Queen II

My advice to any Queen fan planning to buy this album is dont listen to any bad reviews, just go out and buy it. Anything by Queen is good!

The album is neatly split over it's two sides ('White' and 'Black') with Freddy taking one side, and Brian the other. Brian May's 'White Side' starts off with the short Procession, essentially an instrumental of the following track, and marking the first use of Brian's 'guitar as string section' technique. First song proper Father to Son is a glorious rock epic and the first of two songs that clock in at over the 6 minute mark, while White Queen takes the quiet-verse / loud chorus route to great effect. Some Day One Day is a more restrained track with some great layered guitars, and while it's not one of the strongest songs on the album this marks the first time Brian would take lead vocals for Queen, and adds some good variety to the album. Closing off the side is Roger Taylor's The Loser in the End, again one of the lesser tracks on the album (with some rather cheesy lyrics) but some great drums and an incredibly overdriven guitar that sounds like a buzzsaw keeps this interesting.

Freddy's 'Black Side' starts off with the heaviest rock/metal song on the album (if not Queen's career) with the fantastic Ogre Battle. Next up is the bizarre Fairy Feller's Master Stroke, a jaunty yet very complex little ditty - weird and wonderful, and my candidate for the best song on the album. Nevermore is a very short but beautiful ballad, in the style of such later songs as Lily of the Valley and Love of my Life. The March of the Black Queen is Freddy's epic 6 minuter, and is incredibly disjointed in it's colliding parts, but is wonderfully over the top and has some fine moments. Funny How Love Is is a very simple song that sounds like a throwback to the pre-Queen Mercury - it's all chorus and no verse, so while it's the most immediately catchy song on the album it's the one you'll grow tired of quickest. Rounding the album off is the bands first hit Seven Seas of Rhye.

From this album on Queen would produce a run of classic rock albums that would stretch to the end of the 70's, but don't make the mistake of missing this album. Wildy over the top, un-commercial music, Queen II is one of the best albums Queen would ever make.

Side White opens with 'Procession/Father to Son', where the unmistakable Brian May guitar sound starts to establish itself, as do the trademark vocal harmonies. Although a more straightforward side, 'White Queen' shows May can do 'epic' as well as Mercury.
The side closes with Taylor's 'Loser In The End', a cautionary tale to mothers who over protect their sons!

Side Black is where the fun really begins however, 'Ogre Battle' introduces those multi-layered guitar tracks married with outrageous shrieks, before Freddie brings us into the song with his quirky lyrical imagery. The tracks run into one another from this point on in a similar style to The Beatles' 'Abbey Road', all leading up to the awesome 'March of The Black Queen'. This track is a definite forerunner to the better known 'Bo Rhap' and possibly gave Freddie the impetus to try one of his epics as a single! Following straight on is the Beatles-esque 'Funny How Love Is', a lighter song that has the effect of bringing the listener down gently, before closing the album with the complete version of 'Seven Seas of Rhye'.

Listening to this album again, it is clear how much Freddie's voice changed over the years; he is singing in a noticeably higher register throughout this album than was the case by the 80s. In the credits, they stated proudly that 'nobody played synthesizer...again', a path they stuck to throughout the 1970s, and certainly something which endeared the band to the rock fans of the day.

More than 30 years on, 'Queen II' stands as a landmark album in a legendary band's career. Once again, possibly not the most accessible to newer listeners, but one that rewards repeated listens. Nailed-on five stars!