Queen - News of the World
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Free Music Notes for News of the World
Free Music Review: Queen's response to punk
Hit: 4 Stars
In many ways, this seems to be Queen's 1977 answer to punk rock, and it holds up remarkably well after 30-plus years. The opening pairing of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" may seem overplayed today, but at the time they were also a statement of purpose. "Sheer Heart Attack" is another blistering rocker. "Get Down, Make Love" is blatant sexuality set to music, making nice use the of pauses between the notes, as well as a mid-section that sounds a bit like a game of pinball gone haywire. There are many different bases covered here musically, just in a more stripped-down fashion than usual (not as many layered vocals, overdubs, etc). "It's Late" is a slow-building guitar track, "Who Needs You" has a laid-back Spanish feel, and "My Melancholy Blues" is a perfect album closer, as if Freddie Mercury were singing this piano ballad in some smoky after-hours jazz club. Somehow it all manages to hold together -- and to still sound very much like Queen. Free Music Review: A Critical Look Back
Hit: 4 Stars
Queen's prolific output in the 70s was typically schizophrenic and News of the World represented the extremes of Queen's capabilities. With everything from rock to soul to ballads to jazzy blues standards thrown in - the album's repertoire reflected the individual musical personalities of the band occasionally working together (as with the opening songs), or at times, diverging in their own style.
The album's strongest tracks - We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions - defined the group as a superband, and made them instant legends. Even if they had never recorded another song, those two tracks would remain synonymous with Queen. Unfortunately, because of this as well, the rest of the album (in my humble opinion) has had a somewhat tougher time living up to its knockout opening. Where A Night At the Opera builds up towards the majesty of Bohemian Rhapsody, the trajectory and magnetism of NOTW tapers off a bit.
That's not to say that this is a bad album. But I've found it (like A Day at the Races) slightly fragmentary. But no-one should be surprised, for to listen to Queen is to invite the unexpected.
The other real gems for me here are Spread Your Wings - another classic Queen song - and Melancholy Blues.
Fight From the Inside is aggressive and cool. Get Down Make Love is pure Queen camp and kitsch (ala Death on 2 Legs), while Sheer Heart Attack is Queen's versatile nod to punk rock. It's Late is nice too. All Dead All Dead is incredibly melancholy. The remaining tracks - while not filler, don't hold up so well for me and have been performed better by the band in other similar incarnations.
Although the album remains indispensable for most Queen fans, I'd like to say this is really a 3.5 star album for me compared to Night at the Opera. Far better than A Day At the Races, it's worth getting to experience Queen approaching their 70s peak. Queen was truly astonishing in their abilities and this album displays some of their genius.
Free Music Review: Lean & mean
Hit: 4 Stars
After two over the top productions, Queen decided to offer something leaner and meaner.
The result was an album that at times sounds a bit stripped down and yet retains a lot of power. It's not a perfect album by any means. Some of the songs sound kind of like demos (Spread your wings, My melancholy blues & Sleeping on the sidewalk)
I find the track listing a bit odd too. Over all it's a strong album. Songs like "All dead, all dead", It's late, Get down, make love & "Sheer heart attack" are amazing and have some pretty spectacular moments worthy of any Queen recordings. After listening to those numbers you get the feeling the four of them were not all pulling in the same direction as in previous years. So you can hear some conflict.
It's defiantly a great addition to any CD collection.
Free Music Review: Queen's Best?
Hit: 5 Stars
Led off with a duo of songs that, much like Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Living Loving Maid", are never heard apart, Queen's News of the World is an album that demands respect. After the opening anthems comes "Sheer Heart Attack," a blazing hard rocker that seems reminiscent of Aerosmith in more way than one. "All Dead, All Dead" has a sound that strays back into their earlier albums, softer, very melodic and atmospheric, while "Spread Your Wings" is a piano driven, but still heavy, ballad. This album really offers a lot. The funky "Fight From the Inside," the gritty "Get Down, Make Love"...too much good stuff! Among the best they've done!Free Music Review: Queen shifts gears and gets good results
Hit: 5 Stars
An album that's almost impossible to subjectively review, based on the first two songs at least (but first impressions count, right?) News of the World is a major change in sound from the previous releases of albums like A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. This still stands as one of my favorites.
A little background -- in 1977, punk was in full force (so was disco, but we'll just forget about that) and the artsy groups like Queen were being much-maligned by the punks (although legend has it that Johnny Rotten was quite eager to meet Freddie Mercury and snuck into the Queen studio to do so) so Queen, always one to stay with the times, decided to forego the rampant vocal harmonies and operatic bits and make this. So the result is quite interesting.
Of course, this is the album with "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions." I can still handle hearing "Champions" (heck, it's a favorite of mine, maybe cause Detroit sports never win anything of importance) but I'm way over "WWRY." It's barely even a song, has anyone ever noticed that? Oh well, they obviously did something right. Those songs are so towering, the rest of the album is generally forgotten, but there's some classic stuff here. Taylor takes a jab at the punks with "Sheer Heart Attack" ("I feel so inar-inar-inar-inarticulate!") and gets funky on "Fight From the Inside." Both are actually pretty good songs (Roger isn't exactly known for his songwriting prowess - sorry Rog!) and fit well on the album. John Deacon contributes "Who Needs You" which is a breezy Latin pop song (we've come to expect nothing less from Johnny) with a surprisingly negative breakup lyric - John wasn't exactly known for the breakup lost love songs. So much for "You're My Best Friend." His other composition is my favorite on the album, "Spread Your Wings," the first Queen song to not feature vocal harmonies. Calling the lyric inspirational may be a bit of a stretch, but the song works perfectly. Should have been a bigger hit, it's been one of my favorite songs for a while. Brian May contributes a lovely ballad allegedly about the death of his cat ("All Dead, All Dead"), a straight-forward blues number ("Sleeping on the Sidewalk," which I actually like quite a bit) and an absolutely killer epic song in "It's Late," which is the only song here in real Queen bombastic 70s style. It's a welcome reprieve and did you know, it features Brian May employing the tapping technique on guitar a year, at least, before Eddie Van Halen "invented" it. (Brian wasn't the first to do it either, but I digress.) And Freddie Mercury weirds us all out with what can only be described as a sleazy sex funk ballad with "Get Down, Make Love" which makes the subject matter quite clear, and a sexual innuendo isn't really masked at all. He also contributes "My Melancholy Blues" which is generally on the unmemorable side, but it's still a good song. That makes no sense. Oh well.
I really like all these songs. Maybe more than I should. 4.5 stars for a different side of Queen, rounds up to 5. So sue me for liking this.