Queen: Their Prog Numbers - Ranked
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 тра 2024
- Queen have often been described as a band that hovers dangerously close to progressive rock. In this video I consider their prog credentials
If you like my channel and appreciate the work that goes into my videos, please support my channel. You can -
Become a Patron! - Be part of a Classic Rock Community!
There is a fine body of work on there now. / classicrock
Make a one-time donation!
Help me to make more videos or buy stuff to annoy my wife with and unbox on my channel: www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
Gift me something to unbox from my Amazon Wish List: www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/...
Buy me a coffee. All that talk is thirsty work: ko-fi.com/classicalbum
Join Amazon Music: www.amazon.co.uk/music/unlimi...
Like the Facebook page:
I add stuff on a daily basis: / 1968rock
DISCLAIMER: This video features materials protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Clips are used with commentary for educational purposes.
#queen #ranking #classicalbum
"Queen II" and "Sheer Heart Attack" are my absolute favourites.
Princes of the Universe, why wasn't that a hit?
Good question. I really liked the LP.
70s Queen is my favourite band. Queen 2 is their proggiest album I feel, but Prophet's Song from ANATO has to be their most prog track 🙂
First 5 Queen albums are genius. So important to me growing up & now as an old man
Been a fan of Queen since my local radio station played Keep Yourself Alive. I'd argue they have the widest musical range of any band. The 70s albums alone had Metal, Prog. Pop, Folk, Jazz, Blues, Swing, Opera and even songs your Gran would like.
Too bad they became mainstream and their music went downhill
Funny how they tried to be more comercial but ended up having shit sales
"March of the Black Queen"
'The Prophet's Song' is probably their finest hour. The song has an amazing atmosphere and for me the a capella middle section thematically works better than 'scaramouche, etc'. The first three albums are their most adventurous musical explorations. Side one of 'Sheer heart Attack' is pure rock gold. Back in the day we had a bootleg of the early days (first 2 albums). The raw energy was incredible and May's guitar sound and playing was off the scale. Very heavy stuff.
The fact that Steve Howe played that incredible flamenco part on Innuendo, cemented his standing of greatness. As great at May is, he called in help for that hard part.
Queen 1 & 2, Sheer Heart Attack, and A Night At The Opera was easily one of the most impressive opening salvos in the discography of any 70s band.
My order too
Queen 2 is and always has been my favourite Queen album but what a fantastic legacy they have left us.
agree
Another good addition would be Millionaire Waltz off A Day at the Races. Maybe the first and only Prog Rock song that incorporates waltz timing into it.
I don't know about prog but you could argue they invented Thrash Metal with Ogre Battle. A friend gave me Queen II on cassette when I was 12 or 13 because he found it too weird, I found it took me out of an unhappy childhood and into another world. Thanks Brian, Roger, John and Freddie, it still gives me shivers 40 years later.❤.
March of the Black Queen.
If you've never heard the version of Ogre Battle that is on the Live at the Rainbow double album (the deluxe version - it is on Spotify) you owe it to yourself to check it out. There's two versions on there from two different shows in 1974. The one from March 1974 in my opinion is the best. It becomes punchier in a live setting, Brian, Roger and John all really felt like manning a battering ram there and Freddie is breathing fire as usual. It's really, REALLY good. The entire album is pretty great if you love that very early era in Queen's history (disc one is from the Queen II tour, and disc two from the Sheer Heart Attack tour).
@JaceyMitchell thanks man! I check that out. Long live the Queen!
When I actually started getting into the Queen catalog, their Progressive leanings were part of what drew me to them. I also think those were much further reaching than many Chronicles or biographical accounts would lead one to believe. In this case, it doesn't hurt that progressive rock and art rock kind of overlapped during the 70s, if they weren't the same genre. Queen never quit being part of it, even when they were trying during the 80s to fit into niches that weren't around when they got moving in the early 70s.
Queen were so varied in their output, they could truly do anything. I would add “Dragon Attack” to the proggy Queen songs. I know one can object that it is straight rock and roll, but the dominant bass line and the theme make me suggest it.
Queen greatest band in history, they were so diverse and never boring , they had it all. Most bands keep it safe and never go out of there comfort zone.
Agreed that Sheer Heart Attack is their best from this period. Liar and Great King Rat on the first album are epic. Queen II is phenomenal though the highlights from the Black side was never performed. I find that when that third album was released, they missed an opportunity to play Tennement Funster, Flick of the Wrist and Lily of the Valley live - that would have been epic. Dream Theater did a great job of that medley several years back.
Prophet's song, a veritable masterpiece in my opinion. Brighton Rock !! blew my head off as kid!1 Hard Rock /proto metal or what! saw this band in '75 for the first time.They did Brighton Rock naturally and you could not hear a pin drop! amazing gig!
I first listened to A Night at the Opera way back when it was released. After being blown away by side one I almost lost it when I flipped to side two and heard the Prophet Song for the first time.
Lovely stuff! Q’s proggy tracks are not always as appreciated as their no1s. Q2, their masterpiece, and the first album I bought with my hard earned spending money (thanks mum and dad).
Lilly of the Valley/ Tenement Funster my favorites off Sheer Heart Attack. I always considered these songs proggy. It's Late from News of the World sounds like progressive rock too in my opinion.
Another excellent video, i also believe queen 1 and queen 11 , IMO to be their most progressive, there are parts to these wonderful albums that put me in mind of YES and a dash of led zeppelin, i have the 2017 remastered vinyl renditions , but would love the original pressings with the lovely fully laminated covers , hard to find now in really good nick. Thanks for the video.
This is one of my favourite topics. Great King Rat is like a Sergio Leone film with a rock-based Ennio Morricone soundtrack. Also, Flash Gordon is decried as a mere soundtrack album, but around Christmas I heard it all the way through for the first time in years, and it sounded damned proggy (or maybe Cod Prog).
It's funny you just posted this today actually I was listening to queen 2 yesterday probably their progiest album, uploaded a short of the record!
They danced around the prog genre but never fully immersed themselves. Very versatile and cheeky band. They are my favorite all time band. I remember hearing BoRhap on the radio and was sold! Went down to my local record shop before it opened on the day the album hit the stores. My friend and I bought the first two LPs right out of the box before the owner put them on the shelf. Talk about a childhood memory! They deserve a dedicated Sirius XM channel! 👑🥂
I was a 10 year old when i saw them do "Seven Seas of Rhye" on TOTP according to my late mum i sat there mesmerized with my jaw hitting the floor. I remember turning round & noticing my grinning mum in the doorway & her saying "you enjoyed that then " ? What i felt & still remember is feeling total Euphoria. They were absolutely off the planet what a fantastic band & even though the later albums were different to those early masterpieces they still managed to pull out a few gems & as a live band they were Untouchable 👍
I love the versatility of this band, from deep softer to damn near heavy metal to a prog like substance, always trying new stuff and such great musicianship, i appreciate all their hard work.
Purely as a written piece, Bo Rhap is a prog micro epic - and The Prophet’s Song (from the same album) ramps up the heavier side of prog even more. The Millionaire Waltz from Day At The Races is also micro-prog incarnate. Saying that, Queen II is definitely the bands proggiest album and features there most fully formed prog track - The March Of The Black Queen as, arguably, the standout track.
As a Queen fan and a prog fan, I am really glad that you made this video. Many of my favourite Queen songs were mentioned. The song Lily of the Valley from the Sheer Heart Attack album, has a definite prog feel to me, mainly because of its lyrics.
"Tenement Funster" hit me from first hearing, must now have been about 40 years ago.
Tenement Funster, Flick of the Wrist, an Lily of the Valley have to be played together. They combine into 1 great prog song.
@@sawboss216 Absolutely always listening to them together!
Liar should be on this list. An 7 minute masterpiece composed of multiple time signatures and layers of harmony, guitar and bass solos and Freddy’s vocal masterclass
Nice list & great to see Innuendo get an extended mention- surely the most complex of their later work. Hilarious to know I wasn't the only one to hear 'pork sausages' for 'monstrosity'! I also heard 'Beelzebub has a devil put a sideboard' when I was younger! 😂
The song "Innuendo" (and slightly evenly important "The Show Must Go On") is on par with the album "Queen II". That album was not only their first but also The One of Queen's progressive album(s).
I just listened to The Prophet's Song on headphones. Freddie....enough said!!
I'm glad you gave Sweet a mention. Queen borrowed a bit from Sweets Action in Bohemian Rhapsody. ie; "So you think you'll take another piece of me..." "So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye...."
I Know Sweet can't be thought of as a progressive band but there's a few proggy Sweet songs on their albums. Check out Healer and Fountain for starters. I think you'll be surprised when you hear them, and you might even like them. 👍
Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack and Night at the Opera, that for me is their crown.
You could also have mentioned something from Sheer Heart Attack: Brighton Rock is pretty prog to me, somewhat very heavy though.
And there's that three-piece-suite that, when considered one full song, is pretty prog to me: Tenement Funster/Flick Of The Wrist/Lily of the Valley.
Three great albums. Love all those tracks.
I have a Prog playlist that includes Queen, who I consider "prog adjacent." My playlist overlaps quite a bit with your list, so great minds think alike!
Great video! Please consider doing the same thing for both Supertramp and for Styx.
Working on it!
@@classicalbum Yes! And, thank you.
Wow! Every single one of those songs are amongst my favorites. “The Prophet Song” in my opinion is their greatest song. The live version of “White Queen: Live at the Odeon” is one of the most beautiful songs ever performed. It should’ve been an instant classic. I don’t know why it isn’t.
Well said, hundreds of years ago we had Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, music that is still heard today. We had White Christmas, we had Over the Rainbow and John Philip Sousa pop up in the last hundred years. 200 years from now they will still be hearing these tunes along with the likes of the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Queen. I realize that those 3 don't cover many others that will endure but the songs that will not be heard are too numerous to mention.
Great list. Innuendo is my favorite Queen song. It definitely has some prog sound to it. I would also look at A Day At The Races with You Take My Breath Away, Somebody To Love and Teo Torriate.
If you need any more proof that Prophet Song is truly progressive, when BBC/Sky covered A Night at the Opera on their Classic Albums show it was the one track they didn't mention.
I feel the line gets drawn at Opera, but past that Millionaire Waltz, It’s Late, Bicycle Race and Princes Of The Universe could’ve gotten a mention.
Procession / Father to Son 💜
"Kind of a snobby version of The Sweet" Pure gold, and not at all inaccurate!
Good video and angle of interest. It was a bit jumpy at times which is not your usual style but still extremely good. All the best. Dave✅✅
"A snobby version of Sweet" not a bad observation that. Sweet could of covered a lot of the harmony stuff no doubt about that .
You could do a ranking of Sweet’s prog numbers as well.
@@danny1959 I'd like to see that. 👍
Sheer Heart Attack is my favourite Queen album, but I think "The Prophet's Song" is the greatest track they ever recording - acknowledging that the bar is very high!
Excellent. Lest we forget.
I really like the Prophets song. However, I am mindful of the "wowu wowu wowu" part. My mum said that it sounded like cats in heat 🥴
Thank you very much for this. People are saying they are overrated, but those people think QUEEN is just Dont stop me now, Radio GAGA , I want to break free and another one bites the dust.
Freddie was more inspired with Progressive rock then the others. also Millionaire Waltz, Liar, Death On Two Legs. Bicycle Race- was very prog, try listening to the instrumental version.
Bands like Queen I identify as ‘prog dabblers’. Not pure prog but they occasionally dip their toes in proggy waters
Absolutely, although they dabble in lots of other styles but so do genesis
Queen II is a solid classic album that definitely feels quite a bit "prog" to me. March of the Black Queen seems like the same setup that they did with Bohemian Rhapsody, and the whole album is great!
True. Flawless album.
Good video brother 👍
Excellent, as usual! You make me want to listen to certain albums that I know less. I agree with you : Queen is a mixed bag... Very good and important band, but a bit overrated, if you ask me. PS. Nice shirt!
You are right, right bloody well right !
The albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker are Queens best albums.
To me "Do you want to live forever" and "The Show Must Go On" are also prog.
At 7 yrs old ...A Night at the Opera was a gateway drug into prog
May I throw Liar into the ring.
Progtastic number from the 1973 debut.
Bares more than a resemblance to the 1970 track of the same name by Argent. The Argent track was covered in 1972 and progged up by Capability Brown, who I believe Queen were fans of. You can hear the multi layered vocal harmonies in Capability..that would have influenced.
What or who is that song about?
I’ve always considered Queen’s first few albums to be a bit proggy, as is Innuendo.
….. ‘beelzebub does the devil have a sideboard’ …… vintage Jasper Carrot)!😎
Overplayed, absolutely, but when I was playing it, nobody was back in the early eighties- Bohemian Rhapsody may very well be the greatest song ever recorded.
I doubt they were thrashing about Ogre Battle back in the Smile days....seeing as Freddie wrote that one.
Being slightly ignorant to what is considered prog, could one consider early Tyrannosaurus Rex as one its earliest exponents? They have the varying time signatures, fairies, wizards and goblins but not many instruments being played. Also the album titles would grace any prog rock bands catalogue.
Father to Son, Millionaire Waltz
Agree with the list.
Would add "Liar", though. 😉
Nice one mate 😂
An honourable mention should go to The Miracle. Maybe not an obvious choice but the construction is pure 80s pop-prog and puts to shame most of what Yes West put out at the time.
Steven Wilson has said he doesn't think Queen was really an albums band and I see what he means I think. The albums tend to be very uneven, often stylistically weird with plenty of filler. That sets them apart from the 'classic' prog acts quite a bit.
Still, there's a nice heavy prog album to be made out of your choices...
I like Queen quite a bit but I cannot stand camp, ragtime, vaudeville, etc. that’s not rock n roll. Best albums are the first three. I like about half of the next two. News of the World is great too. Most of everything else you can keep.
For me Queen II has always been their best.
These 'prog' choices would make an excellent album.
If some people call XTC prog, sure lots of queens material is absolutely prog and no denying it
"The Looser In The End" written, sung and drummed by the drummerboy of the band... how proggy do you want to go?
Also Liar
Progressive "tendencies?" At their peak they hit what Ben Rankins would describe as "full on cape-wearing prog". That's actually the only listenable Queen. Also, AOBTD is the diametric opposite of James Brown. It's 2-4-2-4, there's no ONE!
What about Flash?
Not up to your usual standard this one pal. You know it , so I don’t have to point out where, when or why. Keep it up!
id like to know why....
I vastly prefer The Prophet's Song to Bohemian Rhapsody. I fear that the latter may have been slightly over-played.
Brighton Rock?
70's Queen Yes....80's Queen No. No Mercury....No Queen
Feel this was clearly a topic for a fairly long video, so I'm unsure as to why you bashed it out in less than 10 minutes.
Because this is his regular format running time. In any event, you would need an hour or two ✌, too really cover the music 🎶 of Queen !...
@alancrisp1582 Too long spent on wordy introductory waffle and not enough time spent on the actual music.
I liked Queens 1st LP...sheer heart attack...opera...news of the world..a tad bit of Jazz and that's it...never got into Queen 2 and found races lp mediocre
I think surely Queen are pomp rock, even cabaret-rock, certainly pop rock, rather than prog.
Sorry, but I don't see this likeness with prog at all besides a few minor passages. Bohemian Rhapsody is a novelty song, hardly prog.
its progressive by definition!
@@FormulaProg Huh? Yeah...ok, so you say.
@@carlomatthews6676 what is progressive rock? Define it.
Their first album was the best.
It was all downhill from there.
The most overrated classic rock popular band out there. I still love them and own a bunch of their albums but they had a lot of crap songs throughout their career.
I always thought queen was weak.
Your loss.
Yawn
Some people clearly have no taste in music whatsoever. Sad 😔 really !..