NEWS OF THE WORLD

This album is better than some critics think. Ok, it spawned two of the most overplayed and aggravating songs the band did, 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions', but the rest of the album is worth listening to. I find it very annoying to think of all people, who possess nothing more than Queen's greatest hits, and know only of the above two songs, plus 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Another One Bites The Dust', and call themselves 'fans'. The reality is the band were much better on the tracks that weren't singles. When this record came out, I was already a long term Queen fan, had been since their first hit, 'Seven Seas Of Rhye', and I rushed out the purchase this. In those days, the opener was not, of course, well known, and it was a very effective way to start the album. Ok, 'We Will Rock You' was not their best track, but it was fresh and new at the time. A couple more tracks on here are not up to the mark, namely 'Get Down Make Love' and 'It's Late', but the rest of the songs are, in fact, catchy and decent. 'Spread Your Wings', 'Sleeping On The Sidewalk' and 'Who Needs You' are all worthy of repeated plays, and the closing number 'Melancholy Blues' is maybe my favourite track on the album, a lovely, bluesy, piano-led number, which demonstrates just how good a pianist Freddie actually was, and how good his voice could be. All in all, this almost ranks with the best of their output, and was, in fact, to be their last more than decent offering until 'It's A Kind Of Magic'. The album cover, too, is very good, and the vinyl itself was the third one in a row to sport a variation of the famous Queen crest as its label. I would probably rate this as good, if not slightly better than its predecessor, in fact. Give it a go. Maybe four stars is a tad too generous, but it is worth three and a half at least.