Search - Queen :: News of the World

A pretty good album

B. E Jackson | Pennsylvania | 03/14/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First thing I wanna do is tell ya'll something:



It took me about 10 years to get into News of the World, and I believe I FINALLY accomplished it. It happened earlier tonight.



For whatever reason, News of the World was a very difficult album for me to get into. Whether Queen changed their songwriting approach for this effort, or for some other reason, the fact remains that for the last 10 years, I'd constantly go back, play this album to see if the music has finally clicked, and it NEVER would.



Now it's not like I played this album frequently the last 10 years- it's just every so often I'd pull it out from my stack of records, and see what happens.



ALL this time... and you wanna know what needed to be done in order to finally make it click? I had to play it twice in the same day, haha. I even smiled earlier today when I'd realized I finally got into it after all those agonizing years.



Anyway, I'm about sick and *completely* tired of the first two songs- "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions".



Every single sporting event in history (at least here in the United States- don't know about Europe, Canada, and Australia) apparently believe *these* two songs is the very best way to celebrate an important victory for a team, whether it's baseball, football, hockey, or whatever else.



Thanks to all those many sporting events, this has permanently damaged two potential great songs, and I will never be able to listen to them the same way ever again. I'm sick of them. Even classic rock radio did its sickening part in destroying them forever. Unbelievable.



I always start the album at track 3- "Sheer Heart Attack". An AMZING heavy metal number- if you had any doubts Queen couldn't stand up and rock with the best of them, well, you surely haven't heard this blistering example of heavy metal. Solid riffs and vocals- brilliant song.



"All Dead, All Dead" contains a really good vocal melody courtesy of Brian May By the way, on an unrelated note- what IS that album cover supposed to be? Something from War of the Worlds? A huge robot smashes human beings? I like the painting inside the album sleeve that shows people trying to run away from the thing with a close-up look of the detailed expressions on their faces.



"Fight From the Inside" is another really solid rocker, though not quite as heavy as "Sheer Heart Attack". I like it a lot nonetheless. "Get Down, Make Love" is not a disco song. Someone tried telling me it was, and well, I don't believe it. Memorable vocals.



"Sleeping on the Sidewalk" reminds me of ZZ Top's "Tush" and that's a good thing. "Who Needs You" is a strange Grateful Dead-like experiment (I suppose- I'm probably wrong about that) and it works thanks to the memorable vocals, "It's Late" is a wonderful display of bombastic brilliance. Probably the best song on the album. "My Melancholy Blues" is quite an underrated track- it grows on you with repeated listens so don't dismiss it right away!



I definitely prefer the albums Queen released before this one (especially Queen II- what a masterpiece THAT album is) but Queen was still stuck in a nice creative groove, so expect each track on News of the World to include a distinctive sound and style."

Money And Acclaim Changed Queen

David Sleger | West Allis, WI | 05/08/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Sadly, this Queen record is light years behind its predecessors. I was profoundly disappointed with this album upon it's 1977 release. I could never bring myself to purchase it then as I was subject to it ad nauseam via indiscriminating peers and mainstream radio. I bought it a couple of years ago hoping with the passage of almost 30 years my stance would have softened. With the exception of 'All Dead' and 'It's Late' this is a disposable record. Utter dreck. Actually 'Shear Heart Attack' is OK too but nothing here stands up to their groundbreaking earlier work. They set the standard with NIGHT AT THE OPERA and any of their other releases from 73-76. INNUENDO is also quite good. This one is abysmal. To say "I hate it" (*) is pretty extreme, however, simply saying "I don't like it" (**) doesn't exactly express how little regard I have for this record. This is where one of my favorite bands simply lost it."