November 8, 1974 - Sheer Heart Attack

Two weeks after my last release and exactly 8 months after "Queen II" on March 8, Queen released their third album, and second of the year, on November 8, 1974 with "Sheer Heart Attack". Queen shifted away from the longer, progressive-inspired tracks on this album and there are a lot more shorter, pop-rock songs. Brian May contracted hepatitis during the tour for their last album and had to go to hospital for a bit. The other three members wrote on their own and May added his guitar and other parts once he was healthy. There is much less fantasy-inspired lyrics as this turned out to be Queen's breakthrough commercial success. Let's check it out!

The album starts with "Brighton Rock" and it opens with carnival music that segues into a quick guitar riff by May. Freddie Mercury sings very quickly and high along to the beat as May plays some nice guitar. He also takes off for a pretty fantastic solo! This extended solo has May going quiet, loud, slow, fast, you name it, he plays it! He combines a bunch of phenomenal little licks into a masterful solo, well done! They play one final verse before May plays the song out. The next song is titled "Killer Queen" and Mercury sings a beautiful melody and also plays some great piano in this song that would become Queen's first huge hit single. He sings about a high-class prostitute who has everything and is "guaranteed to blow your mind". May plays some catchy guitar as well and he and Roger Taylor add some great backing vocals too. Mercury keeps pace on piano while May delivers another wonderful guitar solo that sounds so smooth! This whole song flows very nicely and at 3 minutes was the ideal radio hit, and who wouldn't like such a catchy song? Track 3 is called "Tenement Funster" and features Taylor on lead vocals. It is the first song in a 3-song medley and bassist John Deacon opens with a slow acoustic guitar riff as Taylor gets his typical one song on the album. I like his voice a lot better when he's yelling, fits the rock and roll guitar well, but his regular singing isn't that great. He does play some cool drums and May keeps up his record of excellent guitar solos so far! This is another solid shorter rock song and perhaps Queen have found their niche. This leads directly into "Flick Of The Wrist" which has a fantastic piano riff by Mercury leading the way. May adds some epic guitar as they move into a heavy main riff with some low vocals by Mercury. May is playing more epic guitar as he and Taylor back Mercury heavily in the chorus. I love the heavy verse and May continues to tear it up! This is another cool tune and this album is coming out of the gates strong! This flows right into "Lily Of The Valley" which slows it down a bit on this short piano ballad. Mercury sings very high and it sounds very beautiful and May adds some guitar towards the end as this wraps up a pretty cool little medley. The other single off this album was "Now I'm Here", a song that starts with a simple guitar riff and lots of echoing Mercury's voice to a cool effect. A nice hard rock riff carries the verse as Mercury sings coolly. May plays more fantastic guitar and adds yet another cool solo! That really solid riff returns again as this song concludes a really well-rounded first side.

Side two begins with "In The Lap Of The Gods" which starts with some quick piano and high singing by Mercury. His voice sounds distorted during the verse, a bit of an odd choice that doesn't quite fit the nice piano. He goes back to his more typical high voice but the great piano never stops. They slowly jam out the chorus until it fades out. The next song is called "Stone Cold Crazy" and has a fast rock riff with some cool stuff from May, Deacon and Taylor. Mercury sings by himself quickly and it sounds pretty good. May plays a pretty sweet short guitar solo, and after another verse he treats us to another one! He is just full of great guitar ideas on this album and this is definitely a cool 2 minute song. Next one is even shorter at just over 1 minute, "Dear Friends". It's a slow piano song with sad singing by Mercury. He laments the departure of good friends in this well done, but not very flashy song. Track 10 is "Misfire" and opens with cool acoustic guitar and bass in another short song. Mercury's singing is fantastic as usual and May switches to electric guitar to a much better effect. This side has lots of short songs that don't blow you away, but are fun little tracks, including the next one "Bring Back That Leroy Brown". The lyrics reference the baddest man from the hit single by Jim Croce and Mercury sings right along to his quick, pretty great piano playing. May is playing a "banjolele" that is clearly some mix of banjo and ukelele, and it sounds pretty good honestly! Everybody gets a short solo in a cool section and after another quick verse it slows right down. Mercury keeps up the cool piano and they slam right back into the quick riff with some more cool banjolele. A cool, quick song for sure! Track 12 is titled "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettoes)", a song May wrote and sings lead vocals on. He does his best Mercury impression, doing a decent job. It's carried by a slow, simple guitar riff and loud drums by Taylor. I like May's voice better than his song last album, but I still think Mercury could do the same thing, but much better. Either way, this song is not very adventurous compared to most of the album. It's quite bland and has no solo, which is surprising since May wrote it. Seems an odd choice for this album. It wraps up with "In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited" which has a slow piano-led riff with more great singing by Mercury. May plays some cool guitar as well and this rock song was Mercury's first attempt to write a song that the audience would sing along to at shows. He definitely succeeded as legions of Queen fans would scream back his whoas and na-nas for years to come. It sounds very epic and is a fitting way to end this really good album.

That is the end of "Sheer Heart Attack" and I thought it was quite a good album. Queen's shift away from longer, progressive songs has worked out great as they pack in a lot of cool, shorter rock songs. Brian May plays some really great guitar throughout and it's no surprise that this more pop-y album would be Queen's big commercial breakthrough. But how does it compare to their first two albums? They are certainly a different style, and despite my love for progressive music, I think I enjoyed this new album more than either of them! "Sheer Heart Attack" was a very complete album that keeps you interested the whole way through. Who knows what heights Queen will ascend to after finding their perfect groove?