Queen - Album By Album

 

Oh sod it, y'know what, I'm just gonna say it - yes I am a Queen fan and no I'm not ashamed. It's easy to see why they're a band who get a fair bit of stick, they were unashamedly pompous and overblown and...well, the less said about Brian May and Roger Taylor's attempts to keep the thing going since Freddie Mercury's untimely passing the better.

But all that ignores that on their day, Queen were bloody good. Their six album run from their 1973 debut to 1977's News of the World is one of the great runs of quality albums and even their efforts afterwards usually have at least a few classics in there to make them worth a listen. In Freddie Mercury they had one of rock's great showmen who could hold a crowd in the palm of his hand with consummate ease and had one of the great rock voices of all time. Behind him, Brian May's superb guitar work and the ultra-tight rhythm section of John Deacon and Roger Taylor provided him with a formiable backing and ensured there wasn't a weak link in the band.

From full-on riffed up rock-outs to heartbreaking piano ballads and nearly everything in between (both good and bad), Queen really were a band who could do it all and this is a guide to their albums from worst to best. Enjoy.

16. The Cosmos Rocks (2008)

Oh dear. Some might contend that this post-Mercury album which saw Brian May and Roger Taylor hook up with former Free/Bad Company man Paul Rodgers under the Queen name shouldn’t be on the list at all but, y’know, they were the ones who released it under the band name so they gotta live with it. It’s not a bad reflection on Rodgers either - let’s face it, any frontman would struggle to fill Freddie’s god-sized shoes, it’s just that the material here is dreadfully lumpen and anonymous with the “ooh look, we’re trying to be contemporary us!” lyrics of lead-off single C-Lebrity being a particular low point. Rodgers would be gone soon afterwards with May and Taylor recruiting new singer Adam Lambert and retreating to the stadium sized revival circuit...

15. Made In Heaven (1995)

Released four years after Freddie Mercury’s death, Made In Heaven was essentially the three surviving members cleaning out the vaults with the last few songs recorded post-Innuendo. Because of this, there are songs from several different points of the band's career with Too Much Love Will Kill You having previously been released as a solo single by Brian May and You Don't Fool Me sounding more like a Mercury solo effort while Let Me Live actually WAS a re-recorded Mercury solo effort. Inoffensive enough but it feels more like a B-sides compilation and is really for completists only with the songs sounding a bit of a hotch-potch rather than a cohesive whole.

14. Flash Gordon OST (1980)

Pretty much the definitive "die hards only" Queen album, this comprises a series of mostly instrumental one to two minute tracks recorded by the band for the camp but fun Flash Gordon film with only Flash and The Hero even having any lyrics. It's fun enough but it's hardly essential listening and even the classic title track feels as if it's been a bit too omnipresent in recent years thanks to those bloody awful floor cleaner commercials.

13. A Kind Of Magic (1986)

By the mid-'80s, Queen were hopelessly adrift in AOR purgatory and A Kind Of Magic, written as the soundtrack for the Highlander film really does go to show just how rudderless things had got at this point. It does have three good singles which almost carry it in the title track, One Vision and the still-poignant Who Wants To Live Forever? but the rest veers between by-numbers rockers (Princes of the Universe, Gimme The Prize) and MOR blandness (One Year Of Love, Friends Will Be Friends, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure). Really, just skip this one and track down the singles on a Greatest Hits album.

12. Hot Space (1982)

An ill-advised foray into funk-disco, Hot Space usually ends up bringing up the rear on most Queen album lists and, make no mistake, a classic it very much ain't. However, while most of side one is pretty terrible, the album does at least pick up a little bit on side two with the anti-NRA riff fest Put Out The Fire (the one proper rock-out on here), Top 20 ballad Las Palabras de Amor, the undeniably catchy Calling All Girls, Mercury’s stark ode to Lennon, Life Is Real and the group’s chart topping Bowie collaboration Under Pressure all being respectable efforts. Don’t get me wrong, Hot Space is definitely one of Queen’s weaker albums but they’ve done worse.

11. The Miracle (1989)

The first album released as a collaborative songwriting effort by the band and also the first following their decision to retire from touring following Freddie's AIDS diagnosis, The Miracle is a solid effort which at least improves on its listless predecessor A Kind Of Magic. With no less than five singles culled from it (the stomping I Want It All, Breakthru, The Invisible Man, Scandal and the title track), the band definitely feel a lot less like they're phoning it in here and even if there's the odd more anonymous moment, it's still a satisfying almost-return-to-form.

10. The Works (1984)

The Works was the album that signalled the arrival of the stadium rock phase that Queen would pretty much occupy from here until Freddie’s passing as they concerted their efforts on trying to build on their Stateside success. Preceded by the epic Radio Ga-Ga single, it's a bit of a mixed bag but the storming Hammer To Fall and the epic ballad It's A Hard Life were good singles as well. The rest veers from enjoyable (Keep Passing The Open Windows, Man On The Prowl) to throwaway (Tear It Up, Machines). Unfortunately, The Works did the exact opposite to what it was supposed to do as the band's US career tanked after the infamous drag video for I Want To Break Free.

9. Innuendo (1991)

The best of Queen's late period albums and a fitting sign-off for Freddie Mercury. Mixing their more polished '80s sound with a bit of the '70s flair that characterised their best stuff, Innuendo's epic title track gave the band their first number one single for 16 years while elsewhere the content is satisfyingly varied from solid rockers like Headlong and Can't Live With You through the entertaining I'm Going Slightly Mad through to the reflective These Are The Days Of Our Lives and The Show Must Go On featuring a proper vocal tour de force from the ailing Mercury. It might not quite have the spark of their '70s output but this is definitely latter day Queen at their best.

8. The Game (1980)

A bridge album between Queen's '70s imperial phase and their more polished '80s output, The Game is a bit of an inconsistent effort but with enough high points to make it worth a listen. Preceded by the rockabilly-inspired Crazy Little Thing Called Love (which gave the band the Top 5 hit that its predecessor Jazz had failed to produce), the likes of Another One Bites The Dust and Dragon Attack saw a more urban funk-based sound creeping into their songs which would manifest itself more obviously with Hot Space a couple of years later. Elsewhere, while there's a little bit of filler in the likes of Don't Try Suicide and Coming Soon, the solid Need Your Loving Tonight and the desolate ballad Save Me (probably one of the group's most under-rated singles) mean that there's plenty here worth a listen.

 

7. Jazz (1978)

Jazz marks the end of Queen's run as a straight-up rock band with glam and operatic tendencies and sees them trying to veer off in new directions to varying effect. On the one hand, the likes of Mustapha, If You Can't Beat Them, Dreamer's Ball and Fun It can safely be skipped but on the other, the straight-up rocker Fat Bottomed Girls (allegedly the inspiration for Spinal Tap's Big Bottom) and the tour de force of Don't Stop Me Now were worthy additions to the Queen singles canon and the stark ballad Jealousy, the wistful In Only Seven Days, the riff-tastic Dead On Time and the enjoyably bizarre Bicycle Race mean that there's plenty to enjoy here. Maybe not quite of the same standards as its predecessors, Jazz is nevertheless well worth a look for the curious.

6. A Day At The Races (1976)

It's perhaps not a surprise that following the group going supernova with A Night At The Opera that Queen opted to play it fairly safe on the follow-up by essentially doing a straight continuation even down to the album cover and the Marx Brothers referencing title. Yet A Day At The Races, although not quite as good as its predecessor, isn't a poor relation by any standards. Somebody To Love gave the group a number 2 hit to lead off and Tie Your Mother Down, despite not enjoying the same degree of success, showed that the group could still pack a punch when needed. Elsewhere, the likes of Mercury's suave Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy and stark You Take My Breath Away, May's wistful Long Away and Taylor's louche Drowse give it plenty of ammo to stand up in its own right. Elsewhere, White Man is a rare Queen political song taking a furious look at colonialism while the ode to the group's Japanese fanbase Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together) was a suitably big singalong closer. Not bad at all.

5. Queen (1973)

Queen's debut sees the band starting to refine the formula that would eventually see them hit paydirt albeit with a much bigger Led Zeppelin influence than the albums that finally broke them would have. Nevertheless, it's still a good collection of tunes with Keep Yourself Alive and the slow-fast Doing All Right (originally released by May and Taylor's pre-Queen band Smile four years earlier - Mercury's vocals and piano definitely take this version of the song up a level though) showing the band's knack with a tune while Liar and Great King Rat are the requisite big rock epics. The moody The Night Comes Down and the MC5 soundalike Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll (which almost sounds like punk three years too early!) are other stand-outs and make this album well worth investigating.

4. News Of The World (1977)

News of the World is Queen's last proper "classic" album in this writer's opinion. Obviously everyone knows We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions but in terms of deep cuts, this one really does stand out among the group's back catalogue. Sheer Heart Attack, allegedly a piss-take of the Sex Pistols, sees the band up the tempo to blistering effect and Taylor's snarling Fight From The Inside bristles with aggression while the Deacon-penned almost jazz-style Who Needs You, May's plaintive All Dead All Dead and Mercury's after-hours lament My Melancholy Blues deliver on the ballad side. Best of all though is It's Late, a six minute tour de force which might just be the best Queen song that casual fans have never heard and ranks up there with their best stuff full stop.

3. A Night At The Opera (1975)

Aka "the one with Bohemian Rhapsody on it". Yet the album where Queen completed their move away from their Zep-influenced beginnings to full on operatic glam rock is far from a one trick pony. Songs such as the epic Prophet's Song and the kitchen sink balladry of Love Of My Life may be overblown but they have the chops to more than carry it off while elsewhere the vitriolic Death On Two Legs (dedicated to the band's unscrupulous former manager), the riffed-up Sweet Lady and Brian May's haunting '39 mean there's plenty to get your teeth into here. It's not quite Queen's best but A Night At The Opera is definitely up there and you can see why this was the album that properly sent the band supernova.

2. Queen II (1974)

The sound of Queen at their heaviest, Queen II takes the basic blueprint established on Queen and does what any good sophomore album should by taking the best bits and improving on them. Hence Father To Son and the pummelling Ogre Battle see the group cranking up the riffs while the haunting White Queen (As It Began) shows their growing talent for ballads and the Brian May sung Some Day One Day almost goes into psychedelic territory. Meanwhile, the medley of the hilariously overblown Tolkien-esque The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke leading into the desolate piano ballad of Nevermore shows off Freddie Mercury's growing songwriting skills. A great album and arguably the most under-rated one in Queen's back catalogue.

1. Sheer Heart Attack (1974)

Sheer Heart Attack catches Queen midway through their transition from glammed-up Led Zep enthusiasts to OTT operatic rockers and emerges clutching the best bits of both incarnations to be (in thie writer's opinion) the band's best album. The slick Killer Queen and the strutting glam-rocker Now I'm Here gave the band the requisite hits while elsewhere the content varies from the guttersnipe lament of Taylor's Tenement Funster through Mercury's tender Lily of the Valley to May's haunting almost gothy She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos). Stone Cold Crazy's whiplash riff is almost thrash metal ten years before that was even a thing (no surprise that Metallica would later cover it) and the overblown yet undeniably singalong two-part epic of In The Lap Of The Gods points the way to where they would go next. Quite simply, a classic.