Queen - QUEEN****

Keep Yourself Alive/Doing All Right/Great King Rat/My Fairy King/Liar/The Night Comes Down/Modern Times Rock & Roll/Son & Daughter/Jesus/Seven Seas Of Rhye

A very solid debut from the glam-rock band Queen who would become the best known popular music act during the next decade, helped by the flamboyant vocalist Freddie Mercury. (US:83 UK:24)

“This is a pretty solid debut from Queen. More in their hard rock/glam rock style than their more obvious hits. This album set their template for their first three albums, rockers, ballads, drama and a Roger Taylor solo vocal.”

“Queen entered the scene in 1973 and fell into a grey area not covered by other bands of the era. While clearly based on Led Zeppelin style hard rock riffing, the band introduced a more progressive take on the harder edged sound of music, in effect creating some of the first blueprints of what progressive metal would become. With folklore inspired subjects and progressive time signatures, song structures and bizarre added segments, Queen created a sound unlike any other of the day. Freddie Mercury added a hint of glam rock with his flamboyant personality contrasted by the metallic prowess of Brian May’s rhythmic and energetic guitar.”

“The band had various influences and therefore the album is very diversified, featuring glam rock tunes, folk-rock songs and heavy metal titles as well. This album also introduced Freddie Mercury, one of the greatest vocalists ever to the world. But the rest of the band showed their enormous potential also. Guitarist Brian May had already found his unique style and Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon both did a great job.”

“Queen is a product of its era, of a band trying to find its own sound. The songs here can be heard to be a meshing together of different types of music genres that were making themselves heard at the time. There is a hard rock element, driven by Roger Taylor's crashing drums and Brian May's superb guitar work. Along with this can be a quieter introspective tide, while the use of longer freeform instrumental jamming that was prevalent during the late 1960s and early 1970s is also in effect. This album is different, almost unique from the albums that followed.”

“This debut is quite interesting, as it shows many hints of what the band would later become, and it certainly does have their distinct sound, especially Freddie Mercury's unmatchable rock vocals.”