DEEP CUTS, VOLUME 2 (1977-1982)

"Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" is a compilation album of Queen that was released in 2011. It makes part of a trilogy from the band that was released in the same year, which covers some of the best tracks made by Queen during part of their career. As its name indicates, this compilation album is the volume two of that trilogy and only covers tracks between 1977 and 1982. It means that "Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" has only tracks that were originally recorded on their sixth studio album "News Of The World" that was released in 1977, on their seventh studio album "Jazz" that was released in 1978, on their eighth studio album "The Game" that was released in 1980, on their ninth studio album "Flash Gordon" that was released in 1980 and on their tenth studio album "Hot Space" that was released in 1982.

"Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" has fourteen tracks. "Mustapha" is from "Jazz". It's a nice tune with an oriental feel. The lyrics, I think, consist of English, Arabic, Persian and certainly a number of invented words. This is an excellent and very extravagant song. "Sheer Heart Attack" is from "News Of The World". It's a heavy punk rock song, probably the heaviest song that Queen ever wrote. It should have been the title track for "Sheer Heart Attack", but they didn't finish it in time. I don't like very much of this song. "Spread Your Wings" is also from "News Of The World". It's a beautiful rock ballad with good guitar harmonies. Here, John Deacon did a good and interesting work, making of it one of his best contributions to Queen. "Sleeping On The Sidewalk" is another song from "News Of The World". It's a bluesy song, mainly played on acoustic guitar. Despite it's a good song and proves that we are in presence of a versatile band, this isn't one of the best Brian May's songs. "It's Late" is one more song from "News Of The World". It's one of the best moments on "News Of The World". This is a classic rock Queen's song with excellent melody and great individual performances by all band's members. "Rock It (Prime Jive)" is from "The Game". It's a fast rock song with a good guitar solo and a nice chorus. This is a typical Roger Taylor's song, decent enough, but I can't see anything special on it. It's sung by him with an introduction vocalization by Freddie Mercury. "Dead On Time" is from "Jazz". This is a good rock song, with good lyrics, great guitar parts and complex melodies. It's an ultra-fast pace song that sounds like a hard rock song must sound. It shows how heavy Queen could be when they wanted to be. "Sail Away Sweet Sister" is from "The Game". It's an acoustic ballad, probably the real gem on "The Game". This is one of the best and most beautiful compositions written by Brian May. It's a lovely song with prog lines made in the good old Queen's style. "Dragon Attack" is also from "The Game". It's a song with a good bass line and an interesting drumming work, with a solo in the middle of it. It's a hard rock song with funk influences. Despite be a good song it never was a song that really seduced me. "Action This Day" is from "Hot Space". This is a song influenced by the new wave style, so in vogue at the time. It's a song driven by a pounding electronic drum machine. The only interesting thing on it is the vocal duet and the chorus sung by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor. "Put Out The Fire" is also from "Hot Space". This is a traditional Queen's song. It has lead vocals by Freddie Mercury with Brian May singing lead vocals in falsetto at the end of the verse. It has a nice guitar solo by Brian May. It isn't a bad song, but it's a bit repetitive and I don't like of the Bee Gees' vocal parts. "Staying Power" is another song from "Hot Space". It's the only Queen's song, in all history of the band, to have a horn section. It's a song driven by a funky styled synthesizer bass riff that sounds as an electro-disco song. This is a very weak song. It's an awful way to open the album "Hot Space". "Jealousy" is from "Jazz". We are in presence of a great classic and typical ballad from the band that features Brian May playing acoustic guitar. All vocals were performed by Freddie Mercury that shows an incredible vocal work. That explains why he was considered one of the greatest singers ever. "Battle Theme" is from "Flash Gordon". I really don't know why this was put here. "Battle Theme" is only one of the small instrumental parts put in the middle of the soundtrack sound of the film. The only part that deserves a special mention is the first and the last parts, "Flash's Theme" and "Hero". So, this is not bad, but this is not great, either.

Conclusion: "Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977-1982)" is another good compilation of Queen, the second of the three parts of their compilations named "Deep Cuts". "Deep Cuts" covers the entire career of the band when Freddie Mercury was a member of the band. This one covers the career of the band between 1977 and 1982, the years where Queen released five studio albums, "News Of The World", "Jazz", "The Game", "Flash Gordon" and "Hot Space". We have four songs from "News Of The World", three songs from "Jazz", three songs from "The Game", one song from "Flash Gordon" and three songs from "Hot Space". It's true that the songs from "Hot Space" are really very weak, but the remaining songs are in general very good despite they aren't really very progressive. So, in general, this is a good compilation album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)