320. Queen II - Queen

Queen were a band that I loved when I was about twelve. They were energetic, funny, heavy, had intricate guitar solos, and one of the most charismatic front men in the history of music. My adoration for this band stretched so far that I owned both the Greatest Hits Volumes One and Two. And this is fully indicative of the way that I viewed Queen - they were a singles band. And so, in selecting this album, I was not overly excited, especially as I now saw them as a fairly immature, even puerile, group. My response was positively euphoric, however, in comparison to Chloe's, whose dislike for the band is heavily influenced by her father. His ire towards the group is clear and without ambiguity, and runs second only to his dislike for Mr Mourinho. Alas, he is a Man Utd fan.

Whilst I am aware that I am setting this up to be an album where my low expectations are shattered by an amazing piece of work, that would also not be accurate. Instead, this is an album which I enjoyed more than anticipated, but I didn't love it unexpectedly as with Very by the Pet Shop Boys for example. I was surprised at the depth and variety of the music, which reminded me very much of Led Zeppelin. It also led me to explore more about the band, discovering that Freddie Mercury's name was in fact Farrokh Bulsara, and that he was entirely of Indian heritage, and that he was born in what is now Tanzania, facts that seemed to have escaped much of the celebration of his life. 

In terms of the songs, Father to Son is an operatic number that sounds like it is straight off the Who's Tommy, which is certainly no bad thing. Indeed, there is a feeling of concept to the whole album, without it ever fully delivering this. The repeated reference to Queens and mythological creatures emphasise the Led Zeppelin feel. The White Queen has that classically Queen, quiet-loud-quiet thing going on, but Mercury's voice manages to hold it all together remarkably well. Seven Seas of Rhye was the only song off this album that I knew, and is a fantastically catchy number with slightly bizarre lyrics. The standout song for me was the March of the Black Queen, complete with its driving drums and soaring guitars that almost match Mercury's vocal performance. Whislt there are some elements that do not quite work, such as the close harmonies, the whole song is a powerful and varied number that I will enjoy coming back to many times.

Overall this was a surprisingly good album, but with a lot of songs that I have no desire to return to, so I'm left with my original view that Queen are primarily a singles band. No bad thing, but not great when you have to hear the whole album quite a lot for a week.

Chloe's rating: 5
Chloe's favourite track: 11. Seven Seas of Rhye
Olly's rating: 6
Olly's favourite track: 9. The March of the Black Queen

Next week we have 575. Planet Rock: The Album by Afrika Bambaataa, which I appear to know a lot of without having heard it before. The album is sample city, it transpires.