Stream of Consciousness & Music Reviews

    Queen's third album, Sheer Heart Attack, marks their real rise to breakthrough fame and a start toward the pop/glam rock sound that the band is most known for. Oddly enough though, the album also has a surprising amount of focus on a hard rock style in a number of the songs, like the opener Brighton Rock. The sound works well for the band, with Roger Taylor's impressive guitar skills nailing the intended effect. In addition to that though, the album also has quite a few tracks that go in wildly different directions (similar to its follow-up, Night at the Opera), which I think work well in the view of the album as a whole. I think that that's one thing that this album does very well, which is how each song is able to complement the others. Where one song may be lacking in one aspect or another or leave you wanting a little more from it, another is there to swoop you away and assail your thoughts. It's really nice and takes full advantage of its extensive 13-track set...

      Everything about A Night At The Opera is really, really good. The composition, the lyricism, all the performances, the technical wizardry, it's all great. I really don't know if I could run through everything on this album that's done incredibly, and frankly I think that that would just bloat this review. I've been a casual Queen fan for as long as I've been into music and finally giving a whole work of theirs a proper listen has satisfied and far exceeded my expectations. The album nails the various styles it goes for, including Queen's iconic spacey-sort of prog rock that they're best known for, as well as harder sounds (i.e. Death on Two Legs), folk rock, ragtime, etc. It's incredible how well the band is able to take so many wildly different sounds and make them their own. And I have to mention how incredible the flow of the album is, with pacing and transitions that rival the best of Pink Floyd; each song sounds like it's where it needs to...