Track Listing

1. Brighton Rock
2. Tenement Funster
3. Flick Of The Wrist
4. Lily Of The Valley
5. Now I'm Here
6. In The Lap Of The Gods
7. Stone Cold Crazy
8. Bring Back That Leroy Brown
9. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos)
10. In The Lap Of The Gods...revisited
11. Killer Queen
12. Dear Friends
13. Misfire

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1563 in Music
• Released on: 1993-09-27
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Sheer Heart Attack is probably the band's first mature album, in which they married the Led Zeppelin-influenced crunch of their eponymous debut, and the sonic gimmickry and thematic ambition of its follow-up, Queen II. They then hitched the result to their strongest songwriting to date: the single, "Killer Queen," actually won an Ivor Novello award, and pointed the way forward to subsequent glories. Occasionally their desire to cover every conceivable stylistic base becomes wearying (did ragtime pastiche "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" ever seem like a good idea?), but the ambitious structures and elegant arrangements of tracks like "In the Lap of the Gods" and "Lily of the Valley" attest to a formidable and distinctive musical vision. And when they cut loose and actually rocked out ("Now I'm Here", "Brighton Rock"), few of their peers could match their power--something that many critics, alienated by Mercury's fondness for the grand gesture, nowadays mostly choose to forget. --Andrew McGuire

Customer Reviews

The Queen Quadrilogy - Episode 1
The 1970's was undoubtedly Queen's most prolific creative period and the Quadrilogy I refer to is of course virtual - from Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera, A Day At the Races and News Of The World - although the second and third albums were destined to be closely linked.

Sheer Heart Attack represented a major change in step for Queen - from the highly progressive and experimental Queen and Queen II with their very limited commercially viability in terms of self-promotion (singles).

The change in step still featured an incredibly diverse mix of styles and songs - together with a number of clearly linked songs (Tenement Funster, Flick of The Wrist, Lily Of The Valley) - but with considerably more scope for singles. Queen chose but two - Killer Queen (an obvious and hugely successful choice) and Now I'm Here - but scope remained - with the very catchy John Deacon penned-pop number 'Misfire' Roger Taylor penned and vocalled 'Tenement Funster' and dare I say the pastiche 'Bring Back That Leroy Brown' (had the record companies been ready to take a chance...)
What remains is an album that feels like a worthy predeccessor to Queen's 'Sgt Pepper' - A Night At The Opera. And in terms of success - it marked a major change in step for the next 3 (yes 4 albums in just 3) years output which was of course supported by Queen's highly polished and prolific touring schedule. Again - it defined 'Album' for me - in that it was not merely a collection of singles or songs - but a marvelous emotional journey through a cascade of different flavours - from the hard but very technical Brighton Rock, the classic Killer Queen, warm blues-rock Tenement Funster through the highly futuristic and bizarre In The Lap Of The Gods, the ultra modern (for it's time) Misfire and more Gods(revisited...)with the it's hugely anthemic 'Wo Wo La La La!'

If you are to own only 4 Queen Albums - Sheer Heart Attack should definitely be included.

Queen at the height of their powers
The early 1970's were a really great time for British rock music with Queen, Bowie and many others at their height of their powers. I was only eight at the time but I still remember "Killer Queen" on Top of the Pops - Freddie Mercury in fur coat, make-up and black nail varnish. Mindblowing ! 1974 saw the two best Queen albums - this one and Queen II. Personally I prefer the full glam rock experience of Queen II, while Sheer Heart Attack is more commercial. There are some great songs here including probably my favourite Queen track of all - Brighton Rock. Pure genius. For the real Queen experience you need Sheer Heart Attack and Queen II. Don't miss it !.

QUEENS BEST?
This could be Queens best album, it fuses the bombastic rock of the first two albums and the extravagance of the next two into a perfect rock album. The playing, singing and production is excellent. A fast paced and memorable record.

Best songs: they are all good but I really like Misfire. A great melody.

After this Queen got above their station, the singles were consistently good but the albums became patchy.