QUEEN – Queen (1973, 1991 Hollywood reissue)

I’m in a unique position for someone who was a newborn when this album came out.  By happenstance, this was my first Queen album.  My mom bought it for me.  She bought it at the store that I would one day spend over a decade working myself.  This just happened to be the one she picked.

A few weeks prior, I had been immersed in the latest issue of one of the big guitar magazines.  Queen were out there doing press for Innuendo, and this magazine did a run down with Brian May of the entire Queen discography.  I read it over and over again.  I knew the pop hits, but what of these other songs they were talking about?  “Stone Cold Crazy” had to be awesome for Metallica to cover it.  And this tune “Bohemian Something”…by the description alone I needed to hear it.

And then, only a month or two later, I was hanging out with my friend Andy watching music videos in the basement.  My mom came downstairs.  She had been up watching the news.

“Hey guys, sorry to interrupt,” she said, “But Queen just made an announcement.  Freddie Mercury has AIDS.”

“Oh no,” Andy and I said almost simultaneously.  The rumours were that he was very, very sick.  Although Brian May denied it only months before, fans feared for the worst.  Freddie hadn’t toured since 1986. He looked gaunt, frail, in the most recent photos.  We were both saddened to know the rumours were true.  The very next day, Freddie Mercury died.

That’s my story where it comes to the first Queen album.  It is an intensely personal love for me.

I was surprised how raw it sounds.  Yet although the guitars are rough by comparison to later Queen, the layering of vocals and instruments has already begun on “Keep Yourself Alive”.  It is one of the most brilliant Queen rockers of all time.  When I first heard this song, I recognized some gallop that was later ripped off by Iron Maiden.  Roger Taylor (credited as Roger Meddows-Taylor) even gets a drum solo!  First single, first song — drum solo.  Why not?  Brian’s layered guitar solos point the way to where he would go with the instrument.  It’s worth noting that Queen get a co-production credit.  I’m sure they had a lot to do with the way they wanted to hear the instruments and vocals.

“Doing All Right” begins as a tender piano ballad, but it soon goes into an acoustic section, before finally going fully electric and amplified.  The voices of Freddie, Brian and Roger have a distinct sound that is Queen.  Roger’s voice in particular gives it an edge.  All “Doing All Right” lacks is the intense focus that Queen would later acquire.

Queen’s first serious epic was “Great King Rat”.  Freddie wrote the song himself, and a complex number it is.  Vocally, melodically, and lyrically, it is a killer.  Brian’s wah-wah solo in the left speaker is an eargasm, but it’s fascinating to hear him playing against himself in the right speaker.  There’s a flamenco inspired part that hints towards a similar section on “Innuendo” many years later.  This song is dazzling in its resplendent luminosity.  Another Freddie song, “My Fairy King” follows, and shows of his operatic side.  Fingers dancing on the piano keys, Freddie leads the way through various tempos and textures.  There is nothing simple about it.  And so closed the first side of the first Queen albums.

Another Freddie epic opens the second side, which is “Liar”.  I always assumed “Liar” had to be a Brian song because of the heavy guitar riff, but it is a sole Mercury credit.  Roger’s drum work is stunning, but it’s Queen — everybody’s stunning.  Since we haven’t mentioned him yet, It should be noted that John Deacon (credited as Deacon John) is Queen’s secret weapon on the bass.  Not only is he always dead on, but he composes catchy bass lines that are subliminally absorbed into your cranium.  You’re not always aware of Deacon when you’re listening, but when you focus on the bass, you realize he’s always very melodic.  That’s probably important when Brian is laying down such heavy chords!

The acoustic guitar comes out again for “The Night Comes Down”.  It’s a pleasant ballad, nothing outstanding, somewhat lacking in focus in favour of atmospherics.  But is it possible that Queen invented punk rock with “Modern Times Rock ‘N’ Roll”?  Unlikely.  Still, there isn’t a better word to describe it.  It’s less than 2 minutes, direct, heavy and blazingly fast.  Taylor wrote it and sang it with his sandpaper raspy voice.  The only think un-punk about it is Brian May’s very rock ‘n’ roll guitar solo.  In no way is this a Queen classic, but I think it’s pretty fascinating.

Queen got some heavy groove going on with “Son & Daughter”.  “The world expects a man to buckle down and to shovel shit”, wrote Brian in the lyrics that Freddie sings.  Uncharacteristically Queen!  It’s heavy, short and to the point with great hooks.  Then comes “Jesus”, the story of Christ’s birth and performing of miracles.  Certainly this is unusual subject matter for a rock band like Queen.  Although it begins dramatic and hymn-like, it has a very heavy middle section with blazing May guitars; too many to count!  To me, this song proves that God loves rock and roll.

Queen closes with a preview for the next album, an interesting twist that you don’t see often.  “Seven Seas of Rhye…” is a short instrumental previewing the main piano hook.  Of course, “Seven Season of Rhye” as a full song on Queen II became a classic.  On Queen I it’s a curious but good closer.

Every good CD reissue should have bonus tracks.  The 1991 Hollywood CD issue of Queen has three, while the cassette only had one, which was “Mad the Swine”.  This is an odd little song, an acoustic hippie track that you can sing along to but probably don’t want to.  “Corny” is an appropriate word.  Better is a remake “Keep Yourself Alive”.  The band tried out different instrumental bits on this version, especially noticeable in Roger’s busier drum part.  The vocals are also glossier and better defined.  The tapes were lost and then re-surfaced in time for the 1991 reissue.   I think it’s likely a track like this would have eventually been released as a B-side, had the tapes not been lost for so long.  It’s a great and very interesting version that can co-exist along with the original.

The unfortunate thing about the 1991 reissues were the inclusion of useless remixes.  If it were a vintage remix from an earlier period that’s one thing.  But these are 1991 remixes, done for the express purpose of creating bonus material for reissues.  The artistic value in them is questionable.  That said, “Liar” is pretty faithful to the original, but with mixing board tricks to draw attention to different parts.  There are some unheard guitar parts as well, which are fascinating.  Of the 1991 remixes, this is one of the better ones.  (Don’t even get me started on Rick Rubin’s remix of “We Will Rock You” with Chad Smith on drums and Flea on bass.  That atrocity was even released as a Queen single.  But I digress.)

That’s the last track on the CD.  I know what you’re thinking now.  “But LeBrain,” you are saying to yourself, “Isn’t there a more recent reissue with more bonus tracks?  Aren’t you going to tell us about those, too?”  Yes, there is a more recent version (2001, on Universal) with more bonus tracks (six total).  No, I’m not going to talk about that today.  Reason being, I don’t have it yet.  But Christmas is coming.

5/5 stars