STACK 132 October Issue

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visit REVIEWS MUSIC
Many years ago a friend worked for a major international record company. At the
time, with the downturn in CD sales and the constantly shifting ground of the
internet, things were getting tougher. One day over lunch in early November we were
talking about this in somewhat glum terms. “But,” I said, “at least they have a license
to print money in the run-up to Christmas.”
He looked at me puzzled. I said, “Queen.” Even he laughed at that. And it was true.
In their Freddie Mercury-lifetime, Queen released 14 studio albums (the
posthumous studio construction Made In Heaven was released four years after
Mercury's death in November 1991), but they've also released the same number
of compilations (many of them in October and November) and of course box sets,
live albums and DVDs. Even as late as November last year a “new” Queen album
appeared, Queen Rocks , which mostly picked up material recorded in the ‘80s with
Mercury's vocals put in new settings by the remaining band members and producer
William Orbit.
There's no shortage of Queen in the world, but here they come again, this time
on remastered 180gm vinyl pressings: all their studio albums (and Made In Heaven)
beautifully re-presented in a massive box or available individually.
For those of the CD or download generations just getting into vinyl, this is a
formidable catalogue, so let's trip lightly through it, because Queen were often a
great deal of melodramatic fun.
Few would dare even try something as silly and ambitious as Bohemian Rhapsody,
let alone follow it up with retro-rock singles (You're My Best Friend, Tie Your Mother
Down), or release a song entitled Fat Bottomed Girls (unless you were Spinal Tap, and
sometimes they were that too: gloriously full of self-parody).
Queen's first two albums (Queen I and Queen II) of the early ‘70s are very much
influenced by prog-rock so are best not returned to if you really like where they
went after that. Sheer Heart Attack (1974) is where they started to get interesting
for mainstream listeners; the album included the hit Killer Queen (which won them
their first Ivor Novello songwriting award) and marked their move into more concise
pop-rock. A Night At The Opera (1975) and A Day At The Races (1976) – both named
after Marx Brothers films – are where the story really begins; the former includes
Bohemian Rhapsody and You're My Best Friend, the latter Tie Your Mother Down and
Somebody To Love.
That Marx Brothers reference is important because after their earnest start,
Mercury stopped taking himself quite so seriously, and their albums became
manifestations of his flamboyancy, melodrama and excesses. Freddie was having fun
with his fame. “Boredom is the biggest disease in the world,” he said. “Sometimes I
think there must be more to life than rushing around the world like a mad thing… but
I'm an entertainer. It's in the blood… I am just a trouper, dear. Give me a stage.”
By this time they were commanding huge shows, reflected in the follow-up album
News Of The World (1977) which contained two massive crowd-pleasers: We Will
Rock You and We Are the Champions, both of which were reviled by Britain's punk-
obsessed music press at the time.
The patchy Jazz (1978) is the least loved album in Queen's mature career, but they
returned to form (and the singles charts) with The Game (1980) and the hits Another
One Bites The Dust, written by bassist John Deacon, and Crazy Little Thing Called
Love. Flash Gordon (1980) was the soundtrack to the
film of the same name and is mostly instrumentals – not
quite for the casual Queen listener. Nor is Hot Space
(notable for the duet with Bowie on Under Pressure, but
not much else).
From there on through The Works (1984, with I Want
To Break Free, and Radio Gaga written by drummer
Roger Taylor), A Kind Of Magic (1986) and The Miracle
(1989), they sounded like a good band in a holding
pattern. Mercury was in the early stages of AIDS-
related illnesses and the band’s final album with him
was the uneventful Innuendo (released in early 1991,
nine months before Mercury's death). The final song on
the album, written largely by Brian May, is The Show
Must Go On. And, when it came to Queen reissues and
repackaging, it most certainly did. Still is.
Graham Reid
098 OCTOBER 2015
EL VY Return To The Moon
This project is as much about
Brent Knopf of Menomena fame
(who provides the soundscapes)
as vocalist Matt Berninger; while
it inevitably feels like the latter's
band The National in parts,
there’s a sonic diversity on offer
which places Berninger’s voice
and wordplay in challenging new
settings. The title track with its
fairytale lyric may be a perfect slice
of indie pop, but much of what
follows is far from predictable. I’m
the Man to Be pairs an explicit
chorus with a clubby, dubby vibe;
Paul Is Alive is all vintage keyboard
noises and programmed beats;
and Happiness, Missouri swaggers
like a real dancefloor filler. If this is
the future of concept albums, let’s
all get ready to be linked in.
(4AD) GarethThompson
Bring Me The Horizon
That's The Spirit
Bring Me The Horizon have had
one of the most fascinating career
progressions the music industry
has laid witness to in the past
decade. Originally emerging with
an absolute assault of overeager,
heavily stylised metalcore bands
in 2003, they’ve made deliberate
and decisive progressions in sound
across each album thereafter,
and have eventually emerged in
2015 as comfortably one of the
biggest heavy bands on the globe.
Their integrity remains intact with
this solid new venture which is
so sonically stylish that they can
now add immaculate taste and
trendsetting to their list of enviable
talents.
(Sony) Emily Kelly
Low Ones and Sixes
These guys are one of the most unique and
interestingly evolving bands the past 20 years. With
each passing release there’s at least two tracks to stop
you in your tracks and fall on your knees in tears. This
time round it’s No Comprende, the tale of an argument
based on simple miscommunications exacerbated
by far deeper, unspoken, yet fundamentally ‘broken’
problems between two people in love. That’s what Low seem to do so well
amongst the vocal duelling between the hubby and wife team: hit sensitive
emotional chords with sledgehammers. Of course, just when you think you’ve
got the measure of the track, it pauses, stares at you and aggressively flings
minimalistic chords in your general direction like an apocalyptic fable of certain
change, of doom. Yes, they are also Mormons; but you already knew that.
No matter, for their biblical knowledge and belief has always seeped into the
music without preaching, rather offering an authoritative perspective towards
Gothic ritual, cruelty, isolation and superstition. Nick Cave does the same. The
Innocents is the other ‘wow’ moment I was alluding to, but we’ve run out of
room. Oh – there’s another 10 tracks to go... damn!
(Sub Pop/Inertia) Chris Murray
...or a lifetime. Graham Reid revisits the
catalogue of the world champions of pomp-rock.
QUEEN FOR A DAY