As most bands are not willing to do these days, Queen recently went through the “remastering” and bonus track edition on their original releases. Well technically they are remastering them again, since they went through this about 20 years ago as well. This time they have been re-releasing their albums in sets of five with a louder and crisper quality along with a bonus disc of tracks accompanying each album. Sheer Heart Attack is the bands third album (following their self-titled and creatively named II). It is often considered one of their best (with A Night at the Opera generally considered tops), but does this re-release alter history?
I’ve always felt Queen isn’t really given enough credit for how great they were. There are plenty of fans that swear by the British quartet, but their uniqueness really didn’t make them as big globally as it should have. They have certainly influenced many artists through the years, but what made Freddie Mercury great, also made them not for everybody. Mercury could rock one minute with fist pumping vocals, and be “glammed” out singing falsetto with full theatrics the next. Most people know (and have gotten thoroughly sick of thanks to Wayne’s World) the greatness that is “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but few in the masses want to hear several rock songs like that. Queen certainly has plenty of vaudevillian moments in their catalog, but they have plenty of hard rocking moments as well. Often times it seems that many listeners either like Queen’s hard stuff or their more artistic stuff, but it was their ability to be creative and remarkable at both that made them great.
On Sheet Heart Attack, Queen really starts to come into their own as a band and show strong examples of what made them so balanced. Look no further then both “Killer Queen” and “Stone Cold Crazy” for prime examples of how Queen could be absolutely amazing in completely different styles. On this album Queen went from a band making songs that were primarily written by either Mercury or Brian May, but now they were writing songs as a band and their identity as such expanded from there.
That said, Sheer Heart Attack is still a bit chaotic. As good as it is the flow from song to song and the drastic changes aren’t always the best. While most of the songs are excellent, listening from start to finish can be difficult at times because of these changes.
As for the bonus tracks on the second disc, they’re not bad, but it’d still be nice to see more. You get some live recordings of songs from the album, which are nice, but of course people would prefer something altogether new. There is an acapella version of “Bring Back That Leroy Brown” that was pretty awesome, and the recording of “In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited” from Wembley Stadium was rather powerful as well.
Altogether, Sheer Heart Attack is an excellent album that captures a band at a time when they were just becoming great. With this re-release you get some nice additions, but nothing too spectacular. For those that know Queen by their greatest hit collections alone (which I really think is a lot of us), this is one of Queen’s best albums, and a great way to expand your collection.
Key Tracks: Brighton Rock, Killer Queen, Stone Cold Crazy, Now I’m Here
Kevin Kozel - Sr. MuzikReviews.com Staff
July 21, 2011