"Queen. The two faces of new British rock" - from 'Disco Expres', 25 October 1974
Mar 8, 2024 7:33:44 GMT
leo82br, Chopin1995, and 1 more like this
Post by fabiogminero on Mar 8, 2024 7:33:44 GMT
Hi everyone.
Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the album 'Queen II': the band's second album was in fact released on 8th March 1974 by EMI Records on the English market. To celebrate this anniversary, I have decided to share with you a beautiful article that I recently found: it is a very positive review of the album in question, published in the Spanish music magazine Disco Expres on 25th October 1974. It is called Queen. Las dos caras del nuevo rock británico (translated into English as Queen. The two faces of new British rock).
The journalist Jordi Sierra I Fabra is very generous towards Queen, considered one of the revelations of English rock in Spain in 1974: their debut album 'Queen' was released in Spain at the end of 1973 and the magazine Disco Expres had dedicated an article in the 4th January 1974 issue (which I still haven't been able to find) and, just before the summer of 1974, 'Queen II' had also been released in the country. The journalist describes the new album in detail, talking about the division of the two sides into Black and White and describing the recording techniques and the contribution that the four musicians gave to the album; Deacon is defined as incapable of composing music, a fact that is destined to change in the following years (given the great hits he composed).
Below I post the scan of the original article (and the cover of the magazine, dedicated to Frank Zappa) and my translation from Spanish to English. Enjoy the reading!
Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the album 'Queen II': the band's second album was in fact released on 8th March 1974 by EMI Records on the English market. To celebrate this anniversary, I have decided to share with you a beautiful article that I recently found: it is a very positive review of the album in question, published in the Spanish music magazine Disco Expres on 25th October 1974. It is called Queen. Las dos caras del nuevo rock británico (translated into English as Queen. The two faces of new British rock).
The journalist Jordi Sierra I Fabra is very generous towards Queen, considered one of the revelations of English rock in Spain in 1974: their debut album 'Queen' was released in Spain at the end of 1973 and the magazine Disco Expres had dedicated an article in the 4th January 1974 issue (which I still haven't been able to find) and, just before the summer of 1974, 'Queen II' had also been released in the country. The journalist describes the new album in detail, talking about the division of the two sides into Black and White and describing the recording techniques and the contribution that the four musicians gave to the album; Deacon is defined as incapable of composing music, a fact that is destined to change in the following years (given the great hits he composed).
Below I post the scan of the original article (and the cover of the magazine, dedicated to Frank Zappa) and my translation from Spanish to English. Enjoy the reading!
'Queen II', an exceptional album to discover
QUEEN. THE TWO FACES OF NEW BRITISH ROCK
It's great that at DISCO EXPRES we dedicate a back cover to the appearance in Spain of Queen's first album cast on premiere. This happened on 4 January 1974, and then I dared to point out one of the groups with whom I could work in the future. Only maybe I couldn't have thought that the future was so immediate, only six months away, since before the summer their new LP, 'Queen II', entered the British sales chart, as did the single with the song 'Seven Seas Of Rhye', and consecrated them in that new aspect that has been called the new British rock, and in which, in addition to Queen, Nazareth, Geordie and other groups that we are going to talk about shortly, are active.
QUEEN. THE TWO FACES OF NEW BRITISH ROCK
It's great that at DISCO EXPRES we dedicate a back cover to the appearance in Spain of Queen's first album cast on premiere. This happened on 4 January 1974, and then I dared to point out one of the groups with whom I could work in the future. Only maybe I couldn't have thought that the future was so immediate, only six months away, since before the summer their new LP, 'Queen II', entered the British sales chart, as did the single with the song 'Seven Seas Of Rhye', and consecrated them in that new aspect that has been called the new British rock, and in which, in addition to Queen, Nazareth, Geordie and other groups that we are going to talk about shortly, are active.
The most important thing in relation to that article and the reality of Queen today is the abyss that mediates between both ideologies. 'Queen I' was an album that discovered a group of strong, tenacious, compact, dynamite music. The comparisons that he then established spoke of Led Zeppelin for the vocal part and of Pink Floyd in the sublime lyricism of its expressive sound forms. What was then an explosive and surprising mix, today has been significantly disrupted, because hardly anything can be saved from that, just insisting on standing Queen has surprised us with an LP, out of the ordinary, intense from end to end, It is wonderful that it only represents one difficulty: being able to watch it live, something that seems impossible.
Queen's music shows the ambivalent vocal facet of Yes, but it amplifies this sharply as the quartet's music has greater rock depth and greater mobility than that of Yes. It could be said that Queen brings the spark to Cock nay Babel and the originality outside the mainstream of Genesis, groups that are possibly the most vivid example of what the future of pop is despite their protests of their stage performance (in fact The Rebel no longer exists, only Steve Harley remains, as he remembers, without going ahead Genesis is one of the most online pharmacies today, and to which few pay much attention in Spain when their albums, today, represent a net improvement and a progress know the most recent thing that Yes has done). In that aspect, Queen offers amazing thematic versatility, because pieces like the chorale of Nevermore or the overwhelming grandeur of Ogre Battle are not easily achieved, but above all it is incredible to air them together on the same LP.
'Queen II' can be considered as a double suite, since both sides offer a generic continuity; side A titled Side White and side B Side Black, highlighting in both sides the songs 'White Queen' and 'The March Of The Black Queen' especially in the latter with perfect, masterful vocal games, in which vocal mastery is tested along with a sublime beauty that is difficult to escape. For a group, to make a second LP, a project of such magnitude is the ultimate consecration, and as we know. Here I would like to interject a point, that all the instrumentation has been carried out by the four members of Queen, without anything that elements such as guitars, bass, piano and percussion. So much so that to our amazement an element that would have given greater depth to his music such as the synthesizer does not intervene at all. They themselves put the following phrase on the album as a farewell: 'and nobody played the synthesizer…again'. A curious point.
The whole of 'Queen II' is like an explosive triumphal march, with little repetition to say the least, since each theme offers an extensive accumulation of variations, to the point of constantly seeming to be hearing a suite with multiple movements. There are no songs with their typical chorus and their comfortable structural base, but rather constant innovations, mainly vocal, since in 'Queen II' the voices take over the majority from the instruments, such in its beauty. The last three songs on side B, the Side Black, are singularly plastic ('The March Of The Black Queen', 'Funny How Love Is' and the apotheosic and triumphant 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'). Naturally, by paying more attention to the vocal part, which always acts as the main instrument in the sonic assembly, there is little instrumental brilliance, and Queen positions them as one of the great specialists of the genre from the primitive Hollies to the sensitive Moody Blues, except that Queen has in their music and their sound a wild and jovial aggressiveness, a constant joy. Personally, in recent years I have not heard voices so perfectly combined and placed at such a high technical level within the first steps of a group's work.
The vocal part that has impressed me so much is performed in Queen by Freddie Mercury who is the main solo singer and by Brian May and Roger Meddows-Taylor as backgrounds or supporting voices and choir. However, it must also be added that Queen used a lot of studio trickery by recording several voices of the same voice and reproducing it as a large chorus. This was done by Jon Anderson in a short song, I don't remember if it was from 'Fragile' or 'Close To The Edge', and it seemed as if twelve people were singing because of the crossovers and different vocal forms offered. Here the concept of this vocal part is so rich that we doubt that only the three of them contributed these results in a first recording.
I am not going to repeat the affiliation of the four Queen since it appeared on that DISCO EXPRES dated January 4, No. 256, and it would be repeating the same thing, I will only mention once again the formation of Queen and the work carried out in 'Queen II'.
Freddie Mercury is the singer and he played piano and harpischord on the album, although on stage he only sings and does little work on the piano. A mission that May also has. Freddie has a rich and gestural voice, a voice with which he easily reaches levels of great acuity and climax, but which also knows how to transform into sweet and subtle sounds within his fine tonality. He is the man who most identifies with Queen because his current stage is entirely evocative, delicious, round, and with a strong vocal mind. Brian May is the guitarist of all kinds, piano, voice and bells, but essentially the guitarist. Its mission is the most complex instrumentally and is almost as important as Mercury's vocal since the instrumental part on which the vocal floats and grows is based on it and its multiple acoustic or electric sounds. Who should add that Mercury and May are practically the leaders and 'factotums' of Queen since they are also the authors of the songs. The Side Black of 'Queen II' is by Freddie Mercury and the Side White by Brian May (except for 'The Loser In The End' which is by Roger Meddows-Taylor). Although no one may notice practical differences between the two faces, I am sure that the final result will be the same as I have that the Side Black is better, richer, more creative, more gigantic in background and shapes. John Deacon is the bass guitarist and acoustic guitarist, he is the most subdued element of the quartet but he himself admits that he feels incapable of composing or creating something, preferring to help polish the group's sound with his bass, a faithful cushion that is the base. sonorous and rhythmic along with the percussion of Roger Meddows-Taylor, the fourth man, also a supporting voice and Queen's third strong piece, never far behind Mercury and May. Roger and Brian essentially formed the basis of Queen when they created the group Smile; however it was not until they found Mercury that they achieved solidity and quality.
JORDI SIERRA I FABRA
Queen's music shows the ambivalent vocal facet of Yes, but it amplifies this sharply as the quartet's music has greater rock depth and greater mobility than that of Yes. It could be said that Queen brings the spark to Cock nay Babel and the originality outside the mainstream of Genesis, groups that are possibly the most vivid example of what the future of pop is despite their protests of their stage performance (in fact The Rebel no longer exists, only Steve Harley remains, as he remembers, without going ahead Genesis is one of the most online pharmacies today, and to which few pay much attention in Spain when their albums, today, represent a net improvement and a progress know the most recent thing that Yes has done). In that aspect, Queen offers amazing thematic versatility, because pieces like the chorale of Nevermore or the overwhelming grandeur of Ogre Battle are not easily achieved, but above all it is incredible to air them together on the same LP.
'Queen II' can be considered as a double suite, since both sides offer a generic continuity; side A titled Side White and side B Side Black, highlighting in both sides the songs 'White Queen' and 'The March Of The Black Queen' especially in the latter with perfect, masterful vocal games, in which vocal mastery is tested along with a sublime beauty that is difficult to escape. For a group, to make a second LP, a project of such magnitude is the ultimate consecration, and as we know. Here I would like to interject a point, that all the instrumentation has been carried out by the four members of Queen, without anything that elements such as guitars, bass, piano and percussion. So much so that to our amazement an element that would have given greater depth to his music such as the synthesizer does not intervene at all. They themselves put the following phrase on the album as a farewell: 'and nobody played the synthesizer…again'. A curious point.
The whole of 'Queen II' is like an explosive triumphal march, with little repetition to say the least, since each theme offers an extensive accumulation of variations, to the point of constantly seeming to be hearing a suite with multiple movements. There are no songs with their typical chorus and their comfortable structural base, but rather constant innovations, mainly vocal, since in 'Queen II' the voices take over the majority from the instruments, such in its beauty. The last three songs on side B, the Side Black, are singularly plastic ('The March Of The Black Queen', 'Funny How Love Is' and the apotheosic and triumphant 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'). Naturally, by paying more attention to the vocal part, which always acts as the main instrument in the sonic assembly, there is little instrumental brilliance, and Queen positions them as one of the great specialists of the genre from the primitive Hollies to the sensitive Moody Blues, except that Queen has in their music and their sound a wild and jovial aggressiveness, a constant joy. Personally, in recent years I have not heard voices so perfectly combined and placed at such a high technical level within the first steps of a group's work.
The vocal part that has impressed me so much is performed in Queen by Freddie Mercury who is the main solo singer and by Brian May and Roger Meddows-Taylor as backgrounds or supporting voices and choir. However, it must also be added that Queen used a lot of studio trickery by recording several voices of the same voice and reproducing it as a large chorus. This was done by Jon Anderson in a short song, I don't remember if it was from 'Fragile' or 'Close To The Edge', and it seemed as if twelve people were singing because of the crossovers and different vocal forms offered. Here the concept of this vocal part is so rich that we doubt that only the three of them contributed these results in a first recording.
I am not going to repeat the affiliation of the four Queen since it appeared on that DISCO EXPRES dated January 4, No. 256, and it would be repeating the same thing, I will only mention once again the formation of Queen and the work carried out in 'Queen II'.
Freddie Mercury is the singer and he played piano and harpischord on the album, although on stage he only sings and does little work on the piano. A mission that May also has. Freddie has a rich and gestural voice, a voice with which he easily reaches levels of great acuity and climax, but which also knows how to transform into sweet and subtle sounds within his fine tonality. He is the man who most identifies with Queen because his current stage is entirely evocative, delicious, round, and with a strong vocal mind. Brian May is the guitarist of all kinds, piano, voice and bells, but essentially the guitarist. Its mission is the most complex instrumentally and is almost as important as Mercury's vocal since the instrumental part on which the vocal floats and grows is based on it and its multiple acoustic or electric sounds. Who should add that Mercury and May are practically the leaders and 'factotums' of Queen since they are also the authors of the songs. The Side Black of 'Queen II' is by Freddie Mercury and the Side White by Brian May (except for 'The Loser In The End' which is by Roger Meddows-Taylor). Although no one may notice practical differences between the two faces, I am sure that the final result will be the same as I have that the Side Black is better, richer, more creative, more gigantic in background and shapes. John Deacon is the bass guitarist and acoustic guitarist, he is the most subdued element of the quartet but he himself admits that he feels incapable of composing or creating something, preferring to help polish the group's sound with his bass, a faithful cushion that is the base. sonorous and rhythmic along with the percussion of Roger Meddows-Taylor, the fourth man, also a supporting voice and Queen's third strong piece, never far behind Mercury and May. Roger and Brian essentially formed the basis of Queen when they created the group Smile; however it was not until they found Mercury that they achieved solidity and quality.
JORDI SIERRA I FABRA
