Go to London to see the Queen ... In the Court of the Crimson Queen Overall Album Score: 8.0 out of 10 I like Queen. If I were to make a list of the top 10 of my most favorite bands or artists, Queen would almost certainly be on there. They have about a billion things going for them. Freddie Mercury was one of the best singers of all rock and roll (and probably *the* best of all the Glam movement and 70s pop music in general). Also, along with his great singing abilities, he is also a mighty commendable songwriter! Definitely not to be forgotten is Brian May, who is one of the most phenomenally innovative and entertaining guitarists EVER. Last to mention (and certainly not the least), is the fact that the band was mightily innovative! ... At least throughout the 1970s, Queen is good at dazzling us with their complex songs, interesting instrumental discourses, and that butt-kickingly wikkid instrument playing! I also, however, have to recognize the band's limitations! ... And you know what? Apart from May's guitar and Mercury's voice, the band's limitations lie in the same thing as their strengths. While the songwriting is usually splendid and so is the innovation, it isn't *always* as such. This album, as a perfect example, has a good handful of excellent songs ("Liar" and "My Fairy King" are my favorites), but the album also has a good handful of slightly weak songs in it, too. Unfortunately, it's gonna look like that throughout Queen's entire career. Yes, folks, that *does* mean that Queen doesn't quite add up to the breadth of The Beatles! ... Just the same, though, if Queen wasn't one of the most entertaining bands to ever exist in the wild world of rock-and-roll, then I really don't know what was. Overall Album Score: 8.0 out of 10 (Queen starts off as entertaining as they always will be! But, as is usual with Queen, this isn't a spectacular work of art or anything. It's just fun.) Average Song Score: 8.1 (Good songs ... this isn't rip-roaringly spectacular or anything, but many of these songs are really quite entertaining.) Album Tilt: 8.0 (This is a fairly consistent album. There are a few weakish numbers on here, but nothing bombs totally. I'm entertained by this.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (This is far from your average, generic hard rock band. You might call this debut many things, but one that you cannot call it is uncreative.) Track Reviews Keep Yourself Alive 8/10 This is alright ... With all the electric guitar on here (always as awesome as it will always be with Queen), you'd think this was a Brian May song! ... Hey, what do you know? It is a Brian May song! ... Cool electric guitar! Also, you'll note that Queen doesn't waste anytime establishing their signature sound (albeit, this isn't operatic), but this is essentially how their guitar sound was like all through the rest of the 70s. Certainly not among the most tuneful Queen tunes, but it's got the 'lectric guitar, and it's entertaining. Doing All Right 7/10 Low ... balladic ... a bit show tuney ... You would almost think this was a Freddie Mercury composition! ... Well, it isn't! This was also written by Brian May! ... It's not guitar driven, other than a part in the middle of it where May gets to shine quite splendidly. Other than that, though, this song is a bit on the boooring side. Great King Rat 8/10 Alright ... here is a Freddie Mercury song. ... Also, as you might gather from the title, this is a tremendously silly song. But silly is usually a good thing, you see. ... Yes, this is a very silly heavy-metalish song, indeed. It also sounds a slight bit progressive (it comes in multi-parts ... making it sound a bit epicish ... the very end of it features some neat stuff from May). Progressive-silly-metal-Mercuryo-Mayo. It's far from a great song, but it's still pretty entertaining. My Fairy King 9.5/10 To me, this song in particular exemplifies the quirky inventiveness of Queen. (Although, they've shown it throughout this album ... those previous songs just weren't quite as memorable as this one.) The greatest aspect of this song, indeed, is the creative and hooky melody (courtesy of Freddie). The song comes in multi-parts. The first is kind of hard with some interesting, artsy guitar work from May. The second part is quiet and piano driven (and my favorite bit). The final part goes all over the place ... all of it phenomenally entertaining. "My Fairy King" is a great example of Queen in top form! Liar 10/10 While "My Fairy King" exemplified Queen in top form on its light, quirky side, "Liar" exemplifies Queen in it's other top form. Hard rock! ... Although, this is quite a bit different from Led Zeppelin's brand of hard rock. The melody is fine and complex, Mercury's vocals are effectively emotional, and the instrumentals interchange from calmness to hardness to ... awesomeness. ... Another early classic from the band! The Night Comes Down 7.5/10 This is a very pleasant if unremarkable ballad-type-thingy. The melody is all right ... I like its pleasant atmosphere better, I think the instrumentation could have been improved, but ... it turned out well. There's some interesting innovation in here with the instruments, I'd say, but that doesn't automatically make it 100 percent entertaining. Modern Times Rock & Roll 7/10 Do they actually let the drummer write songs??? Dude! ...... Even though this song is short, and Brian May saves it with some really great guitar playing, it's the most generic thing on here ... which is saying something. Son & Daughter 8.5/10 Verrrrrrry hard rock ... quite a bit like Black Sabbath. The riff is pretty good. The attitude is dark. The melody is pretty good. (And, for good measure, one of those signature Queen falsetto choruses have been added.) It's actually very good! Way to go Queen. I'm glad they were too creative to do this kind of stuff consistently, though. I probably wouldn't want to review them, then. Jesus 7.5/10 I'm kind of wondering what the point of this song is, but then I remembered ... This is Queen! There's never a point! But still, this is an odd little tribute to Jesus Christ. The chorus is odd ... and not all that great. A bit misfired, I think. Certain aspects of the instrumentation really keep my interest, though, and I will add that I enjoy the heavy-metal instrumental interlude within this. Seven Seas of Rhye 4/5 This is a very brief instrumental. Nicely performed, but it's insignificant. BONUS TRACKS Mad the Swine Verrrrrrrrrrrry peculiar. The melody is really good (if a bit pedestrian). Extremely cheesy sounding (but with odd lyrics). It is all very entertaining! There's no reason to complain about *this* bonus track. Also added are remixed versions of "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Liar" ... I usually never care to listen to them (as with the remixed bonuses at the ends of ALL their albums)! I've got a knack for comments, which you can e-mail to me here!

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. Lipstick is for men.