Queen for a Day - Gimme the Prize (Kurgen's Theme)

Deacon, Mercury and Highlander director Russell Mulcahy all hate this song.

Replete with snippets of dialogue and echoing the chords of "Princes of the Universe", Gimme the Prize is the sludge metal cousin of "Tear it Up". Which, in and of itself, renders it redundant.

Revolving around the title, it's not much of a song as it is background music to images, much like "Who Wants....", also written by May.

About midway, after Kurgen's "Better to burn out" speech, the guitars ring out with a melodic, almost royal solo, which gives way to a more chaotic and improvisational sounding one, before circling back to the vocals, which aren't so much a song as it is Freddie wailing emphatically to give him the prize....

Ho hum.

Grade: D+

Queen for a Day - Who Wants to Live Forever?

"Impetuous boy! Ah, well... who wants to live forever? DIVE!" Prince Vultan. Flash Gordon. 1980

I've always wondered why no one seems to make the allusion that this song's title and chorus comes directly from the script of the previous movie Queen scored.
Sure, it can be applied to Highlander but, still. I have to wonder...

"There's no time for us...there's no place for us..."

Isn't that Sondheim?

Obviousness has never been alien to Queen. They've always managed to appropriate and, with tongue firmly in cheek, make something their own.

And Brian does that here.

Soaring strings, elegiac vocals, WWTLF is not quite a ballad as a song set to images of a sweeping epic. I can see immortals trudging across ice floes and climbing mountains in search of destiny.

It succeeds in that respect and also as a bloated love song for the 80s.

It's a gigantic track with a modulation that, inexplicably, works in heightening the desperation and despair. And it feels less like an album track, which it ended up being, and more like part of a score, which was the intent.

Grade: A

Bonus versions!

Queen for a Day - Friends Will Be Friends

It's been a long while since Queen came up with a bona fide Anthem!. In fact, for years their shows ended with "We WIll Rock You" and "We are the Champions" and by 1986, they had been around for about 8 years.
So, I guess it was time for a big stadium piece, although it could be argued that "Radio Gaga" was sort of anthemic. But, not in the fist pumping, esteem building way.

Enter "Friends Will Be Friends", the worst titled song in the entire catalog, as far as I'm concerned. Queen was never afraid of hitting the nail on the nose but this is so pandering to the Bar Mitzvah set that it's embarrassing.

It's schmaltzy in it's mid-tempo Vegas-ism. It wastes NO time getting to that chorus, because that's really all the song is: a chorus.

But it's piffle. Written by....ready?
Deacon and Mercury.

Surprised? These two are not at their best when they write together. Everything comes out treacly and wimpy and useless.

Even Brian's power chording and melodic solo seems bored and uninspired. Shoehorned into the sets as a singalong, "Friends" is one of the most obnoxious tracks Queen ever recorded. But it's right in line with Mark III.

Grade: C

Queen for a Day - Pain is So Close to Pleasure

Ah, so now we're back in "Body Language" territory. Only this time it sounds more like an MOR, easy listening R&B jam. In other words, it's about as generic as generic can be. Any teeth that the band have had once upon a time are long gone.

This is as dull as 90% of the acts at Live Aid. (Don't believe me? Watch Live Aid again) And just because you repeat the words "pain" & "Pleasure" at the end don't make it lyrics, Fred. Even BRian's guitar sounds like any session man sat in and laid down the tracks.

The sing-songy bridge is sort of catchy but for the most part, this is a falsetto ridden piece of tripe.

Grade: C-

Queen for a Day - One Year of Love

Right where it belongs, historically speaking, is the requisite treacly John Deacon I-love-you ditty. John doesn't seem to have anything else going on in his life save his exclamations of affection for his "best friend", cuz it's just "you & I", etc, etc.

This time it's almost as bad as "In Only 7 Days". An 80s saxophone accompanies the ballad in every bad, cliche way.

The ballad is much much more insidious than the aforementioned "7 days" because it's well crafted and hooky. I could see it covered in earnest, strings and all, and scoring for whomever does so.

But, it takes Queen to another place entirely.

Middle age.

Grade: B-

Queen for a Day - A Kind of Magic

One this. One that.

Roger has stated that he was the genesis for "One Vision". And this is his track, the real opening to the album. A plodding, driving, catchy, sound-a-like for "Radio Gaga", this song is a perfect example of what Queen was.

Roger came up with the spine, but Freddie reworked it and pressed it into a hit single. That's two in a row for Roger.

The song itself is basically a bassline driven bit of hypnosis that seems much better than it is. The title and thrust of the song comes from the movie "Highlander", which Queen was providing music for. In actuality, much of the album "A Kind of Magic" is made up of songs for that movie. The opener is not, that was for ANOTHER movie, "Iron Eagle".

This is what Queen wanted to do, apparently.

All that said, "A Kind of Magic" is a catchy ditty and not something I run from when it comes on. It just has no direction. Fades away. As Queen seemed to be trying to do.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - One Vision

I really think of this as the 3rd wave of Queen. At this point they're just a group of guys who know how to push through and craft pop hits. Maybe they were always that way.

Like "Under Pressure", "One Vision" came out a group jam. And it sounds like it.

The Queen tropes are all there: Freddie's voice. The multi-layered vocals. Brian's Star Fleet guitar. An ENDLESS instrumental break that sounds like a guitar solo but is so overwhelmed by the electric drums, which do nothing inventive but keep time.

It's a bluesbreaker of the kind Queen could write in their sleep.

I'm really not sure how they could write a song about Martin Luther King and then coda it with replacing "One Vision" with "Fried Chicken" and get away from being called "racist!".

Maybe no one noticed.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - Is This the World We Created?

A slight ballad with just Freddie and Brian closes The Works and it's the saddest and most socially conscious song the band has come up with so far.
The world was awakening to the hunger problems in Africa and elsewhere so Freddie wrote some heartfelt lyrics that asked the title's question.

And then they would perform at Live Aid.

"Is this the world we devastated right to the bone?...If there's a god in the sky, what can he think of what we've done to the world that he created?"

Indeed.

Grade: A

Queen for a Day - Hammer to Fall

Thanks, Brian.

Not sure why "Hammer to Fall" comes so late on The Works, with it's big Red Special crunchy chords, the (long missed) multi-layered chorus, it's classic Queen.

Freddie is in full snarl, the voice that made him one of the singularly greatest singers in rock history. The band sounds like they're having a blast and then, after the bridge, a soaring guitar solo. One that sounds like it set the template for everything The Darkness tried to do. Then ANOTHER solo, a different one, a classically melodic one.

"Hammer to Fall" is a socially conscious song, very 80s in it's fear of the apocalypse but, it's a glorious trip. At about minute 3:05 "Louder and louder and louder..." as his voice trails off in surrender to the cynicism is nothing short of genius.

The rest of the song is a jam. About a minute plus. And, in contrast to just about every. other. song of the era it's a welcome cacophony.

Even the moments of false stops at the end....perfect.

In an album full of retread and lack of innovation or invention, the song stands out as one of their best in years.

Grade: A+

Queen for a Day - Keep Passing the Open Windows

Apparently Queen's obsession with Hollywood wasn't quenched with Flash Gordon. They hitched their wagon to another crapfest. This time it was the movie adaptation of "The Hotel New Hampshire". I have no idea how....what....why.....

The title of the song is an oft-repeated mantra in the book. The cynicism is astounding. Lots of opportunities to hurl yourself out of windows, just plod on.

Thing is, it's one of my favorite tracks on the record. It sounds like they were writing with some purpose. It's a driving piece of pop with each member highlighted in their own way. It's an uptempo rocker that would translate well live, I would imagine.

The chorus isn't very anthemic, but they don't all have to be.

Written by Freddie I think it actually works better as a solo piece for him. And maybe belonged on Mr. Bad Guy more than here.

Grade: A-

Queen for a Day - I Want to Break Free

The video, with the band crossdressing as characters from a British show that no one knew in the US is what killed Queen in the States once and for all. They would never recover.

Truth is, they are wayyyyyy past their relevance at this point. This song may as well be the "Who Needs You" rework. It could be the son of that song. In fact, that's what I thought when I heard it for the first time.

It popped up in the early 00's as a Pepsi commercial and, of course, I felt good that my band was no longer the outcasts of transvestism. You remember that spot, right? The gladiator milieu? Britney Spears? Ugh.

The song is fine. It's catchy. It hits all the singalong notes it's supposed to. It was a hit for the band. It just shows that inventiveness had been supplanted by the ability to know how to print money.

Grade: B-

Queen for a Day - Machines (Back to Humans)

Oh, Roger, you techno-embracer, you.

It's been obvious for a few records now and his own solo debut, that Roger is more interested in moving away from humans and toward programmed technology based music.

Continuing the "Hey, we did it once before, let's rewrite it!" template, this is "Calling All Girls". Heard that one? You're fine. You don't need to hear this.

Grade: C

Queen for a Day - Man on the Prowl

So, if there's one pattern on The Works, it's that the band seems to be touching on all things familiar from their past and hodgepodging a record out of those ideas.
Tear it Up is "It's Late".
"It's a Hard Life" is "The Game".
"Man on the Prowl" is "Crazy Little Thing..."

A basic 3 chord Rockabilly, "MoP" is a toothless track that misses the revival by a few years. A revival they capitalized on themselves just 4 years earlier. Do they think lightning will strike twice?

I don't think so. I think this is an example of Queen at their laziest. No one needs thins. And to point to that laziness, Freddie, who we've counted on for so many years as the pianist of the band, hands over the keys to Fred Mandel. A perfectly talented musician but, it's not Queen. It's a session guy. And, worse. The song should follow that piano outro to a conclusion, but it's just...cut off....for no apparent reason.

Queen at their least interested.

Grade: C

Queen for a Day - It's a Hard Life

Touching on their noted Opera tropes, Freddie's paean to love opens with Vesti la Giubba from Paggliacci and then moves into more Queen-y territory.

As a song, it could be "Play the Game Pt 2" and that's not a bad thing. It's fine. Not very exciting but if you like Freddie's voice, a good melody and some well handled musicianship, it'll do.

They're not reinventing the wheel here. Just plodding along.

Grade: B

Queen for a Day - Tear It Up

Wait...what's that sound?
It's a big ass drum sound...and a call for readiness...and some real crunchy guitars...and....a lead solo?

Queen is back.

The retro-fuck-techno sojourn has been put to rest, it seems, in favor of an "It's Late" type stadium rocking sound from Brian May.

Thank goodness.

Ya can't beat a good vocal-Red Special call and response, especially when it's done by two masters like these.

Leaving Elektra the band decided to give their fans "the works" and toss everything into the machine.

This was never a favorite track of mine, but after slogging through the dance mess of the bast few albums, it's more than welcome. And a harbinger of Queen Mark III.

Grade: A

Queen for a Day - Radio Ga Ga

It's a hit single for Roger!

But...not without help.

First. From his son. Who was listening to the radio and said, since he was a baby, "Radio Ca ca."

Certainly one can picture Roger, king of songs that are lethargic, indulgent and never happy or uplifting, thinking, "Yeah! That's a song, mate! Everything on the Radio IS caca!"

Next. John Deacon. Who apparently heard Roger playing around with the track (no doubt arpegiatting) and came up with a solid bassline.

Exit Roger to go on vacation and enter Freddie. Who turned the lyrics around and decided it was a song about how, despite the advent of music videos, radio itself had yet to have its best days. (Remarkable at just how opposite these two people's worldviews were).

And, that's how "Radio Ga Ga" came to be. Roger's first real single. And a massive one for the band.

As a song, it's a great video.

The full immersion into electronics arrives with "Radio Gaga". Voices are run through a vocoder, the drums are synthetic. Until Freddie's voice arrives after the intro, nothing sounds real or authentic. Which is really strange. In just 10 short years we've gone from "Keep Yourself Alive" to Synth-pop.

But that isn't to say that it isn't a great song. It's another quintessential 80s track, with one of the biggest anthem choruses Queen came up with since "We Will Rock You".

The song also suffers from something I've complained about here: It doesn't know that it's over. So self-obsessed and indulgent that the second instrumental break (which is really just programmed machinery) goes on and on for well over 2 minutes after the song should have been over.

Alas. That was the way things were then.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - Under Pressure

Here we are. At the end of this record at last.

I've never felt like Under Pressure belonged on this album. It was a single that was released a year before the album's release. It was featured on their "Greatest Hits" record, before Hot Space was released. It feels like an afterthought.

Or worse.

It feels like filler.

Feels like.....hmmm....


Okay. "Under Pressure"'s roots can be found in an unfinished Queen track called "Feels Like" that was written by Roger. Which can be found here: http://youtu.be/ttfslaPrlDI and when you hear that version, with it's arpeggiatting guitar that calls to memory "Tenement Funster" & "Rock It (Prime Jive)", it's no surprise that Roger started it.

What is surprising is that Roger created the basis for one of Queen's biggest hits. The flipside to that is that he didn't finish it and had he, it wouldn't have been the biggest single.

But, given that it was written before the album that might explain why Roger's awful "Calling All Girls" was a single from the record......

You know this track. The unforgettable bass-riff. (Over the years 1980-1982, Queen found itself becoming a bass-riff driven semi-dance band) Freddie's falsetto (which has really never sounded better). Roger's giant drums. The huge, elegiac, desperate, bridge. Bowie's lyrics. Bowie's voice in counterpoint to Freddie's.

The fingersnaps.

It's become one of the indelible songs of the 80s. But does it deserve to be? Does it define the decade? Yes and no. What it defines, for me, is the same thing that Raging Bull defined when it was named "best film of the 80s" despite being released in the first year of the decade, and not really....but that's another story...

What it really points to is the end of the ideas of the 70s. It's grandiose, but it's also tired in its grandiosity. It's epic. But not in a great way. It's verrrrrry socially conscious, which is what so much of the the past 15 years before this record was about.


"Under Pressure" is one of the great tracks of the decade. And it deserves to be on Queen Greatest Hits volume 1-50.

But, here, it's just filler that you already bought and didn't need again.

Grade: A-

Queen for a Day - Cool Cat

Oh, when Freddie and John get together they create.....

crap.

This really isn't a Queen song, per se. All the instruments, including the drum programming, is played by John. John doesn't sing. (Except for backing vocals) I have no idea what his singing voice would even sound like.

So, after that atrocious first side of dance music, you thought it was over, didn'tcha? No, the boys just can't resist.

There's no song here. It's just a groove that wants soooooo badly to be a luther vandross joint...in falsetto.

I have successfully avoided this piece of shit for 20 years. Thanks to this project I got to remember just why I hate it so much.

Grade: D-

Queen for a Day - Las Palabras De Amour (The Words of Love)

I always think of "Teo Torriate" when I think of this song. When Queen wrote the aforementioned they were on a high of success in Japan. As the band got older their success in latin american countries exploded.
It was only a matter of time before they pandered, wrote a loving homage to that country by writing in their native tongue.

So, how is the song? Is it as good as "Teo"?

It's flourishy and big. After the swelling intro, Freddie comes in with a tender verse which bursts into the chorus, a gently anthemic piece underscored by an acoustic guitar.

I'm disappointed by the instrumental break as it's not as exciting as I would have hoped. Laden with synths and almost ambient string sounds, it cascades around itself and lands in the lap of another verse.
These sounds re-emerge at the extended coda and the band seems to be enjoying the grandiosity.

The star here is the chorus and Brian's occasional guitar touches. It's a gentle song. They've done this better, but they are right at home here.

Grade: B

Queen for a Day - Calling All Girls

Why was this a single?
Seriously.
Why was this a single? Why was a post-apocalyptic, THX-1138 themed video shot for this? Why does this band let Roger do....anything besides drum?

Because he's never had one, obviously. That's where the big money is. Roger knows that. He lobbied to have "I'm in Love With My Car" as the B-Side to Bohemian Rhapsody and, as such, received 50% of the income from the sale of that monster.

Then Freddie and Brian became the band's single kings.

Then he watched Deacon get rich off of "Another One..." and probably figured...dammit! I want IN.

But, this is not the song he would achieve that success with. Cuz, I don't think he knows what he ever wants to write about.

It's a love song.

Wait. It's a call to arms song.

Wait...it's an acoustic new wave mess of a ultimate uselessness.

Don't waste your time.

Grade: D

Queen for a Day - Life is Real (Song For Lennon)

When Lennon was killed...

Talk about the day the music died.

Freddie wrote Life is Real as an ode to John and I'm not really gonna pick it apart. I've heard people talk about how it works as a tribute: the opening notes echoing "Just like Starting Over", the title calling to mind "Strawberry Fields Forever"...

I am not enough of a Beatle fan to comment.

I can say that "Lennon is a gen-i-us" was such an on the nose lyric that I still cringe when I hear it. On the other hand, "Blood on my terraces", "Torsos in my closet", all of that sounds like something I could imagine Lennon being attributed.

Of course, Life IS real. And Life is a bitch.

Kudos for taking on the subject. I just wish the song was better.

It is the closest Queen has come to sounding like Queen in a LONG time. For that I am grateful.

Grade: B

Queen for a Day - Put Out the Fire

Did you know that Queen was a very socially conscious band that wrote message songs?

Neither did I.

This anti-gun track is the first that I can think of (if we are not counting "Don't Try Suicide"....and I'm not) but it won't be the last.

Keeping with my belief that Brian was not as interested as Freddie and John at mining the dance rock idiom, "Put out the fire" is the most rocking track on the record. Since it opened Side Two it actually gave the Queen fan that was the 15 year old me hope that the first half of the record was the experiment and Side Two would get back to rocking!

That was sort of true. It just wasn't enough.

However, it is the most blistering Brian has sounded in years. Like he's letting loose some demons, frustrated at being stuffed into a disco band demons.

This song is an oasis on this record.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - Action this Day

Ah, thank you, Roger. For abandoning the entire dance motif in favor or....New Wave?

How out of touch has this band become?

A mechanical call to arms, "Action this Day" is another case of Freddie singing lead on a Roger song and almost pulling it off. But Roger is a very very angry guy. He doesn't write songs that are lift you up, happy tracks.

He lives in some cold dystopia of sadness and furor.

He might be calling for Action and extolling the power to love but it's hollow.

That big synth break and solo are somethings he would explore to much more success on his solo record. It falls flat here.

Grade: C-

Queen for a Day - Body Language

This was it. The long awaited next single from the Number One band of 1980. I got the single before I'd heard it. And I looked at that cover....of those bodies....with the painted arrows....and I thought....

Wtf is this?

And when I put it on I was transfixed...

On just how weird and out of character it was.

This is a gay club dance track all the way.

It's all Freddie. He's moaning and hissing and groaning all over it.

The bassline was created by a synthesizer. Are the drums programmed? Is Queen anywhere on this song? Didn't Donna Summer do this shit 5 years before???

But, how's the song?

Catchy, sure. They know how to craft a pop song.

Good? Um...no.

Stupid? Yes.

Grade: D

Queen for a Day - Back Chat

And now let's hear from the king of Rock Disco, the author of their number one hit, the bass driven "Another One Bites the Dust".

"Back Chat" is the unworthy nephew to that song. There is nothing in it that would catch fire BUT it does smack of everything I learned to dislike about Queen:
Since it worked the first time, let's devote an entire album to it and try to score again.

It's as though they abandoned their rock fans, who went with them on the funk/rock journey on the last record in favor of the new fans they got WITH that record.

Always dance with the one that brung ya, guys.

The electronic drum solo on the song is embarrassing. The lead solo serviceable.

The song is trite.

Grade: C

Queen for a Day - Dancer

You just get the feeling on Hot Space that Brian May isn't into it. Freddie (and John) are driving the band into a more dance club sound and that doesn't really jibe with the hard rockin' May and his Red Special. But, Brian got to steer the band on the Flash Gordon Soundtrack so maybe this is recompense of sorts.
His first contribution is a full immersion in a bass lick that's catchy and kind of hot and the rest of the band is right there with it. Freddie's all snake and oil and smarm and Roger's keeping a steady four on the floor only this time, instead of being relegated to some balkanized region of the song, Brian is all over it. It's a dance rock track that showcases hot licks a plenty.
The track works. Not sure why I hate it, really. Because it's perfectly fine.
It's not really about anything. It's an excuse to jam. And as such, it's kind of cool.

I guess I don't really hate it.
It's fine.

Grade: B

Queen - Staying Power

I bugged the record store guy at the Union Market every weekend for 2 months about when the new Queen album was coming.
I couldn't wait.
And it didn't get it first. My friend, Randy, did. And we blew off lunch to sneak into the choir room and play it on the turntable.

And we wondered....um....what?

Now, I'm not gonna lie, I like Staying Power. I think it's the go to song for me from this weirdo-experiment disco Queen record. But, I think that's because I really dig the horns. There's no Queen in here, besides Freddie's gay leather bar vocals and John's chic basslines.

I don't think Brian's even on this song. He knew better, I guess.

I like it, but it really belongs on Mr. Bad Guy. This song was a dress rehearsal for Mr. Bulsara's coming out record.

Grade: B+

Queen - The Hero

Is Ming dead? We'll never know, cuz their ain't gonna no sequel.

But, at that moment when Flash jumps up and is frozen ala 70s tv detective show, Queen throws the kitchen sink, big ass drums, a verse that sounds like it was left off the BoRhap cutting room floor, a weird instrumental moment....and then a huge, well, BoRhap guitar solo. In fact, it really is just a rewrite of Bohemian Rhapsody in 3 minutes.

It's my favorite track but that's partially cuz of the cheese.

It's really crappy.

Enjoy.

Grade: C-

Queen for a Day - Flash's Theme

I am 15 years old. Watching tv on my dad's old black and white in my Greg Brady-converted attic.
I see a commercial for Flash Gordon and I think, that soundtrack sounds hilarious!

And then I see.

"Soundtrack by Queen."

Damn these guys.

Easily mocked, queenly epic, "Flash's Theme", which I always forget was written by May, is a big hunk of cheese that kicks off the 80s and the era of camp in a perfect way. it's ridiculous. The movie is ridiculous.
Both of them know that they are ridiculous.

The pulsating keyboards that are supposed to inspire cinematic tension but give over to a drippy ballad worthy of Margo Kidder's monologue in Superman, the entire song is a blast. But, it also sort of sucks.

Which is why Tenacious D covered it.

And no one else. Okay, that's not true. Louis XIV did. And, they sort of disappeared, no?
Their version after the jump.

Grade: C+

Queen for a Day - Save Me

Save Me is really pretty. The story of a love ended.
As a closer to the album it makes no sense. It's epic in the way that Queen songs are supposed to be. I think it would have been better served if RTB had produced it instead of Mack and his airless vacuum sound.

What really sends this song over the edge though, is Freddie. Freddie sings May way better than May's too-often-reedy-weak voice.

The power of the chorus is anthemic. Really have no idea why this wasn't the first May offering on Side One instead of that weird Dragon Attack. No other song so far in the band's oeuvre suggests their path to come. This one really bridges everything between the past and, especially, The Works.

Nice work, guys.

Grade: A

Queen for a Day - Coming Soon

Oh, Roger.

That driving, four on the floor, beat. It sounds like a train, right? Like a train that is...coming soon?

Oh, dear me.

Inoffensive and dumb. The second offering from Roger Taylor, "Coming Soon" is redeemed by the fact that Freddie takes lead vocals and not Roger and that's important because Freddie is playful where Roger takes himself and his rasp very seriously. Freddie knows that he's singing goofy songs and here he's singing one of Queen's loopiest and goofiest.
(There's a reason why only ONE of Roger's solo records is remotely listenable)

This is the most pedestrian track on the record. It doesn't mean it's not catchy, after all, Queen are consummate craftsman and can wring just about anything into something not totally embarrassing. (Speaking too soon, perhaps?)

Grade: C-

Queen for a Day - Sail Away Sweet Sister

So, we haven't heard from Brian in a while...not since track two....

He's definitely not down with this whole retro-50's thing. Sure, the production is in line with the stripped down idiom they are using for the album but that's the only thing this has in common with the rest of the record.

"Sail Away" is like "It's Late"'s short, sweet, step cousin. It's lovely. And the guitar work is terrific. It's about...his sister...? Who's leaving? To find someone who will love her as much as.....? That's sort of creepy. Maybe "Sister" is a euphemism.

It's a pretty song and the one that sounds closest to the old Queen we know. It could have been on News or Sheer and fit right in.

Grade: B+

Queen for a Day - Don't Try Suicide

See, this is why people hate Queen.

Perhaps inspired by the riffing that resulted in Another One...this Funk Bass/easy rocker has the single dumbest lyrics buttressed up against a real sentiment.

And yet, Queen managed to pull it off. The finger snaps, the smoky jazz hall melody, the giant instrumental, the sardonic quality of Freddie's sarcasm....

It all adds up to a perfectly fine middle of the album track.

Forgettable but catchy.

Grade: B

Queen for a Day - Rock It (Prime Jive)

So, Freddie wrote a retro track.
Deacon wrote one.
What's left?

Well, Brian, definitely, but for sure, Roger "I've never had a hit but I don't wanna be left out" Taylor pulled out his guitar and started arpeggiating.
Apeing his song, "Tenement Funster" he pulls out his cheesiest rhymes ("Shoot and Get Your Suit and come along with me"), does his best Elvis mimic and cranks out the beefiest guitar solo on the record. Short, sweet and I'm not sure its Brian and not Roger. And I don't care.

Prime Jive was a great way to open Side Two, it keeps the energy going, reintroduces those synthesizers we might have forgotten about and is a prime indicator of what he would give us on his solo record the next year.

Grade: A-

Queen for a Day - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

True story:
I was in the back of a car toward the end of high school with some friends and this song came on. They asked me what I thought of it and I said that, "well, I guess I like fifties music"....Then they told me it was Queen.

This wasn't the first time this had happened to me. Just a few months before I was surprised to discover that Another One Bites the Dust was not chic but....

And a few years earlier I was SHOCKED to learn that "Long Away" was not Fleetwood Mac but was also.....

Queen.

They sort of forced their way into my life.

Freddie allegedly wrote this song in his bathtub. On guitar. In 10 minutes.

But, that's all this track needs, really. He claimed he wrote it as a tribute to Elvis and that shows. It's a perfect little pop confection.

Incidentally, where I think Deacon is a mediocre writer, his laid back walk downs in this song really take it where it needs to go.

Grade: A+

Queen for a Day - Need Your Loving Tonight

If you've been reading this series (and, really, who hasn't?) you might have noticed by now that I am not really much of a fan of John Deacon's work. He write's trite, uninteresting "love" songs. Crap like "Misfire" (although it was covered by Neko Case a few years ago) and "Jealousy" and "You're My Best Friend", the list goes on.

But, something happened on The Game. John wrote a couple of the best tracks on the record and they are back to back on this album.

The previous one and this one.

And this one is as much fun as the last. Opening with an explosive crash cymbal, jamming all the way through to a tight, rave-up guitar solo, it's some cross between an early Beatles track and a garage band song. It's compact, too. 2.5 minutes long. Doesn't overstay its welcome. Leaves you wanting more.

Don't get me wrong, the song itself is trite as hell. Another of Deacon's love odes. But, the band is invigorated here and know what the hell they're doing.

So it rocks.

Grade: A