By Jem Aswad
Plus IconJem Aswad
Executive Editor, Music
jemaswad See All
Photo: Mick Rock Unlike their flawed first album, Queen’s second effort was nearly perfect to begin with. “’Queen II’ was the single biggest leap we ever made,” guitarist Brian May has said. “That’s when we really started making music the way we wanted to.”
Where the band’s debut suffered from a muddy mix and some stiff playing, “Queen II” was the work of a wildly ambitious group coming off of its first hit single, “Keep Yourself Alive.” Confident and sprawling, the album found the band’s — and especially Freddie Mercury’s — wildest visions coming to life. It is a musical funhouse filled with roaring guitars, baroque piano and the band’s gloriously stacked harmonies; with Shakespearian and Olde English lyrical references, wild characters like White Queens and Black Queens and Titans and troubadours and Fairy Fellers.
Related Stories
