Queen
News Of The World

THE REVIEW

It's 1977. Punk sounds the death knell for Rock and its performers, and, to put it in Malcolm McLaren's words, the young and sensual killers are the Sex Pistols. For the bands that had dictated the laws until then, it seems that the time has come to pass the baton; knowing how to play seems to have become superfluous, after all, a simple C chord is enough to build a song.

The Queen of British rock responds to these provocations with a work full of energy and new ideas, rewriting those that had been the clichés of her music so far, i.e., maniacal musical productions, combined with a decadent style, turning towards more hard rock tones. The start of the platter is legendary, the summation of what will later be defined as arena-rock. I'm talking about the duo "We Will Rock You"-"We Are The Champions", two pieces that complement each other and will from then on constitute the climax of the British combo's live act. The first, a true hammer in the genre, demonstrates how the band, even with a simple percussion of a wooden plank accompanied by handclaps, can continually express original and nonconformist musical concepts; the final riff is excellent. The second, among the most famous songs of all time, and used in all major sporting successes, is a powerful rock song, as only Freddie knew how to write, in which the group self-celebrates, shouting to the world (but more realistically to the music critics never kind to them) that they are the world champions.

After such a start, one would expect a lower compositional level, but the band surprises us again with a tense track, "Sheer Heart Attack", almost punk style, so much so that a critic of the time called it a luxurious version of the Sex Pistols. For the fourth track of the album, "All Dead All Dead", Freddie declines the lead vocals in favor of Brian, for a sad ballad in which the guitarist's vocal range is perfectly in tune. Another favorable point of this work is the sharing of compositional responsibilities among all the members; in fact, even Deacon makes his mark, and what a mark, with one of the most beautiful rock ballads in the entire discography of the Queen, but also of all the seventies. I'm referring to the immense "Spread Your Wings", with an excellent Freddie as usual on vocals and Brian who, with his "iron", designs perfect chords and riffs. Notable is the magnificent ad libitum finale. Finally, I note the live version of the track on the double live-killers. The A-side closes with very aggressive funk rock, "Fight From The Inside", written, sung, and performed by Roger, also excellent in this episode the very "electric" riffs.

The B-side, unfortunately, starts with a track that I don't love much, it is "Get Down Make Love", Freddie's experiment that could be defined as pop-psychedelic, which frankly I could have done without, but will be reprised by the band in all subsequent gigs. Luckily for us, good old Brian immediately raises the temperature of the record again, with a beautiful song, "Sleeping On The Sidewalk", worthy of Clapton in one take, confirming a change at the level of arrangement and production which I initially mentioned. The ninth track is "Who Needs You", a Caribbean-style song based on the acoustic guitar played by Deacon, who is also the author, and maracas shaken by Freddie. It won't go down in history, but it represents an excellent filler, especially considering the last two masterpieces it precedes. The first, "It's Late" by May, is a magnificent hard rock, clearly Zeppelinian in origin, which has it all: distorted power chord, a hint of tapping in the central part, and magnificent and powerful choirs. A true masterpiece of the genre, it's a pity there aren't many live testimonies of this track, which could have become one of the classic Queen anthems.

The closing of this wonderful musical journey is entrusted to the creativity of the group's leader, who pulls out of the hat a blues ballad worthy of the best black singers, and with a truly "melancholic" piano performance. Therefore, I cannot help but recommend this record to everyone, especially those who love the Queen as pioneers of anthem rock.