Jobie Reviews Music 127: Queen II (album) by Queen. Requested by one of my friends.

Queen II is a 1974 hard rock/progressive rock/art rock album by the band Queen. It contains 11 tracks, spanning 40 minutes and 43 minutes of music. It’s quite the unique specimen-especially for the time it was written in-with layers of instruments making up the album’s complex sound. The reason I named so many genres at the beginning of this paragraph is because this album incorporates elements of a variety of genres, rather than sticking to a linearly defined genre.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise that the album contains a variety of different sounds, with some trackers being noticeably harder than other tracks. Such is the case with the track “Ogre Battle”, which itself reminds me of more modern punk rock during certain parts of its 4 minute and 8 second run time. Other tracks, such as “White Queen (As it Began)”, have a more solemn tone to them, with Freddie Mercury’s vocals matching the tone that the tracks are going for.

It’s safe to say that each track is a musical journey, with lots of stuff going on within the span of a few minutes. We get full blown multilayered tracks (as previously mentioned - you can pretty much find this element in all 11 tracks of the album), guitar solos, and even smooth transitions in between certain tracks of the album. It’s also worth noting that, though smooth transitions are used in the album, this album is not a concept album.

The songwriting, which I usually don’t comment on, is on par here as well. This can be most clearly seen in the track “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke”, which is based on the painting of the same name. That track in particular describes each part of that painting using clever instrumentation and, you guessed it, great songwriting.

“The Loser in the End” is one track in particular that starts off with a very heavy beat. This instrumentation hits you almost instantly, unlike most of the other songs in the album. The great sound showcase on that track is perhaps one of the best showcases of where this album gets its “hard rock” categorization from. It’s very close to “Ogre Battle” in terms of how hard it goes, having all the great qualities of that track as well. Overall, a great listen all around.

My favorite tracks from this album are “White Queen”, “Some Day One Day”, “Ogre Battle”, and “Seven Seas of Rhye”. For this album, it was very difficult to pick only 4 favorites, as a lot of them match the quality of one another. But these 4 in particular are perhaps the best showcases of the album’s blending of genres.

All in all, Queen II is a musical journey filled with complex instrumentation, great songwriting, and overall, an amazing production which can be appreciated by everyone who listens to it. Even 47 years after its initial release, this album is still worth listening to, and I highly advise that you listen to it if you wish to listen to something with perfectly executed complexity. From the instrumental “Procession” to the catchy hit “Seven Seas of Rhye”, you won’t be disappointed at any moment during its over half hour run time.

Overall rating:

9.5/10

LINK TO ALBUM:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6Cg1pPfnfFXlR1qH2H6NDL?si=SpaLm6T3QF6uuwJCF8-SyQ