the first 3 queen albums.

are fantastic!

this is my favourite queen time period. the first lp came out in '73, and the other 2 in '74.
maybe i could've included a night at the opera, but although this album always gets mentioned as their best, there are a few tracks i don't like. still a very good album though.

there is only 1 track that i never play from those first 3, and that's 'white queen.' that sounded dated even when it was released imo, very corny lyrics too.

queen II is my favourite queen album.
the same producer was involved in all 3 albums, but its it's a shame queen II didn't sound as good as their first album.

i can still actually recall getting and playing these albums when i was a wee teenager. the intro to 'keep yourself alive' really sounded strange back then.

favourite songs from them:
my fairy king
jesus

father to son
the loser in the end

in the lap of the gods
tenement funster.

so is there anyone else here who also prefers these 3 albums over all the others?
*btw, i do like the later stuff too.

 

The last QUEEN album I got was "Night at the Opera" and its quite good!!!

Its even better wehn you dont know the songs BY NAME and you hear songs YOU HAVE LOVED FOR AWHILE and you didnt know they were on the album!!

 

Yes, totally agreed - although I can't stand "The Loser In The End" which ruins an otherwise perfect album. But I can get about as far as "A Day At The Races" and then that's it for me, Queenwise.

Check out the forthcoming "Live At The Rainbow 1974" releases in September!

 

I don't know II that well, but I love Doing All Right, Liar, Killer Queen, Now I'm Here, all great.

 

Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, and Night at the Opera is as perfect run of albums as it gets. Like Sgt. Pepper, White Album, and Abbey Road. Or Close to the Edge, Tales, Relayer... or LZ IV, Houses of the Holly, Physical Graffiti.

 

The first four, I'd say. There's a sense of fun there, taking chances, not giving a ****. It was never quite the same afterwards, although there's a lot to like on every Queen album, Hot Space and Flash included.

 

I'm a big fan of the first four. The debut is exceptionally underrated, the black side of Queen II is probably my favourite album side of all time, Sheer Heart Attack is perhaps the most consistent of the four and A Night at the Opera has some absolutely immense tracks. Things were never the same after that, the following albums didn't rock as hard and weren't as creative or consistent.

 

Great King Rat is a masterpiece and then you have Liar, The Night Comes Down, Doing All Right and My Fairy King. "Queen" stands as the peak of this early run IMHO, it's about time to reevaluate this piece of rock'n'roll greatness!

 

Great King Rat was a dirty old man, and a dirty old man was he. Sort of a demented Old King Cole, lol!

 

The first album is ok, the second outstanding, the third a complete polar opposite of the 'everything including the kitchen sink' mentality of the second but equally outstanding. Sadly, we'll never have a really good sounding 'Queen II' thanks to RTB's habit of recording well into the red, plus the fact that all the multitracks have yet to be located.

 

Maybe I'm a snob against popular albums but I have to admit that I lost interest in Queen when Boh Rap became such a big hit in 1975.

The first three displayed immense creativity, talent and balls and are just marvellous albums for yesterday, today and tomorrow.

 

A Night AT he Opera was my first Queen album so I can't leave it out. I agree with OP that first 3 are absolutely killer albums, but I put #4 right up there as well. A brilliant run of albums. A Day at the races was the start of the end, for me.

 

Sheer Heart Attack was the very first album I purchased with my own (pocket) money.

 

The first 3 albums are awesome. I've played them so many times do i decided last year to create a rarities set based on these 3 albums.
This is what i came up with:

Volume 1

1. Queen Introduction (0:27) (1973)
2. Mad The Swine (3:22) (1972)
3. Hangman (Live In Tokyo 01-05-'75) (6:24) (1975)
4. Polar Bear (Take 2) (4:32) (1972)
5. Rock 'n' Roll Medley (Live At Golders Green 13-09-'73) (7:17) (1973)
6. Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo) (3:50) (1971)
7. The Night Comes Down (De Lane Lea Demo) (4:24) (1971)
8. Great King Rat (De Lane Lea Demo) (6:09) (1971)
9. Jesus (De Lane Lea Demo) (5:06) (1971)
10. Liar (De Lane Lea Demo) (7:53) (1971)
11. Keep Yourself Alive (Early Version) (3:51) (1972)
12. My Fairy King (BBC Session 1, 05-02-'73) (4:13) (1973)
13. Keep Yourself Alive (BBC Session 1, 05-02-'73) (3:48) (1973)
14. Doin' Alright (BBC Session 1, 05-02-'73) (4:11) (1973)
15. Liar (BBC Session 1, 05-02-'73) (6:28) (1973)

Volume 2

1. Liar (BBC Session 2, 25-07-'73) (6:31) (1973)
2. Son And Daughter (BBC Session 2, 25-07-'73) (6:01) (1973)
3. Keep Yourself Alive (BBC Session 2, 25-07-'73) (3:44) (1973)
4. Liar (John Luongo & Gary Hellman 1991 Remix) (6:26) (1991)
5. Keep Yourself Alive (Long Lost Retake) (4:02) (1975)
6. Great King Rat (BBC Session 3, 03-12-'73) (5:56) (1973)
7. Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll (BBC Session 3, 03-12-'73) (2:00) (1973)
8. Son And Daughter (BBC Session 3, 03-12-'73) (7:08) (1973)
9. Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll (BBC Session 4, 03-04-'74) (2:42) (1974)
10. Keep Yourself Alive (Instrumental Version) (3:36) (1973)
11. Father To Son (Live At Golders Green 13-09-'73) (5:06) (1973)
12. See What A Fool I've Been (Live At Golders Green 13-09-'73) (4:18) (1973)
13. Ogre Battle (Live At Golders Green 13-09-'73) (4:44) (1973)
14. Keep Yourself Alive (Only Vocals) (2:20) (1973)
15. In The Studio (40th Anniversary Remasters Interview) (23:15) (2011)

Volume 3

1. See What A Fool I've Been (B-Side to Seven Seas Of Rhye) (4:31) (1974)
2. Procession (Live At The Rainbow 31-03-'74) (1:09) (1974)
3. Father To Son (Live At The Rainbow 31-03-'74) (5:44) (1974)
4. Ogre Battle (Live At The Rainbow 31-03-'74) (5:01) (1974)
5. See What A Fool I've Been (BBC Session 2, 25-07-'73) (4:22) (1973)
6. Ogre Battle (BBC Session 3, 03-12-'73) (3:57) (1973)
7. Nevermore (BBC Session 4, 03-04-'74) (1:28) (1974)
8. White Queen (As It Began) (BBC Session 4, 03-04-'74) (4:45) (1974)
9. Seven Seas Of Rhye (2011 Instrumental Mix) (3:10) (1974)
10. Ogre Battle (1991 Bonus Remix) (3:27) (1991)
11. White Queen (As It Began) (Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 24-12-'75) (5:34) (1975)
12. Ogre Battle (Live At The Rainbow 20-11-'74) (5:13) (1974)
13. Son And Daughter (Live At The Rainbow 20-11-'74) (10:24) (1974)
14. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Only Vocals) (1:25) (1974)
15. Now I'm Here (Reel To Reel Version) (4:15) (1974)

Volume 4

1. Now I'm Here (BBC Session 5, 16-10-'74) (4:33) (1974)
2. Stone Cold Crazy (BBC Session 5, 16-10-'74) (2:10) (1974)
3. Flick Of The Wrist (BBC Session 5, 16-10-'74) (3:26) (1974)
4. Tenement Funster (BBC Session 5, 16-10-'74) (2:59) (1974)
5. Flick Of The Wrist (Japanese 3" CD Single Version) (3:18) (1974)
6. Tenement Funster (Japanese 3" CD Single Version) (2:58) (1974)
7. Now I'm Here (Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 24-12-'75) (4:26) (1975)
8. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (A Capella Mix) (2:18) (1974)
9. Stone Cold Crazy (Live At The Rainbow 20-11-'74) (2:11) (1974)
10. Stone Cold Crazy (Trash Version) (3:56) (1974)
11. Killer Queen (Only Vocals) (2:13) (1974)
12. Killer Queen (Instrumental Version) (3:12) (1974)
13. Now I'm Here (Instrumental Version) (3:55) (1974)
14. Brighton Rock (Instrumental Version) (5:11) (1974)
15. Tenement Funster (Instrumental Version) (3:06) (1974)

Volume 5

1. In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited (Reel To Reel Version) (3:49) (1974)
2. Stone Cold Crazy (1991 Bonus Remix by Michael Wagener) (2:14) (1991)
3. You're My Best Friend (Backing Track Mix) (2:57) (1975)
4. I'm In Love With My Car (Guitar & Vocal Mix) (3:20) (1975)
5. '39 (Live At Earl's Court 07-06-'77) (3:47) (1977)
6. Love Of My Life (Live At The Festhalle, Frankfurt, 02-02-'79) (3:43) (1979)
7. I'm In Love With My Car (1991 Bonus Remix by Mike Shipley) (3:28) (1991)
8. You're My Best Friend (1991 Bonus Remix by Matt Wallace) (2:52) (1991)
9. Sweet Lady (Reel To Reel Version) (4:06) (1975)
10. Sweet Lady (Live At Hyde Park 18-09-'76) (4:07) (1976)
11. '39 (Brian May's 30th Anniversary Performance) (2:48) (2006)
12. Bohemian Rhapsody (Multitracks Version) (6:05) (1975)
13. Bohemian Rhapsody (Live with Paul Rodgers At Hyde Park 15-07-'05) (6:00) (2005)
14. Bohemian Rhapsody (Instrumental Version) (6:05) (1975)
15. In The Studio (Making "A Night At The Opera" Interview) (20:28) (1989)

 

Queen II is my favourite Queen album and one of my favourite albums of all time. Side Black is just magnificent.
I was never especially enamoured with the debut, though there are some killer tracks on it. Some of them sound better on Live at the Beeb.
I love Sheer Heart Attack. The first version I had of it was on cassette, with the songs in the wrong order (ITLOTG...Revisited was several songs before ITLOTG... how does that work?), and She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos) was missing altogether. When I eventually got the proper CD (which, for some reason, I rarely saw in stores), I was delighted.

 

i think the first 4-5 are really great and each one after that started to get slightly worse until they bottomed out with hot space and then slowly brought it back until mercury's final album

 

I think "White Queen" is the best song from any of Queen's first 3 albums and one of the finest they ever released.

 

Another vote for " White Queen ".

I hadn't listen to Queen much the last few years, but lately a friend has been requesting nothing else.

 

side one of queen I is just amazing.

not a big fan of queen II, i think i was expecting more.

III was a bit of a comeback, but "night at the opera" is almost perfect.

 

For me , after The Game is when the LPs started to become mixed bags.

 

still had quite a few good tracks though.

But Innuendo was a partial return to form. If only they could've gone on with Freddie.

 

I really like the first four Queen albums. But IMHO I find that about most rock groups in the 70's. Going through my teen years, I turned 13 in 1970, I've commented to friends many times that it was a remarkable era. The first four Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, CCR, Pink Floyd the much maligned GFR, the list goes on and on.

 

i think you mean albums 2-5?

 

Yeah, I mean Black Sabbath could be stretched to the first six .

 

the first 2 alice cooper albums are pretties for you and easy action. i should have said albums 3-6 for alice cooper. thats what i meant though