QUEEN II

'Queen II' is the second studio album of Queen and was released in 1974. The two sides of the original LP were labelled Side White and Side Black, instead of the traditional sides 1 and 2. The each side of the record's label face shows photos of the band dressed in white, on the Side White, and dressed in black, on the Side Black. In a certain way, this is a concept album, with the white side having more emotional songs and the black side is more about fantasy and it's also darker. 'Queen II' is Queen's album with a total contrast to the music that most people associate with Queen.

'Queen II' has eleven tracks. The first track 'Procession' written by Brian May is a short instrumental song that works as an introduction to the album and to the next song 'Father To Son'. Despite being short, it's a majestic song, that curiously, reminds me a small section of the classical piece of Henry Purcell's 'Music For The Funeral Of Queen Mary', composed in 1695, for the funeral of Queen Mary II of England. The second track 'Father To Son' written by Brian May is a great song with some heavy parts and some quiet moments. Musically, it's a song well balanced between the heavy and the quiet moments. It's a fantastic song with emotional lyrics, gorgeous vocal harmonies and fantastic guitar work. The third track 'White Queen (As It Began)' written by Brian May is another fantastic song. It's an acoustic ballad with a special dark atmosphere, great lyrics, beautiful melody and a great guitar solo. It has also an incredible musical arrangement. The final result of the song is absolutely astonishing and perfect, because it has everything we could expect on a great song. The fourth track 'Some Day One Day' written by Brian May is a beautiful song, not as great as the three previous songs, but it has its great moments like a great melody, good guitar parts and some fantastic chorus. Anyway, this is a very nice and peaceful song that remains enjoyable and nice to hear, even today. The fifth track 'The Loser In The End' written by Roger Taylor, represents Roger Taylor's contribution for the album. This is a surprising song on the album, because this isn't a typical Queen's song and represents also a totally different musical genre on the album. However and despite be a good song, it's, in my humble opinion, a bit misplaced in the general musical direction of the album. It represents the weakest song on the album. The sixth track 'Ogre Battle' written by Freddie Mercury is, without any doubt, one of the Queen's greatest songs. This is a hard rock song, one of the Queen's heaviest songs ever made by them, and it has also one of the greatest and most violent guitar riffs made by Brian May, that shows clearly one of the first precursor lines of heavy progressive metal. The seventh track 'The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke' written by Freddie Mercury is another well written song, very intelligent and innovative too. It's a very complex song with many multi-parts in a very short time, a truly progressive song in the true sense of the word. This is an intelligent, melodic, complex and harmonious song where the time and tempo constant change, all over the song. It can perfectly capture the idea beyond the song. The eighth track 'Nevermore' written by Freddie Mercury is a short and beautiful piano ballad about some feelings after a heartbreaker. This is a song led by Freddie Mercury's piano and where the lead and the backing vocals are all made by him. The song contains sudden tempo changes which appear a couple of times on the song. The ninth track 'The March Of The Black Queen' written by Freddie Mercury is another typical song with clear progressive lines, very complex and also divided into multi-sections, some heavy and some quiet. Like 'The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke', we are in presence of a progressive, melodic, intelligent, complex, harmonious and well arranged song. The tenth track 'Funny How Love Is' written by Freddie Mercury is, without any doubt, the weakest song composed by Freddie Mercury to this album. Still, it's not a bad song and results perfectly well as a song that bridges the gap between 'The March Of The Black Queen' and 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'. The eleventh track 'Seven Seas Of Rhye' is the final track on both first Queen's albums. On this album, the song is lengthier than the debut version of 'Queen' and it has also vocals. This is also a very good song that closes perfectly this great album.

Conclusion: As I said before, 'Queen II' has two sides. Side White is almost all written by Brian May and it contains songs which convey emotional themes. Side Black is all written by Freddie Mercury and is more fantastical with roaring heavy metal, beautiful ballads and epic, dynamic progressive rock adventures. The contrast between the two sides of the album is interesting, with Brian May's work being mainly guitar based rock themes, while Freddie Mercury's are vocally complex with great emphasis on the harmonies and they also tend to be more adventurous. The variety of themes, the creativity displayed on it and the epic feel of 'Queen II', has made of this album, one of the best and finest albums released by them. 'Queen II' is probably, the darkest Queen's album and is the most progressive work of them. More than forty years have passed since it was released, but it still sounds fresh, even now. It's well worth buying it.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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