From their first album in ’73 to The Game in ’80, I think they were enjoyable and pretty consistently getting better with each album. The first two albums I thought were fine, if not anything super special. There were songs I liked, but overall those albums didn’t really stand out to me. They were pretty decent, but mostly felt like “standard rock”. Not terribly interesting and not terribly exemplary.
By Sheer Heart Attack, I felt like I was starting to see more of their personality, their character shine through. Still though, I’m not totally sold on it or A Night at the Opera. I almost like it a good deal. There are parts that I think are great, that feel good, that feel good and on purpose. Then, there are spaces between those parts, and that is less great. I suspect this album’ll grow on me, but right now it feels like it’s got good stuff but is not itself overwhelmingly good stuff.
That’s kinda a theme throughout. There’s loads of great stuff speckled all over Queen’s discography. This is yet another case of, “dang, I forgot about that song, that’s theirs too? I know this one, and I know this one, aaaand I also know this one”. They’ve got a big handful of huge hits, songs that I feel are cultural touch points. Those hits aren’t all just stuck in one essential album, they’re made throughout the band’s lifetime. It’s pretty fun.
That’s not to say their other songs aren’t good, either. They’re not always my favorite, but they’re generally pretty solid, and if nothing else they all feel so much like Queen. Queen is quite dramatic, and also quite silly, and I think I dig that about them. Or, those things make me inclined to like them, they make me want to like them. To a large degree I still don’t quite like all of their music, though, even the stuff that’s decent and fun. I haven’t let it into my heart? I dunno, something like that. I like it fine, there are parts I really quite like. But, there’s also still a lot I’m kinda meh on.
After The Game, I think things go downhill pretty quick. Not super downhill, it’s still decent, but not the best, not as good as all the stuff from before. Just, it was all kinda eh. Well, I rather like The Miracle, but the other albums after The Game are all… well, yeah. Eh.
I think I could have seen myself giving this a low A-, potentially, but I don’t think I will. Not for any particular reason, just vibes, really. I just think an A- is too much. Maybe it could get there in time, but it’s not there right now. So, B+ seems pretty good. Deciding that forced me to look at my other B+ ranked artists, though, and that was a mistake, like looking too closely at my rankings always is. For the B+ peeps, it’s because I look at so many of them and think, “Really? I only gave them a B+?” and I don’t realize how much my appreciation for a particular artist is something that has come over time, not something that’s been present always.
Anyway. Queen pretty good, B+
Queen complete, now listening to: Everything But the Girl
tunafruitsandwitch 