Customer Reviews

News Of The World

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Come 1977, the rock music world took some drastic turns. We witnessed the glory days of progressive rock, which started around the late 60s, and the creativity exhibited in that period seemed to only blossom and intensify up until the mid-70s. Ambitions were the order of the day, and it seemed like many bands - more or less - were trying to outdo one another in terms of technical prowess, intelligent lyrics, orchestral ambition and/or originality. However, the hyper-ambitious, long-winded, intelligent (some would say pompous) art that was popular shortly before began to wear thin, as many music fans wanted things to return to it's raw, dirty (and simple) roots.

The punks seem to appear on the scene at the right time to bring rock back to it's dangerous and dirty roots. The Sex Pistols seemed to be the band who led the charge, and guys like Johnny Rotten (frontman of the Pistols) and Joey Ramone (The Ramones) have verbally attacked Yes, Pink Floyd, Queen, and several others of the art-rock ilk for their long-winded arrangements, grand ambitions and fantasy/cosmic/literary material. (One of the members of the Sex Pistols wore a t-shirt that read the words, "I hate Pink Floyd," while another member reportedly had a brief bit of words with Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, as a few reviews below state.)

1977 also saw genres like disco, and what many call "corporate" rock, running wild. While bands like Yes and Pink Floyd continued to release "long-winded" material, Queen took an entirely different approach. Making art-rock albums since their inception, their creativity culminated with the ambitious, diverse and operatic A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1975), and it's stripped-down, but no less ambitious companion A DAY AT THE RACES (1976). So, on NEWS OF THE WORLD, Queen wisely chose to cut down on the sophisticated operatic arrangements, and focus their attention on a more straightforward, harder-edged album -- with attitude. They basically dropped the "art" rock, and made more "hard" rock this time out. Complex arrangements are still present, but are so subtle, some may not recognize them.

But Queen's well-known diversity still remains intact. You get Latin-infused, elegant numbers like "Who Needs You," bluesy workouts like Brian May's "Sleeping On the Sidewalk," in which he also performs the lead vocal, sophisticated piano-driven pop numbers like "All Dead, All Dead," a song written for Brian May's deceased cat I believe, and an elegant late-night jazz workout on Freddie Mercury's "My Melancholy Blues." The versatility of this band was simply awe-inspiring, and possibly the envy of many.

Now that all of that's out of the way, Queen ROCKS with the rest of the tracks. Everyone knows "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions." The latter exhibits brilliant arrangements - not to mention the apparent 12/8 time (7+5?) - which may be obfuscated for it's overplaying time on the radio. "Sheer Heart Attack" (not to be confused with the album of the same name) is just a lethal super-heavy monster. A fast-paced, supercharged heavy-hitter which may be able to induce a heart attack if played too loudly. There may also be a biting jab made toward the punks in one of the lyrics ("I feel so in-ar, in-ar, in-ar...ticulate.") Written by drummer Roger Taylor, he shares the vocal with Freddie Mercury, as well as contributing bass and rhythm guitar parts, which give the track it's extra heaviness. The prog rock epic of the album, however, is "It's Late," a love tale written by Brian May, and written in three parts (or scenes), and features an explosive John Bonhamesque drum solo at the end. I'll be the first to mention that the comparisons some people (and critics) make between Queen and Led Zeppelin are atrociously ridiculous, inaccurate and shallow (Queen sounded like nobody but themselves to me), but this part of the song is the closest Queen ever got to resembling Zeppelin.

With this album, Queen would abandon their unique brand of art rock for good. Is it ironic that the cover art of this album shows a gigantic robot killing the members of Queen? Was it a symbol that the operatic, original "queen" was no more? Or, was it purely coincidental? They would not make music resembling their 70s material for years to come (even if the small resurgences were slightly transformed.) NEWS OF THE WORLD is 70s Queen at their most straightforward and heavy. Highly recommended.

I just got done listening to this album tonight on vinyl as I have it on cd and haven't heard it in it's original analog glory in a while. I heard people slagging it and thought I'd help defend what is one of Queen's best albums ever. Most everyone knows We will rock you/we are the champions so I won't go into that. Sheer Heart Attack is a song that must be played LOUD and with a bunch of unsuspecting friends in the room so you can see their faces when the weird noise part comes up. Always a question of what's wrong with your stereo comes up. All Dead, all dead is a great Brian May song with a nice Beatles harmony in it. Spread your wings is great but even better if you can find the BBC version of. More rocking at the end. Fight From the inside is ok but it does stick in your head. Get Down make Love is pretty good. Probably written to take advantage of the latest technology of the time. Sleeping on the sidewalk is a nice bit of boogie blues by Brian. Who needs you is a great little piece that features acoustic guitars by both Brian and John. IF you pan your speakers to one side you can hear just the spanish guitar without the vocals. It's Late is one of my all time favorite Queen songs. Great solos and and a great riff and a rocking drum fill by Roger at the end of the song. It's a great workout piece and shows the band at some of it's heaviest. The album closes with My Melancholy Blues. A bit of a Jazz/Blues piece by Freddie that makes you feel as if you are in a blues club. A nice way to end the album. Try and find a bootleg of Queen at the Beeb in 77. They play Spread Your wings which has a new ending to it (think Saturday night is alright for fighting), It's Late which samples some of Get Down Make Love in the middle. A much better version of Melancholy Blues which has Brian playing along. The version they should have used on the album! And Finally a slow and fast version of WE Will Rock you...The same that you would hear on Live Killers except in the studio. Hopefully these will be on the Box set whenever it comes out!!!! The CD also has a remix of We Will Rock You. It's worth hearing just for the extended guitar solo and also a sample of the solo from Stone Cold Crazy thrown into the mix. Overall a great cd from one of the greatest bands of all time!

1977 was the year punk and disco exploded on the pop scene. It was also the year that Queen's fellow rock dinosaurs Pink Floyd sang about pigs,dogs and sheep (as opposed to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll), Sun worshippers YES came up with "Going for the One" with an album cover of a naked man gazing at a tall building ...whatever Mr. Anderson meant by that, Genesis thought the timing was right to release a double live album featuring a 25 minute ditty about a SUPPER that is READY for consumption...and Led Zeppelin did not have any new albums to offer whatsoever.

No wonder, then, that The Sex Pistols and their spitting likes as well as Serious-groin-problem-bros Bee Gees had an easy task of topping the charts. The world had been fed on heavy prog rock as main course for a whole decade, and now wanted some light dessert to ease up on the digestive system.

Sure, Queen could have released their "A Night at the Opera part III"(more Marx Brothers titles anyone? ) and join the brigade of "boring old farts" as the prog rockers were called by the late 70s. But having covered most themes in the art rock book, i.e. mad prophets, adventure, pseudo religious "good vs. evil" themes and science fiction they instead simplified their approach and delivered a no nonsense and refreshing hard rock album that was more in tune with the new musical directions of the times.

"News of the World" was leather rather than silk and ballet. The Stomping "We Will Rock You", the ultra heavy "Sheer Heart Attack", "Fight from the inside" (which somehow makes me think of the colour black)and the steamy "Get Down Make Love" sum up their raunchy new styles very nicely.

Pomp is of course still here, but in controlled proportions, in the shape of the lone tongue in cheek "We are the champions". It just functions SO WELL sandwiched as it is by "We will rock you" and "Sheer Heart Attack".

Ballads like "All Dead All Dead" and "My Melancholy Blues" have a bitter taste to them rather than sugary, the latter sounding naked and lonely as opposed to previous album closers by the group which were mostly pomp and circumstance.

Pop tunes are inventive and differ greatly in styles. "Spread Your Wings" has Queen written all over it...irresistably catchy chorus. "Who Needs You", features wonderful spanish guitar runs from Brian May as well as a playful Freddie Mercury. Then there's "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" which has groove to last a whole blues festival...

"It's Late" proves that there was still some heavy progrock left in them, epic in proportions as it is. However, instead of multilayered vocal mid sections or guitar orchestras for that matter, you get pure and true heavy metal thrown in your face somewhere in the middle. Furthermore, a simple love story makes the framework of the piece. No madmen in sight.

If you are new to Queen, News of the World is definately an essential FIRST.

Other musts? One idea for a newcomer to the world of Queen could be building a collection by getting one album from each "stage" (as I see it) of their prolific career:

1. 73-74 Heavy Metal: Queen II 2. 75-76 Art Rock: A Night At the opera 3. 77-79 Hard Rock: News Of the World 4. 80-82 Pop/Funk: The Game 5. 84-86 Pop/Rock: A Kind of Magic 6. 89-91 Hard Rock revisited: Innuendo

Then you could start "filling it up" by sticking to whatever personal preferences you may have in musical styles (HM, pop, disco...), or follow my excample:BUY EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!

Finally one plead to EMI: PLEASE, PLEASE RELEASE "EARL'S COURT 1977" !

Looking back at the 1970s, sometimes many forget how big the band Queen was. Even as Queen moved into the 1980s, while their popularity did slightly decline in the United States, it continued to be very high in Europe. Their performance at Live Aid is widely considered one of the greatest of all-time and their subsequent "Magic" tour is considered one of the all-time greatest concert tours. If it weren't for Freddie Mercury's death in 1992, we might still be talking about Queen being as big a band as the Beatles. When Queen released their 1973 self-titled debut album, it showed all of the signs of greatness to come. This album would show how the band embraced a "theatrical" feel to their music as well as embrace a sound that would evolve into what would become Heavy Metal. Queen's next four albums would move more toward the theatrical sound and to some extent move away from that Heavy Metal sound (although there would be some highlights through these albums). They would also expand their horizons such as incorporating such sounds like ragtime. Also during this time Queen would establish themselves as a major force in the music business, but it would be their sixth album "News of the World" that would cement their standing as a commercial and creative force in the music business. At the same time, Queen would continue to innovate and explore more new horizons. Much of the popularity of this album would be on the songs "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions", but this collection offers so much more.

Queen is an example of the sum of the parts actually being greater than the whole. However, if you take each of the four members of Queen, they easily stand on their own as a top musician in their profession. Freddie Mercury is easily known to be the emotional and flamboyant lead vocalist of Queen who indeed has a legendary voice. Brian May is the legendary lead guitarist and probably the second most popular member of the band. Roger Taylor and John Deacon go extremely underrated. Listen to Taylor's thundering drumming in the studio or live and one can easily understand why he was asked to participate in an All Star Drum Jam (The S.O.S. All-Stars) at the Live Earth concert. As for John Deacon, he might be one of music's all-time underrated bass players. Many of his bass lines have proven to be the foundation for Queen's musical sound. In addition to being top musicians, all four members play integral roles in the songwriting.

On "News of the World", Queen goes for more of a "stripped down" Rock sound. Here are the highlights from each of the tracks.

"We Will Rock You": This is a well-known and legendary track by Queen. This song sets the tone for the "stripped down" sound of this collection. Everyone knows about the background clapping behind Mercury's a cappella-like vocals. However May's guitar work toward the end of this song is often overlooked.

"We are the Champions": Obviously this is the other well-known song. There isn't much I can add to what many already know. I always saw this song as a cross of Arena Rock meeting Theatrical Rock - great stuff.

"Sheer Heart Attack": This song features Mercury and Taylor on lead vocals. This song has a raw feel to it. There are lots of guitars and a blistering tempo to the song that almost could put it into a punk category.

"All Dead, All Dead": For the most part, this is a piano ballad. May takes the lead vocals and Mercury takes the background vocals. There is a psychedelic sounding bridge midway through the track. To some extent there is a theatrical feel to this song - especially on the chorus.

"Spread Your Wings": This song is highlighted by great guitar and piano work. This song is sung as a narrative about someone named Sammy who works as a janitor at a Rock bar. Deacon is the songwriter on this one and does a great job at painting a visual in this narrative story. This is a rare Queen song without backing vocals or harmonies.

"Fight From the Inside": This song features Taylor on lead vocals. As always, Taylor doesn't disappoint on the lead vocals. Also stripped down, this song has more of a slant on the percussion and bass than most Queen tracks. Taylor's higher octaves (compared to Mercury) as perfect for this track.

"Get Down, Make Love": This might be one of Queen's more "risqué" songs. It has a psychedelic feel to it. This might be one of Queen's strongest tracks because each of the four members of Queen get to showcase their musical talents at one point or another in the song: Mercury (Vocals, Piano); May (Guitars); Deacon (Bass); Taylor (Drums). Deacon's bass especially shines. This song shows why each member of Queen is at the top of their profession.

"Sleeping on the Sidewalk": This song has a classic Blues feel. With May on lead vocals, he too proves how good a lead vocalist he is as he flawlessly pulls of the Blues sound.

"Who Needs You": Great Spanish sounding acoustic guitars are the highlight of this track. The maracas help add to the Spanish feel.

"It's Late": This song also has a stripped down Rock feel to it. This song to some extent also has a theatrical feel to it - especially on the chorus.

"Melancholy Blues": This song has a stripped down sound, but that is because there are no guitars on this song. Piano and bass are prominently featured on this one. This song has a "supper club" feel to it.

Like many Queen albums, this album did require a few listens by me in order to get into it. There definitely is more to offer than the well-known songs of "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions". Highly recommended

We've seen mountains & mountains of albums where you hear the artist's hit tune, followed by track after track of filler. Then there are a decent amount of albums that contain a healthy dose of quality music in addition to the familiar hit. This album, however, is one of those rare works that is GREAT music from the opening hit tracks 'til the closer.

Unless you've been tucked away in the wilderness since 1977, you no doubt have heard snippets of "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions?" on TV, in movies, or at the end of various victorious home team games. What follows is a collection of some of Queen's greatest work, most of which does not make it onto the "Best Of" compilations. If you love Queen?s musical legacy, but only have one or two of their albums, you really should grab "News of the World." In my humble book, it ranks as a greatest hits CD unto itself.

The melodic "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" is followed by a high quality-high-speed "Sheer Heart Attack," and then shifts into a slow and beautiful mournful tune called "All Dead."

The next song is one of the most underrated of Freddie Mercury?s vocal efforts in "Spread Your Wings." It's not one of those songs where Mercury hits those mind-blowing high notes like he does in "Somebody to Love" or "Lily of the Valley," but there is a passion in his voice that makes this song tops. I remember it getting a smattering of airplay when it came out in ?77, but it should have received much more radio time than it did.

"Get Down, Make Love" is one of those fashionably guttural tunes in the same vein of "Tie Your Mother Down." "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" is a cute rags-to-riches-to-rags tune, just this shy of being an acoustic folky piece. "Who Needs You" is one cute and campy tune which reminds me of some of their wackier songs from the "Radio-Ga-Ga" era, "It's Late" is one of their rawer efforts, and "My Melancholy Blues" is another sweet sad song where Mercury really grand-slams his vocal range.

From the cover art work to the lyrics to the music, this is one of Queen's finest.

With the exception of the over-raunchy "Get Down Make Love" and that horrid remix of "We Will Rock You", every song on this album is a classic. However, I must take issue with one reviewer from LA who thought this album was mainly filler and that Brian May was the only true talent in Queen (also, John Deacon wrote "Who Needs You", not Freddie Mercury). Aside from that, Roger Taylor's "Sheer Heart Attack" is campy punk, but "Fight From the Inside" is more of a funky "message" song (note that he played most of the instruments on both tracks). John's "Who Needs You" features some unique Latino-jazz (with some fine acoustic work from Brian). "Spread Your Wings" is classic Queen, as are the hits "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" (Freddie had said that all Queen fans were the champions, all on the same team). "It's Late" is a poignant rocker(which is a mini-soap opera story from Brian) and "All Dead All Dead" is about the passing away of Brian's cat. "Sleeping On the Sidewalk" is a charming blues shuffle and "My Melancholy Blues" has more of a swing-jazz feel, two of Queen's most unique songs ever.

Let me say right up front that I have been a Queen fan since I was approximately 14 years old (let's just say a couple of decades and leave it at that!), so I may not be the most objective when it comes to reviewing their albums. However, I felt I had to put down my thoughts on what I consider their best work. I think I like this one the best because it flat out rocks in comparison with the rest of Queen's output. From the tribal drumming of the classic opener "We Will Rock You" to the final strains of the epic rocker "It's Late", this album rarely lets up. The anthem "We Are The Champions" is a modern standard; "Sheer Heart Attack" and "Get Down Make Love" are wild stompers; "Spread Your Wings" should've been a massive hit (was it ever a single?); drummer Roger Taylor takes the lead on "Fight From The Inside", another one of his great rockers; and Brian May's "Sleeping On The Sidewalk" is just fun, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll. If you have any doubt that Queen truly rocks, check this one out. The album closer, "My Meloncholy Blues", is fitting. You'll need something to chill out to after rocking out for so long. A classic in a canon that is hard to match in rock history, IMHO.

Compared to its predecessor "A Day at the Races" this album is much heavier and straighter. Some people say Queen went punk thinking of "Sheer Heart Attack" . I have to contradict them. It`s just one song. Pondering on "News of the World" I first get the classical hard rock tunes in my mind "We will rock you, It`s late".

Unusual for Queen there`s some R&B as well: Sleeping on the sidewalk; My melancholy blues.The former is about the ups and downs of Show Business. The way Mercury stresses some words and uses some terms makes the listener believe that he is an American singer.

The Album also contains strange "underground" tunes " Fight from the inside; Get down make love" and a weird ballad "All Dead, All Dead" .

"News of the World" has the same strength as "A Night at the Opera" without any baroque sounds.

A Timeless , Down to Earth Hard Rock Disc!

In many ways this is Queen's most powerful album, and is very close to being their best. Queen never again sounded as heavy as they do on this album. The song SHEER HEART ATTACK is the heaviest song of the seventies, period! You've got to hear it to believe it! GET DOWN, MAKE LOVE, SPREAD YOUR WINGS, IT'S LATE, FIGHT FROM THE INSIDE AND ALL DEAD ALL DEAD...THE LIST GOES ON AND ON, JUST A TREMENDOUS ALBUM! It's timeless rock-n_roll and I highly recommend it.

In a nutshell, this is Queen's BACK IN BLACK, rock solid and immensely consistent.

If anyone is interested, scroll back to the reviewer from July 28, 2000, I think he said it best, and funny too.

Queen put aside most of the art rock/prog rock (cerebral/complex/classical/opera/fantasy/sci-fi) stuff that they were known for, which I happen to love, and released a more straightforward hard rock/metal album with attitude, with no "boring old fart" material, yet it still has some of Queen's flair and dramatics, as heard on "We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions".

But if you've never heard "Sheer Heart Attack", the song, you are in for one of the most frenzied, fast paced, ultra-heavy songs ever. It will get you're adrenaline flowing. "All Dead, All Dead", is a soft beautiful ballad sung by Brian May, with Freddie Mercury on backing vocals. "Spread Your Wings", is a mellow hard rocker?.

"Fight From The Inside", is another up-tempo heavy rocker sung and written by Roger Taylor. "Get Down, Make Love", is one of a few blatant sexual Freddie Mercury anthems with raunchy guitar playing by Brian May. "Sleeping On The Sidewalk", is very bluesy musically. "Who Needs You", is another great track, with Freddie's elegant vocals and featuring Brian May on ukelele, if I remember correctly. "It's Late", is almost in the same vein as the art rock epic's they wrote in the past, but still more heavier and not as complex. The ending is great as Roger Taylor goes into this insane Bonham like drumming, if not better. It is great. "My Melancholy Blues", is an all jazz song featuring Freddie's sorrowful vocals.

Overall, this is an excellent CD. Definately, for the much more hard rock Queen fan, but overall I love just about everything Queen released.

Thanks.