Sheer Heart Attack

Queen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 5, 1991)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hollywood Records
• ASIN: B000000OAA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,930 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

QUEEN Sheer Heart Attack (1991 US Hollywood Records 14-track digitally remastered CD includes bonus track Stone Cold Crazy - 1991 Remix picture sleeve HR-61036-2)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A natural progression for a group on the rise to the top, August 9, 1998

By 

BigBad (Victoria, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sheer Heart Attack (Audio CD)

If you're a fan of Queen's flamboyant mixture of hard rock and exquisite melodic diversity, then this album is hard to surpass. It rocks out from the very beginning, with Freddie's falsetto punctuations backed by Brian May's hyperactive ultra-heavy guitar stylings on "Brighton Rock" - a favourite when played live, always good as a showcase for May's extended improvisation. Then you get the hit single "Killer Queen" and you know you're in for one helluva good record. The medley that follows "Tenement - Flick - Lily" shows Queen at their best, merging one genre of music seemlessly into the next. "Now I'm Here" brings us back to the good-old heavy rock they excelled at, and you can hear them during the outchoruses propelling themselves on, a la Stones ('go go go Little Queenie'). The album gets even more diverse as it goes along, ranging from melodramatic opera (In The Lap Of The Gods I) to outright heavy metal (Stone Cold Crazy! , incidentally covered by Metallica in 1991 as an homage to Queen), followed by an even more eclectic mix of styles - check out "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" for Queen's own nod to the Andrew Sisters and such. The album continues with Brian's tender and emotionally stirring march "She Makes Me" (backed by the 'Stormtroopers In Stilletos'), and finishes off with Freddie's rousing singalong "In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited"). All in all, a fantastic effort from those glam-rock gods - a natural progression from the outstanding "Queen II", and a logical precursor to the ever-popular "A Night At The Opera". A true Queen gem: definitely for Queen fans, or for anyone who's out for a good musical box around the ears.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Queen, April 26, 2001

By 

"kingofrock379" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sheer Heart Attack (Audio CD)

This right here is classic Queen, Sheer Heart Attack is without a doubt their best album of all time, not one bad song, not one note out of place. Freddie Mercury's amazing, Brian May's guitar playing is fantastic, and the rhythm section of John Decon and Roger Taylor is great. The masterpiece opens with a masterpiece, Brighton Rock. In my opinion that's one of their best songs ever, everything about it is perfect, especially the guitar solo. One of their signature songs Killer Queen is next, I'm sure you've heard this song before. Tenement Funster is a great song sung by drummer Roger Taylor. Flick of the Wrist is a piano based song with great guitar, great background vocals, and Freddie's vocals are excellent. Lily of the Valley is a short ballad, it's actually really good too. Now I'm Here is another one of Queen's rockin signature songs, so there's nothing really to be said about this song besides the point that it's great. In the Lap of the Gods is another amazing song displaying the talents of the band. It also shows their ability to write extremely beautiful pieces of music and it shows how great Freddie Mercury's voice really was. Stone Cold Crazy is pure metal, it is heavy fast and the band sounds great. Brian May's solo is something to be remembered. Dear Friends is a delicate minute long ballad, featuring Freddie on piano and the band supplying background vocals. Misfire is John Decon's song in the sense that he played almost all of the guitars on it, it shows how talented and underrated he wa as a musician. Bring Back that Leroy Brown is a 40's style swing song, showing Queen's versitility as a band. She Makes Me is an upbeat acoustic song, it's actually very good. In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited is another excellent song. Then on the remastered version there is a remix of Stone Cold Crazy but it sounds the same as the original so it's nothing special. Sheer Heart Attack is a classic album that everyone must own.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SHEER HEART ATTACK IS QUEEN AND CLASSIC ROCK AT ITS BEST, August 27, 2000

By 

Fred Merc (Elizabeth City, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sheer Heart Attack (Audio CD)

Queen's 1974 breakthrough 3rd album entitled SHEER HEART ATTACK is probably their best album, EVER. And this isn't even the one that contains Bohemian Rhapsody or We Will Rock You. Not only does the album contain hits such as Now I'm Here and Killer Queen, it also contains songs that were well-known hard rockers in early Queen concerts-Brighton Rock, Flick of The Wrist, and Stone Cold Crazy.

For anyone wanting to buy a Queen album for the first time, this would definitely have to be the best example (besides Greatest Hits) of their music. The album starts off with the guitar-driven "Brighton Rock" that contains a 2 minute+ long guitar solo showcasing Brian May's definitive guitar playing skills. This song's solo was recently polled at #41 in Guitar World's Top 100 Guitar Solos of All Time as voted by the fans. The album then dives into "Killer Queen" which was a different direction for the band early in their career. It isn't a hard rocker but contains all the elements that Queen would later be known for-rich melodies, superb piano playing, a 3-piece overdubbed guitar solo, and sophisticated lyrics. "Killer Queen" also proved to be the band's 1st #1 single.

The 3rd track off the album, "Tenement Funster" features the drummer, Roger Taylor, on vocals with awesome guitar work by Brian May. The next song, "Flick Of The Wrist" is probably the most underrated jewel on the album-killer piano playing, haunting lyrics and screaming guitars make this a choice pick. The fifth song begins as "Flick" ends. "Lily Of The Valley" is a delicate ballad by the flamboyant Freddie Mercury. "Now I'm Here" then enters with its guitar and vocal echoes. This song outlasted all and was never dropped from the setlist at concerts from 1974-1986. A superb hard rocker with brilliant chords. The song is about life on the road while supporting Mott The Hoople...'down in the city just Hoople and me'! "In The Lap Of The Gods" is a quite undescribable number by Mercury with distorted vocals and brilliant guitar work (again). The 8th song is probably Queen's heaviest ever, "Stone Cold Crazy". Metallica would later cover this heavy metal song. The album then changes mood with May's lulaby "Dear Friends" and further manifests in John Deacon's (the bass player) "Misfire" with its pseudo-island rhythm. The next song is Mercury's "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" which is very delightful and has a big band feel to it and includes a Brian May ukele solo. May's "She Makes Me" follows with the axe-man on lead vocals. This is a quieter number that ties up the loose ends before Mercury's "In The Lap Of The Gods...revisited" closes out the album with its anthem-like choruses..'wo wo la la la'. The perfect way to end this album.

SHEER HEART ATTACK has everything for even the stingiest music critic. Check It Out!