Queen
Queen II

THE REVIEW

Less than a month after the release of the first chapter, the Queen return to the studio to start throwing down the material that will end up on their second album. The UK charts fully embrace the debut mostly made of reminiscences of the beginnings, leaving the second chapter with the difficult task of bringing out the quality music that they had in mind, which was just waiting to be played. The operational base is still the Trident Studios in Soho, where the four musicians pour themselves into creating a work reflecting a further step forward compared to the previous record, both in terms of integrity and musical innovation. The two months granted by the record label are invested prioritizing experimentation, also based on a certain progressive awareness that has always been part of the band’s personal learning journey.

The regal notes of "Procession" gently lead us into listening to "Father To Son", a track where the powerful introduction allows through the see-sawing atmospheres propelled by Mercury's voice, a journey into a musical whirlpool made of classic and modern elements intertwined into one. For "White Queen (As it Began)", the creative vein of the young guitarist May leans towards a melody that captivates instantly, just like the sultry vocal interpretation capable of stirring emotions with simplicity. A certain relaxation of atmosphere is brought by the alluring flow of "Some Day, One Day" (sung by May) which, alongside the urban rock of "The Loser in the End" composed and performed by the drummer Roger Taylor, guides us to the end of the White Side. The fury of "Ogre Battle" is a true restart in every sense and brings us back to sustained rhythms, showcasing those vocal harmonies capable of evolving and becoming one of the band’s trademarks.

An album that, as one listens further, does not decrease in tone in the slightest and does not show even a moment of fatigue. A sequence of tracks that manages to happily merge the diverse creative souls of a cluster of (barely) budding musicians, able to best express the need to be essential without lacking originality. And if it is originality that emerges once more in the theatrical "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" where, through dizzying vocal acrobatics, the characters of the famous painting by Richard Dadd are described by art-student Mercury, in "The March of the Black Queen", prepared by the touching "Nevermore", one can savor a masterful pot-pourri of sound that at first might appear as a slow song with predominantly operatic traits, not hiding a certain glam taste either. The wistful "Funny How Love Is" which nods to the sunniness of the Beach Boys, leads us straight to the grandeur of "Seven Seas of Rhye" that closes a second side conceived entirely by the brilliant inclination of a singer skillfully out of the ordinary.

It is the record where all tracks are an expression of a deep yet singular artistic vein, simultaneously presenting itself as the epitome of a luxurious and imaginative combination between a fresh and immediate sound and operatic opulence, which no one had yet brought to life. The volume of the instrumental competence of the four is even more amplified, considering the embellishments of vocal overdubs and that multitrack recordings contribute, without ever indulging in self-admiration or vainglory. A concept album where between a white and a black side, the eternal struggle between good and evil unfolds, to which the skilful hands of the young Roy Thomas Baker contribute a balance, in a modern form of rock which has nevertheless made good use of the past.