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Rating: If you think Queen is all about Another One Bites The Dust and Radio Gaga, you're really off track: listen to this absolute masterpiece, and you'll realize: "Queen II" is a record full of hard rock and baroque, surreal, and fairy-tale atmospheres, which, along with their nearly equally fabulous debut album, represents the greatest work of this controversial band.
The album opens with the solemn instrumental intro Procession (note how Iron Maiden took the idea for The Ides Of March) which flows into the baroque and captivating hard rock of Father To Son, which is a bit of the quintessence of early Queen sound, with the overdubs and vocal interplays that elevate the song to excellent levels. Also noteworthy is the complex and elaborate guitar solo. Father To Son fades at the end and transforms into the poignant ballad White Queen, intense and passionate yet dreamlike at the same time, with a very intense performance by the great Freddie Mercury. Some Day One Day is instead a folk ballad sung by guitarist Brian May (a bit dull in this instance) neither remarkable nor blameworthy. Better is The Loser In The End, where the singing drummer Roger Taylor raises the level of this fine hard-rock with an ironic and bittersweet lyric. This marks the end of the good White Side and begins the magnificent Black Side, which opens with the distorted riff of Ogre Battle, crowned by a truly epic and inspired Freddie Mercury, who narrates a battle of ogres, thus introducing the fairy-tale theme into the album.
The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke is truly a blast, a magical weave of overdubs and visionary atmospheres that evoke strange characters from who knows what parallel world. Nevermore is a wonderful, intense, and unrepeatable "pocket ballad" (the same Queen tried to do something similar in the next album "Sheer Heart Attack" with Dear Friends and the result was a total flop) that preludes The March Of The Black Queen, an inspired, wild vision rich in constant time changes that deliver continuous surprises and never tire, ending with a breathtaking choral finale. Personally, I consider it Queen's masterpiece, even more than "Bohemian Rhapsody." Funny How Love Is is better skipped to get straight to the famous ride Seven Seas Of Rhye, which closes the album in the most intense and epic way possible.
There remains the frustration of thinking what a band with such potential could have done if they had continued down this path (even though truthfully, all albums from "Sheer Heart Attack" to "Jazz" deserve respect and consideration).
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 The Loser in the End (04:03)
Mama's got a problem
She don't know what to say
Her little baby boy
Has just left home today
She's got to be the loser in the end
She's got to be the loser in the end
Misuse her and you'll lose her as a friend
She's ma on whom you can always depend ooh
She washed and fed and clothed and cared
For nearly twenty years
And all she gets is Goodbye Ma
And the night times for her tears
She's got to be the loser in the end
She's got to be the loser in the end
Misuse her and you'll lose her as a friend
She's ma on whom you can always depend ooh
So listen mothers ev'rywhere
To just one mothers son
You'll get forgotten on the way
If you don't let them have their fun
Forget regrets and just remember
It's not so long since you were young
You're bound to be the loser in the end
You're bound to be the loser in the end
They'll chose their new shoes
That's not far to bend
You're ma on whom they can always depend ooh ooh
06 Ogre Battle (04:07)
Words and music by Freddie Mercury
Now once upon a time
An old man told me a fable
When the piper is gone
And the soup is cold on the table
And if the black crow flies
To find a new destination
That is the sign
Come tonight
Come to the ogre site
Come to the ogre battle fight
He gives a great big cry
And he can swallow up the ocean
With a mighty tongue he catches flies
And the palm of his hand incredible size
One great big eye has to focus in your direction
Now the battle is on
Yeah yeah yeah!
Come tonight
Come to the ogre site
Come to the ogre battle fight
Ah ah ah ah ah
The ogre men are still inside
The two way mirror mountain
You gotta keep down
Right out of sight
You can't see in but they can see out
Keep a look out
The ogre men are coming out
From the two way mirror mountain
They're running up behind
And they're coming all about
Can't go east 'cause you gotta go south
Ogre men are going home
The great big fight is over
Bugle blow let trumpet cry
Ogre battle lives for ever more
You can come along
You can come along
Come to ogre battle
08 Nevermore (01:26)
There's no living in my life anymore
The seas have gone dry and the rain stopped falling
Please don't you cry anymore
Can't you see?
Listen to the breeze, whisper to me please
Don't send me to the path of nevermore
Even the valleys below,
Where the rays of the sun were so warm and tender,
Now haven't anything to grow
Can't you see?
(Nevermore nevermore)
Why did you have to leave me?
(Nevermore nevermore)
Why did you deceive me?
You send me to the path of nevermore
When you say you didn't love me anymore
(Aah aah)
Nevermore, aah
Nevermore
11 Seven Seas of Rhye (02:49)
Fear me, you lords and lady preachers
I descend upon your earth from the skies
I command your very souls, you unbelievers
Bring before me what is mine
The seven seas of Rhye
Can you hear me, you peers and privy councilors
I stand before you naked to the eyes
I will destroy any man who dares abuse my trust
I swear that you'll be mine
The seven seas of Rhye
(Sister) I live and lie for you
(Mister) do and I'll die
You are mine, I possess you
Belong to you forever (Ever, ever, ahh)
Storm the master marathon I'll fly through
By flash and thunder fire I'll survive
(I'll survive, I'll survive) Then I'll defy the laws of nature
And come out alive
(Then I'll get you)
Begone with you you shod and shady senators
Give out the good, leave out the bad evil cries
I challenge the mighty Titan and his troubadours
And with a smile
I'll take you to the seven seas of Rhye
I'd like to be beside the seaside
I'd like to be beside the sea
Where the brass drums play
I'd like to be beside the seaside
I'd like to be beside the sea
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Other reviews
By 3poundsoflove
Queen II is indeed one of the albums to be rediscovered and considered as a true and legitimate masterpiece of rock with dark and sepulchral tones.
The March of the Black Queen encapsulates all, I say all, the band’s poetics, in a single, elusive, infinite song.
By Peppe Weapon
One of the most underrated rock works in history.
Those who hate Queen should listen to this album.
By CRITIC-MUSIC
Freddie was and still is 90% of the band’s success.
‘The March of the Black Queen’ is, in my opinion, the most beautiful song in the history of rock!
By Walterstarman1
Queen II is one of the most well-crafted and creative albums ever.
Explosion of guitar, explosion of voice, triumph of choruses. The closure is melancholy 'As it began'. Goosebump-inducing song, excellent piece.
By paolofreddie
"Queen II is an ambiguous masterpiece with multiple nuances, an admirable blend of styles, perfect in arrangements, structure, and the fluid flow of the music."
"'The March of the Black Queen' is superb, a masterpiece within the masterpiece, one of the best compositions by Queen, if not the best."
