Album Artist - Queen
Release Date - 13th July 1973
Genre - Rock
The starting place, for anyone wishing to trace Queen a little further than just their greatest hits, should of course be, their first ever album - Queen. However such fans should also be aware that there are no songs, from the greatest hits on the entire album.
Is this a problem? Well, if you're used to only the polished Queen you've seen on the Greatest Hits, then perhaps, but if you're willing to open your mind and hear where it all began, then no, not at all.
The album opener, 'Keep Yourself Alive' is one of (if not) the best song(s) on the album, and was in fact featured on the American Versions of Greatest Hits I, and this doesn't surprise me much, as it sounds a lot like Queen's style, maybe a little less polished than later songs, but still a stellar track.
Now, I won't talk about ALL of the tracks, but its worth mentioning that a lot of songs on this album are quite theatrical, the immeasurably entertaining 'Great King Rat' is quite a tale to behold, and another of my favourites from the album, and the theatrical themes are seen throughout the rest of the album in tracks such as 'My Fairy King', 'Liar' and 'Jesus'.
The two recognisably slower tracks on the album, 'The Night Goes Down' and 'Doing Alright', mentioned in order of my preference, are well pulled off, with some nice stylistic changes to keep the listeners attention.
My only two complaints of this album are;
The song 'Modern Times Rock and Roll' - A song written and sung, by Roger Taylor, doesn't really fit the album's style at all, and almost stops it from flowing as well as it could, even mixed well in between 'The Night Comes Down', and 'Jesus' as it is,
and the fact that the last track is an instrumental demo of 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'. I'm not sure what it was meant to achieve, even when it was originally released...Perhaps it was to leave the listener wanting more of Queen and as an incentive to purchase Queen II, which featured the actual song, but listening nowadays, I HAVE to listen to 'Seven Seas Of Rhye' after the demo, because it just doesn't quench my thirst.
Overall Album Score - 8.4/10
Best Songs - Keep Yourself Alive, Great King Rat, The Night Comes Down
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