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List Price: $13.98 | | Label: Hollywood Records
Salesrank: 5664
Released: June 17, 1991 |
| Our Price: $9.25 |
| Used Price: $7.00 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Queen Track Listing:
1. Keep Yourself Alive - Queen, May, Brian [1]
2. Doing All Right - Queen, May, Brian [1]
3. Great King Rat - Queen, Mercury, Freddie
4. My Fairy King - Queen, Mercury, Freddie
5. Liar - Queen, Mercury, Freddie
6. The Night Comes Down - Queen, May, Brian [1]
7. Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll - Queen, Taylor, Roger [1]
8. Son & Daughter - Queen, May, Brian [1]
9. Jesus - Queen, Mercury, Freddie
10. Seven Seas of Rhye - Queen, Mercury, Freddie
11. Mad the Swine - Queen, Mercury, Freddie
12. Keep Yourself Alive - Queen, May, Brian [1]
13. Liar - Queen, Mercury, Freddie
Queen Reviews:
Growing up Queen (3.5 stars) 
2008-10-08 - The debut album from Queen contains a few of the elements that would eventually define the band, but is very much a generic early 70's Prog-rock/metal album. The pomp and grandiosity that would become Queen hallmarks are largely absent, however Freddy Mercury's distinct voice and Brian May's original guitar tones are in evidence throughout. The legendary excess and theatrical flair is a mere tease at this stage, with Queen's vocabulary still in a formative period.
The key tracks are the ones usually plucked for the many Queen anthologies, "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Liar." The Kings and medieval themes prevalent in the era are available on "Great King Rat" and a tease of Queen II is offered when the album closes with "Seven Seas of Rhye." For the most part, the show is May and Mercury's, with a quick peek at Roger Taylor's vocals on the otherwise forgettable "Modern Times Rock and Roll." The band has not quite gelled and the Queen everyone knows and loves emerged in full on the second album then really detonated on Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera (both superior albums).
Strong, if inconsistent, debut
2008-05-25 - Certainly not as polished as we would later come to expect from Queen albums, this is a fairly solid debut. Obviously, Freddie had a strong voice from the start, and that unmistakable tone of Brian May's guitar is certainly in evidence. The main draw here is, of course, "Keep Yourself Alive." There are other good early songs here as well, such as "Doing Alright," "Liar," and "Great King Rat." Their material and execution would certainly get stronger and continue to evolve, but this is certainly not a bad first album by any means. It's just a little rougher around the edges than later releases.
The Signs of Greatness were all there 
2008-05-17 - Looking back at the 1970s, sometimes many forget how big the band Queen was. Even as Queen moved into the 1980s, while their popularity did slightly decline in the United States, it continued to be very high in Europe. Their performance at Live Aid is widely considered one of the greatest of all-time and their subsequent "Magic" tour is considered one of the all-time greatest concert tours. If it weren't for Freddie Mercury's death in 1992, we might still be talking about Queen being as big a band as the Beatles. Going back to the beginning, it is always interesting to see how a legendary band got started. Queen's 1973 self-titled debut - "Queen", shows all of the signs of greatness. It shows the individual talent of all of the members. It also shows how the band embraced a "theatrical" feel to their music (which was something seen by other bands such as the Kinks) as well as embrace a sound which would evolve into what would become Heavy Metal. In a lot of ways, these songs have gotten forgotten about because of the incredible music portfolio the band would build up.
Queen is an example of the sum of the parts actually being greater than the whole. However, if you take each of the four members of Queen, they easily stand on their own as a top musician in their profession. Freddie Mercury is easily known to be the emotional and flamboyant lead vocalist of Queen who indeed has a legendary voice. Brian May is the legendary lead guitarist and probably the second most popular member of the band. Roger Taylor and John Deacon go extremely underrated. Listen to Taylor's thundering drumming in the studio or live and one can easily understand why he was asked to participate in an All Star Drum Jam (The S.O.S. All-Stars) at the Live Earth concert. As for John Deacon, he might be one of music's all-time underrated bass players. Many of his bass lines have proven to be the foundation for Queen's musical sound. In addition to being top musicians, all four members play integral roles in the songwriting. The greatness of each of these members is clearly demonstrated on every track.
Here is a track by track synopsis of the collection:
"Keep Yourself Alive": When you listen to the first track on the first album by a band and it blows you away, it tells you a lot. This is clearly the case with me. All four members shine on this anthemic track, but obviously May (who wrote this track and has some great guitar riffs) and Taylor (who has an incredible drum solo). Great foundation bass work by Deacon as well.
"Doing All Right": This is another stellar track. The one thing overlooked is some of the country-western sounding guitar work that is sprinkled throughout this track. I also like the way the track "switches gears" - first from the piano, then to an acoustic guitar, then to a heavy guitar jam, then back to the piano, then back to the heavy jam, and finally back to the piano. Surprisingly, it's May who plays the piano on this track.
"Great King Rat": "Doing All Right" has a nice segue into this song. This song is the first of the theatrical sounding songs on this collection. The theatrical songs have a "medieval" feel to it. Once again Taylor and May true rise to the occasion on this song.
"My Fairy King": The song opens with a Rockabilly sounding piano that has a nice segue into what would be the next theatrical sounding track on this collection - once again with a "medieval" feel. This song does a great job with making use of changing tempos.
"Liar": This song also has a theatrical feel to it, but it also as an anthemic feel much like "Keep Yourself Alive". It also makes use of changing tempos. On this song we really get to hear some of the heavy guitar work - something that would play a great role in the second half of the album.
"The Night Comes Down": Although Mercury and May may seem like the standouts on this track, it really is John Deacon's opening bass that sets the tone for this track. Some of the acoustic guitars almost have a Spanish feel to it.
"Modern Times Rock and Roll": "The Night Comes Down" has a nice segue into this song. This song begins to showcase the heavy metal influences of the band. This also demonstrates Roger Taylor the vocalist. Taylor would prove to be an effective vocalist throughout the band's history. Many don't realize he can hit the high notes.
"Son and Daughter": This song brings a theatrical element with a heavy metal element. In fact to some extent, this track almost has a feel like an Ozzy Osbourne track. The interesting thing is how the song "mellows" a bit toward the ending.
"Jesus": As the title mentions, this track basically tells the story of Jesus. This is a great track. Mercury's vocals are incredible on this track. Once again, this track has a theatrical feel to it. There is a terrific guitar jam midway through this track as it also "switches gears".
"Seven Seas of Rhye": This is an instrumental that was would evolve into a more full song. That more full song would turn up on the band's follow-up album. Even incomplete - this is just a great instrumental.
These would be the original ten tracks on the album. Re-releases of this album would include alternate versions of "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Liar" as well as the bonus track "Mad the Swine". However, even without these bonus tracks - this is one outstanding album. It shows that this band would have all of the signs of greatness. Plus it might expose you to some Queen music you might not have heard before. Highly recommended.
the beginning of Queen
2007-12-01 - Queen's debut is quite an outstanding accomplishment. Usually debut albums point signs of a future successful rock act, however, Queen apparently already KNEW what they wanted their music to be like from the very beginning. The operatic vocals are here, the amazing and dazzling guitar solos are here, and the unpredictable and unique songwriting talents from the band members is here as well. It's ALL here, and it's quite possibly the very best Queen album as a result.
I truly enjoy this album. Most Queen albums had some filler, but not this one. NO filler anywhere. "Keep Yourself Alive" is a fast and energetic rocker, clearly influenced by the glam rock movement going on at the time. "Doing All Right" is our first chance to listen to a singer with a gifted voice through an amazing ballad. "Great King Rat" has a somewhat childish vocal melody in spots, but made up for with a fantastic guitar riff and a dazzling display of solos. "My Fairy King" is a completely unique song. It seriously defines the word "unique" because I've never heard anything like it, especially from a rock band. It sounds like it may have been influenced by one of the big progressive rock bands such as Yes and Genesis, but with Queen's own distinct vocal style.
"Liar" is similar to Rush's "Working Man", Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", Deep Purple's "Highway Star" and UFO's "Rock Bottom" in terms of guitar wizardry. Sure, there's a catchy "LIAR" chant going on throughout the song, but the guitar workout is the main thing. "The Night Comes Down" is another vocal melody display of brilliance, "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll" is short, but VERY heavy (almost heavy metal), "Son and Daughter" is almost blues rock, "Jesus" has a beautiful chorus and nice lyrics, and "Seven Seas of Rhye" is about one minute long, and features even more excellent guitar playing. Maybe a classic album.
The birth of the royalty of rock still holds up 35 years on
2007-11-07 - Queen's self titled debut was released in July of 1973 in the group's native England and September of 1973 in the US.
The band evolved from a group called Smile which featured guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. In 1971, May and Taylor joined up with singer Freddie Mercury (whom was originally from the African island of Zanzibar (now Tanzania)) and fellow British bass player John Deacon and Queen was born.
When the band's first album appeared, the album did well in the UK but America wasn't ready for Queen as they couldn't take Queen's combo of Yes harmonies with the crunch of Zeppelin and other influences.
What did I think of it when I first heard the album in April of 1992, read on.
We kick the album off with the band's first single and still a classic rock staple "Keep Yourself Alive". The song is a great rocker from May and is still a great song today. Next is the track "Doing All Right" which is a pretty ballad/rocker, with a very nice piano intro and was a song that May and Taylor had done with their band Smile a few years before but when re-recorded for Queen's debut, the song became theirs. Next is the hard rocker "Great King Rat" which is a powerful, heavy rock song from Queen that is of excellent quality. The song is one of my favorite Queen tracks. The first half ending "My Fairy King" is next and has screams by Taylor and a nice, high pitched falsetto vocal from Mercury and showed his diverse singing style which would become a trademark.
The second half of the album kicks off with the rocker "Liar" which is an energetic, fast moving rock song that gives you a different chorus each time. The band loved this track and would be in the setlist until it was dropped after the US leg of the 1977 News of the World tour. The exquisite "The Night Comes Down" is next and is a great song. Next is "Modern Times Rock n' Roll" which has Roger Taylor on lead vocal and is a rocker that was the proto-type for punk which would emerge three years later. Brian's rocker "Son and Daughter" is a heavy rock song and a great song to show Brian's guitar work and would be the centerpiece for Brian May's guitar solo spots in the early days. Next is Freddie's ode to the Lord himself "Jesus". The song is a great number which told the tale of the birth of our beloved Christ the Lord. The album ends with an instrumental take of "Seven Seas of Rhye" which wasn't finished for the album.
When Queen's self-titled debut was released, it did hit the UK Top 20 but stalled at a disappointing #51 in the US but would eventually attain Gold status due to loyal fan support growing over time.
In 1991, Hollywood Records re-released the album with three bonus tracks. First is the track "Mad the Swine" which was previously unreleased. The song is a nice pop tune but many didn't like it. Then there is a re-recording of Keep Yourself Alive from I think 1976 and a re-mix of Liar where the drums were re-mixed to sound competent.
Queen's debut is a great debut and an album that is worth the cash.
Recommended!
