antiMusic.com: Queen Week: Queen [2011 Remaster] Review

Queen Week: Queen [2011 Remaster]
by Dan MacIntosh

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Listening to Queen's debut album, after experiencing the group's matured latter work, is a little like placing an adult's baby pictures next to his adult shots. Yes, you can see the resemblance; but it's not quite them yet.

This first Queen album found the group trying really hard to fit in with the hard rock scene of the early '70s. For instance, "Son and Daughter" is a rollicking blues-rock workout more suited for Cream or early Led Zeppelin. In addition, "Great King Rat" has a distinctly funky '60s rock vibe.

Queen would go on to record ballads that contained unique Queenly stamps upon them. That's why something like "Doing Alright" just sounds so generic. Granted, it's a good ballad. However, it also sounds a lot like most all the other generic rock ballads going around at the time. While there are Freddie Mercury vocal bits that come off like what would eventually become that special Queen sound, this song � which eventually escalates into a sort of Doobie Brothers boogie groove � is Queen sounding like a brand new band, fumbling and finding its voice.

Curiously, the song "Jesus" is a relatively straightforward Biblical narrative. One has to wonder if this song got Queen branded a Christian rock band at the time, especially since the Jesus Movement was throwing a lot of Christian and pseudo Christian rocks acts onto the pop charts back then. However, if true believers also listened to a song about a "son of a whore," which is "Great King Rat," they might figure out that Queen was singing the Bible as literature during "Jesus," not as an article of religious faith.

Musically, Brian May stretches out a whole lot more with his electric guitar during this album. While he could be darn near scientific with his individualistic guitar solos during succeeding Queen recording experiences, he sure played the guitar hero part well on this self-titled release.

If you're in the mood for the equivalent to a collection of rock & roll baby pictures, Queen is one fantastic early photo album.

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