Favourite Queen Album

And there's "Life Is Real" - the greatest ballad of those based on the minimalist riff. 

Actually I'm in the camp that it's so bad it's good and for once I really enjoyed Queen's musical soundtrack for the film which is so campy it suits the style of the film. Why they got a football player to star as lead is a mystery to me. He is so bad.

This is what I think in general (part 1).

Queen (1973). It somehow sounds a bit like a demo, probably because they didn't have as much studio time as with their subsequent works. The trademark layers of guitars and vocal harmonies are missing, or just more basic. Also, the songwriting is a bit mixed, and some songs lack a clear melodic focus ("Jesus", "Modern Times Rock'n Roll", and the otherwise much praised, but in my estimation rather overrated "Keep Yourself Alive"). One could say that the album has an aura of spontanity about it which the later, more elaborate productions are missing. In any case, the basic elements are there, the musicianship is excellent, and you can hear right away what band it is. No other guitarist truly sounds like Brian May. And of course Freddie's vocals are superb as always, but he somehow sounds a bit cautious to me, maybe because the melodies tend to have a smaller range, or because he is still in the process of fiding his sound. In any case it's an enjoyable listen with many good ideas. Favourite tracks: "Doing Alright", "Great King Rat", "Liar".

Yes!!!

I personally find Hot Space OK, even Body Language which actually fascinates me quite a lot even though the over-sexualized lyrics and vocal performance puts me off somewhat. But one needs to accept the album on its own premises to enjoy it. It's a more of a pop and dance album than a rock album, and there is a lot of inspiration from black music like soul and funk. Some songs sound a bit uninspired (Dancer, Back Chat, Put Out the Fire), but there is also a catchy pop tune like Calling All Girls, and of course Under Pressure. Cool Cat is quite an underrated track. Still, it's not an album I listen to very often.

I have a feeling that three surprise votes may have gone to the Hot Space album because I said at the beginning of the thread I didn't expect anyone would vote for it.