Queen 70's Album Poll

I don't even know if I can vote

II is so great, but I heard it way late -- the ones I knew when I was a kid, the ones I can sing most of the songs on from memory are News of the World and Jazz and to a lesser extent Sheer Heart Attack and A Day at the Races -- the ones that were news to me & my grade school friends, the ones we were processing as they became available, they have that I-was-there glow for me. It was kind of...like, they were huge, you knew they were huge, but they weren't being pushed/covered/presented like a Here's A Contender For Best Band In the World candidate -- this was southern California in the late seventies/early 80s, the Times was Hilburn and Hilburn was into Springsteen/Elvis Costello/the LA Scene. And U fucking 2. But in my 6th grade classroom, everybody knew all the songs on those two records. It wasn't even about "We Are the Champions," they were huge complete records with deep cuts way into their second sides, records that still sound to me like some of the very best of their age. So there was this hard-to-process disparity between lukewarm coverage and these amazing tunes, which'd be an easier disparity to navigate within a couple of years but kept Queen from feeling as big as they were, to my circle of music-obsessed 12-year-old friends.

But then as a grownup I got II and fuckin', goddamn that is an album and a half

I can't vote

Always loved Queen as a kid after discovering them via Mighty Ducks soundtrack then making tape dubs from my folks' records.

Voted for the debut. "Keep Yourself Alive". That GUITAR SOLO MY GOD.

Sheer Heart Attack, with A Night at the Opera and Queen II close behind.

Agree that 'Loser in the End' is out of place on Queen II. It's a showpiece for Roger, and there's barely a song beneath all the percussion & noise (not that I normally have a problem with percussion & noise). Whereas what might be seen as the weaker moments on Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera ('Good Company' comes to mind) are saved by the sequencing/segues and the feel of those albums as a whole. And yes, some of those segues are masterful. My personal favourite is the leap from 'Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon' into 'I'm in Love with My Car'.

The debut and A Day at the Races are solid albums too. I find News of the World and Jazz patchy, although the latter has some killer tracks. I take my hat off to them for stripping everything back on News of the World, but aside from 'It's Late' (maybe), there aren't any tracks on it that I feel compelled to revisit.

Just revisited Sheer Heart Attack. Love it, but it's still no II. The first half just doesn't seem to have that flow and epic open that II does with Father to Son and unlike others here, I really like Loser in the End and don't think it's very out of place at all.

Loser in the End works better than most Roger songs, largely because the echo he's playing to prevents him from his tendency to drag the tempo down -- he's always better when a machine or Freddie's piano are there to keep him in time.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Really hard to choose between Sheer Heart Attack and Night at the Opera... SHA is the easy answer, but, I fear... too easy.

track for track I had to go with News of the World in the end, which surprised me -- if I made a POX for Queen, it wouldn't be News-heavy, but as an album that record is quality jam after quality jam. Their best play-both-sides album next to II.

Queen II hands down

Doom Queen :

Liar
Great King Rat
Son and Daughter
Ogre Battle
The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke
March of the Black Queen
Brighton Rock
Tenement Funster
Flick of the Wrist
Death On Two Legs
Sweet Lady
The Prophet's Song
White Man

Voted for the debut in the end, just because it's underrated imo. The drop-off in quality between Night At The Opera and Day At The Races is quite startling, in retrospect.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Yay!

It's great to see the debut getting some love, although I think both A Day At The Races and Jazz are superior to News Of The World.

A Day At The Races got zero votes?! On what planet is News Of The World a better record?

I can go along with these results - I'd swap II and Sheer Heart Attack over but those are the two consistently great Queen albums for me. I like Night at the Opera too but the three music hall songs let it down. Not a fan of Day at the Races or Jazz at all.