Review Summary: So their third album Sheer Heart Attack can be described as the following… Goodbye long and pointless Zeppelin or Sabbath style riffs and tuneless jamming… Hello stylized rock pop with a touch of Beach Boy style vocal harmonization.
By 1974 Queen had devoured their first taste of success. Seven seas of Rhye was a top 10 hit in the UK and Queen II had hit the top 5 over there also whilst the debut was making big strides towards the top 30. Outside the UK though Queen were still rather unknown and music critics abroad just dismissed them as another Zeppelin or Sabbath wannabe band which is kind of understandable if you listen to their earlier efforts or have been reading my reviews of Queen & Queen II.
So their third album Sheer Heart Attack can be described as the following… Goodbye long and pointless Zeppelin or Sabbath style riffs and tuneless jamming… Hello stylized rock pop with a touch of Beach Boy style vocal harmonization. Well ok Queen didn’t completely throw away their heavy metal routes and it is show cased in Sheer Heart Attack but from now until Mercury’s death in 1991 the band would create a working formular (sometimes for better and others for worse) of which they would use (quoting Freddie Mercury on the Live Wembley 1986 album) until we f@@** die.
That isn’t to say that much would change album wise, does Sheer Heart Attack have its problems? Yes it does. The more important question though is does this feel like a Queen album and not an impersonation of Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath? And a poor one at that. Thankfully the answer mainly in this albums case is a definite yes.
The most positive indicator of change in this album starts straight at the beginning with the instrumental organ/whistling tribute to their first hit Seven Seas of Rhye on that begins the first song Brighton Rock. It’s almost as if the band themselves were saying to the listener… we get it, we are Queen not Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, we understand now the reason you will like us is for us and not just because we sound like Zeppelin or whatever heavy metal band is popular right now. That’s right you’ll like us for the same reason you liked Seven Seas of Rhye because it’s different, new and refreshing.
Even the solo at the beginning feels like Queen, and almost instantly goes into a vocal harmony between Freddie and… himself. I will admit I thought it was Roger Taylor at first but on further listenings released it was Freddie. And for once instead of Zeppelin topics such as fairies and goblins we get an actual Queen topic, living and struggling and being afraid to be naughty.
Going a bit off topic, Queen at the beginning of their careers weren’t mega rich indeed their manager at the time Norman Sheffield was reported to had abused the band financially from the time he was manager from 1972-75 so not only does it make sense to make music based on this but surprise, surprise when doing so Queen sound like a much more accomplished and honest band than they ever did when singing about fairies and goblins.
OK people will tell me that Brighton Rock is actually about a girl and boy who got up to some naughty stuff during their holidays and don’t want their parents to find out. But at the same time it screams of a band who themselves feel they have a noose around their necks and just want to get out and express themselves, something that was never felt in their first two releases.
In someway the song always says farewell to the past with its long (if not pointless) guitar solo in the middle but the pay off at the end is more than satisfactory and yes it’s ok to put a long guitar solo if it actually serves a purpose to the song and isn’t just there to… well be there.
The first gem of the album and the most well known song is Killer Queen. The song itself is about a deceiving woman who tricks people by using her wit and charm. Musically it takes all the things that made Seven Seas of Rhye great and puts them up a notch or two and also includes one of Brian May’s best guitar solos because of the quirk humorous wit and nature of it and like all good humoured songs, it’s funny because they are not trying to be funny they just are and I just love the ‘Gunpowder, Guillotine’ chorus, the dynamite, lazerbeam part also kind of reminds me that this would be something David Bowie could have said at the time but here for a change it comes of as a homage and not a poor copy.
After the brilliance of the first two the album sadly for a bit goes down in quality (I did say it had its problems). Tenement Funkster, the first of a trio concept section, is just plain awful, Roger Taylor wants a good toy or something but it has no enduring qualities apart from being skipped completely. But in its defence at least it sounds like a bad Queen rock/pop song and not a bad heavy metal copy.
Flick of the Wrist is ok. Perhaps the lyrics let it down or Mercury’s menace or lack of. The song seems to be about a serial killer but Mercury seemingly can’t decide whether to treat the song as comedy or serious and if he can’t decide why should we. Still again a decent Queen song but only decent.
Lily of the Valley, a soft piano number which finishes the trio concept section and is no better or worse than the previous song. Although Mercury’s vocals are much more focused here and there is a cool Shakespearian homage ‘My kingdom for a horse.’
After that little mess we finally get back to business with the brilliant Now I’m Here. The song takes all that was good about the first two albums and puts it into one song. It’s hard rocking, catchy and cool & yeah I wanna go touring with the Hoople too.
The next song which I can best describe as a kind of vocal A cappella with pianos called In the Lap of the Gods. In truth it’s damn confusing again like Flick of the Wrist because they cannot decide whether to treat it as comedy or drama and at the end they treat it as neither. It therefore sadly comes of as bad vocal harmonization or at best an attempt to sound like The Beach Boys. The song also brings back problems the band had with their first two releases where they tended to think that random meaningless jams or pointless guitar solos would be a cool thing to put on an album but sorry guys they’re not.
The positive thing about this album is that although there are elements that suck it does have cool elements too. Stone Cold Crazy is damn cool it’s cool because like Killer Queen is quirky & clever, I mean who wouldn’t laugh at the thought of Freddie hunting you down with his water gun. Also just like Now I’m Here it’s heavy without trying to be too clever or unnecessarily epic. Timed at 2 minutes 12 seconds although seemingly short feels a perfect length. It also has shades of punk in it too and is definitely one of Queen’s best heavy numbers.
My Friends and Misfire are both pointless filler. The first for being a boring attempt by Mercury at singing something slow and meaningful for barely a minute the other for trying to be funny without being funny. I’ll say it again the jokes only funny if we’re the ones doing the laughing not you.
I will say though that I enjoyed Bring back that Leroy Brown it has that kind of old fashioned English charm to it and although the lyrics are serious the way Mercury sings them is funny and never quite goes over the line too much.
She makes me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos) sung by Brian May is awful because it’s 4 minutes 8 seconds too long, boring and sung with no emotion and just seems to drag on and on without any pay off.
The album finishes with the excellent In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited and why this isn’t just called In the Lap of the Gods I’ll never know especially as its predecessor was just… well useless. And yes I know people will say, but it would lead to things to come but it’s still just a jam, a poor one at that and has no relevance or importance. Revisited however is energetic, interesting and most importantly a damn good song. The wooo la la chours works excellently as an anthem but more importantly just like Now I’m Here it makes for great rock/pop music.
OK before I sum up here’s a quick rethought, markout of the songs.
BRIGHTON ROCK
Cool clever witty, even the guitar solo works. 5/5
KILLER QUEEN
One of Queen’s best songs. A quick fire dynamite & lazerbeam says 5/5.
TENEMENT FUNKSTER
Someone better buy Roger his car before I run him over. 1/5
FLICK OF THE WRIST
Brian May does his best on guitar but Mercury sadly can’t decide whether this is a song of comedy or drama. 2.5/5
LILY OF THE VALLEY
Although well sung a little too short to be appreciated and seems to finish before it really starts. 2.5/5
NOW I’M HERE
Class. Classic Brian May riff here. One of their finest rockers ever. 5/5
IN THE LAP OF THE GODS
Someone should have told Queen that random meaningless jams do not make good songs or pieces of music. 1/5
STONE COLD CRAZY
Classy pre punk song that for change works like gold. 5/5
DEAR FRIENDS
Anymore, anymore cannot take it anymore. 1/5
MISFIRE
Does what the title says. 1/5
BRING BACK THAT LEROY BROWN
A surprising yet quirky tune. I really like this song. 4/5
SHE MAKES ME (STORMTROOPER IN STILETTOS)
Sleeping sounds like this…ZZZZzzzzzz… 1/5
IN THE LAP OF THE GODS REVISITED
Is everything the non-revisited version should have been but was not also the explosion at the end was a cool way to end the album. 5/5
In total that gives the album an average of 3 despite all the 1/5’s I gave some of the songs.
So compared to the first two albums.
Queen 2.7
Queen II 2.59
TO CONCLUDE
Yes it’s a better albums than the first two that’s for sure mainly because in general it has better songs although it still has the same problems of the first two being that it’s inconstant and when the album is bad like the first two it’s really bad. The big positive though is that for the first time it feels like a Queen album and not a pretender and even the bad songs feel like bad Queen and not bad interpretations like the first two did.
