QUEEN

No band had a greater effect on my life as a music fan/musician than Queen. Back in 1986 I was a 13-year-old synth-pop fan who rated Ultravox and Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark as the best bands on the planet. However a chance encounter with the B-sides of Queen's Friends Will Be Friends and Who Wants To Live Forever singles (Seven Seas Of Rhye and Killer Queen respectively) convinced me that Queen's early work was worth listening to. When I spotted Queen and Queen II for sale at half-price, I snapped 'em up, and (after some teething problems) fell head over heels in love with Queen's brand of progressive rock.

Now I happen to believe that while Queen was a highly eclectic band that went through many phases, only 3 of the band's 15 albums qualify as genuine prog-rock albums. Thankfully all three of them (Queen, Queen II and A Night At The Opera) are real corkers. This first album came out in 1973 and sees a tearaway Brian May rocking out like there was no tomorrow. Coupled with Freddie Mercury's outstanding vocals and a solid bass/drum pairing of John Deacon and Roger Taylor, Queen's debut was a passionate affair that rode on the considerable songwriting skills of Mercury and May.

The light/heavy contrasts of Doing All Right, the semi-Arabic hints of Jesus (which explodes at one point in a raucous jam, the heavy blues-rock of Son And Daughter and Liar, the heart-breaking When The Night Comes Down, the glorious Great King Rat (surely one of May's greatest ever guitar performances) and the bona-fide multi dimensional fantasy epic My Fairy King (which has some lovely piano work from Mr. Mercury) are all songs that rank among Queen's most creative.

Even though there are a couple of throwaways in Modern Times Rock'N'Roll (written and sung by Taylor (then going by Roger Meddows-Taylor) and an instrumental version of Seven Seas Of Rhye (which would be revisited in spectacular fashion on the next album), this record is still stunningly alive, and is a wonderful slab of progressive hard rock. ... 77% on the MPV scale