50 Years On... Sheer Heart Attack

Welcome to 50 Years On. The monthly segment where I review an album turning 50. In this segment I will endeavour to listen to an album I've never listened to before. As someone whose knowledge of '70s music has only flourished in adulthood, I'm excited to bring fresh perspective to these classics on their 50th anniversary.

This month, Queen's Sheer Heart Attack...

Released November 8th 1974.

What is it that comes to your mind when you think of Queen? Surely, everyone has an idea of their relationship with one of the most celebrated bands of all time, be it late night karaoke sessions or getting lost in their anthemic choruses. Maybe images of Freddie Mercury oozing pure charisma and sexuality come to mind as he walked the boards of the old Wembley Stadium, commanding and conducting the 70,000+ strong crowd with an effortless magnetism. Even for younger generations the 2018 Bohemian Rhapsody film has ensured the legacy of this group has endured as strong as ever into the 21st century,

My relationship with Queen, however, has historically been more complicated. Their stadium-conquering anthems such as We Will Rock You, Don't Stop Me Now and We Are The Champions have always left me cold. Admittedly, this is probably a me-problem. I've always struggled with anything that is that heavily karaoke-adjacent. Bohemian Rhapsody is quite obviously a masterpiece of songwriting; a boundary-breaking epic that will rightfully be played on loop the world over ad infinitum. But the Queen that I've always really resonated with is their unapologetically full-throttle hard rock gems such as Hammer To Fall or Fat Bottomed Girls. The electronic-fused nostalgia of Radio Gaga has always spoken to me, as has the rockabilly sensibility of the delightfully cheeky Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Having not really ventured into any full length Queen albums before diving into this exploration of their 1974 effort Sheer Heart Attack, I was always left with a feeling of wanting more from this band. Having listened to this album (and a few others alongside this in my research), I'm glad to report that - not for the first time - I certainly have some catching up to do. And when has there been more apt a time than 50 years on from the release of Queen's intriguing third record.

Let's delve into it...

The album starts with Brighton Rock, a brilliant, if meandering piece that has a kind of proto-theatricality that Queen would become known for once they started to really lean into it. This song has some killer guitar on it, though it may be in brief flashes, which seems to speaks to the breakneck pace this song is determined to travel at. It's over 5 minutes long, but it flies through its various movements at a speed that brings to mind a rickety fairground rollercoaster you might find at a British seaside resort. The kind you might ride if you're feeling in need of an adrenaline spike - just don't look at all the nuts and bolts too long. The second part of the song after the famous guitar break brings crushing riffs á la Kansas's Carry On Wayward Son. From here we move onto the always welcome Killer Queen. Surely we all know and love this song (if you're not familiar, I urge you to go listen to it now! I'll wait right here), and it serves well as the second track of the album. It captures the brazen regality of Queen perfectly. The Roger Taylor-led Tenement Funster shifts the vibe of the album again. It's moody, but in a fun way. Perhaps it's guilty of feeling a bit too dad-rock at this point, or at least it would be if it didn't kick off a mini-movement in this album that I find really interesting. From here, we get a mid-album mini medley with the three song run of Flick Of The Wrist and Lily Of The Valley flowing out of Tenement Funster in a seamless manner that you wouldn't notice if you weren't paying attention to the tracklisting. The lyrical themes may be distinct on each, but musically you'd be forgiven for thinking this was all one long track. I'm a sucker for this kind of construction - it's pretty much a cheat code to my ears. Isn't this kind of musical segue - which is becoming all too rare in the streaming age - exactly what the album format should encourage?

The album twists and turns from here, and there's certainly more highlights than lows. In The Lap Of The Gods feels so necessary in this album, and speaks with such clarity to the stage-show element of this album that I feel works so well. Stone Cold Crazy, which follows it, is a single I was never hugely convinced by, but my God, does it work here. Again, the context of coming packaged inside of this album raises the impact it has as a song tenfold. Closing out with In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited is exactly the kind of bookending that I love in my albums, a callback is the ultimate weapon in music after all. The song itself though is a powerful reprise, which conjures up images of a doomed world waiting for the bomb to drop, which it eventually does as the album ends with a literal bang. For Queen, however, the show must go on...

What really gripped me about this record is that it's essentially a sleeper rock opera, and it didn't really strike me until my second full listen through. At first glance it can be mistaken for a collection of tracks which subjectively do or don't work all that well as an album. It's stylistic whiplash certainly won't be for everyone, and there are points where the forward momentum doesn't always hold (see Bring Back That Leroy Brown), but when I listen to this album now, I can't help but picture it being played out on a stage. Freddy Mercury's unapologetic writing style already feels made for the West End, and this album with its rock opera trappings is a perfect attestation to this notion. It feels like it's meant for the stage lights. Made to be performed with theatrical expression on your face to a packed auditorium. This may be a result of this album being the first instance of Mercury writing songs with the intention of having the audience sing along to them. Such is the case on the closing track In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited. This was a staple of their live set, and the track they would close the set on. It's clear that Queen knew from early on how to put on a show, and for them this album was clearly a springboard to doing so in both their studio efforts and their world famous live shows. Their musicianship matched with Mercury's unrivalled showmanship is what would define them for the next half century, and has made sure they are still incredibly relevant to this day.

3.5/5