Book Of Legends: Queen

The Album: Queen

Queen, the very first album that was released in 1973, with ten amazing tracks.

Side 1 includes:

1. Keep Yourself Alive (May)
2. Doing All Right (May, Staffell)
3. Great King Rat (Mercury)
4. My Fairy King (Mercury)

Side 2 includes:

1. Liar (Mercury)
2. The Night Comes Down (May)
3. Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll (Taylor)
4. Son and Daughter (May)
5. Jesus (Mercury)
6. Seven Seas of Rhye (Mercury)

Now in order to roll right into the album and talk about it, I must offer a bit of backstory first.

In 1968, Freddie, Brian, and Roger were all together, working on bits and pieces, going through several bassists, they finally landed on one, by the name of John Deacon in 1971, cementing the band's final lineup, which played their first show on July 2, 1971.

"While on the path to their extraordinary first album, Queen served as somewhat of a test band for London's De Lea Studios, an arrangement that benefited them in the form of an uncommonly professional demo session. Signing on with Norman Sheffield and his brother Barry, who ran Trident Studios, boosted the band's reputation as studio specialists and essentially provided free hours of otherwise expensive studio time. Although the band had to toil during off-hours, the arrangement resulted in the Queen record, issued on Trident-associated EMI in summer 1973 after months of shopping it.

Labels that passed missed out on what is considered one of the great debut records of all time. At the ballad end of the spectrum, "Doing All Right" had roots in Smile and a '60s psychedelic, folk, and even blues vibe was apparent. But "The Night Comes Down" proved Queen's ability to write rich and unusual melodies and turn on a dime into prog and nascent heavy metal. What's more, demonstrating the strength of the De Lane Lea sessions, the band opted for that earlier version of this classic for the final record.

But more than anything, Queen is an album of flash, thespian, prog metal before the term "heavy metal" was even in play. Throughout, Queen touched upon various tropes, tendencies, and tempos of early metal, applying a sense of gravitas consistent with the band members' and the regal air of their band name.

But the rich banquet of dishes the band brought to their feast would shortly prove too varied for a society in love with fast food, and Queen would be passed over, as, indeed, would the band's even fussier follow-up.

But years on, "Liar" and "Keep Yourself Alive", nowhere near hits in their day, would become, arguably, two of the top dozen most beloved chestnuts of the band's extensive oeuvre, go-to classic-rock radio staples whenever a bracing blast of Brian May id needed to wake up those stuck in rush hour traffic.

Despite its monumental significance, Queen has so far only been certified gold in both the US and UK, demonstrating the alright importance of a hit single to the success of an album. Still, the band's debut lives on in the hearts and minds of Queen fans who revel in the record's exploration of plush dynamics, from classical and folk flights of fancy to the most crushing of power-chorded heavy metal.

In its sense of purpose, Queen is representative of any act's first record--a canvas on which the paint is applied feverishly and thickly. As the band evolved, they learned where to let in more light; but as a first statement, Queen remains a bold demonstration of density, almost unparalleled among debut records."*

As a fan of this album, I couldn't agree more, especially as a debut album.

Putting those outlandish songs out there such as, "Great King Rat" and, "My Fairy King", as a debut album is very risky. Most people would think you're mad to put out something like that, especially since those kinds of songs aren't even all that popular.