Sheer Heart Attack is the third album by English rock group Queen, released November 1974. It was produced by Queen and Roy Thomas Baker for EMI in the UK, and Elektra in the US.
The album launched the band to mainstream popularity both in the UK and internationally: the first single, "Killer Queen" reached #2 in the British charts and provided Queen with their first US Top 20 hit, peaking at #12 on the Billboard singles chart. Sheer Heart Attack was also the first Queen album to hit the US Top 20, peaking at #12 in 1975. Described by Allmusic as "the moment where they truly came into their own," the album was also a critical success, receiving largely positive reviews, and being cited in recent years as one of Queen's finest works and one of the best rock albums ever recorded.
Track listing
| Writer(s) |
| 1. |
"In the Lap of the Gods" |
Mercury |
3:20 |
| 2. |
"Stone Cold Crazy" |
Mercury, May, Taylor, John Deacon |
2:12 |
| 3. |
"Dear Friends" |
May |
1:07 |
| 4. |
"Misfire" |
Deacon |
1:50 |
| 5. |
"Bring Back That Leroy Brown" |
Mercury |
2:13 |
| 6. |
"She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)" |
May |
4:08 |
| 7. |
"In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited" |
Mercury |
3:42 |
Song information
Brighton Rock
Brian May wrote "Brighton Rock" in 1973 but they couldn't finish recording it for the second album so they did it in the third. The title is something of a pun: Brighton rock is a long, cylindrical sugar candy traditional to that seaside resort. The term was also iconic in UK pop culture as the title of a dark Graham Greene thriller/noir novel later adapted into a successful film starring Richard Attenborough as a teenage sociopath.
The song, the first track on the album tells the story of two young lovers meeting in Brighton on a public holiday. Jenny cannot linger because she is afraid her mother will find out "how I spent my holiday", but afterwards "writes a letter every day"; Jimmy, eager on the day, is not so happy with her "nothing can my love erase": now he is the one afraid of discovery by "my lady". The song was originally intended to be a duet but Freddie Mercury ended up doing both female and male parts of the vocals.
The fairground sounds at the beginning of the track were contributed, uncredited, by Colin Macnab, a Glasgow-based sound recordist who was a friend of Rab Johnstone, a member of Queen's road crew.
A brief whistled snatch of I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside appears towards the end of Macnab's field recording which mirrors its previous appearance as the playout of Seven Seas of Rhye, the final track on Queen's previous album.
The song is probably best-known for its lengthy guitar solo interlude. This featured May's technique of using multiple echoes used to build up guitar harmony and contrapuntal melodic lines. The studio version only contains one "main" guitar and one "echoed" guitar for a short section, but live, he would usually split his guitar signal into "main" and two "echoed", with each going to a separate bank of amplifiers.
Variations of this solo often featured during live Queen concerts, either as part of a rendition of Brighton Rock, a medley of it with some other songs (as witnessed on the News of the World tour where it segued after Freddie Mercury's multiple echoed vocal solo at the end of White Man and Brian May's solo would segue into "The Prophet's Song" or "Now I'm Here"), or on its own as a guitar solo.
Originally the solo was part of the song "Blag", from May and Roger Taylor's previous band Smile. May would then play it live in the Queen song "Son and Daughter", and this arrangement also appeared on a session for the BBC in late 1973. Also this solo appeared on earlier recordings of "Liar". Later, the first half of "Brighton Rock" segued, via the guitar solo, to the closing section of "Son and Daughter", and as of the 1977 A Day at the Races tour was eventually played as a track in its own right until 1979. However, during the News of the World tour of 1977 and 1978, a shortened version of the song was played without the lengthy guitar solo during the beginning of the concert. Proof of that can be heard on bootlegs from the tour.
In the late seventies, the guitar solo was adapted to include some bass and drums, including a timpani solo by Taylor (from October, 1978 to November, 1981). In 1980 and 1981, the solo was included as a medley with Keep Yourself Alive, before becoming a performance in its own right. During the recent tour of Queen + Paul Rodgers, a modified version, incorporating bits of "Chinese Torture" (from the album The Miracle) and the introduction from "Now I'm Here" was featured in the concerts. The live piece is often between nine to sixteen minutes long.
Killer Queen
Main article:
Killer Queen"Killer Queen" (Sample (info)) was written by Freddie Mercury and it was the band's first international hit. It is one of the few songs by Mercury for which he wrote the lyrics first. The band initially did the song without Brian May while he was in the hospital, leaving spaces for whenever he felt better. Mercury played jangle piano as well as a grand one.
Tenement Funster
"Tenement Funster" is Roger Taylor's song on the album. He sang the lead vocals. Backing track consisted of Taylor's drums, Mercury's piano, Deacon's bass and May's Red Special guitar. It's a typical Taylor track about youth and rebellion. It also includes echo effects with May's guitar, like in "Brighton Rock". The last couple of guitar notes overlap into "Flick Of The Wrist". The original working title for the song song was "Tin Dreams".
Flick of the Wrist
"Flick of the Wrist" was the Double A-side of "Killer Queen" but it was much less promoted and therefore not as popular outside the Queen fandom. The song includes Mercury singing octave vocals. When May returned to work having recovered from his hepatitis, he had not heard the song before he recorded his guitar and backing vocals. It is a heavy track with quite dark lyrics and an aggressive tone, something that may seem unusual for later Queen-songs, but in the early days (especially on Queen II) Mercury and May would often write grim songs, such as "Great King Rat" and "Son and Daughter". At about 1:14 - 1:16, the line "Baby you've been had" can be heard. This line is also the opening to the next song on the album, "Lily of the Valley", making a 3-song overlap (Tenement Funster into Flick Of The Wrist, Flick Of The Wrist into Lily Of The Valley).
Lily of the Valley
"Lily of the Valley" is one of May's favorite songs by Mercury. Mercury played piano and did all of the vocals. The song has a reference to Seven Seas of Rhye in the line "messenger from Seven Seas has flown to tell the King of Rhye he's lost his throne"
The song, together with Tenement Funster and Flick of the Wrist, was covered by Dream Theater on the Bonus Disc of their album Black Clouds & Silver Linings.
Now I'm Here
Main article:
Now I'm Here"Now I'm Here" is the band's second single in the album. Written by May while at the hospital, recalling touring with Mott the Hoople, it was recorded during the last week of the sessions, with May playing piano. The song relies a lot on delay machines, foreshadowing "The Prophet's Song".
In the Lap of the Gods
"In the Lap of the Gods" is, according to Mercury himself, the direct prelude to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the A Night at the Opera album in general. There are fast piano arpeggios as in "Death on Two Legs" and some multi-tracked harmonies. Taylor provided the screams, which he proved weren't artificially created when he did them every night during their world tour.
Stone Cold Crazy
"Stone Cold Crazy" was allegedly written by Mercury whilst in Wreckage, one of his pre-Queen bands. Queen played it live as early as 1972, apparently as the first song they performed on stage[1] and, in late 1974, they finally decided to record a studio version. Amusingly enough, nobody seemed to remember who wrote the lyrics when the album was released, hence the shared writing credit. The lyrics themselves deal with gangsters, making a reference to Al Capone. It was the first song credited to all four members of Queen.
Dear Friends
"Dear Friends" was May's song featuring him on the piano and backing vocals, Mercury doing lead vocals.
Def Leppard covered this song for a Wal Mart bonus EP for their cover album, Yeah!
Misfire
"Misfire" was John Deacon's first composition, and has a light-hearted Caribbean/Reggae theme. Deacon played most of the guitars including the solo, and Mercury sang all the vocals.
Neko Case performed a country version of the song on her 1997 solo debut album, "The Virginian."
Bring Back That Leroy Brown
"Bring Back That Leroy Brown" was written by Mercury and features him doing most of the vocals (with production techniques using tape speed to make it sound really low in the harmonies) as well as grand piano and jangle piano. May played ukulele-banjo and Deacon did a line with a double bass. The song's title alludes to the standard Bad Bad Leroy Brown by the American singer-songwriter Jim Croce (little known in Queen's native UK) who had died in a plane crash the previous year.
She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)
"She Makes Me" was written and sung by May with Deacon playing acoustic guitars. The song's finale features what May referred to as "New York nightmare sounds", which include NYC police vehicle sirens and deep-breathing sounds which accompany the closing bars.
In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited
With its powerful chorus and stadium rock-esque sound, "In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited" is, in many ways, the forerunner to "We Are the Champions". The explosion heard at the end of the song was achieved through tape-saturation. Live, it was achieved with actual pyrotechnics, the first use of such effects by the band.
Reception
Critical
Critical response was largely positive. NME wrote: "A feast. No duffers, and four songs that will just run and run: Killer Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Now I'm Here and In The Lap Of The Gods...revisited.“[4] The Winnipeg Free Press commended "Brian May's multi-tracked guitar, Freddie Mercury's stunning vocalizing and Roy Thomas Baker's dynamic production work", calling the album "a no-holds barred, full-scale attack on the senses."[7] Circus referred to the album as "perhaps the heaviest, rockingest assault on these shores we've enjoyed in some time."[1] Rolling Stone offered a mostly positive review, giving the album a 3/5 star rating, and concluding: "If it's hard to love, it's hard not to admire: This band is skilled, after all, and it dares."
Later reviews in notable publications Allmusic, Mojo and Q were extremely positive. Allmusic awarded the album 4.5/5 stars, writing: "the theatricality is now wielded on everyday affairs, which ironically makes them sound larger than life. And this sense of scale, combined with the heavy guitars, pop hooks, and theatrical style, marks the true unveiling of Queen, making Sheer Heart Attack as the moment where they truly came into their own." Mojo awarded the album 4/5 stars, noting that it was "often overlooked in favour of A Night at the Opera," and calling it "equally stellar."[3] Q awarded the album 5/5 stars, calling it "indispensable," and "one of the great pop/rock admixtures of the '70s."[5]
Sheer Heart Attack was ranked #25 in NME's end-of-year list for 1974.[8] In 2006, Classic Rock ranked it #28 in "The 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever",[9] and in 2007, Mojo ranked it #88 in "The 100 Records That Changed the World."[10] As well as other Queen albums Queen II and A Night at the Opera, Sheer Heart Attack has been featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[11]
Commercial
The first single, "Killer Queen" reached #2 in the British charts and provided Queen with their first US Top 20 hit peaking at #12 on the Billboard singles chart. Sheer Heart Attack was Queen's first album to hit the US Top 20 peaking at #12 in 1975 and was certified Gold in sales by the R.I.A.A. in 1975.
The release of Sheer Heart Attack coincided with Queen's first tour of Japan, which caused country-wide hysteria with numerous Japanese fans watching the band's first tour in Asia.
Personnel
- Freddie Mercury: Vocals, Piano, Jangle Piano
- Brian May: Guitars, Vocals, Piano, Ukulele, Banjo, Lead Vocal on "She Makes Me"
- Roger Taylor: Drums, Percussion, Vocals, Lead Vocal on "Tenement Funster", Screams on "In The Lap of The Gods"
- John Deacon: Bass Guitars, Acoustic Guitars, Rhythm Guitar, Electric Guitar, All guitars on "Misfire", Double-bass on "Bring back that Leroy Brown"
During Queen's first North American Tour (as a support band for Mott the Hoople) Brian felt ill with hepatitis (he had been infected with an unclean needle during a vaccination before the Australian tour), but he continued to work from hospital. When he was fit, the work continued in studio, but then he fell ill again, this time with a stomach ulcer. When he was recovering after an operation, the next tour had been canceled. Brian felt guilty, and was a bit nervous that someone would replace him in the band. Much to his relief, no one in the group had even considered it. All three members were continuing on recording without Brian at the time. Production planning had left a lot of spaces in the songs for Brian's solos. When he felt well enough, he came back and completed the tracks with guitar solos and backing vocals.
Charts
| Country |
Charts |
Sales |
|
Peak position |
Weeks |
Certification |
Sales |
| Belgium |
1 |
|
|
|
| United Kingdom |
2 |
42 |
2x Platinum |
700.000 |
| Netherlands |
6 |
|
Platinum |
100.000 |
| Norway |
9 |
22 |
|
|
| United States |
12 |
32 |
Platinum |
1.300.000 |
| Japan |
23 |
|
Gold |
250.000 |
| Canada |
|
|
|
200.000 |
| France |
|
|
|
150.000 |
| Germany |
|
|
|
200.000 |
| Italy |
|
|
|
150.000 |
| Spain |
|
|
|
60.000 |
Tour
From 10 October 1974 through to 1 May 1975 the album was promoted on tour. The tour consisted of 3 legs and 77 individual shows, and was the band's first world tour.
The supporting bands consisted of Styx, Kansas, Hustler, and Mahogany Rush.
References
- ^ a b Circus review (archived at queenarchives.com)
- ^ The Great Rock Discography, 7th Edition (2004)
- ^ a b Mojo, August 1995, p.34: "...often overlooked in favour of A Night at the Opera"... "equally stellar... (4 stars)"
- ^ a b Quoted in Jacky Gunn, Jim Jenkins. Queen. As It Began. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1992, p. 84. ISBN 0-283-06052-2
- ^ a b Q Magazine, August 2002, p.150: "Indispensable... Introduced the roaring chrome camp-rock of future Queen... This album was one of the great pop/rock admixtures of the '70s... (5 stars)."
- ^ The Daily Vault review (archived at queenarchives.com)
- ^ a b Winnipeg Free Press, 5 July 1975 (Queen Archives)
- ^ NME end of year list, 1974 (rocklistmusic)
- ^ Classic Rock "The 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever" (rocklistmusic)
- ^ Mojo, June 2007, "The 100 Records That Changed the World"
- ^ 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
