Queen for a Day - You Take My Breath Away

How lovely is this song? Opening with a flurry of harmonies done by Freddie it features him on piano singing an ode to a great love. One that does what the title says.
As we move to the second verse, he is accompanied briefly by his own backing vox.
The song builds (big surprise) after a "chorus" reminiscent of the multi-layers that were used so well on II.
Then a brief guitar solo, backed by layers of guitars, then Freddie is back. He says what he means, clearly with an "I love you" and we're done.
A few seconds later, a heady swirl of voices eventually reveal themselves to be, once again, the title of the song.
Take My Breath is one of my favorites in the band's catalog and shows quite a bit of maturity. Coming second after the rocking masterstroke it's a sure sign that the guys are secure in their writing, performing and the strength of their music.

Grade: A


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Queen for a Day - Tie Your Mother Down

It opens with a guitar based, quasi japanese theme. It turns into a swirl of sounds that gives way to a massive, Jimmy Page style riff that, according to the liner notes, was labeled "sheer bloody poetry" by The Times.
After the hodgepodge of the last album, and the weak blues rock entry of Sweet Lady, this is most welcome.
The band is more than up for task, especially the writer, Brian, whose solo is the best he's come up with so far. A true 70s arena rocker of a solo.
But Freddie shows his feathers and flair and crushes this tune. It's like the back end of BoRhap set free and made into it's own.
The Times was right. With this song, Queen took it to the next level.

Grade: A+


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Queen for a Day - God Save the Queen

As an homage to Hendrix, as an album coda, as a bit of pomp and circumstance, this song is the perfect album closer. Do we need it? No. Is it offensive in any way? No. Useful? Yes. Using this song in concert allowed the band to soar to new heights of royal theatricality.
It's 1 minute of your time. It's nice. Toothless. But nice.

Grade: B+


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Queen for a Day - Bohemian Rhapsody

I wonder if, really, anything needs to be said here. Has there been a song about which more has been written over the years?
We know about Freddie adding more and more "Galileos". We know about playing it on RTB's glass piano. We know about...everything.
If you aren't familiar with it, you weren't alive during the last quarter century.
My favorite nugget about BoRhap comes from Wayne's World. Before 1992 i still felt as though being a Queen fan was like being Kurt Hummel in Glee. Then, boom. Queen was cool. And then Freddie's song "Barcelona" Became the theme to the Olympics and vindication was at hand. Then Metallica and Axl Rose played Queen songs at The Concert for Life.
And Queen fans in America never needed to hide their heads again.

Grade: A+


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Queen for a Day - Good Company

After the blues breaker, the skiffle and the prog rock, Brian is back, this time with a bit of fluff. His ukelele in tow, Mr. May tosses off a little familial disappointment (sort of a hidden forte, it seems) with Good Company.
It's more than a wee bit loopy, perhaps inspired by the fab four but coming across more like the Mael Brothers.
It's a catchy ditty, sure, and it certainly isn't out of place on this record, but after Seaside Rendezvous and Lazing on a..., it comes across as a bit of envious wannabe-ism.

Grade: B


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Queen for a Day - Love of My Life

Is Love of My Life the most beautiful song Queen ever produced? Arguably. It's definitely up there. It somehow become a stadium anthem, especially in South America.
A pretty piano. An acoustic guitar. A harp. It's treacly and yet it works.
Expanding on the love-abandoned theme of Nevermore, the singer basically begs to have love returned that once was. It probably won't. But Freddie's earnest devotion tugs at your heart and that simple Red Special solo coupled with that crescendoing piano, exploding into a climax of pain, with the requisite multi-Freddie backing vox make this one one of the band's best ever.

Grade: A+


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Queen for a Day - The Prophet's Song

Ugh. I've been not looking forward to this one since I started this project.
When I had a copy of Night on 8-track (lord...) this song was split up between track 2 and 3 which meant listening to the album was always a chore.
TPS starts off as some 70s hippy shit that should have been left on their debut, never to be seen or heard again. But if that's not bad enough, this Jesus Christ Superstar wanna be then devolves into a over produced, multi layered extended vocal solo, then harmony session that lasts a good 2-3 minutes. And you will hate it.
The song is based on a dream that Brian had about Noah's ark.
I haven't heard it in almost 20 years. It's just as pretentious and bad as I recall.

Grade: D


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Queen for a Day - Seaside Rendezvous

Freddie and Roger imitating horns and woodwinds? Count me in. If you forget that the last three tracks exist and just go straight to this one an image begins to emerge of this album.
It's the Freddie Mercury show and everyone else is just along for the ride.
Now, not a rock song by any stretch, it's a turn of the previous century jaunt. Imagine full body, striped bathing suits and umbrellas. A honkey tonk piano.
jollification? Tres charment?!? Spectacular.
Let's ride upon the omnibus and then the casino.

Grade: A+

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Queen for a Day - Sweet Lady

The first song I ever heard by Queen that made me think, "eh, standard 70s fare". This May tune is the kind of mediocre blues breaker that you expect to hear on the soundtrack to Almost Famous.
It's poor latter day Stones.
Unremarkable in almost every way.

Grade: C-


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Location:W 25th St,Los Angeles,United States

Queen for a Day - '39

For a long time this was my favorite song on the record. It's written y and sung by Brian and is a loopy little skiffle ditty about interstellar travelers who leave "in the year of '39" to look for planets to populate and when they come back, everyone they know has died due to the way time works in space.
None of that really matters as this is a track that is at once completely out of place amidst the bombast and fits perfectly in with the kitchen sink mentality of the record.
I think it's important to note that this is the first time a Brian May song has not opened a Queen record and that his first offering comes after everyone else has had their shot. Additionally, it's the sweetest thing the guy has come up with however, I've always felt that the production was a bit muddy. Nonetheless, I always dreamt of just picking up a guitar anywhere (the earliest fantasies was in high school after hours) and playing this tune.
I would finally learn it 20 years later but it wasn't the same...

Grade: A-


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Location:S Congress Ave,Los Angeles,United States