Published on Jan 25, 1997
Sometimes, one overlooks the obvious.
Thanks to sports teams around the world playing “We Are The
Champions” and the opening stomps of “We Will Rock You” ad nauseam,
it has been easy for me to continually pass up Queen’s 1978 release
News Of The World. If I want to hear that noise, I often
thought, all I had to do was tune in my beloved Chicago Bulls.
But something inside the Pierce Memorial Archives kept calling
me to listen to the whole album – or maybe it was the burritos.
Whatever it was, the CD has been given its turn on the platter –
and what a fool I was for passing it up so long.
Once you get past “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions,”
Freddie Mercury and crew put together the best mixture of musical
styles they had ever achieved. The heavy-metal bombast of “Sheer
Heart Attack” is pure power, while “Spread Your Wings” is one of
the band’s best ballads they ever recorded. And the rhythmic
shuffle of “Fight From The Inside” (with drummer Roger Taylor
taking over as lead throat) is simply hypnotic.
I’ve said for some time that Brian May, besides being an
incredible guitarist, was a very capable singer and songwriter. On
News Of The World, he proves it on the track “Sleeping On
The Sidewalk.” The original closer to the album, “My Melancholy
Blues,” wraps up what just may have been the best Queen album to
have ever been released.
Enter Rick Rubin in 1991 to momentarily fuck it up. His remix of
“We Will Rock You” on the re-released CD has him credited as
ruining it. Whoever decided on that label was painfully accurate.
On other Queen albums, alternate versions of tracks were thrown in
as carrots on a stick. This “carrot” is one that should be avoided,
though the CD is worth adding to the collection.
Queen hit their creative peak on
News Of The World – a peak I’m not sure they ever hit again.
Whatever the case, this album is their best work, and is an
essential addition to anyone’s collection.