Track Listing

1. Procession
2. Father To Son
3. White Queen (As It Began)
4. Some Day One Day
5. Loser In The End
6. Ogre Battle
7. Fairy Feller's Master Stroke
8. Nevermore
9. March Of The Black Queen
10. Funny How Love Is
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1799 in Music
• Released on: 1994-04-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
A mesmerising and at times ferocious album, reportedly much-admired by Beck and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. Coming hard on the heels of their eponymous debut--which found them a little too much under the spell of Led Zeppelin--this was the first work to approximate, in sonic terms, the group's loftier ambitions: the group and producer Roy Thomas Baker painstakingly multi-tracking vocals and guitar tracks, so as to achieve an appropriately orchestral richness of sound. The subsequent album, Sheer Heart Attack, would see them borrow from Noel Coward and the English music hall, but the sources here are more self-consciously literary; and while the result can occasionally seem too precious by half--lyrically, tracks like "The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke" and "Ogre Battle" (both Freddie Mercury compositions) betray the influence of too much Tolkien and Richard Dadd--in terms of musicianship, arrangements and melodic invention, this constitutes a staggering achievement. --Andrew McGuire

Customer Reviews

First classic
Following their promising but rather patchy debut album, Queen produced their first real classic album with the follow-up Queen II. It's a shame that this album so often overlooked and one of the bands least known albums (presumably with some people being put off of buying an album that from it's title sounds like a you need to have the first album to appreciate it). The general level of ambitious song-writing, massive layered studio production and musicianship is immense here, and this album showcases Queen at their most indulgent (when Seven Seas of Rhye is the most commercial track on the album you know this is a long way from the hit-single obsessed Queen of the '80s).

The album is neatly split over it's two sides ('White' and 'Black') with Freddy taking one side, and Brian the other. Brian May's 'White Side' starts off with the short Procession, essentially an instrumental of the following track, and marking the first use of Brian's 'guitar as string section' technique. First song proper Father to Son is a glorious rock epic and the first of two songs that clock in at over the 6 minute mark, while White Queen takes the quiet-verse / loud chorus route to great effect. Some Day One Day is a more restrained track with some great layered guitars, and while it's not one of the strongest songs on the album this marks the first time Brian would take lead vocals for Queen, and adds some good variety to the album. Closing off the side is Roger Taylor's The Loser in the End, again one of the lesser tracks on the album (with some rather cheesy lyrics) but some great drums and an incredibly overdriven guitar that sounds like a buzzsaw keeps this interesting.

Freddy's 'Black Side' starts off with the heaviest rock/metal song on the album (if not Queen's career) with the fantastic Ogre Battle. Next up is the bizarre Fairy Feller's Master Stroke, a jaunty yet very complex little ditty - weird and wonderful, and my candidate for the best song on the album. Nevermore is a very short but beautiful ballad, in the style of such later songs as Lily of the Valley and Love of my Life. The March of the Black Queen is Freddy's epic 6 minuter, and is incredibly disjointed in it's colliding parts, but is wonderfully over the top and has some fine moments. Funny How Love Is is a very simple song that sounds like a throwback to the pre-Queen Mercury - it's all chorus and no verse, so while it's the most immediately catchy song on the album it's the one you'll grow tired of quickest. Rounding the album off is the bands first hit Seven Seas of Rhye.

From this album on Queen would produce a run of classic rock albums that would stretch to the end of the 70's, but don't make the mistake of missing this album. Wildy over the top, un-commercial music, Queen II is one of the best albums Queen would ever make.

Classic early Queen!
Message to Queen fans, don't listen to the garbage that people say about this album being just a collection of fairy stories (these people seem to only appreciate Queen for their pop sensibilities), it is brilliant and often under-rated. The collection of songs towards the end of the album are quite simply magnificent! They are all written by Freddie and are connected together like a meledy. Perhaps Freddie had Abbey Road by the Beatles in mind! 'Seven Seas of Rhye' is the best known track on the album and shows Queen at their very best. Other great tracks include 'Father to Son', 'Ogre Battle' and March of the Black Queen' which is a fantastic rock opera track, while at the same time is completely mad! Listening to this song makes it obvious that Bohemian Rhapsody was on the way.

My advice to any Queen fan planning to buy this album is dont listen to any bad reviews, just go out and buy it. Anything by Queen is good!

A concept album
This is the only Queen album I own.
My first experience of Queen was them on Top Of The Pops doing Seven Seas Of Rhye. I went out and bought the single the next weekend even though we were between record players at the time! They were on tour supporting Mott The Hoople and were desperately seeking an audience. The music press were unimpressed by the college boys version of heavy rock. In the long run the press were proved right...Queen were lightweights, and seemed quite proud of it most of the time. However Queen II is a genuine heavy rock album with a story to tell in the lyrics and quality playing throughout......real riffs on most tracks too!
It works as an album rather than a series of songs. Something that listens to friends copies of subsequent albums showed they never really achieved again....if they bothered to try.
They never became a heavy rock group but Queen II clearly indicates they considered it.
I've spent much of my life justifying the presence of this album alongside the plethora of credible rock albums in my collection but still went out and replaced the vinyl with the cd.
I've read some of the other reviews and am quite surprised that Queen fans actually like it!
Keep on Rockin'