features in: Album Chart of 1974 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s ● 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die  |
The second album from London's more thoughtful heavy-glam rockers arrived in March '74. They line up: Freddie Mercury (27, vocals, piano, harpsichord), Brian May (26, electric and acoustic guitar, vocals, bells, piano), Roger Taylor (24, drums, vocals, gong, marimba, tambourine, percussion) and John Deacon (22, bass and acoustic guitar). Vaguely themed, the first white side, largely penned by Brian May, is emotionally themed, whilst the second black side, penned by Freddie Mercury, is noticeably darker and somewhat fantastical. Said Freddie: “it doesn't have any special meaning. But we were fascinated with these types of things… the wardrobe that we used at the time described it perfectly well…” Neither side has much which tickles my fancy, but I guess Freddie just shades it by virtue of the rather unique “Seven Seas Of Rhye”, a song five years in the gestation referencing a magical kingdom, Rhye, where, we later would learn, the Bohemians are taken after they are brain-drained by Khashoggi. That explains a lot. Brian May reckons the albums was misunderstood at the time:
“When Queen II came out it didn't connect with everyone. A lot of people thought we'd forsaken rock music. They said: "Why don't you play things like 'Liar' and 'Keep Yourself Alive?'" All we could say was, give it another listen, it's there, but it's all layered, it's a new approach. Nowadays people say: "Why don't you play like Queen II?" A lot of our close fans think that, and I still like that album a lot. It's not perfect, it has the imperfections of youth and the excesses of youth, but I think that was our biggest single step ever.”
The Jukebox Rebel
16–Mar–2016
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [01:12]  Queen - Procession (Brian May) Prog |
| A2 | [06:14]  Queen - Father To Son (Brian May) Rock |
| A3 | [04:34]  Queen - White Queen (As It Began) (Brian May) Rock |
| A4 | [04:23]  Queen - Some Day One Day (Brian May) Rock |
| A5 | [04:02]  Queen - The Loser In The End (Roger Taylor) Rock |
| B1 | [04:10]  Queen - Ogre Battle (Farrokh Bulsara) Rock |
| B2 | [02:40] Queen - The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke (Farrokh Bulsara) Rock |
| B3 | [01:15]  Queen - Nevermore (Farrokh Bulsara) Songwriter |
| B4 | [06:33]  Queen - The March Of The Black Queen (Farrokh Bulsara) Prog |
| B5 | [02:50]  Queen - Funny How Love Is (Farrokh Bulsara) Pop |
| B6 | [02:50]  Queen - Seven Seas Of Rhye (Farrokh Bulsara) Rock |
