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43 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Queen Rocks You!, September 1, 2003
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.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Queen, October 27, 2002
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!
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Queen, July 28, 2000
By A Customer
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" !
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