Queen "Sheer heart attack" appreciation thread

There’s a lot of minutia about the album on this website (and all their other albums). I found it quite fascinating...lots of sing detail, lots of chord by chord detail. I’m not making any claims for the accuracy of any of it, I just stumbled across it last night and thought people here might like to check it out.

Sheer Heart Attack :: Queen Songs

@Rose River Bear might like this
Brighton Rock :: Queen Songs

 

If I were to seriously pick a best side ever, it would probably be Side 2 of ANATO.

 

I say it again : the hyperbole is just a way to say I really like it a lot

 

Yes, Leroy brown is the only dud here

 

that's cool
i wasn't criticising, just putting across my opinion

 

Just listened to the entire album again. A near perfect mid '70s rock album. BUT...for me "Bring Back Leroy Brown" (although a decent tin pan alley style song) disrupts the really smooth rocker/ballad flow of the album in a way that drops things down just a tad. I would prefer to have the song Sheer Heart Attack in its place on the original album but apparently it took Roger Taylor 3 years to finish that one song so...

Otherwise this is def another killer Queen album. See what I did there? Killer Queen! Ha!!

 

The albums: Queen 2 - A day at the Races - is a band at a superb peak.

I cant think of a better way of starting an album than Brighton Rock - great tune, amusing lyrics ..and that guitar work...

 

My favourite track would be In the Lap of the Gods. Least favourite is Misfire though.

An ex-girlfriend of mine, her young daughter, and i would often sing together, and one song we would sing was Dear Friends. Because it's so short i ended up writing another verse for it.

 

I really like Misfire. I like the John Deacon songs

 

My favourite side of any record ever is side two of Queen II

 

Thanks for alerting me to that. That is a fantastic analysis of Brighton Rock. I thought I knew a lot about the technical stuff in the song but this has details I never would have thought of.

 

Side A is great. Side B misfires in part! Leroy and Stormtrooper don't do it for me. It loses steam only to find it again at the end in the lap of the gods.

 

It's not my favorite Queen album or even the best, IMO, but Sheer Heart Attack is probably the first album I'd recommend to someone who knows the group's hits but is interested in digging in a little deeper. This was a kick-ass, balls-out rock band when it wanted to be, and this album shows it in spades.

 

It's not even the best Side A they released in 1974.

SHA had some outstanding songs, but is plagued by too many slight, inconsequential tracks - eg Misfire, which is just terrible, like all of Deacon's songs.

After QII, this was a major disappointment for me, and the first inkling most of us got that, despite the promise of their first two albums, Queen had no intention of remaining a proper rock band. Turned out well for them though, so what do I know.

 

Have to say I'd forgotten how many tracks under 3 minutes are on SHA. Some of them are under 2 minutes. But there were some short ones on Q II as well. Come to think of it they've always thrown a few very short songs in between the longer ones. Made for a nice track flow, most of the time.

 

Oddly enough - covered by Neko Case on her album The Virginian.

 

Not at all. The duds are Misfire (aptly named) and She Makes Me...the rest...sort of perfection.

 

What about Queen first album?

 

This used to be my favorite Queen album, and I still like it quite a bit, though I rarely listen to it anymore. I like the mixture of the hard rock bite of the early stuff and the showy flair of the albums to follow.

 

I saw this tour, 7th row center at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ. In my Top 3 concerts EVER!

 

Queen's debut kicked off really strong with "Keep Yourself Alive", but for me nothing else on the album could match it. Some good tunes on there but as we all now know their finest work was yet to come.

 

The Killer Queen is a sonic blast of pure beauty. A tune that grabs my attention still after 40+ years.

Going to spin this vinyl tomorrow.

 

I love Leroy!

 

I recall when i first bought the lp upon release, it was very different to Queen II.

There are a lot of Deacon songs that i never play: Who Needs You, Misfire, You & I, Pain is so Close to Pleasure, Back Chat, One Year of Love, Need Your Loving Tonight, Cool Cat, If You Can't Beat Them, In Only Seven Days, Rain Must Fall, & You're My Best Friend.[too corny imo.] I consider him the weakest songwriter of the four. I like most of Roger's songs though.

Talking of the first album, i love the song jesus. [i'm an atheist!]

There have been 4 different Damselflies named after each Queen member.
Heteragrion - Wikipedia

 

Yeah, surprised to see so many people getting negative on Leroy. It's a fun track, tells a great story, and points to Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon and Seaside Rendezvous on Night at the Opera. Actually come to think of it, would we have ever had Bohemian Rhapsody if not fore Leroy?

I think the magic of Sheer Heart Attack is its sheer scope. Brighton Rock is metal to the core, Leroy is playful tongue in cheek, Stormtrooper is dark and brooding, Now I'm Here is killer power, Lap of the Gods points to the anthemic songs they'd write later, but is not as sickly as those on multiple listens, Tenement Funster is Death on Two Legs in the making, and Stone Cold Crazy is wow. Hell, I didn't even cover the whole thing!

So yeah, Leroy is important, I think. It's really just a perfect album.