Sheer Heart Attack

Queen

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 5, 1991)
• Original Release Date: March 5, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hollywood Records
• ASIN: B000000OAA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,327 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #33 in	Music > Classic Rock > Glam
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Sheer Heart Attack is a Queen album that has something for nearly everyone. There's glam, progrock, guitar pyrotechnics to spare (check out Brian May's shape-shifting performances on "Brighton Rock" and "Flick of the Wrist"), proto-speed-metal ("Stone Cold Crazy"), and Queen's unique brand of campy humor ("America's new bride to be / Don't worry, baby, I'm safe and sound," Freddie Mercury declares on "Now I'm Here," a Queen concert staple). The group takes a rocked-up turn at ragtime on "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" and downshifts memorably on the spare piano-and-voice interludes "Lily of the Valley" and "Dear Friends." Best of all is the wicked rock-and-harmony showcase "Killer Queen," the group's first international smash. If you need a reminder of everything that was right about rock's old guard before punks stormed the gates, look no further. --Daniel Durchholz

Product Description
Japanese exclusive 2001 remastered reissue of 1974 album. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Queen, 1974, May 28, 2003

By	Samhot (Star Land) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Many know the story by now: _Sheer Heart Attack_ was released very quickly after the stormy, gargantuan and superhuman wonder known as _Queen II_, due to Brian May's contraction of Hepatitis. So, since the boys couldn't go out on the road, they went into the studio and created this fine thing here.

Musically speaking, the hyper-diversity that Queen became known for pretty much was born on this disc. Ragtime, proto-speed/thrash metal, Caribbean-style music, ballads, opera-rock, show tune-infused rock - and more can be found on this musical smorgasbord. "Brighton Rock" starts this off on an energetic note. Carnival noises open up the track, before Brian's thrashy riffing kicks in. Then, the chorus' feature Freddie Mercury hitting those high notes, as he teeters back and forth between feminine falsettos and masculine voicings, as he portrays both the male and female characters in this little love tale. Later, there's an extended section showcasing Brian May's guitar theatrics. I really believe it was here that the seeds of thrash metal were planted. Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi weren't even thrashing on their instruments before, or at the time of this release. As you listen to some of the crunchy, thrashy riffing on this track, you easily are reminded of the thrashing techniques later metal bands like Metallica and Megadeth incorporated into their music (and ironically enough, both bands were influenced by Queen.)

"Killer Queen" is a popular number, which many should be familiar with: a balance of elegance and raunch. That balance was pretty much Queen's dazzling forté. "Tenement Funster" is written and sung by drummer Roger Taylor. Some may be bothered by the vocal switching, and the overall raspy tone of Roger's voice. But, the track rocks out fairly well. "Flick of The Wrist" features some ominous, mad scientist-like vocal delivery from Freddie Mercury, as well as featuring some of his most daring and risqué lyrics. "Lily of The Valley" is one of Queen's (or Freddie Mercury's) most beautiful ballads. Freddie in particular gets to show off that gorgeous, elegant, Arabianesque voice of his, and "Now I'm Here" shouldn't require much of an explanation.

"In The Lap of The Gods" points to some of the features that would be found on the following album, _A Night At The Opera_. An operatic and fairly bizarre track, the dynamics & tempos are changing rapidly and abruptly (as to be expected from Queen.) It opens up with some high-pitched wailing from drummer Roger Taylor, while plowing through a great amount of notes played out in a grand, bombastic and ominous manner, which are later followed by vocal tricks from Freddie, and an eventual collapse into a straightforward, but elegant and sophisticated rock track. "Stone Cold Crazy" features some more proto-speed/thrash metal pyrotechnics from Brian May (Metallica would cover this song on their 1991 self-titled album.) This was also the first track in which all four members of Queen collaborated, which was pretty neat, given most of the time, the members wrote their songs separately. "Dear Friends" is a melancholic piano and voice track. The poignant power of this track is only increased because it was the closing track found on _Five Live_, as it could be interpreted as Freddie's sentiments from above, or at least that's the way it seems after hearing it on that album. Of course, Brian May was the one who wrote the track. "Misfire" is like a Caribbean-infused number written and almost entirely played by bassist John Deacon (he plays nearly all the guitars on here.) "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" is a quirky ragtime-rock track. Brian plays the ukelele on this one. Musically, "She Makes Me" sounds like the prototype to early 80s teen heartthrob music. I don't mean this in a bad way, as to me it shows off another side of Queen's multi-faceted genius, and "In The Lap of The Gods...Revisited" caps off the album nicely as a hard rock anthem, featuring a nice chorus to hum to. It ends with a neat explosion effect.

Queen's brilliance should not be overlooked or underestimated. Absolutely essential listening for music fans and Queen fans.

12 of 12 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	Barry Knobel (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

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.

10 of 11 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 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.