u/ApprehensiveNatural9

The previous review was really controversial, but if there's one thing I've always liked about music its how divided things on it can be, if there's something that people don't like, there's also something there for other people to latch onto and love. That's the beauty of it, and Black Sabbath has such a diverse array of different songs that it is basically inevitable. I think that just speaks volumes to how good they are.

Anyways, this next review will probably end up making a lot of people happy.

Dehumanizer Review
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People that call this the weakest Dio era album really underestimate the raw power this has, it utterly blazes with every cymbal crash, note bend, and word ripping right through the speakers with great fury. This is definitely the heaviest album that Black Sabbath has released both musically and lyrically, and Ronnie James Dio really hits his peak with his lyricism here in a way that elevates the band to new heights after quite a lot of slumps. It's nice having Sabbath's Mark II lineup back, and Vinny Appice does phenomenal with his drumming as well. Getting Geezer back was another perfect way of making them good again.

Every song is a killer on this record, there is no bad song at all and even the weaker songs like "I" and "Letters From Earth" are still good and its easily alongside the best albums of all time just like the rest of their 5-star albums. The Lyrical themes cover a wide variety of topics like a computer worshipped as a God and taking over humanity, growing the sentience and awareness to see humans as unnecessary and a threat to their environment to televangelists and individualism and even doubts on the afterlife and derealization, a topic that has aged like fine wine when you realize just where things seem to be going with A.I development in the current day and age.

"Computer God" is insanely deep and has some of Dio's best vocals to date, oozing with power and energy as he sings the lyrics I just mentioned above, Tony Iommi's riff is powerful and gives way to a blazing searing hot magma solo while "After All (The Dead)" is a masterwork in terms of lyrics and questions on the afterlife, both of these songs are easily some of the deepest that Sabbath has ever done, not to mention that the bassline that Geezer plays here is pure doom metal from start to finish and really gives this song the chug-along it needs with a pounding bassline that gives off a sinister and eerie feel. "TV Crimes" is phenomenal for being the only technical hit from the album and the drumming from Vinny Appice is brilliant, I'd nominate this one the album's absolute best as it shows every bit of what makes this lineup so special, from the ground-shattering riff that manages to strike a perfect balance of accessibility and heavy metal menace, a ripping solo and Dio's powerhouse vocals also make this perfection.

"Master of Insanity" is one of the most ferocious tracks that Sabbath has ever put to the studio, with one of the most unique buildups, featuring a intense bass intro from Geezer before exploding into a nice, mid-paced rocker while "Time Machine" is a great breather from the intensity of the whole album, being a fun song with a little instrumental break that sounds futuristic with its unique use of sound.

"Sins of the Father" has a fantastic intro riff and "Buried Alive" is peak doom metal. Ronnie James Dio's got an immensely powerful voice that really elevates the band's sound, and the Dio era deserves as much respect that the Ozzy lineup gets. This album is a masterpiece and a must hear for fans of music of any genre, everything holds up insanely well, and to think such a heavy, deep, doomy metal album could be released in the 90's of all times; mind you, this was the period where Grunge, pop-punk, and rap took off, is just shocking.

This is easily one of the greatest albums of all time, and holds up just as well as anything from their era with Ozzy Osbourne or Heaven and Hell. It's got a lot to it and you can see the spark of creativity instilled back into the group that was lost again after Headless Cross, everything about this works, and its still relevant today just as it was in the 1990s. Thank goodness for Ronnie James Dio, just a shame this would be the last time this lineup would work together....at least, under the name of Black Sabbath.

Rating: ★★★★★

Tracklist Rating:

1. Computer God: ★★★★★
2. After All (The Dead): ★★★★★
3. TV Crimes: ★★★★★
4. Letters From Earth: ★★★
5. Master of Insanity: ★★★★★
6. Time Machine: ★★★★
7. Sins of the Father: ★★★★
8. Too Late: ★★★★
9. I: ★★★
10. Buried Alive: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR! (Other Reviews!!):
Black Sabbath review: (5/5)
Paranoid review (5/5)
Master of Reality review (5/5)
Vol. 4 review (4/5)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath review (5/5 BEST ALBUM STATUS)
Sabotage review (4/5)
Technical Ecstasy review (3/5)
Never Say Die! review (2/5)
Heaven and Hell review (4.5/5)
Mob Rules review (4/5)
Born Again review (3/5)
Seventh Star review (1/5)
The Eternal idol review (2/5)
Headless Cross review (4/5)
Tyr review (2.5/5)

It was pretty interesting seeing everyone's comments on the album, I saw a lot of people that didn't enjoy the last album either, but liked way different tracks than I found myself enjoying! I think that's the longevity of music itself though; there is something for everyone, even in something that you yourself don't enjoy, and I think that's what makes it human as well as enjoyable.

Anyway, while I think that the Martin era wasn't off to a great start, THIS is the album where it got perfected..

Headless Cross Review
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Two years of a break between recording really managed to do the band a favor, because here they hit a home run for the first time in 4 albums, this isn't just a weak bunt, or a base run, this is a sweet, satisfying, out of the park HOME RUN. Tony Martin is a phenomenal vocalist, though he was given a bad start on The Eternal Idol, here however Sabbath pulls it together and allows him to be the absolute metal vocalist king he is.

"The Gates of Hell" is a pretty dark sounding opening interlude that paves the way for the feel of the rest of the album and has some cool synthesizer, but the real starting point is the title track, which shows off how perfectly he can hit high notes with his impressive range during the chorus, Iommi gives life to one of the most blazing, speaker-ripping riffs of the decade, and it shows that after a time of uncertainty and lack of direction, the band has found a style that works, a new sound.

Martin's lyrics are superb as well, perhaps not being on the level of Ronnie James Dio's fantasy-esque magical lyricism or Geezer Butler's abilities of the early years, but in a way that still feels fresh and original, true to his own style. "When Death Calls" for example he works with Iommi's dark and eerie riff while he warns to laugh in the face of death, so seriously and certain that it sends chills down any listeners spine; add to that an appearance by another highly beloved, respected figure in music, Brian May of legendary band Queen, who lays down an absolute ripping solo that can rip the roof off any home that dares put the speakers to the maximum (as you should while listening to this gem of an album).

"Nightwing" is a 6-minute long epic that starts with an acoustic guitar thats lighter in tone and theatrical that matches well with the spiraling synthesizer note before exploding into a much more aggressive and heavy tone that matches well with Martin's belting. It contrasts dark and light in a very creative way. "Devil & Daughter" also blew me away with a swinging beat that almost calls back to early Sabbath, and a riff that rollicks along a groove that almost feels jazzy. Yet, it's just as distorted and heavy as you want from the band, plus the lyrics speaking of Satan's daughter following in his footsteps are rather playful and well-written.

"Black Moon" is another standout moment that showcases some absolutely killer lead guitar work from Iommi, it's got a powerful anthemic riff that could fill an entire stadium, and Cozy Powell's drum fills really elevate this, especially during Iommi's impeccable solo that uses power chords and fast-fretting to a perfect extent.

They finally also realized how terrible Eric Singer is of a drummer and booted him out to go back to wimpy band Kiss, replacing him with the much better legendary Cozy Powell who's drumming elevates the band to new heights, with unique use of the drumkit and amazing rhythm work. Really, this album is the masterpiece of the Tony Martin era and showcases just how great this lineup could have been if they had stuck to the style that this album had. This is all anyone could ever hope for or want from Black Sabbath in a late career classic.

Now, with all this praise I've been giving this one, I have to still take into consideration that there are some things that hold it back about it. "Kill in the Spirit World" misses the mark with its cliches and predictable arrangement that lacks any sustenance, while "Call of the Wild" suffers the same issue and lacks any spark of creativity, sounding much akin to plenty of other songs that do the dramatic and doomy sound better. "Cloak and Dagger" also isn't really the best closer, but it's alright. But besides that, this album delivers hard on the things that a fan could want, or even those who don't like Sabbath who are bound to at least be impressed by this one.

This record is unfairly overlooked, and while its mostly acclaimed by critics and hardcore fans alike, it remains a mostly forgotten about, rarely discussed album. It doesn't help that it took so long to finally be put on music streaming services either. But this is easily one of the bands strongest works, and even beats out Mob Rules. If only they built off this for the rest of the Martin era, maybe it'd be as good as the other ones.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Track List Rating:

1. The Gates of Hell: ★★★
2. Headless Cross: ★★★★★
3. Devil and Daughter: ★★★★★
4. When Death Calls: ★★★★★
5. Kill in the Spirit World: ★★
6. Call of the Wild: ★
7. Black Moon: ★★★★
8. Nightwing: ★★★★★
9. Cloak and Dagger: ★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR! (Other Reviews!!):
Black Sabbath review: (5/5)
Paranoid review (5/5)
Master of Reality review (5/5)
Vol. 4 review (4/5)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath review (5/5 BEST ALBUM STATUS)
Sabotage review (4/5)
Technical Ecstasy review (3/5)
Never Say Die! review (2/5)
Heaven and Hell review (4.5/5)
Mob Rules review (4/5)
Born Again review (3/5)
Seventh Star review (1/5)
The Eternal idol review (2/5)

Posting the last one was really exciting; it was nice seeing everyone else's thoughts and feelings about Sabotage. I am also happy that you all enjoyed my write-up. That one did end up taking a while to finish.

I don't really know what else to say so let's get into it. This is the first album I won't be giving a high rating per say, but I also want to defend it in my review.

Technical Ecstasy Review
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I mentioned of the band being the most influential band in all of metal, hell that was the first thing I mentioned in my review of their first album. This is where the many bands that they had influenced started to influence them. Talk about turning tables! Ozzy noticed this too, and the times were changing quite fast in the vast landscape of rock music. Punk was emerging and making its way to the mainstream thanks to bands such as the Ramones and Sex Pistols, and bands such as The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Foreigner were making big names for themselves with more pop-friendly rock.

Perhaps what pushed the band to drop the doomy sound that had been associated with them for six albums now was the changing landscape in music, and being unsure of where to go, and how to stay relevant. They were seen as has-beens much like their other contemporaries, Led Zeppelin who were also struggling with fitting in the music scene. This lack of direction shows heavily on this album, and it shows the unity and bond between each band member that made them into a singular solid unit was starting to crack at the seams. Technical Ecstasy is disjointed, dizzying, and filled to the brim with attempts to soften their sound for radio play. This would be a massive whiplash to their fanbase who were used to their complex yet memorable arrangements and vast variety of different styles incorporated into metal on their previous three albums. Does it work is the question?

The answer to that is...kind of. The album isn't necessarily a spark of greatness, but it does have its memorable moments despite lacking cohesiveness. It's not a bad album, and is far from being among the worst. Look at "Back Street Kids", it is a pretty good opener on this one, with a pounding riff and bassline, and elements of that jazzy drumming goodness we've come to love. I'd go as far as to say that Bill Ward is the main reason this one works, though the interlude incorporates synthesizer and keyboard in a fashion Pop Rock was big on and Ozzy's vocal mixing is terrible and leads to his vocals being almost buried in the track, but the song is quite good despite that and one of the few times on this one where the softer sound works.

"You Won't Change Me" follows with a more slightly doomy feel to it, however, the organ-sound emulated by the synthesizer really drills this home and has some impressive playing that goes well with Ward's drums. The lyrics are quite deep as well with an existential crisis and hopelessness, its genuinely gorgeous and some of the best keyboard work in the band's catalog.

"All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" drives along a funk-infused bassline with controversial lyrics about a transgender who is elected president, but the solo is absolutely mind-blowing and the bridge has an insane switch-up that keeps things interesting! If there's one thing this song proves, its that Tony and the boys are a mastermind at unexpected twists and turns that makes their music stand out heavily. Ozzy's vocal performance here is at its peak, and the best one on the album. You even get a phenomenal closer in "Dirty Women". Sure, its a simple hard rocker about hookers on the surface, but really upon closer listening one hears some great guitar layering that plays with the keyboards building an atmosphere similar to Rick Wright's ways, and it sounds phenomenal, easily the best overall song on this album.

I think one of the most interesting parts of this album is the last song I'll sing praise for, "It's Alright", which features Bill on vocals. It's got Iommi pouring his heart out on one of the most touching, graceful performances he's done on guitar, and Bill's pain-stained vocals fit this track beautifully.

Sadly, the rest of the record falls flat. Much moreso than any songs that came before on their past efforts. "Rock N Roll Doctor" being an obviously made for AOR pop rock mess that sounds half-baked with mediocre mixing, its got that commercial feel that seeps through the pores of the song and leaves a bad taste in your mouth with how basic, and simply straightforward it is. It's boring;; a cardinal sin for a Sabbath song. "Gypsy" is perhaps the most repetitive song they've done in the 70's and holds a basic composition that goes in one ear and out the other, lacking a single change-up in tempo or doing something with the song. With nobody providing anything noteworthy to give it sustenance, it is yet another one of the worst songs they've done. Then there is "She's Gone", a song that drips with the sap of oversaturated sweetness and doesn't fit the band at all; it sounds like it wanted to try so hard to be a single, and fell flat on its face.

It is true that this was the beginning of the end for Sabbath's first line-up. It's frankly a mess, its chaotic and has quite a few times where it faulters. Yet at the same time, there's still a charm to this one that makes it relatively enjoyable despite the muck of veering towards more pop-tuned music that seems to always have its claws clenched over this record. For everything bad this album does, there's still fun to be had, and still enjoyability to be found. Maybe I'm being too nice, but this is still a good album, and they still had a flare of creativity left in them.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tracklist rating:

1. Back Street Kids: ★★★
2. You Won't Change Me: ★★★★★
3. It's Alright: ★★★★
4. Gypsy: 💥
5. All Moving Parts (Stand Still): ★★★★
6. Rock 'N' Roll Doctor: 💥
7. She's Gone: ★
8. Dirty Women: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (OTHER REVIEWS!!):
Black Sabbath review: (5/5)
Paranoid review (5/5)
Master of Reality review (5/5)
Vol. 4 review (4/5)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath review (5/5 BEST ALBUM STATUS)
Sabotage review (4/5)

Really enjoyed reading your comments on the last post!! I'm glad you enjoyed my reviews of Master of Reality as well as the debut so far! I do have to say its been nice seeing that you guys love these albums as much as I do. Though I will say that for this one, it may have some hot takes and this is the first album I'm not going to be entirely positive with. (It still gets a very positive rating though; don't worry).

If you can handle that, then read at your own risk and hopefully enjoy!

Vol. 4 Review
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Well, it's not so long that every great band begins to run out of gas, and the mighty Sabbath who had put out three great albums in a row in a mere two year span would start to experience a slight slump. However, the key word here is SLIGHT. If anything, this album is still one of their greater works overall. It's also worth noting it was the first to really dive more into way more variety and playing with experimentation more often and in very creative ways, but it's the weakest of the first five Sabbath albums, and this approach would be perfected on their next LP.

Iommi's riffs are intricate and creative strokes on the canvas of sound, with Bill Ward drumming moving worlds between pulverizing his drumkit and gently grazing it softly as a feather, Geezer goes all in and so does Ozzy, these all result in some of the best songs the bands ever made. "Snowblind", despite the topic being on it being a love letter to cocaine, the metaphor use in the lyrics is nothing short of genius and the way the song plays out is almost theatrical; the inclusion of the explosive bridge after being used to a more mid-tempo sound, only for it to erupt again in the final verse with a mellotron giving the sound of an orchestra is brilliant.

"Supernaut" is great and one of Bill Ward's greatest drumming, with a percussion solo that really brings the song to life that takes use of vibraphone in it. even John Bonham couldn't help but be blown away by it, wanting to play it at a few jam sessions each band had together reportedly. The riff is also rather upbeat and catchy, yet finding its perfect hook with the darker tone still; its essentially a great balance for a single. "Under The Sun" is one of the heaviest tracks the bands made, with a genius riff that changes halfway through to a speedy assault-n-smashing of your speakers that builds up into a swirling cascade of notes that unfurl through the outro as the song winds down slowly, and great lyricism that reads like poetry, it is easily the best song here. Then "St. Vitus Dance" is a hard rock tune that is like a nod to the more simple songs of the 60s. It takes great influence from early Rock 'n' Roll, and actually manages to capture the charm and essence of that era of music as well. It's quite literally a song about a dance, and Iommi's riff here is blazing and jumpy. I find that its among the best of the album.

"Wheels of Confusion" is the perfect opener to get you to understand the sound style of the album, and "Cornucopia" is overall fairly amazing too. "Tomorrow's Dreams" is heavy, and has some great drum fills from Bill Ward that elevate the song and combine greatly with Ozzy's voice, but the only issue is that it doesn't do much to differentiate itself from the rest of the heavier tracks and it gets forgotten as a decent song.

"Laguna Sunrise" shifts the mood, and not for the better. Its an acoustic guitar song that takes use of the same mellotron orchestration for a string arrangement similar to "Snowblind", but manages to unfortunately be so different to the point it sticks out like a sore thumb, it also doesn't really go anywhere and remains mostly the exact same throughout the entire two-and-a-half minute runtime as Tony plays the same melody over and over. It's dull, its droning and really boring. However, if you thought this was the only achille's heel of this album, you're sorely mistaken.

There's actually a one-two punch of poor tracks. "Changes" is "Solitude" but done poorly with some of the cheesiest lyrics the band has made and Ozzy's voice in the ballad really sounds out of place and unfitting for such a style, with him going out of his range. The mellotron used to emulate the sound of a orchestra falls flat here, sounding very much like the plastic that some 80's pop would embrace and the song lacks any emotional depth or impressive guitar work, while "FX" is nearing the point of being unlistenable.

Overall, this album still manages to be quite great and one of the strongest of their discography, but it definitely is NOT masterpiece level, and definitely not as unified track-by-track as an album as their first three releases.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Tracklist Rating:

1. Wheels of Confusion: ★★★★★
2. Tomorrow's Dream: ★★★
3. Changes: ★
4. FX: 💥 (Dud rating; keep this in mind for future scores)
5. Supernaut: ★★★★★
6. Snowblind: ★★★★★
7. Cornucopia: ★★★★
8. Laguna Sunrise: ★★
9. St' Vitus Dance: ★★★★★
10. Under the Sun: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (OTHER REVIEWS!!):
Black Sabbath review: (5/5)
Paranoid review (5/5)
Master of Reality review (5/5)

It took a bit to get the last review up and posted due to moderation time, but that's okay! I don't have very much to say since there wasn't a lot to respond on to on the last one. Anyway continuing on, this is my thoughts on their third album, which is honestly one of the greatest albums I've ever heard in my life. This is the one that I find to be the birth of doom metal as a genre.

In case you are reading and you missed out and want to catch up on the previous two reviews on this journey, I end up linking all of them as I go at the end of the review!

Master of Reality REVIEW
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Black Sabbath are the most influential band in the history of metal, and this album alone can cement their status as one of the greatest groups to ever grace the earth with their presence, and they're certainly the greatest gift sent from hell (or is it heaven? You'll see what I mean in a bit). This album is one of the most important albums of all time, and not only is it super influential, but it is definitely Sabbath at their peak, the band is very tight here and working together where every part adds up to a majestical sum, every note coming out of Iommi's guitar strums, Geezer Butler's bass wizardry, and Ward's genius jazz-trained drumming lifts you to a higher plane, enlightening you with some of the finest blues-tinged compositions known to man.

Every song on here is good, even the interludes. "Solitude" is such a different sounding song than anything they have made up to this point, with Iommi flexing his insane talent at playing multiple instruments. The song features a complex yet memorable structure taking use of him playing flute, piano, and guitar while for vocals Ozzy demonstrates he can indeed master the art of singing, his voice sounds almost like a completely different person and it is mind-blowing. The lyricism is beautiful and hits hard for anyone who has gone through relationship issues. If anything, it really makes me wish he explored his lower range more often.

"Into The Void" is a complete eargasm with some of the best basslines ever written and Bill Ward's drumming really shines through with lyrics contemplating a doomy future, even to this day as of 2026 the lyrics really stay relevant. Humanity could indeed perish due to their own stupidity and abuse of knowledge with nuclear weaponry or whatever. Apparently this was one of the hardest songs for Bill Ward to do, and took many takes to get it right; they were about to give up, but they pushed on and I think this goes to show why I deem him among the top 3 best drummers of all time. This is one of the greatest songs ever put out there; and I'd daresay quite possibly almost their best song.

"Lord of This World" is a masterpiece that taps into Sabbath's more Christian side which definitely shocked critics back when the album first released, after all this band was the epitome of everything evil, a band unleashing satanism into the world. But were they really? Shockingly, most members are indeed members of the Catholic belief and the song has some absolute master riff-work to back up the song, while "Children of The Grave" demonstrates Bill Ward's great ability to change tempo whenever he wants during any song and master using the complete drumkit in a single song as well, something that doesn't get done too often. The lyrics fit in with the protest of the punk movement that came later as well.

"After Forever" is another great song highlighting Iommi's ability to write lyrics that are on par with Butler's, while "Sweet Leaf" has a great example of tape manipulation with the ironic use of a clip of Iommi coughing after smoking, which the band used on their delightful ode to their green friend. "Embryo" and "Orchid" are simply phenomenal tracks on their own too, despite being mere interludes.

This is an album you can play at any time and not help but be entertained by the band's effortless ability to craft amazing music nonstop, and these guys were coming out with masterpieces left and right at insane speeds, we're talking Zeppelin, Beatles, Bowie speed even. This is one of THE BEST ALBUMS AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL TIME, and would be their best if it weren't for the album coming up in 2 more reviews..

Rating: ★★★★★

TRACKLIST Rating:

1. Sweet Leaf: ★★★★★
2. After Forever: ★★★★★
3. Embryo: ★★★
4. Children of the Grave: ★★★★★
5. Orchid: ★★★★
6. Lord of this World: ★★★★★
7. Solitude: ★★★★★
8. Into the Void: ★★★★★

The Journey so far (Other reviews):
Black Sabbath review: (5/5)
Paranoid review (5/5)

I've decided to relisten to the bands entire discography and wanted to write reviews for each album that I go through at the pace I go through them! I've done this a couple times now and its been fun, and I'd love to see everyone else's thoughts on each album in the comments and make this a fun thing to get to engage with the fanbase and such as I go through. I think it'll be fun going on a discography journey for them!

Anyways, this'll be the first one and to start I wrote a writeup of their debut, which might honestly be my favorite debut of all time. I hope you enjoy!

Black Sabbath Review
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The year is 1970, and coming on the scene is a band from Birmingham that's about to change the world of music forever. As soon as their debut released on February, Friday the 13th of 1970, it would never be the same again for that was the birth of heavy metal as a genre. To me, its always astonishing when a band releases two masterpieces within a single year; and Sabbath definitely managed to pull this off. I've seen a lot of people say that Paranoid is the superior album, but in all honesty the debut gets my vote as to which of the wo is better. From the very first sounds of a funeral bell and thunderstorm opening the record, to the ending track of "Wicked World", this album enchants you with a charm or is it a curse?) dragging you in with its hypnotic melodies and making you addicted to the band.

"Black Sabbath" is simply still the most dark, and evil-sounding song released in rock history with Tony Iommi playing the devil's tritone, and Ozzy's shrieking of a "black figure" telling him that he is the chosen one. This is one of the most bone-chilling, hair-raising riffs I've ever heard, and I absolutely adore the way it creeps up on you with its slow, steady beat. Bill Ward has some incredible fills on this one as well, and the changeup in pace towards the end is amazing. This is the album's best song, and the best song in the whole genre. "The Wizard" is essentially one giant Tolkien reference, similar to what Led Zeppelin had done already, but its a very fun journey. The harmonica played by Ozzy himself goes so well with the slide guitar that Tony does. It's perhaps the bluesiest sounding song that the band has done and its very well done. It's a cascade of distortion and incredible groove.

"Behind The Wall of Sleep" is one of the band's most unique songs featuring a unique switch-up from the main riff in the beginning to the different structure of the rest of the song and works well with the lyrics that flow from the tongue of the snake and ooze danger. Geezer Butler's bass is the standout of this track that galops with a groove that has some impressive notes, while "N.I.B." is easily just one of the greatest songs ever created with an insanely good bass opener before the song explodes into a rough riff that rides along with fury and menace. Its lyrics are a bit silly being about the devil falling in love, but that's the fun of it. I think this one exemplifies especially how good of a player Geezer is and why he's quickly become my favorite bassist.

Side 2 carries the winning streak with "Sleeping Village" being one of their most unique head-bangers, and "Warning" being one of Ozzy's greatest vocal performances; he absolutely KILLS here, and the song has such an intense whirlwind of a solo that was initially much longer but got trimmed down by Rodger Bain because he felt the solo would "make the record too long and confuse listeners."

Congrats, Bain! You're officially one of my least favorite people ever! "Wicked World" almost sounds like a jazz band, and I mean that in the best way possible since the ability to even play in this style is profound and Iommi's solo uses bends and very quick movements to make something really special, and Ozzy's vocals cry out in desperation of a broken world and the lyrics still ring true to this day.

If there's any weak moment, it's really only the cover of "Evil Woman" which is a quite boring song that is a chore to sit through, and I can see why even the band themselves hate it. It really sounds a lot more like standard blues rock that makes it stick out like a sore thumb from the established darker sound of the rest of the record, its a very disappointing and anticlimactic song that never much makes a mark. Besides that though, it is a perfect record.

It's hard to understate just how important this album is, Black Sabbath was basically what people consider The Beatles were to rock to metal. This laid the foundation for not just their career, but metal as a whole, and it holds up absolutely perfect to this day. I daresay, this is the finest debut of alltime.

Rating: ★★★★★

Tracklist Rating:

1. Black Sabbath: ★★★★★
2. The Wizard: ★★★★★
3. Behind The Wall Of Sleep: ★★★★
4. N.I.B: ★★★★★
5. Evil Woman: ★
6. Sleeping Village: ★★★★
7. Warning: ★★★★★
8. Wicked World: ★★★★★

I honestly didn't expect for the last album to be so unanimous with opinion, but it was nice hearing you guys' commentary as well on it still! Anyways moving onto an album I know polarizes a lot of people, I got to say that this one actually hit for me quite a bit. I hope you enjoy my write-up, and we are approaching the end of their discography too!

The Miracle Review
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Rather than following the fairly successful dabbling back into hard rock that the previous two albums (albeit, lesser on A Kind of Magic), Queen decided to go full on into pop rock territory for this album. The time that this album was recorded in was definitely one of turmoil and hardship; arguably as much as Hot Space was. Freddie had been diagnosed with HIV back in 1987 and chose to keep it closeted from the public especially considering how harsh people with it were treated, and how disgusting the media was towards victims of the disease. Brian May also had marital problems that year as well, and it was clear that a lot was holding them back. But rather than sit around, Queen came striking back with all they could, art is a form of escaping the chains that bound you back and let you be yourself, and that's no different for music.

While this album doesn't exactly reach grandiose heights, it is a solid pop rock record, and it knows what it is and goes with it, which is honestly completely admirable. Starting things off is a jam session-turned-song simply titled "Party". This is one of the band's weakest openers, featuring a disco-infused drumbeat that carries the beat, though besides the percussion there's nothing else going on. Originally apparently Freddie did this line on piano, which would have given this a bit more of something interesting. The chorus comes in with John on bass, though it doesn't help the very annoying lyrics of it that are very repetitive and dull. The guitar solo takes use of power chords but rather than feeling like they belong, they come out of nowhere as the guitar just goes away again. "Khashoggi's Ship" follows, and injects a little bit of life into the album with a very danceable bassline that gives this song a foundation for Brian to come up with a somewhat basic pop riff. Things take a very interesting turn with a bit of doo-wop influence with the bridge which changes the vibe up completely and sounds absolutely astonishing. The outro is the best part as everything gets to a heavy climax, though those are the best moments of the song and they kind of eclipse the rest which is just a pretty good pop one.

"The Miracle" is simply a great song, with some incredible synthesizer work that starts on a nice short chord strike that is meant to mimic pizzicato strings, the dotted rhythms flow nicely into the verse taking some unique uneven phrasing and chord progressions especially unique with the bassline of John Deacon. Brian lets his guitar work become heavier here to create a contrast that works well with the overall lightness of the song before it explodes in the solo which has one of Brian's fastest, its always fun when Queen does stuff like this. "I Want It All" follows with a ferocious fiery guitar riff that rips through your speakers to send the intro off with a blast. The main song combines acoustic and electric in such an effective way that really highlights Freddie's roaring vocals that push the lyrics about having ambitions and fighting for your own beliefs quite well. The speed-up in tempo is also absolutely wonderful and makes this among the best.

"The Invisible Man" is pure pop ear candy, with a really great bassline that feels like this could be a perfect dancefloor classic. John goes all out with making this a very groovy riff, and Roger's percussion is awesome when it shines through and isn't just the drum machine. His drum roll later on in the song is pleasant, and its honestly fun how every member of the band gets a mention here. Perhaps its not that relevant, but what makes me enjoy this song even more is that the bassline on it directly inspired the theme song for one of my favorite childhood cartoons, Danny Phantom.

Moving forward, what kicked off side 2 on the original vinyl is "Breakthru", which opens with barbershop quartet-like harmonies that give way to a crescendo that matches Freddie's piano work, and some nice hi-hat cymbals before exploding into an all-out rocker. The keyboard bassline gallops along a riff that sounds really great. The vocal melody here is among my favorites on the album as well, its just really memorable. Unfortunately what comes next is the definition of wasted potential in "Rain Must Fall" which begins with some promising percussion work taking influence from Latin music. What hurts this song is that while the bassline is nice at first, it ends up becoming a bit of a drag that drones on for four whole minutes without changing up or doing anything interesting, following the same formula nonstop which comes across as padding. Apparently Roger had most of his drumming taken off the final mix to leave room for the vocals and guitars, which as stated don't really do much. It's a shame because this could have been something great.

"Scandal" is a nice song, though its nothing you haven't heard done before by them, and much better and more capable at that in the past. "My Baby Does Me" is one of the absolute worst songs ever released by this band, and its surprising this is a John song when he's made mostly banger after banger. It's dull, the lyrics are among the very worst of the band's entire catalog and try and fail miserably to sound like every other artist of the time, it also is a lot more sparse in the instruments used which makes it really not fit the rest of the album.

"Was It All Worth It" is the masterpiece off this album, with a cascade of psychedelia-tinged synths and glissandos for the vocals and guitar in the intro, which then gives way to a miraculous second part with the synth-work outlining the harmony that was reversed in the first part, and the final subsection of the intro shifting the key abruptly yet working surprisingly well. That's when the lyrics that reflect on basically the entire career of the band comes in. In a way, this is Freddie's reflectance over his time with the band and his music overall, remembering the struggles and remembering the good times. It's beautiful and heart-wrenching, with Roger giving an astonishing drumbeat, the harmonies harkening back to their earlier work, and Brian's riff emotive and gorgeous. In a way, this feels much like a goodbye song and preparing for what's next with Freddie's AIDS diagnosis, giving out all they can during their final years. The orchestral section is also one of the best things the band has ever done, really. The original release ended here, but there is still some stuff to talk about as the version I listened to is the CD which has extra tracks that are considered part of the album nowadays on streaming platforms and releases.

"Hang On In There" is featured as a track on the newer releases of the album, and it really doesn't do much to separate it from other bands at the time, and it makes sense why this was a B-side originally; it doesn't do anything special and is boring. "Chinese Torture" is a brief, jarring instrumental that goes off using a harsh guitar riff that doesn't quite work at all and sounds very grating and hard to enjoy. It's very unpleasant.

Overall though, this album is pretty good. It doesn't do anything to put it in the running up of Queen's strongest albums, but it also doesn't do anything to make itself stand out as anything majorly negative. I think this one's a tad underrated, actually. It's just a good pop rock record that closes the most mixed period of their career on a positive note.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tracklist Rating:

1. Party: ★
2. Khashoggi's Ship: ★★★
3. The Miracle: ★★★★★
4. I Want It All: ★★★★★
5. The Invisible Man: ★★★★
6. Breakthru: ★★★★
7. Rain Must Fall: ★★
8. Scandal: ★★★
9. My Baby Does Me: 💥
10. Was It All Worth It?: ★★★★★
11. Hang On In There: ★★
12. Chinese Torture: 💥

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)
Flash Gordon review (0/5 stars)
Hot Space review (2/5 stars)
The Works review (4/5 stars)
A Kind Of Magic review (2/5 stars)

It was nice getting to write something positive again for the previous album, it'd been a bit since I was able to. I'm really glad to see that people also love that one for the most part! Though I also liked seeing some discussion from the people that didn't, it was neat seeing two sides.

Anyways moving on, this one was another studio album that was partially a soundtrack album; though this one has quite a few moments. Here are the final thoughts on it.

A Kind of Magic Review
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Queen falls into the trap of inconsistent material once more after hitting a much-needed home run, and also into the bland, slick 80's production. If you were to hear this without being told it was the band, you probably wouldn't even realize this was an album by them if not for Freddie's vocals on these tracks. Most of the songs don't hold a torch to the album before, or any of their 70's releases, but despite the inconsistency and the approach of duller, sometimes uninspired lyrics, it has a very slight appeal and sways on the edge of if it is solid or not. It actually manages to almost punt its way to a positive score; but the strikes on this inning were a tad too many.

The album starts off with "One Vision" which is a highly energetic great rocker that manages to work up genuine excitement. This is also one of the tracks you can enjoy without having seen the film this was made as a score to. The buildup crescendo that slowly introduces the synthesizer over a steady, pulsing beat, and Freddie's vocals coming in is impeccable. It gives way to some excellent guitar riff work from Brian, who gives it his all in flash with his guitar wizardry, especially in the solo which is the first time in a long time since Brian used the tapping technique he used on "It's Late". But then "A Kind of Magic" follows and recycles the exact same lyrical ideology that the former track had, making it too repetitive and it has a uninspired, boring 80's pop groove. It also recycles multiple lyrics from the previous song, and its quite noticeable considering its the very second one you listen to, the guitar solo this time also doesn't do anything unique and is something you end up forgetting.

There's a lot of wasted potential with "One Year Of Love". Freddie's overly-emotive wailing comes across as a lack of heart rather than actual feeling. It goes extremely overkill with his voice, the performance of which is much more fitting for a heavier song, especially since its on top of the string arrangement that was obviously meant for a much softer song. The thing is, I don't find myself hating the instrumental, actually its quite nice and takes obvious influence from classical music, I would have liked to hear some more of this style explored by the band, the saxophone work is amazing too, but this is the extremely rare instance where Freddie doesn't do the song justice, it'd of fit better with Brian on vocals for this one, or if he toned it down a bit.

Next up is a genuine highlight that isn't taken from the Highlander soundtrack, "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure", which despite being an easily radio-friendly pop song, and could have been done by anybody, it is a treat to the ears. Freddie's vocals going into falsetto exactly show what should have been done with the previous song, it would have worked much better. The bassline is the standout on this track, it sounds very akin to something you'd hear off a Motown album, and they absolutely nail this style, and the synthesizer is heavenly. Then unfortunately, "Friends Will Be Friends" has Mercury desperately try to convince you this is a deep song with incredible meaningfulness with his attempt at a heart-wrenching delivery, but it doesn't help the song as it is one that isn't worth much of your time. It feels like it is an attempt to be a more updated version of "We Will Rock You" or "We Are The Champions", but the spark those songs had doesn't even let this one come close. Much like those songs as well, it makes use of Brian's more melodic playing style to the point it feels like a ripoff of themselves. It flows in one ear and out of the other, like much of their 80's work.

On the other hand, "Who Wants To Live Forever" is actually moving and beautiful, making it the very highlight of the record. It's a masterpiece, and the idea to use inverted chords in the first verse, and to have a beautiful harmony is amazing, and Brian's vocals are heart-wrenching. Verse two hands the microphone to Freddie who gives a raw, vulnerable, and open performance that hits right in the heart, and the orchestration reaches a height with the repeat of the chorus before giving away to Brian's guitar solo, which is powerful and evokes a feeling of dramatic intensity despite being more slow.

Following what was probably one of the bands greatest achievements, the next two songs are aggressively directionless slabs of loud, guitar-wailing rock n roll with lyrics referencing Highlander and leaving those who haven't seen the film wondering what the fuck is going on. The latter song also repeats the same line over, and over, and over, and over, drilling "Don't Lose your head!" into your head to the point it made me want to actually lose my head with how obnoxious it is. If there's a form of torture that was made from music, this would be it. This is the only song I'd say is actually really atrocious on this album, because even the 'bad' songs are just mere missteps.

"Princes of The Universe" is another gem, being heavier and managing to sound good again at the same time, its surprisingly complex as well with an acapella three-four harmony in the first phrase, and rhythm guitars enter with the drums entering on the fourth beat in the intro before giving way to an instrumental break that builds up more hype, and the verses change some chords and change the harmonies as well. This feels very much akin to the experimenting and interesting things Queen used to do with their music, and its nice to see it come back.

Overall, this album is pretty hard to classify. Because on one hand, there's four songs here that are truly great pieces of work, and actually stick with you despite the production. On the other hand, there is also four songs that for the most part are just merely missteps missing a bit to turn them into being decent, and one song that just outright sucks. Track for track shows this is another bad album, but it comes very close to being pretty decent, and it does have quite a few stand-out moments. I would say this is the least bad of their lesser material, and definitely a step up over their other soundtrack album.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. One Vision: ★★★★
2. A Kind of Magic: ★★
3. One Year Of Love: ★★.5
4. Pain Is So Close to Pleasure: ★★★★
5. Friends Will be Friends: ★★
6. Who Wants To Live Forever: ★★★★★
7. Gimme The Prize: ★★
8. Don't Lose Your Head: ★
9. Princes Of The Universe: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)
Flash Gordon review (0/5 stars)
Hot Space review (2/5 stars)
The Works review (4/5 stars)

I was pretty surprised to see how split the overall consensus is on Hot Space. While a lot of people agreed with me, there was also a ton of people that actually liked the album!! That's fine of course, it was just unexpected to me, but I feel pretty enlightened getting to see other people's likes on that album. Something I like about Queen is that because they do so many different things, even something that someone else doesn't enjoy is something that can be another person's treasure.

I may not have changed my stance, but I do like hearing what other people love and don't love. Without further ado, here is my thoughts on an album I think deserves a lot of respect.

The Works Review
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This album sort of has an ironic title, really. The album itself is almost like an apology and is an attempt to reach out to the estranged fanbase at the time that the band had when they were putting out consistent quality, especially considering the effect that the last album, and the promoting had on their popularity which had unfortunately dwindled in the U.S at the time. Almost as if the title makes sense as they "went back to what works" in a way. Now, that isn't to say they fully shed their skin of the more dance-influenced and pop directions they had been taken, but rather they were able to make it work in a way that let them bring back the harder sound they had on their 70's records while mixing it with their new style as per Freddie's request, who apparently had wanted to keep the more 80's electronic style, and John who had become invested with the funk scene.

The production is a step up from the last album, as it actually lets the band members shine again. Sure, there's still drum machines being used, but that is only on two tracks; the rest is mainly Roger getting to play on his drum kit again, Brian May's riffs stand out with some genuinely heavy slices of hard rock goodness and don't get shoved into the background to splice with synthesizer, Freddie's vocals are recorded to be powerful again, and John's basslines are crisp yet smooth; the way a Queen album should sound. Now, with this production Queen did their best to make quality; and they did, while this album doesn't do much to separate them from other acts at the time, nor is it groundbreaking, it is a GREAT record, with a lot of merit to it, which is extremely refreshing after two bad outputs in a row.

One thing I noticed almost immediately upon relisten is that The Works features many of the songs that Queen would perform at Live Aid, and plenty of them became staples in the United States. Starting things off is Roger Taylor's ballad, "Radio Ga Ga", a song that feels very similar in topic to The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star". Despite the similarity, it takes a wildly different approach as a memorable, charming, yet cheesy anthem dedicated to when the radio was the dominant form of media. The synthesizer work is honestly almost ethereal feeling, its really gorgeous. When you combine that with Brian May using a glass slide on his guitar for the riff, and Freddie giving an earnest, and beautiful performance it leaves a definite impact. This marks the first time a Roger song was chosen as an A-side single directly, and it totally deserves it.

"Tear It Up" follows as an all out headbanger anthem of a track, with some riffs that rip through your speakers sharper than an axe. His shredding in the intro is incredible, and the drums are perfectly heavy to combine with Freddie's belting thats just as strong as ever. This sounds the closest to what made them great in the 70's for the first time in a while. The lyrics aren't that great, but this song is just a joy all the way through, leading to an explosive outro. "It's A Hard Life" follows, with a dramatic intro that gives way to some gorgeous piano work, and Freddie's vocal performance is emotive and vulnerable, giving a sense of reality to the lyrics that tug at your heartstrings. Brian's guitar work also goes with the piano with an interplay that makes this lovely song a journey; one of their more complex songs of the decade. The guitar solo takes use of scales and a grandiosity that had been sorely missed by this point; this is also the only song without synthesizers. Easily a masterpiece.

"Man On The Prowl" seems to get rather shafted in discussions, which is quite unfair, its a rockabilly gem with outstanding piano work, and some of Roger's greatest percussion work across the entire album. The bassline is especially groovy here and goes well with the three chord work as well, and the way it climaxes at the end with some genuinely mind-blowing piano strikes is so energetic. The thing that holds this back from perfection is that the song sort of just...cuts out....all that energy and build up just gets cut off awkwardly.

"Machines (or 'Back to Humans')", a song that is so great! It is so good! Everything about it is amazing! Wow!

Thankfully, "I Want To Break Free" follows, with using 12-bar blues progression in E major, it makes something truly unique with it. The riff is excellent and very memorable, and Freddie's vocal performance is absolutely mesmerizing. Apparently these lyrics were inspired by the Women's Liberation Movement, which I find really awesome, actually. The keyboard solo almost sounds reminiscent of a guitar solo, but the choice to do it on keyboard gives it a unique flavor. John Deacon really made something special with this one, though for the longest time I thought this was a Freddie song, mainly due to the controversial music video where they're all dressed in drag which led to it getting purposely played extremely rarely on MTV. It's a really good watch, and honestly is an example of how far we've come in terms of acceptance considering what happened with it; if you haven't seen it go watch it. It's pure British fun at its best. However, the song isn't one I'd put among the bands very best work.

"Keep Passing The Open Windows" is another gem on the album that is rather overlooked with very beautiful lyrics that are surprisingly deep and about the urge of suiciding, yet continuing as life is worth living. It's got some really triumphant guitar work as well as excellent harmonies that call back to "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Hammer To Fall" also sits on this side and is easily the greatest track on the album, being one of Brian's best songs. It has some intense guitar work. The song is built around it, and Freddie's call-and-response with Brian, who sings the chorus is astonishing. It's one of the bands best songs overall too.

Unfortunately, the final song ends the album on a very sour note with "Is This The World We Created..?". This one is a very cliche ballad that drips with the sappiness of 80's power ballads. It never really goes anywhere interesting the entire runtime, and on one hand, it is designed to be a statement about poverty and suffering, but the song never develops beyond basically saying "There are poor people in the world. Isn't that sad?" The title asks a major question that is supposed to be thought-provoking, but it feels a lot less like a meaningful examination of humanity's failures and more like a collection of observations. Musically, there's not much going on either, the melody drifts without too much progression, and after an album full of much larger more stand-out songs, ending on a small skeletal piece feels anticlimactic. A reflective closer can work brilliantly, they did it before with "My Melancholy Blues", but this one stops at just over two minutes, and does nothing. The only thing that stands out at all is Freddie's vocals; of course they're great.

Overall, this album is great. It's a slight return-to-form for the band, and finds them embracing their rock side again while still managing to keep with the times. This is one I'd say actually goes neck and neck with The Game in terms of overall album quality. The songs here are brilliant; and while there's very few 5-star worthy songs, it keeps a level of consistency track for track that The Game doesn't exactly manage to keep. Really, I'd say its up to personal preference. The Game has more stand-out songs that leave much more of an impact but more lows and a couple just plain good songs, while The Works is a more consistent experience.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Tracklist Rating:

1. Radio Ga Ga: ★★★★
2. Tear It Up: ★★★★
3. It's A Hard Life: ★★★★★
4. Man On The Prowl: ★★★★
5. Machines (Or 'Back To Humans'): ★★★★
6. I Want To Break Free: ★★★★
7. Keep Passing The Open Windows: ★★★.5
8. Hammer To Fall: ★★★★★
9. Is This The World We Created..?: 💥

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)
Flash Gordon review (0/5 stars)
Hot Space review (2/5 stars)

It was pretty interesting seeing everyone else's take on the previous album, I knew it wasn't widely liked and it was cool seeing people in agreement. I think my favorite part though was finding out what people saw in it and why they liked it though because it gave me some new perspectives I didn't expect. I really liked that.

Anyways, onto another album. I actually relistened to this one three times before I wrote this because it'd been years since I had, and I have some thoughts.

Hot Space Review
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Queen go full on dance pop. Why? It's a bit hard to understand this direction at all, and that's the only feeling I was left with. Clearly not everyone in the band was happy with this and it really shows on the songs. The only thing I can give it is that it apparently inspired Michael Jackson's much better Thriller album as he himself stated it as an influence. Queen really jumped the shark and became a shadow of what made them stand out, and their music was just suffering at this point like the horrendous drum machine usage and buried guitar riffs on the album. When you have someone who's one of the best drummers of all time its almost slander to even dare use drum machines.

Queen's biggest problem of this decade is that they constantly make songs that float in one ear and out the other. This album is full of those. Freddie's vocals are nearly dynamicless on this album, he barely explores his range and he sounds impressively flat on most tracks, which is shocking when he's one of rock--no, MUSIC'S--best vocalists. Every single song suffers this with such disinterested vocals and a performance that takes a less bombastic approach to singing. This is his worst vocal performance ever on a record, and it takes away from even the slightest bit of soul that could resonate in this album. The thing is that they had been dipping their fingers in the pool of funk since 1978's Jazz, and it came to a head on The Game, but with the latter album they managed to still combine rock to make it work and still very much be something unique. All that is sacrificed on this one to make a mainstream dance pop album.

The band was in a very struggling time period at this point, with a lot of emotional problems between the members happening apparently, and Brian and Roger not appreciating how Freddie's personal manager, Paul Prenter, had Mercury in his grasp. Paul wasn't a fan of rock music, which at their core is what Queen was up until the previous album. Paul even refused U.S. radio stations the ability to talk to Freddie and made Queen lose a lot of momentum of popularity that they had spent so much time building up. Ouch. It's no wonder that this turned out the way it did.

"Dancer" is an utterly offensive synth-pop track with awful mixing that makes the guitar blend in with the synthesizer and basic drum machine track, not going anywhere. You can barely even hear what Brian's doing, and it leaves little room to appreciate his work. "Body Language" is horrific and just Mercury moaning for 4 minutes into the microphone with almost zero actual lyrics or any real message and the bassline is terrible and so repetitive, never shaking things up to the point that your ears will be shuddering and crying for you to shut it off. This is Queen's worst song, and it's a wonder that this managed to slime its way through the crevices of quality control.

"Action This Day" is a slight step up but suffers from a lack of focus not sure if it wants to dip into the cool waters of rockabilly or try to be a dancefloor classic, the harmonies are buried in the mix and sound like they were recorded in a tin can and the composition is as bland as it gets. Its a message about the blandness of pop music at the time, which is ironic since this song is a prime example of it.

"Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)" is a nice idea in concept, and I found the idea to make a tribute to John Lennon of the Beatles who unfortunately met his end early to be lovely. But all goodwill is washed away as the 80's slick production and heavy focus on the crispiness and punchiness of the drums do not fit a song that is meant to be softer and not a dance number. Freddie's vocals are actually good here but the way the microphone is set up makes an unnecessary echo effect that just sounds awful. "Calling All Girls" is just boring to the point there is nothing to talk about either.

"Las Palabras de Amor (Words of Love)" is like Teo Torriatte part 2 but with Freddie having some pretty unconvincing vocals that fail to sell the sweetness that this song attempts to go for; it falls flat, and it falls hard, not to mention the mixing is once again very poor and its hard to separate what instruments are there. I do think that this one could have worked if it was on any other album, since the entire runtime of this one has Freddie do an approach that never lets the theatricality be embraced or for his vocals to get as dynamic and powerful as they are on other albums. "Cool Cat" is so terrible that David Bowie requested his vocals be removed on the final mix of the track because he hated it so much, seriously, there is a demo out there with him on it and on the final its gone. "Back Chat", "Put Out The Fire", and "Under Pressure" survive the absolute soundscape genocide committed by acts of atrocity of Queen here and "Staying Power" is a fairly good opener, but that's really it.

I've seen in some spaces that some people consider Queen to be a mere "singles" band, which to me is blasphemous. How can you listen to an album by them and not hear how much care gets put into their work?!?! But when I heard this, I realized they most likely have only heard their 80's stuff and this album is one that isn't even close to being good. However, its got a few saving graces like the aforementioned "Under Pressure" which is one of pops greatest singles in the 80s, with Bowie and Mercury providing some incredible vocals that play off each other well, and the lyrics are actually pretty great. This album overall though is a wimpoid, soul-devoid, must-avoid pastiche disco mess. What a waste of an amazing album cover as well.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. Staying Power: ★★★
2. Dancer: ★
3. Back Chat: ★★★★★
4. Body Language: 💥
5. Action This Day: ★★
6. Put Out The Fire: ★★★★
7. Life Is Real (Song For Lennon): ★★
8. Calling All Girls: ★★
9. Las Palabras de Amor (Words of Love): 💥 [The whole album suffers from Freddie's vocals being rather flat, but on this one it really hurts the song that much.]
10. Cool Cat: ★★
11. Under Pressure: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)
Flash Gordon review (0/5 stars)

I was pretty excited to post my review of The Game, and it was really good to see that I wasn't the only one who did find that to be a great album. It seems that the overall fanbase seems to really find that to be their best 80's album? That's completely fair, I think and I would be close to agreeing.

I won't be writing a full-fledged review for this one because there really isn't much to talk about; most of the "songs" are just vocal snippets from the movie with background music. It's very difficult to write that much on it or even bring myself to care to. I have some STRONG opinions on this album though overall and my thoughts on it get across how I feel on most of the songs when it comes to being an album, though. Much like Jazz this one isn't going to be the most positive of a review. However, unlike that one which still got a positive score, this one will not.

If you're fine with more critique and maybe a hot take, read at your own risk. Let's get into it. I will treat this as a studio album, as it was released as such, and is billed officially as both a 'studio album' and a 'soundtrack album', alongside being listed as their ninth album overall on multiple music sites.

Flash Gordon Review
-----------------------------------------
Coming hot off the heels of a new era of sound for the band, they managed to take over the airwaves with the singles from the last album, opening floodgates for new fans to come rushing in, and the music was really great despite it being radically different than their earlier material. So the best option would be to follow what had made them successful right? No. Because actually, they decided to work on a soundtrack for a very odd 80's film they got asked to make music for called "Flash Gordon".

Ever wondered how it would be if Queen scored a soundtrack? No? Too bad, it happened! Is it good however? Boy, you are in for a massive disappointment.

There is not a single song here that is enjoyable outside of the lead single. There is nothing but talking, random noises, and this is the first Queen album where the majority of the music is mediocre. Yeah, it's a soundtrack album, so of course it's gonna be like that, but they apparently were proud of it enough to bill it as a studio release, and none of the songs are enjoyable. "Flash" is repetitive and dull, yet with lyrics that save it with its comedic quality of campiness, but the rest of the songs across the album incorporate useless noise from the actual film, obnoxious dialog that takes away from the experience that an album should ever be considered. Queen lost themselves and sunk into a pit of trying so hard to keep up with the ever-so-popular disco movement more here and in-turn lost their soul; their spirit; their originality and dynamics.

Much of the record consists of desolate, eerie synthesizer arrangements that are frankly awkward and boring to listen to. When that isn't going on, we get laughably outdated synthpop songs that wouldn't even make it on the worst Depeche Mode or And One album. Even if you listen to it with the mindset of it being a soundtrack album it manages to flop on its face of being enjoyable even as that since it's so empty, where you search for something to stick out as memorable at all. That's not how an album should be.

Other artists have released outputs that function as both studio and soundtrack releases like this such as Prince, who did it twice with Purple Rain and Parade, where both are enjoyable and manage to be some of the best music put out there regardless on if you've seen the films they're scores to or not, or to bring up an older one, A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles which also flows much better and actually does some interesting things with the music.

The worst part of all of this? I'm a Queen fan. I love this band, but this is one of the worst records ever made, and its hard to find a single positive thing to say about this album outside of the lead single. I guess "Football Fight" is okay, but I say that with very strained praise. I hear other fans talk about "The Hero", but it never sat well with me; its merely two verses and an okay hard rock riff that sounds more like an unfinished demo. But I suppose every artist puts out something bad inevitably at one point or another.

Rating: 💥/5 [Dud.]

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. Flash: ★★★
2. In The Space Capsule: ★
3. Ming's Theme: 💥
4. The Ring: 💥
5. Football Fight: ★★★
6. In The Death Cell: ★
7. Execution of Flash: 💥
8. The Kiss: 💥
9. Arboria: ★
10. Escape From The Swamp: ★★
11. Flash To The Rescue: ★★
12. Vultans Theme: ★★
13. Battle Theme: ★★
14. The Wedding Theme: 💥
15. The Marriage of Dale & Ming: 💥
16. Crash Dive on Mingo City: 💥
17. Flash's Theme Reprise: ★★
18. The Hero: ★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)
The Game review (4/5 stars)

It was nice getting to share my thoughts on the last album, in all honesty while I wasn't fully positive in my review and I still find it to be the weakest Queen album to that point; it was nice seeing a lot of people felt the same. I also liked seeing comments from those who loved the album since it gave me a pretty different perspective.

Even if not everyone agreed with me, I loved the discussions a lot actually, and now here comes Queen's first 80's album! I hope you enjoy this write-up!

The Gane REVIEW
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Entering into the 80's, this is where rock really got divided. On one hand you got some fantastic artists and albums like Prince or Tears For Fears and The Police, but on the other hand you got a lot of cheesy "power ballads" that bring a filthiness to the genre never before seen of great levels of pastiche rubbish. Queen started this decade with this record, and while it isn't anything particularly groundbreaking or innovative, it is a great album nonetheless and a promising start to a very mixed era.

The Game features slick, smooth production by Reinhold Mack and allows the band to shine once again after the disastrous mixing on 1978's Jazz, with May even paying tribute to him in the song "Dragon Attack" which is a fantastic piece of funk rock that really rides along a consistent bassline by Deacon and an incredible drum solo in the middle by Roger Taylor with May's lyrics telling of how the band is changing styles and urging listeners to give an open mind to the non-Bohemian Rhapsody type songs they were doing now. The opener to the album, "Play The Game" is a pretty good start and features a triumphant sounding synthesizer, which was definitely mindblowing as for all these years now Queen frequently boasted "no synthesizer!" as a tag on all their albums to this point; the contrast of heavy and light work in its favor to make a song that breaks open the gates to their new era. While it is quite good, it doesn't much hold a candle to the burn the rest of the album has.

The three major hits are intense and wonderful as well with "Another One Bites the Dust" being among their best tracks and hits featuring a steady pulsing bassline and Mercury's bad-boy vocal delivery with the action-packed lyrics of a street encounter and fights. It was released as a single by a suggestion from the legend himself, Michael Jackson. John has struck gold time and time again with his songs, and this one is another that just proves his value, I often see people say that bass is the most unimportant part of a band but John's music can attest against that itself. He always makes very enjoyable music, and his bassline on this is perhaps among the most iconic. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is one of the bands best songs and calls back to the times of Elvis and Little Richard with its 50's-tinged rockabilly riff on acoustic guitar and laid-back vocals by Mercury, it's a very danceable number as it is relaxed, and the percussion is honestly superb too as Roger gives this a phenomenal jazz-influenced groove.

"Save Me" is a beautiful and touching ballad written as a tribute to a divorced friend, with great use of acoustic and electric guitar and piano. This one's light and airy, yet you're never bored because how intense it gets during the chorus, which remains one of their greatest they've made in a song. Freddie sings his heart out here with intense dynamics that perfectly compliment Brian's beautiful lyrics on a relationship that has gone sour and ended; perhaps one of Queen's best explorations of this topic, and among their best closing tracks.

"Rock It (Prime Jive)" is a dedicated anthem to the effect of music on ones soul and mind, almost spiritual and is a great song encapsulating musical catharsis. Music is the most intimate form of art, its got an intimacy that not much other forms can match, and this disco-tinged track really captures that well, in a way this is Roger making up for whatever "Fun It" was trying to be. "Sail Away Sweet Sister" is one of May's most prolific works and is a song about a long lost friendship, and moving on from it. It's got some absolutely precious synthesizer work, and his emotive guitar playing, alongside the switch-up in the bridge that hands the mic to Freddie who gives as equal of a beautiful performance as Brian in the verses is perfect. This one's tear-jerking yet encapsulating, and easily the greatest track on the album.

Unfortunately, not everything is perfect however, as despite how incredible overall it is, there are some very glaring stinker moments, with "Don't Try Suicide" being a boring stripped-back song about how if you kill yourself nobody will care or miss you, so it isn't worth it just like how you, the listener, are not worth shit in the world. Isn't that a wonderful message? Don't you feel like your day has been made better?

"Coming Soon" is recycled Beach Boys wannabe harmonies that don't work well with an obvious disco tune that never quite stands its ground or finds its footing, tripping over a meandering beat and nonsensical lyrics that are impossible to make sense of, and "Need Your Loving Tonight" is boring refrigerated rockabilly that sounds like a try-hard capture of the magic that made "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" work. It's cheeseball snot that should've stayed on the cutting room floor.

All in all, this album is overall pretty wonderful, and while it does have a couple weak points, everything works to make a really great 80's album. Queen was changing, they were making themselves different to what they were, and that both helped them stay relevant and make some new memories, and hurt them. This level of quality wasn't exactly kept later on, but for what it was now, this stands as a stronger entry. Hell, this one is their most popular on streaming platforms, that should speak to it's quality. Definitely a step-up from Jazz.

Rating: ★★★★☆

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. Play The Game: ★★★
2. Dragon Attack: ★★★★★
3. Another One Bites The Dust: ★★★★★
4. Need Your Loving Tonight: ★★
5. Crazy Little Thing Called Love: ★★★★★
6. Rock It (Prime Jive): ★★★★
7. Don't Try Suicide: 💥
8. Sail Away Sweet Sister: ★★★★★
9. Coming Soon: ★
10. Save Me: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)
Jazz review (3/5 stars)

It was interesting getting to see everyone's takes on the previous album, honestly. I thought that it was rather fun writing for that previous album, and it makes me really glad to see that the album is really liked here; I think it deserves it!! Originally I was going to wait to post this one, but I don't have a shift at work today so I had time to finalize everything.

I will warn that this album is the first one that I unfortunately don't feel the most positive about. This review isn't going to be the most favorable one either. There's also at least one hot take about a song that's one of their big hits too. If you're okay with possibly wildly differing opinions on something than your own, I still would recommend to read at your own risk. I still do give this a positive rating, but not exactly on par with the others to this point.

Jazz Review
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"Where quality control was thrown out the window".

I know this line may seem like I'm going to be tearing this album a new one, and completely ripping it apart, but no, not quite. Do I think this is among Queen's best works? Heck no. Do I think its even great or an essential listen? Definitely not! In all actuality, this album is a bit of an oddity among their discography. The 70's were close to being over, and as such was an era of music that everyone had gotten used to. Disco was the new craze, rock was starting to roll over and metamorphosize into something different again, and while the previous year's album was a lot more stripped-back, they decided to get weird this time around.

Jazz is, without another word for it, Queen at their most sporadic. It is messy, and frankly all over the place in terms of the music and tracklist. This both makes it unique, yet also at the same time lets quality be thrown away for quantity to the point this is the weakest of the decade they peaked in. However, with it being the least good, there's still quite a few enjoyable moments. 8 out of the 13 songs are at least passable here. What's neat is that the band met David Bowie at the Montreux Jazz Festival, who convinced them to record at Mountain Studios in Montreux, which was perfect since Brian was being forced out of the UK due to tax-related issues.

One of the main issues with this album is the production, which has some of the worst mixing the band has ever had up to this point. Even the debut sounds better than this one, and for it being their seventh album, to have production this muddied is rather appalling, especially considering how great the past four albums sounded. Roger's drums have a very weird 'clicky' snare drum sound and lack the power and punch needed for Queen's sound, sounding rather small and like tin cans and Brian's guitars sound squawky and muddy. It's really unpleasant to listen to. It's hard to believe since Roy Thomas Baker returned for this one and he was behind some of their best productions too.

"Mustapha" opens the album on an odd note as it is too weird as a song and doesn't hold a melodic center, feeling much more like a mess around in a studio setting, and the lyrics are nonsensical. It tries to be hard rock, and explore a bit into another culture, but for a song that is meant to take influence from Freddie's Parsi background, to have just gibberish lyrics that don't necessarily mean or add up to anything, it's a bit of a letdown. "Fat Bottomed Girls" follows as another heavier song, and luckily its actually amazing. This was written by Brian, and is easily one of the band's most playful and fun songs. It's lyrics are admittedly a bit silly, but that's part of the charm, and Brian's riff is excellent, complimenting the solid thumping beat from Roger, and Freddie's heavy vocals are perfect for this one. "Jealousy" opts to shift things abruptly to a much softer and tender side; and it is gorgeous. It has a similar example of Brian's guitar wizardry at making his guitar sound like a sitar similar to "White Queen" on the much superior Queen II, and while its ground previously covered already, it manages to be one of the band's best songs. Freddie's vocals are graceful and gentle, with the soft strikes of his piano combined with those lovely lyrics like "I wasn't man enough to let you hurt my pride/Now I'm only left with my own jealousy" showing a vulnerability that's not often explored to this extent in heavier bands.

"Bicycle Race" is another big hitter, however, this one really isn't that great to me. It's nice that it was inspired by the 1978 Tour de France, and cool that this inspired the fold-out of nude women on bikes on the original LP, but as a song its a little too chaotic. The multiple modulations, abrupt changes and weird chord functions, and meter change all come a bit out of nowhere. It's trying to do something similar to songs like "The March of the Black Queen" or "Bohemian Rhapsody" but lacks the natural feel to the transitions that those ones have. It's still good for its humor though, just not one I'll go out of my way to listen to on its own.

John Deacon's "If You Can't Beat Them" brings things back on track with an excellent groove and Brian performing a phenomenal riff that could fill an arena with as many overdubs as there are. The lyrics are nice too, and it makes me wonder how much better this would be on a better produced album, while "Let Me Entertain You" is quite the drop of camp, and its easy to love. It's got that playful allure and goofing off that makes this band so loveable, and the riff blazes with molten-hot rock as you'll get from this one. It combines well with Freddie's theatric piano, making one of their best songs. Perfect way to close this side.

Side 2 is where things get very uneven; "Dead On Time" is drumstick-splitting metal that tears you by with razors enough to make your skin crawl with some excellent guitar work, though is a bit too similar to "Stone Cold Crazy". Freddie's high belts are addicting, and the song ending with a thunderbolt was pretty neat. Funnily enough, they're credited to God. "Dreamer's Ball" is a really great laid-back rockabilly song that's a tribute to Elvis Presley, who passed away a year before this record's release, and "Don't Stop Me Now" is a masterpiece, and one of the few times I find a hit to be the best one on the album. It soars with amazing interplay of piano and guitar, excellent drumbeats, and some of the most campy and addictingly fun lyrics that Freddie's done.

That's where my praise ends because looking past those three tracks, this side is filled with some terrible stuff. "More Of That Jazz" is hideous, its like someone hired The Shaggs to compose something for the band. The main riff is meh but not as bad as the complete breakdown of any possible cohesiveness in the use of switching to random other songs on the album. It's like it is trying to be a medley that celebrates the entire album, and it could actually work with the idea of having a montage of every song, but the way it abruptly changes to each of them and doesn't work with the main melody makes this one of the worst songs ever created.

"Leaving Home Ain't Easy" is so close to being genuinely nice, with Brian writing on the loss of innocence in adulthood and leaving home as an adult, but is ruined by the awful pitching-up of his voice during the bridge that would make even Alvin and the Chipmunks jealous at how ear-grating it is. Before it can fix itself, it has a very awkward transition where the vocals don't quite match or end up smooth to get back to the verse. Ouch.

"Fun It" is an awful attempt at disco and serves as a warning for the terrible direction towards killing their creativity that Queen would end up taking through a lot of the 1980's because when their brand of funk worked, it worked well, but when it didn't you'd get a result like this mishmash of whistle-blowing, minimalist wannabe rubbish. It's frustratingly awful. John's other song, "In Only Seven Days" is a forgettable love song that does have some nice guitar work from him playing both electric and acoustic, but it's hard to write about since nothing stands out as a song, its more of a showcase of what he CAN do, rather than doing something with it.

Jazz is the beginning of a falling off for the band, and is the sound of an artist's grasp exceeding their reach. Queen going into disco wasn't the best direction to take at all, because when it does work it produces something great, when it doesn't it makes a big dent on the music, and while they do jump around on this album again like before, it doesn't always work the best. It's not a terrible album by any means, since it still has some of their best work, and this album is probably the band at their most fun, with how chaotic it is of course there's going to be a decent amount to enjoy because in short, chaos is fun. This one's an album that rewards you for sticking with it through the hard-to-swallow tracks, and that's at least admirable.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. Mustapha: ★
2. Fat Bottomed Girls: ★★★★★
3. Jealousy: ★★★★★
4. Bicycle Race: ★★★
5. If You Can't Beat Them: ★★★★
6. Let Me Entertain You: ★★★★★
7. Dead On Time: ★★★★
8. In Only Seven Days: ★★
9. Dreamer's Ball: ★★★★
10. Fun It: 💥
11. Leaving Home Ain't Easy: ★
12. Don't Stop Me Now: ★★★★★
13. More Of That Jazz: 💥

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)
News of The World review (5/5 stars)

Writing for A Day At The Races was one that really took me a bit to edit before posting. I wanted to approach it with nuance as I knew how special that one was to a lot of people. I love it too even if I found it to be slightly lesser than what came before. I'm still glad that everyone enjoyed my write-up for it, and to see a lot of love for that album too. This album was a riot to relisten to, its probably Queen at their rawest and most primal.

Plus it isn't dominated by Freddie and Brian compositions, and while Brian is my favorite songwriter in the band, and I adore Freddie's writing, its nice seeing everyone get a chance. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on....

News of The World REVIEW
-------------------------------------------
In 1977, rock was at a turning point. A lot of younger people were turning to more energetic, rampage and DIY-style music in the form of Punk Rock. Punk was a phenomenon; meant to rival and overthrow the grandiose music that was coming out at the time like progressive rock. Artists like the Ramones or New York Dolls were bringing it back to basics, and the Sex Pistols were bringing the political messages. Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were seen as has-beens by this point in the mainstream media, and Pink Floyd were one of the main targets by punks (just look at John Lydon's 'I hate Pink Floyd' shirt in old photos). Any artist who was around for a while and dare put something out during this rapid fire movement was unfairly judged harshly, as was the case with Pink Floyd's Animals album (which I've always deemed their best). So sitting it out was an option that seemed safe, but that's not what Queen did. They put something out anyway.

Though critics upon release complained about the more stripped-back, simplistic style and sound of the album, its what makes this work as one of Queen's best set of songs. Time allowed it to become more favored and get the good ratings it deserves. After five albums of sonic brilliance, Queen ditched it all to stay relevant during the first wave of Punk and while keeping the variety in styles the previous outputs had, it is a much more contained album. Queen recorded it in the same studio The Sex Pistols recorded Never Mind the Bollocks at, and Freddie actually kicked Sid Vicious's ass after a snyde remark of them "bringing ballet to the masses". Freddie picked him up by his collar and chucked him out the door, calling him "Simon Ferocious" and poking a bit of fun at him. Probably one of my favorite Freddie stories, honestly.

The album gives me a feeling of being on top of the world, a massive stadium with stars providing lights upon a band that's majestical and almost mystical, hearing their beautiful efforts echo across the world as they dish out some of the most amazing rock anthems. Some people view this as the album with "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" but that's doing the rest of this masterpiece a massive disservice. Those two tracks are iconic, sure but the rest is delicious hard rock cuts that are impressively composed.

This record lets everyone shine and has less Mercury and May domination, "We Will Rock You" is a timeless anthem with stomping and clapping done in a 4/4 meter to keep it simple and make it so the audience at concerts can get involved; it to this day has lasted as being used in big arenas and stadiums and even in the U.S. to open the superbowl, as well as my third grade music class. Sadly it's quite overrated and is easily the second weakest song on the album as there's songs that are much more charming and do more than what this does. It doesn't honestly do much to stand out aside from Brian's solo which is always incredible, and the live version is much better and has more guitar.

"We Are The Champions" deserves its status however, with the "we" referring to everyone singing it, its unifying and positive and a upbeat empowering anthem. The lead vocal features a very demanding and strident performance, and the chords of the song employs many jazz chords (Major and minor 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th harmonies) and it has some amazing buildup to a guitar solo that feels triumphant; not just for the band, but for the listener as well. If there's one thing they're great at doing on this record, its making you part of the experience as well.

"Sheer Heart Attack" is one of the best cuts on the album, written by Roger Taylor initially as the title track for the album of the same name but wasn't included as it was not finished. It was finished for this one and has a fast, even tempo with the rawness of punk rock. The vocals by Taylor in the chorus and Mercury in the lead work extremely well and the heavy riff is perfection. Roger's drumming is at its best as well, and the guitars shredding match together like wine in a glass. The guitar "shrieks" in the instrumental section may be off-putting to some, but are great actually. "All Dead, All Dead" is a beautiful tear-jerker of a piano ballad sung by May and written about the death of his cat. It really tells of the fragility of life, and the importance of memories with a loved one who has passed away, as well as exploring how they can touch your life. The guitar work in the solo cries with a gorgeous composition as well.

"Spread Your Wings" is John Deacon's magnum opus, being a inspirational song of a story of someone named Sammy who works at a bar and isn't happy with his life, deciding to leave it and go for his dreams. The piano and guitar work in sync very well, being John Deacon's best song he's ever written for the band. This one is inspirational, and really pushes that 'carpe diem; seize the day' message, Freddie's vocals are great here too, with a power that really grabs your attention and soars, while "Fight From The Inside" closes side one with a very funky rhythm done on bass and one of Queen's heaviest riffs which apparently inspired guitarist Slash. This is another great Roger song, and has one of John's greatest basslines. The mixing also makes sure that his bass stands out on this track, and it sounds impeccable. Roger's vocals really suit this one too and I can't really imagine anyone else doing it.

Side 2 features "Get Down Make Love" which starts out pretty interesting with it just being a piano riff that gets repeated, some more minimalist percussion and sparse guitar work. However, its completely ruined with a weird attempt at a psychedelic breakdown that sounds more like madhouse screeching and genuinely hurts my ears. Something a song should never do, and it peaks the pick-up a lot during this as well. I love avant-garde, but this is done very poorly. It sucks and is one of the band's worst numbers; and possibly Freddie's worst written song if you only count this decade. The bluesy "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" by Brian with a rags-to-riches story is neat and was apparently done in one take. John messes up on bass a lot here, playing the wrong notes often but that doesn't ruin the song, if anything it makes the band feel more human. The short length does unfortunately bury it in the dust of the rest of the record, though. Then comes the Spanish flamenco guitar-influenced "Who Needs You", which is another fantastic song by John Deacon. It features Freddie on cowbell giving it a rather slick rhythm, and Brian plays maracas, and also seems to sound a bit like reggae. This combining of different styles is really fantastic.

Finishing the album comes the band's greatest song they've ever made. "It's Late", which is incredibly innovative with, instead of verses, it's written as a three-act play with each act developing the storyline as it goes. This approach is the most theatrical they've gotten and tells the tale of a relationship that's failing before fixing with working together quite well. The guitar solo features the fretboard-tapping technique before Eddie Van Halen popularized it, and combines with Brian's unique tone of his red special to make something genuinely fascinating. John's bassline is groovy and easy to nod along to, and Freddie's vocals jumping between more calm to frenetic and explosive is absolute peak. He also sings the highest note he's done on record during one of said screams, managing an impressive E6. Roger's drumroll towards the end is also fantastic.

"My Melancholy Blues" closes it all with a 40s-esque jazz number that is beautiful, and tells of a relationship that's over. Pretty cleverly placed after the previous song, and is one of Freddie's greatest songs that he's written. His performance is raw and vulnerable, and honestly the bass being played to sound more like an upright one used in old jazz bands is a nice touch as well. This is a perfect way to close an album.

Overall, this is easily one of the best albums of all time, and was a step up from A Day At The Races. Choosing this approach to an album after being known for being the opposite of stripped-down is dangerous, yet Queen nailed it. This used to be my favorite album by them for a while, and while it fell off from that, It's still easily their third best.

Rating: ★★★★★

Tracklist Rating:

1. We Will Rock You: ★★★
2. We Are The Champions: ★★★★★
3. Sheer Heart Attack: ★★★★★
4. All Dead, All Dead: ★★★★★
5. Spread Your Wings: ★★★★★
6. Fight From The Inside: ★★★★
7. Get Down, Make Love: 💥 (dud rating)
8. Sleeping On The Sidewalk: ★★★
9. Who Needs You: ★★★★
10. It's Late: ★★★★★ [Greatest song by them. Period.]
11. My Melancholy Blues: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews!):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)
A Day At The Races review (4/5 stars)

I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's feelings on my write-ups. Getting this much involvement and sharing in everyone's enjoyment of this band's discography is really special to me, just like the band themselves are. All of the albums that have been reviewed so far have been so special to me for quite a while, and I love hearing all of you guys' thoughts too!

This one will maybe be a slight bit of a hot take? It's not exactly negative of a review, definitely not. It's far from it. But I don't give this one as much praise as the last three. Read at your own risk, I guess.

A Day at The Races Review
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With having finally broken out of a terrible manager, as well as managing to save themselves from the brink of being flat-out completely broke has-beens in the footnotes of history, Queen had finally made it. Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera were extremely important albums in the band's history, because it allowed them to be themselves and find their footing. Queen II made sure that they had three masterpieces in music under their belt. So what was the next logical step? Well, Roy Thomas Baker decided to leave since his four-album contract had been done, he had produced their albums up to this point and make them sound very great on the previous two. This was a bit frightening of an idea, and rather than evolve more, they chose to do a similar approach to using various styles of music as well.

Some say this is just a rinse-and-repeat of A Night at the Opera, others treat it as the equally good sister album and in the band's top two. Both share a Marx movie name after all, and an extremely similar cover. But both of these are a disfavor to an album that should stand in its own right. Truth be told, this isn't nearly on the level of the previous three albums, but it is still great nonetheless and even with its weaknesses it is definitely one of the best of 1976, even though it isn't one of the best of alltime. If anything, this was Queen finally throwing away their status as underdogs and sitting comfortably on their throne in rock. The production isn't terrible either; for being the band's first self-produced album, it does seem they learned a lot from working on the last record, because it still manages to balance out the sound of multi-tracking instruments, backing vocals that demand perfect mixing, and makes it sound beautiful.

While not as heavy as Sheer Heart Attack or Queen II, it still keeps a variety of musical styles to keep things interesting. It reached number 5 on the US Billboard and Queen had mastered the ability of writing singles, granting them their most singles on an album to this point. Seriously. Five of the ten tracks were released as such.

"Tie Your Mother Down" is a stadium rock heavy anthem penend by May with a multi-tracked guitar intro reminiscent of later song "White Man" and is followed by a Shepard tone reprised at the end of "Teo Torriatte" to make a bookend. The second part of the intro is done by reversing a recording of a descending scale on harmonium. The aggressive vocals by Mercury and slide guitar solo by May make this an irresistible slice of hard rock goodness. This is one of Queen's most bombastic and loud tracks, and is an absolutely perfect album opener. "You Take My Breath Away" follows with a more pleasantly relaxed feel to it, with utilizing the rarely used harmonic minor scale in rock and pop. It's done only on piano and guitar and features heart-wrenching vocals of dedication to one's lover, and Mercury's vocals are triple-tracked to make a solo vocal that holds its own against the chorus, ending with a steadily increasing repeat. This song is a masterwork of art, and one of Freddie's most intimate songs, this one moved me and I'd go as far as to call it his best ballad he'd ever written, the lyrics are gorgeous as well.

"Long Away" is composed by May using a 12-string electric guitar for the rhythm parts rather than the Red Special. However, this is the only song in which I'd state that the production faulters. It is trying to imitate wall-of-sound but each instrument sounds too close together and ends up in a volume war where everything frequently peaks and fights in the mix rather than being in unison, and allowing you to appreciate them. Especially the drums which feel a bit heavier than necessary for a song of this style. The lyrics are nice though, but this feels like knockoff Yardbirds stuff, rather than, well, a Queen song.

Closing side one is "The Millionaire Waltz" which is similar to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in having a multi-key and multi-meter that features abrupt changes and May performing multi-tracked guitar choirs. The 3/4 waltz is interrupted with a 12/8 hard rock segment and has John Deacon doing rare lead bass. It is a masterpiece to rival the two standouts of the last album, and truthfully I do wish John got to lead with his bass more, as this is an exemplary showing at how he is extraordinarily talented at playing bass. "You and I" is by Deacon and isn't anything noteworthy, but makes a fun party song, it's a feel-good song, nothing more and nothing less. I wouldn't say it reaches the heights of the songs he did prior to this album.

"Somebody to Love" starts side 2 strongly with a gospel-tinged Aretha Franklin-esque vocals and great harmonies, making it a worthy single though slightly overrated as it really doesn't deserve to eclipse the rest of this record's shine. Turning the spotlight over to "White Man", it is about the suffering of Native Americans at the hands of the Europeans, being heavy lyrically and musically. It is one of the greatest songs the band has ever put out, and one of their heaviest! It features one of Brian's most aggressive solos that blitzes with ferocious intent, and Freddie's vocals wail and yell with the perfect anger that matches the subject. Roger Taylor pounds his drums into oblivion, destroying his kit with some brilliant fills as well.

"Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" is genius and takes influence of ragtime, while the lyrics are simple, the song gradually builds itself up from just being Freddie and piano to the bass and guitar coming in until the bridge adds a unique part to throw you off guard, it's possibly their best song in this style, truthfully. and his vocals have a flair and charm to them. The superior single honestly, while "Drowse" follows with 6/8 time and lyrics of nostalgic reminiscing on simpler times in life with a very relatable melancholy on chances that have passed and times that have gone. It sounds like Pink Floyd, but is amazing and one of my personal favorite Roger songs.

"Teo Torriatte" was written as a tribute to Japan, where Queen was large in from the get-go and accepted faster than in Britain. I am going to be the monster here though, and say that it's a pretty boring slow song coming off the heels of everything else, and while I appreciate how close they studied Japanese language to pronounce things right which shows deep respect, it ends the album on a snooze fest of a note, and very cheesy lyrics that make me wince. What saves it from being atrocious is the way it, as mentioned before, bookends the album to make it a complete experience to loop back into "Tie Your Mother Down".

Queen had been big by this point and were sitting on their rightfully acquired throne, they knew what they were doing, and they once again made something great. This one doesn't quite measure up to par and is held back by a couple songs, and the quality doesn't truly ever reach the towering heights that you'd expect, but that shouldn't matter much because at least in terms of being one of their albums, it's a top-shelf one in their discography.

Rating: ★★★★☆

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. Tie Your Mother Down: ★★★★★
2. You Take My Breath Away: ★★★★★
3. Long Away: ★★
4. The Millionaire Waltz: ★★★★★
5. You And I: ★★★
6. Somebody To Love: ★★★★
7. White Man: ★★★★★
8. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy: ★★★★★
9. Drowse: ★★★★
10. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together): ★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)
Sheer Heart Attack review (5/5 stars/BEST ALBUM)
A Night At The Opera review (5/5 stars)

Really happy that you all really liked the last two reviews!! I had a fun time; the thing is I did write these a long time ago for a server I was in, but I'm editing these to post them here and get my thoughts on Queen's overall discography out there with you guys. I really like seeing your own thoughts, and getting to discuss what you like or don't about their albums as well. :) Thanks for the support! Anyways, onto this album, which I deem the peak of their career.

Sheer Heart Attack by Queen Review
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Queen II may have held the breakthrough that Queen needed with its song "Seven Seas of Rhye" and established the fun jumping-around of different musical styles that the band would come to embrace, but this album would serve as their major breakthrough to the U.S. Coming just shortly after their previous album, by just a few months Sheer Heart Attack would allow this magnificent foursome to flash their jewelry and spread their wings and fly away into musical royalty, being the first album where they had got it completely right with the production, which finally sounds genuinely well mixed and gives a new level of appreciation to the songs here as its a lot easier to make out the individual parts, and to be able to admire just how good the guitar overdubbing and other aspects are.

Gone were the more mystical lyrics that Freddie had become so acquainted with, and while that was the end of an era for this band in a sense, it opened the gates for a more chart-friendly approach to their music. What's interesting to note is that a few of this album's songs were recorded while Brian May was hospitalized; he had acute hepatitis during the recording of this album and had even collapsed during a tour they were on. In a sense, this album was him going all out on guitar, making something that lasts with its power and stand-out riffs, in case anything did happen with the disease, during that time of turmoil the band made something incredible.

This album has a lot to uncover in the mix, with the fantastic "Brighton Rock" opening the album and being a perfect showcase of Freddie's insane vocal range where he sings both the female and male part of a duet, and hosts incredible Hard Rock guitar work from Brian May with one of his famous guitar solos frequently featured among the best solos of all time, following directly into single "Killer Queen" which would give listeners a clear listen into the bands theatricality and utter talent with pop hooks featuring some creative use of guitar and fun, catchy lyrics, clearly still holding up today as its heavily played on radio stations and served as the single that made the charts in the U.S.

But that's not all to love, there's a certain thrill to the excitement of Queen cementing their sound and the sheer diversity of the other songs too. For example, they do a medley with "Tenement Funster/Flick of the Wrist/Lily of the Valley" which has the first song being a foot-stomping hard rocker with lead vocals from Roger Taylor and lyrics that are first of many he wrote as a testament to youthful rebellion, being his first truly amazing song, the middle song featuring extremely creative blending of piano and hard rock guitar riffs and clever lyrics that compare the wrongdoing manager it's aimed as a middle finger at to the devil. Small story here is that Queen's old manager was very controlling and ripped them off, treating them as easily twistable for extortion, and this would be explored again later but here this song is just phenomenal. Finishing off is the soft ballad that demonstrates the innovative keyboard work from Freddie and a delve once again into the fantasy land of Rhye, this one being the last time he does. The lyrics feel a bit more metaphorical here in testament to Freddie's sexuality, and it explores a connection with him and his feelings in such a passionate way its impossible not to love.

"Now I'm Here" is the only other really 'huge' song on the album, and opens Side B. It was written while Brian May was in the hospital with hepatitis and is about the bands' experience touring with Mott The Hoople, with double tracked vocals that swish around from ear to ear as Freddie sings "Now I'm here/Now I'm there" almost as if he's dancing around you, and the main riff is inspired by Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog", of which Queen were big fans of. But rather than ripping it off, it does its own unique song and is one of May's greatest riffs, catchy and irresistibly heavy. While "In The Lap of the Gods" is a bit of a misstep with beautiful falsetto from Roger Taylor but a weird effect that ruins Freddie's vocals and makes the song an odd number to include. It is interesting with its jazz influence at least, but that's about it.

"Stone Cold Crazy" is proto-Thrash Metal, and shows all those out there that say Queen never pushed a new genre forwards completely wrong as it features some incredible heavy, fast-paced in-your-face guitar chops from Brian May, amazing acapella verses with Freddie taking hardly any breaths, and is a song that influenced many thrash metal artists such as Metallica, who even covered the song. This song was pivotal in the creation of that genre. This is easily the best song on the album as it showcases the best of every member's abilities. Then off the hook of that, "Dear Friends", a much softer ballad follows featuring a suspension resolution preceded by another one, in D major as Freddie plays arpeggiated notes on his piano. The third phrase shows a innovative downward scalar bassline with chromatic notes and chords, though despite how impressive it is, it really doesn't stand out as very memorable after how many songs came before it and were better.

"Misfire" is bassist John Deacon's first song for the band, with him doing all the guitars on this fun pop rocker, which clocks in at 1:50 making it the second shortest, yet the charm of it is undeniable; the groove is fantastic and he's actually quite impressive at playing guitar. Freddie's vocals elevate this one to be just joyous, then there's "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" takes an interesting turn to ragtime piano, and Freddie's lowest note hit on a record being a "C" in the second phrase, and a unique instrument being the banjolele. It is a tribute to the song "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce who passed a year prior, and was Queen's first foray into ragtime. It's actually brilliant and the use of different instruments show the prowess of Brian in specific, while John's bassline is beyond incredible; he packs so much fun and enthusiasm that really makes the jazzy groove stand out.

The album ends with "She Makes Me [Stormtrooper in Stilettos]" being a slow song about a soldier reminiscing in his final moments on his lost love of his life as sirens signal an ambulance arriving in the end but as evidenced by the slowing breaths they are too late, it's pretty but nothing noteworthy as it kind of flows in one ear and out the other with its repetition and "In The Lap of The Gods...Revisited" being Freddie's first attempt to write a song that the audience could sing along to. This was a concert staple and its easy to see why with the piano work combining with Roger's jazz-tinged drumbeat and Brian's emotive guitar playing. Freddie's vocals are some of his best performance on a record here as well, this song just really captures beauty the way the first one did not, and even ends with the sound of thunder; just brilliant.

Overall it makes sense why this has been listed by multiple publications as one of the best albums of all time, and as a Glam Rock essential; it is truly one with a diverse span and incredible instrument work featuring lots of experimenting in styles similar to bands such as The Beatles and I definitely consider it such. This is Queen's greatest achievement, and where everything added up to a perfect whole.

Rating: ★★★★★

TRACKLIST RATING:

1. Brighton Rock: ★★★★★
2. Killer Queen: ★★★★★
3. Tenement Funster: ★★★★
4. Flick of the Wrist: ★★★★★
5. Lily of the Valley: ★★★★★
6. Now I'm Here: ★★★★★
7. In The Lap Of The Gods: ★★★
8. Stone Cold Crazy: ★★★★★
9. Dear Friends: ★★★
10. Misfire: ★★★★
11. Bring Back That Leroy Brown: ★★★★★
12. She Makes Me [Stormtrooper in Stilettos]: ★★★
13. In The Lap of The Gods...Revisited: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (Other Reviews):
Queen review (4/5 stars)
Queen II review (5/5 stars)