SHEER HEART ATTACK

As a Queen fan, this is not one of my favs, but still a quite unique album nontheless!!! Everyone knows "Killer Queen" as this was released as a single in 1974 and is still played on rock radio today. It's the songs that casual listeners have never heard that make this album what it is. This begins with the straight out rock tune "Brighton Rock" which showcases Brian May in a lengthy guitar solo. During live shows, this song was often extended to well over 10 minutes to include Brian's ever growing performance and his array of interesting guitar echoes!

Another killer tune is "Flick Of The Wrist", a rather dark and heavy song rumored to have been written about Queen's management who were steadily screwing the band harder and harder. This sentiment was explored again on the opening track of "A Night At The Opera." "Now I'm Here", although only a minor hit, is a straight rock song incorporating all the elements of a classic. This song was still being played in the 1980's and perhaps will be played on Queen's 2005 tour as well!

Songs such as "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" and "In The Lap Of The Gods" are musical low points but worth a listen just for the oddity of them, unique they certainly were. Also, "Misfire", perhaps the album's weakest moment, was the first song written by basist John Deacon, showing his more funky approach to writing. Beginning with Queen's next album "A Night At The Opera", John Deacon began to write some of the bands most enduring songs and biggest singles!!!!! "Stone Cold Crazy" sits in the middle of this album and marks one of the fastest and heaviest songs they had written. I mean, it was covered by Metallica for christ's sake, and it didn't really sound much different!!

The album ends with what I believe to be a wonderful predecessor to "We Will Rock You" entitled "In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited." Just as "WWRY", this song is a stadium rocker that closed Queen's shows before they had written "Rock You" and "Champions." In the same fashion, "Lap" ended a show with the entire crowd standing and chanting the final lines:

Wo, wo, la la la, wo...

Awesome!!!!

A great rock record perhaps overlooked by fans of "Queen II" and completely overshadowed by the success of "A Nigth At The Opera"