After two albums named after Marx Brothers movies, Queen's sixth album shares its title with a song by The Jam that was released only a few months after this record. It may just be coincidence but Queen was certainly influenced by the burgeoning punk movement when they recorded News of the World. Eschewing the longer, more complex arrangements in favor of more direct and arena ready anthems, Queen pare down their excesses and tighten their sound, paving the way for the grand rock gestures and stadium-friendly music of the 80s. This is the record that starts with the ultimate one-two punch of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions." Time has not dulled their magnificence and bonehead sports fans have somehow not ruined their power. They are perfect on their own and exponentially better together. They were written with arenas in mind and they certainly achieved their purpose. The opening "stomp stomp clap" will forever be as instantly identifiable as the beginning of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. But at what cost everlasting fame?
Only two albums after "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen sounds like a completely different band. They've always been a populist band but on News of the World they make no attempt to hide the fact that these songs are short, straightforward and to be enjoyed by everyone. The ultimate effect is a strange blandness that hovers over most of the tracks from the Aerosmith-lite of "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" to the grand misstep "Get Down, Make Love." With a name like that, it has to be terrible.
Where A Day at the Races was a slight comedown from the maniacally overdriven A Night at the Opera, this is overall a boring album. Queen pull every punch in favor of not offending anyone and create a humdrum collection of forgettable songs. They remove nearly everything that makes them so lovably bizarre. It may seem like a footnote but to me the fact that "Spread Your Wings" was the first Queen single without harmony vocals sums up what's wrong with this album. Freddie Mercury is a man who needs to let his freak flag fly high but on News of the World it sadly rests at half mast.
Weirdest song - "Sheer Heart Attack"
Sheer Heart Attack - Queen
2 comments:
the NYT today had an article about this manga comic where the hero drinks and critiques wine...I was reminded of your current strand of posts when he describes one thus:
“It’s powerful,” he says of the wine, “but it also has a meltingly sweet taste, with an acidic aftertaste that catches you by surprise. It’s like the voice of Queen’s lead vocalist, sweet and husky, enveloped in thick guitar riffs and heavy drums.”
I could write a book about my love for Freddie Mercury at this point. I have fallen head over hells for him and marvel at his wide range. He could do anything from highpitched histrionics to testosterone fueled menace to the softest of soft and all with that glorious overbite.
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