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What's the best or your favourite Queen album?


Brundlefly

What are your favourite Queen albums? Choose three titles!  

9 members have voted

  1. 1. What are your favourite Queen albums? Choose three titles!

    • Queen (1973)
      0
    • Queen II (1974)
      0
    • Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
      1
    • A Night at the Opera (1975)
      3
    • A Day at the Races (1976)
      3
    • News of the World (1977)
      3
    • Jazz (1978)
      1
    • Flash Gordon (1980)
      1
    • The Game (1980)
      1
    • Hot Space (1982)
      1
    • The Works (1984)
      0
    • A Kind of Magic (1986)
      0
    • The Miracle (1989)
      1
    • Innuendo (1991)
      3
    • Made in Heaven (1995)
      1


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For those who don't know (which is everyone) aside from orchestral I love Queen and David Bowie (which are the equivalents of Williams and Goldsmith for me - I think you can guess who is who).

 

What is your favourite Queen album and what do you think is their best? I want to know.

 

Here's my ranking:

  1. The Miracle
  2. Innuendo
  3. Made in Heaven
  4. A Night at the Opera
  5. The Works
  6. News of the World
  7. A Day at the Races
  8. Queen II
  9. Sheer Heart Attack
  10. The Game
  11. A Kind of Magic
  12. Jazz
  13. Queen
  14. Hot Space
  15. Flash Gordon
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For most of their career, they were a stronger singles band than an album band.  But when I was younger and more into Queen, my three favorites were A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, and The Game.  So I guess I don't quite agree with the extent your veneration of them.  But you will find there are a few people on the board who love late Queen as much as you do, I know Justin does (I'd tag him but I can't remember what his username is right now!). 

 

Bowie, on the other hand, is hugely, hugely important to me.  I can go on at great length about why Lodger is an insanely underrated album :) 

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Yes, just Greatest Hits for me.  Tried a few albums and none of them offered anything I liked more than the hits I was already familiar with

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Marry Greatest Hits 1

F Greatest Hits 2

Kill Greatest Hits 3

 

Lodger is a great, underrated album - a few from that era don't get a lot of love beyond the singles, incl. Scary Monsters as well.  Of the Berlin Trilogy, my preference will always be Low. though.

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26 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

For most of their career, they were a stronger singles band than an album band.  But when I was younger and more into Queen, my three favorites were A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, and The Game.  So I guess I don't quite agree with the extent your veneration of them.  But you will find there are a few people on the board who love late Queen as much as you do, I know Justin does (I'd tag him but I can't remember what his username is right now!). 

I love the late albums so much because of their rich, almost-orchestra-like textures. Many of their late songs feature synth strings, creative percussion and lyrics often are reduced to a minimum. In general, the harmonical complexity is way above the band-standard.

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Why is that insane?  It's 8 1/2 minutes long and wasn't a radio hit.  Including that would mean they'd have to drop 3 actual radio hits to fit it

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

Why is that insane?  It's 8 1/2 minutes long and wasn't a radio hit.  Including that would mean they'd have to drop 3 actual radio hits to fit it

 

Because it's one of their greatest accomplishments!  God knows it deserves a spot over pap like Radio Ga Ga or A Kind of Magic.

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4 minutes ago, Jay said:

There's a difference between "Best Of" and "Greatest Hits"

Don't try that fancy-talk here on the Internet where people can't grasp the fact that there's a difference between "I like /don't like it" and "it's good/bad".

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Just now, Holko said:

Don't try that fancy-talk here on the Internet where people can't grasp the difference between "I like /don't like it" and it's "good/bad".

 

Sigh, the debate all threads must become it seems.

 

Uncle!  My only point is more people should hear "The Prophet's Song"!   It's so great!

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To me, Queen have always been a hit radio band, not an album band, so I don't know which one is the best, but if I have to guess, then I place my chips on A Night At The Opera.

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I agree that Queen is mostly a hits band.  

In fact, the only three albums they did that do much for me are A Night At The Opera, The Miracle, and my favorite, Innuendo.

 

39 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

My only point is more people should hear "The Prophet's Song"!   It's so great!

Yes it is. Marc Martel gives it a good go live.

 

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For me the big difference with Bowie and Mercury is not necessarily a difference in musical talent, although they certainly had very different musical tastes and approaches, but that Bowie was a much much much much much much stronger, more interesting, lyricist than Mercury ever was.

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4 hours ago, Jay said:

There's a difference between "Best Of" and "Greatest Hits"

Theoretically, but not in reality.

 

4 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

To me, Queen have always been a hit radio band, not an album band, so I don't know which one is the best, but if I have to guess, then I place my chips on A Night At The Opera.

That is one of them, indeed! Another one is "Was It All Worth It".

 

3 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

For me the big difference with Bowie and Mercury is not necessarily a difference in musical talent, although they certainly had very different musical tastes and approaches, but that Bowie was a much much much much much much stronger, more interesting, lyricist than Mercury ever was.

Well, Queen has always been very vague* and emotional regarding their lyrics. But the musical talent of both Bowie and Mercury is equally pristine in different ways.

 

*mostly in a positive way

 

4 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

To me, Queen have always been a hit radio band, not an album band, so I don't know which one is the best, but if I have to guess, then I place my chips on A Night At The Opera.

I like that they have generally no certain concept for their albums, instead it's a varied batch of mostly far-above-average-music. I'd agree that it's a hits band, but there's much more hits than people know. Many albums (for example A Night at the Opera and Innuendo) have few songs that aren't at least very good.

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@Brundlefly, you forgot THE COSMOS ROCKS (as would I, given half the chance!).

 

 

12 hours ago, Dixon Hill said:

Opera.  39 is my favorite of theirs and no other album flows so seamlessly from great song to great song. 

That's '39, sunny Jim! :)

 

 

17 hours ago, mstrox said:

the Berlin Trilogy...

Ha, ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha ROTFLMAO

 

 

Most, if not all Queen records have at least something of value, on them.

My standout tracks from each record would be:

LIAR or JESUS,

ORGE BATTLE,

BRIGHTON ROCK or STORMTROOPER IN STILETTOS,

THE PROPHET'S SONG,

DROWSE,

IT'S LATE,

LEAVING HOME AIN'T EASY,

DRAGON ATTACK, DON'T TRY SUICIDE or SAIL AWAY SWEET SISTER,

THE HERO,

PUT OUT THE FIRE,

MACHINES (or BACK TO HUMANS),

DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD,

KASHOGGI'S SHIP/PARTY

HIT MAN

HEAVEN FOR EVERYONE.

Like I said; I don't include that abomination with Paul Rogers.

 

 

My top-five albums, are:

NEWS OF THE WORLD

HOT SPACE

A DAY AT THE RACES

JAZZ

INNUENDO

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3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Why did Richard find that so funny?

 

"Why did Richard find that so funny?", I hear you ask.

Well, Stu, I find it funny, because it's really nothing of the kind. Of the three, only "HEROES" was recorded totally in Berlin. LODGER was recorded at Mountain Studios, which, at the time, was owned by...I'll let you research that one. 

Of the three, LODGER is definitely the "slow burner".

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4 minutes ago, Richard said:

 

Well, Stu, I find it funny, because it's really nothing of the kind. Of the three, only "HEROES" was recorded totally in Berlin. LODGER was recorded at Mountain Studios, which, at the time, was owned by...I'll let you research that one. 

 

Oh I know all that, but it's a pretty commonly accepted term for connecting those three albums.  Would it be more accurate to call them the Eno Trilogy?  Maybe, but whatever.  Just a name.

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I guess it's called that, because it summed-up where Bowie was emotionally, and mentally, at the time?

 

47 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

@Richard Some necessary and some obscure picks in your song list.

 

As for the albums: You're the first person I know who doesn't rank Hot Space in his Flop 3, that is interesting.

When HOT SPACE was released (in late May, 1982), I was working in London, and I used to commute. I had a Walkman, and two C90 cassette tapes. One had E.T./POLTERGEIST, and the other had HOT SPACE/HOTTER THAN JULY (a brilliant Summer album, if ever there was one). The journey each way, took approximately 90 minutes, so...I listened to one tape on the way to London, and the other tape on the way home. I fell in love with all four, that Summer.

I'll defend HOT SPACE, to my dying day.

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1. A Night at the Opera - because as a Queen album it's about as hard to top as Bohemian Rhapsody is as a song (plus you get '39 and The Prophet's Song, and the rest is first rate as well).

2. News of the World - and I'm not even too big a fan of the first two songs, but there's also All Dead, All Dead, Spread Your Wings, and It's Late

3. Jazz - but I was tempted to pick A Day at the Races

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I think that Queen tends to be more of a singles band. It's why Greatest Hits is so well-regarded. It's got most of their best stuff through the early 80s.

 

Their 80s output is really hit or miss. Plenty of fantastic hits, but when they missed, they really missed.

 

Innuendo was the first Queen album I heard, so of course it's the best. It's got the avant garde Zeppelin-esque title track with a Spanish guitar interlude, hard-rocking songs about rushing headlong and driving, kooky shit like Going Slightly Mad and the cat song, the metal song Hitman, a memorable ballad, the send-off track Show Must Go On, even gospel. Very eclectic. It all just sort of comes together perfectly.

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6 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Innuendo was the first Queen album I heard, so of course it's the best. It's got the avant garde Zeppelin-esque title track with a Spanish guitar interlude, hard-rocking songs about rushing headlong and driving, kooky shit like Going Slightly Mad and the cat song, the metal song Hitman, a memorable ballad, the send-off track Show Must Go On, even gospel. Very eclectic. It all just sort of comes together perfectly.

I think that can be said about The Miracle and The Works as well.

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INNUENDO is their most diverse record, since SHEER HEART ATTACK.

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Thekthithm said:

Highlander

:nono:  As you well know, Jerry, there has never been an official OST from HIGHLANDER. Besides, A KIND OF MAGIC is missing A DOZEN RED ROSES FOR MY DARLING/NEW YORK NEW YORK.

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7 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Scandal is one of their best songs but The Miracle has some real stinkers on it.

Khashoggi Ship and My Baby Does Me are both decent songs and they are the nadir of that album - so no.

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10 hours ago, Richard said:

Ok, Brundle, baby, but what about THE MIRACLE? and RAIN MUST FALL?

Not even DELILAH is as bad, as those.

Rain Must Fall and Delilah are both quite cool, although the latter is indeed a bit weird, but not bad at all. The Miracle is one of their greatest and most complex late songs, I'm irritated that you list it as bad.:o

What is really bad is Cool Cat.

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