Sheer Heart Attack by Queen/Orchestra Regina

Pros: Mercury's vocals, May's guitar, just plain old good music
Cons: None to speak of

After recording a couple of albums which lacked direction, but clearly demonstrated the talent of the band, Queen finally became a force to be reckoned with with their 1974 release, Sheer Heart Attack. Queen has always been one of my...

Pros: Experimental and edgy work...
Cons: ...that sometimes doesn't pay off.

I guess it was fortuitous that Brian May contracted Hepatitis in early 1974, cutting short Queen's first tour of the U.S. I say that because the result was the band's third effort, Sheer Hear Attack, released later in the year. I gave this...

Pros: Everything here is a pro. Great album art work too.
Cons: The 2 seconds omitted from In The Lap Of The Gods

This review is based on the Hollywood Records release. Well, in case you are not that familiar with Queen let me explain why I would entitle my review "Queen's bold new direction." This is their 3rd release. Their debut Queen is ...

Pros: Great variety of songs
Cons: A couple of average numbers on an otherwise stellar album

Queen was one of the more talented and innovative bands that emerged during the 1970's. Led by the f ...

Pros: Amazing guitar pyrotechnics, Lots of variety, Great production, Great songs!
Cons: Two seconds cut from "In the Lap of the Gods", on the CD

Queen was band that never wanted to just due the same music year after year, which is very evident i ...

Pros: Heaps of variety. Musically impeccable. First half of the album is amazing.
Cons: The second half leaves a bit to be desired. Several mediocre songs.

This album, Queen’s third, was where things really started happening for them. Following their single Killer Queen giving them a number 2 hit, it repeated the feat and reached number 2 in the album charts. It was followed by their first headlining...

Pros: "Killer Queen" is almost worth the price on its own.
Cons: Nothing major.

This is it, this is the big one. Although the first two albums had certainly had their moments – with songs such as “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Doing All Right” and “Seven Seas of Rhye” – for me, this is the album where Queen really came of age as a group....

Pros: A consistent work that's more accessable than Queen II
Cons: Some of the better songs end just as they're getting good; In the Lap of the Gods is one of the band's poorer efforts.

Any die-hard Queen fan knows that the band wasn't always about fat bottomed girls, radio ga-ga, bicycle races, and scaramouches doing the fandango. Queen's first two albums had a drastically different sound than their later, more pop-oriented efforts....

Pros: Good quality sound, music and atmosphere. An all-round good purchase.
Cons: In The Lap Of The Gods is a bit desperate but nothing's perfect.

Sheer Heart Attack, a beauty of an album issued in 1974, illustrates the essence of Queen; campy and fun on the exterior but actually a serious, and needless to say, an incredibly good rock 'n roll band capable of knocking off massive worldwide...

Pros: Queen's first classic
Cons: Deacon's "Misfire" a bit lame... Not too bad though...

Along with "Night at the Opera", you get the full package of all the elements that made Queen great. Brian May's searing guitar, Freddie Mercury's kitschy songs and beautiful vocals, Roger Taylor's "Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell-like"...