it was originally going to be a cowboy song, but for some reason changed it). Other songs include the heavy "Dragon Attack" (written by Brian, "Slow down, don't take no prisoners!"), John's catchy poprock "I Need Your Lovin' Tonight" ("No, I'll never look back in anger...") Freddie's bluesy "Don't Try Suicide" (a tongue in cheek message song- "Don't try suicide, nobody's worth it... nobody cares... you're just gonna hate it!") and "Rock It (Prime Jive)" written and sung by Roger, with help from Freddie at the intro (it sounds a mix between Led Zeppelin and early Sammy Hagar).

I'm giving this 5 stars for the album. I'm not counting the throwaway remix of "Dragon Attack" (instead, they should have included "A Human Body," which was one of their B-sides). Skip that, it'll only leave you wondering why Brian approved of it. Just enjoy the classic sounds of a crazy little band called Queen. September 25, 2008

A new era for Queen

As most people know, this was the first Queen album to utilize synthesizers, though they did not go overboard with them, as they later did on 1982's "Hot Space." This album opens with the sublime Mercury-penned "Play the Game," then heads into more bass-laden funky tunes like "Dragon Attack" and "Another One Bites the Dust." There are some weaker songs on here as well, notably Roger Taylor's "Rock It (Prime Jive)" and "Coming Soon," which are both kind of...well, dumb. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a rockabilly goof/homage that actually works. "Need Your Loving Tonight" is a light bit of pop, but not bad. This is also shorter in length than their '70s albums, so that's a bit disappointing. A mixed bag of songs and definitely a new era as Queen headed into the '80s. May 25, 2008

Transformation

First of all this is not a bad record. Over all it is quite a good record. It contains several good songs. For Queen fans this marks the point were Queen began to transform it's self.
Instead of forging new ground, they began to take in what was happening around them and sort of conforming their style. The sound is a bit toned down from its previous offerings and it also sounds compressed and tight. You never get the sense or feeling of grandeur or over the top production that they become famous for. Still a nice effort.
Never really cared for "Another one bites the dust" I feel this song is way overrated and very silly.
March 4, 2008

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