QUEEN II

And what a great album it is indeed! Queen II is a predecessor to the more famous A Night At The Opera that rocks just as hard but unfortunately, and quite surprisingly, has never received the royal treatment it actually deserves.

The album improves significantly on every theme that was addressed on the shaky debut album by combining exotic and unheard of compositions with great melodies. There isn't a single unnecessary or dull moment on the album which takes us on a wonderful journey through some highly adventurous landscapes with every new track.

My favorite part of the album begins with the medley of Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke/Nevermore which is then followed by the magnificent March Of The Black Queen. The studio performance here is so daring and complicated that the band could never perform the composition during their live shows so eventually when they revisited similar territories with Bohemian Rapsody they had to make the transitions much smoother and further apart, on that track, in order to make it manageable in a live setting.

March Of The Black Queen is truly a unique piece of studio music that has to be experienced quite a few times in order to be fully comprehend how the band managed to fuse each part of the medley together in order to make it work as one complete piece. Be sure to note the particular segment where two different time signatures are played simultaneously (8/8 and 12/8)!

The album ends on a cheerful note with Seven Seas Of Rhye which surprisingly happens to be the most recognized composition from Queen II. This is great because it's a nice tune although this album does feature a lot more than this particular track can possibly give a hint of.

What I'm basically saying is that there are just too many highlights here for me to even consider giving this album anything less than the top rating especially since Queen II is as progressive as Queen would ever get!

***** star songs: Father To Son (6:12) White Queen (As It Began) (4:33) Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (2:39) Nevermore (1:17) March Of The Black Queen (6:03) Seven Seas Of Rhye (2:48)

**** star songs: Procession (1:12) Some Day One Day (4:21) Loser In The End (4:01) Ogre Battle (4:08) Funny How Love Is (3:14)

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