June 24, 1980 - The Game

Two weeks after my last release and a year and a half since "Jazz", Queen released their eighth album "The Game" on June 24, 1980. This album was the beginning of a shift for Queen towards a more pop-y style of rock and it would end up being the best-selling studio album of their career. I generally think a move towards more popular music is a move for the worse but this is Queen we're talking about so let's give it a listen!

The album begins with the pseudo title track, "Play The Game" which has a trippy first few seconds before Freddie Mercury settles things down with some nice piano and some great high singing. After a few lines the rest of the band joins in to form a nice backing riff and Brian May and Roger Taylor provide their usual backing vocals. It's a pretty catchy main riff led by some nice piano and in the chorus we learn what game they mean when Mercury sings beautifully "everybody play the game of love". May comes in with some sweet guitar after the chorus, then they resume the slow piano-led verse. After another chorus May's guitar comes back and does a cool back and forth bit with some epic synthesizers before setting off on a slow, smooth guitar solo. His guitar continues into another chorus and it certainly spices things up as they jam out this chorus riff several times until things slowly fade to an end. The next song is called "Dragon Attack" and John Deacon and May sync up their bass and guitar for a very catchy main riff to this song. It's a very groovy riff and Deacon's bass sounds particularly good. When Mercury comes in to sing the verse we hear just him and Taylor's drumming and Deacon and May continue inbetween his lines. May changes things up for the chorus with some slow, epic notes while Deacon continues the epic bass line. They play another very catchy verse as you can't help but bob your head along to this beat. After the next chorus Taylor gives us a cool little drum solo and then it's Deacon's turn as he spices up the bass riff even more with some great stuff! Finally it's May's turn to solo and he reminds us all of his talent as he plays some pretty sweet guitar overtop this catchy beat. May and Taylor start singing at the end of the solo in an interesting back and forth part with them and Freddie, then things kick back to the main verse and May has some more nice guitar. He delivers one last solo that sounds pretty good and Deacon wraps things up nicely to complete this very cool song! Track 3 is "Another One Bites The Dust" and it would become one of Queen's most recognized songs. It's driven by another hell of a bass riff by Deacon as this one is perhaps even catchier than last song's! Along with Taylor's steady drums they form the backbone of this very groovy song. Mercury starts with an "ooh, let's go!" before beginning the first verse in a nice low voice. Deacon's bass sounds fantastic and he and Mercury both sound great together as they seamlessly move into the chorus. It's very catchy indeed and it's no surprise that this would become immensely popular. May comes in with a nice quick guitar riff for the second verse and Mercury sounds phenomenal as always. After another catchy chorus they move to a space-y new part with some trippy synths and echoing drums and claps that is a little odd for Queen, but it does somehow seem to fit in . Mercury sings the name of the song a few times and let's out a nice yell at the end as they move into a final verse. Things continue to sound pretty good as Freddie continues to show off his lovely vocals. They play one last chorus and Deacon again plays us out with some cool bass to end this one. Up next is "Need Your Loving Tonight" and this is the first one to have a bit of that older Queen feel to it as we hear a nice layered May guitar riff. Mercury sings a nice verse as May drives this more basic rock riff. They switch to a solid heavy bridge riff for a little bit before playing another verse. They finally reach the chorus, which is short and pretty uneventful, bit it's followed by a pretty sweet guitar solo by May! He plays some great stuff in this short solo and they go back to the chorus again. After a final verse this short song is over and oddly enough the most familiar song so far was probably the weakest! The first side ends switch another very successful single, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". May plays a nice breezy guitar riff and Deacon is really killing it thos album as he provides another excellent bass riff. Mercury sings a smooth verse and there are loud handclaps keeping time as if this were an impromptu bar jam! May and Taylor echo Mercury in the next verse and it sounds pretty cool as Queen may be the best rockabilly band out there! "She leaves me in a cool cool sweat" is followed by a nice little part by May and Taylor and it's another very catchy song. After another solid verse May goes off for a nice guitar solo that fits the mood perfectly and sounds pretty sweet. May and Taylor do their little bit again and they move to a new part with just handclaps and singing that sounds pretty great. Deacon comes in with some sweet bass and the regular verse resumes for one final play through. Mercury sounds good rambling at the end as they bring this pretty damn good first side to a close.

Side two kicks off with "Rock It (Prime Jive)" and Taylor wrote and sings lead vocals on this one. Mercury sings the opening verse however, overtop of a slow and sad sounding guitar riff  by May. Freddie sings about rock and roll and I find the line "it gets down to my soul when it's real rock and roll" a little ironic considering how un-rock and roll this opening part is. After a minute things finally change gears as they move into a more typical rock and roll riff that is much more upbeat. Taylor takes over the lead vocals for this part and Mercury adds some synthesizers that sound alright, but I think they're a bit cheesy and very unlike Queen. Taylor's vocals are decent as usual as his high voice carries this faster verse. I think it's better than the slow opening but it's still a pretty basic verse and chorus as May plays a tame guitar riff and Taylor doesn't hit any of his usual really high notes. After another chorus May delivers a nice guitar solo but it's pretty short as they resume the main verse. Mercury adds some backing vocals but it's nothing special in my opinion as they continue to jam out this basic main riff and we hear some more "epic" synths that I find fall pretty flat. The next song has Mercury back on lead vocals and is called "Don't Try Suicide". Freddie counts it in and we hear some more handclaps keeping time as Deacon pulls out yet another wicked bass line from his bag of tricks. Mercury comes in with some nice piano and some great singing as they move right into the chorus. Mercury pleads for whoever to not commit suicide and I love the line "you're just gonna hate it!" as it's a bit paradoxical. They quiet things down again for the verse as Deacon continues his strong bass playing to back Mercury's superb vocals. It's certainly some weird subject matter but the music is pretty catchy and smooth as they ramp it up again for the chorus. After the chorus Mercury speeds up his piano and it sounds pretty good before things quiet down again. Mercury sings mostly by himself in this part and he can carry things just fine as he keeps things interesting. His speedy piano returns and May gets a chance to solo briefly and as usual he does a great job with his short solo. Deacon's bass returns to cue up a final verse and chorus and John plays the song out to the end with his catchy bass riff. Track 8 is "Sail Away Sweet Sister" and wish written and sung by May with Mercury doing backing vocals. Freddie plays a soft piano riff and May sings pretty great in this verse as he sounds very close to Mercury, which is a huge compliment. The rhythm section comes in for the chorus which has both May and Mercury singing nicely together, but they don't really feature in the verse as it's just some soft piano and guitar. May plays a nice little.bit after the chorus and this epic guitar continues into the next verse as he continues to sing very nicely. After another chorus Mercury takes over for a short verse and he hits some very high notes without even seemingly trying! This leads right into an epic guitar solo as May plays some slow but pretty great stuff. This connects into another chorus but after this one May's guitar stops and things sound much quieter as the piano, bass and drums play out the last 30 seconds or so, and it still sounds pretty good. Up next is "Coming Soon" and Taylor starts things off with a nice drum beat and May and Deacon both play some simple stuff. We hear May and Taylor oohing and ahhing in the background as Mercury starts a cool verse. May plays a decent guitar riff and Mercury's vocals are great as always but the rhythm section is quite bland for this one, especially considering how great Deacon has been this album. May delivers another epic guitar solo and although everything else is pretty tame, he still plays an excellent solo. They jam out a final verse and it ends a bit abruptly as things shift to the final song on the album, "Save Me". Mercury plays some beautiful piano and sings beautifully overtop in this sad intro. May comes in with some acoustic guitar that fits the sappy mood and Deacon and Taylor finally join in for the first chorus. It's a slow one with May and Taylor providing more oohing backing vocals and while it's not bad, it's certainly pretty tame and uninspiring. The rhythm section stays for the next verse but things still sound very slow and sad. Mercury's singing sounds very sad but he just sounds great no matter what he sings. Aftwr another chorus there's a perfect opportunity for a solo, but they just slowly continue the main beat in a very disappointing section. They return to the chorus and play it several times over and overtop of this we finally get our guitar solo. May plays some great guitar, but why not earlier in that perfect part instead of overtop of a repeated chorus? Mercury sings an epic final line and plays one final nice piano bit that brings this record to an end.

That is the end of "The Game" and I thought that while it had some low points on the second side, overall it was a pretty solid album. The first side had a ton of good stuff, my favourite being "Dragon Attack", and although you could definitely hear Queen shifting to a poppier style of rock, it didn't seem to affect the quality of the songs. Unfortunately that would not be the case going forward in their career as Queen would go full 80s mainstream pop on their next album and this therefore makes "The Game" my final full album by Queen in my library. They still have a few more good songs in them down the line, but the overall quality of their music took a huge step down after this in my opinion. So where does this new effort fall on the proverbial ladder? I really liked most of this new album and so I think it immediately moves into the top half of their catalog, topping both of their more progressive early albums. When compared to their other most pop-y album so far "Sheer Heart Attack" I think it falls just short. It's very saddening that Queen decided to go full pop, but the 80s poisoned a lot of great bands as they claim another spectacular victim. And so here are my final album rankings for Queen:

1. A Night At The Opera
2. Jazz
3. Sheer Heart Attack
4. The Game
5. Queen II
6. Queen
7. News Of The World
8. A Day At The Races