Forever Queen

Queen the debut album was released by the British rock band Queen. It came out in 1973 and was a combination of heavy metal and progressive rock. On this first album, Freddie Mercury wrote five of the songs and lead guitarist Brian May four songs. The drummer Roger Taylor wrote and sang “Modern Times Rock and Roll”. This made everyone aware of how talented this band was and that they were worth listening to. The singles released were “Keep Yourself Alive” (written by Brian May) and “Liar” (written by Freddie Mercury).

Queen II

When the band Queen came out with their second album Queen II it made people sit up and take notice of their music. The album was unique all around in that it had a White Side and a Black Side. There was the song “White Queen” and on the other side the “March of the Black Queen”.

The single released from this album “The Seven Seas of Rhye” was begun by Freddie Mercury in 1969 when he hadn’t joined Queen. The song begins with a distinctive arpeggiated piano intro. Usually, arpeggios are played with two hands but Mercury also made it work with a one-handed simpler version.

Basically, this was the album that really launched Queen. As far as fans were concerned this was one of Queen's best albums. The album is attributed to several genres among them art rock, hard rock, glam rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock.

Sheer Heart Attack

Queen came out with their third album and titled it Sheer Heat Attack. It was released in 1974. Queen took off on a promotional tour. Three singles were released “Killer Queen”, “Now I’m Here,” and “Lily of the Valley.” This was the first Queen album to list on the U.S. Top 20.

A Night at the Opera

The fourth album Queen came out with was A Night at the Opera. It was named after a film by The Marx Brothers with the same name. It was released by EMI Records in the U.K. and Elektra Records in the U.S. in 1975. This album became Queen’s first album to be certified Platinum in the U.S. The album also includes their most successful U.K. single “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Another single from the album was “You’re My Best Friend.” Rolling Stone has the album on their list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and in 2018 the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

A Day At the Races

Queen came out with their fifth album in 1976 and it was the first album that the band self-produced. This was the second time that they titled their album after a Marx Brothers film. This album produced five singles “Somebody to Love,” “Tie Your Mother Down,” and “Good Old-fashioned Lover Boy.” Two singles “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)” was released in Japan only and “Long Away” only in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand.

“Somebody to Love” was the hit single of the album. It was written by Freddie Mercury and inspired by gospel music. The song rose to the top of the U.K. charts.

News of the World

News of the World was the sixth album by Queen. This is the album that included the rock anthems “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You”. It is considered to be one of their greatest albums. I cannot say which of these songs I like the best but there is something that really moves me about “We Will Rock You” and Freddie Mercury could rock me with every concert video I watched.

This album became Platinum in the U.S. Two other singles from this album were “Spread Your Wings” and “It’s Late.” When Queen went on tour to promote this album they performed 26 concerts in the U.S. and 21 in the U.K.

Jazz

The seventh album was titled Jazz. This Queen album was recorded in 1978 and included the song most everyone knows “Bicycle Race.” The album was well-accepted in both the U.S. and the U.K. Four singles were released from this album “Bicycle Race,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Mustapha,” and “Jealousy.”

“Don’t Stop Me Now” was written by Freddie Mercury and is one of Queen’s most famous songs. This song was used in the movie “Shaun of the Dead” in the well-known bar scene. In September 2011 Google used this song in their Google Doodle tribute to Mercury’s 65th birthday.

The Game

The Game was the eighth album that Queen recorded. It included one of their best-known songs “Another One Bites the Dust.” The album came out in 1980 and was the first album with recordings made using a synthesizer.

Believe it or not, this was the only Queen album to rise to number one in the U.S. From this album came five singles “Crazy Thing Called Love,” “Save Me.” “Play the Game,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” and “Need Your Loving Tonight.”

Flash Gordon

Queen titled their ninth album, Flash Gordon. It was released in 1980. This album is the soundtrack to the sci-fi fiction film “Flash Gordon”. It features lyrics on only two tracks “Flash’s Theme” was the only single released.

Hot Space

Queen titled their tenth album Hot Space. The album was released in 1982, The singles from the album were “Under Pressure” which was a collaboration with David Bower and became their second number one hit in the U.K., “Body Language”, “Las Plabras de Amor,” “Staying Power,” and “Calling All Girls.”

The band’s Hot Space tour was their last tour of North America. For their next albums, they did not tour North America and afterwards stopped touring due to Mercury’s ill health.

The Works

The Works is the eleventh studio album by Queen. It was released in 1984. This album included four singles the ever-popular ‘Radio Ga Ga,” “I Want to Break Free,” another favorite, “It’s a Hard Life,” and ‘Hammer to Fall.” This album also included two Christmas songs “I Dream of Christmas,” and “Thank God It’s Christmas.” Considering that the release of the album was in February either Queen missed Christmas or wanted to be early for the next holiday.

On this album, I like two of the singles equally so I chose to include “I Want to Break Free’ here. Besides I just love the video with all of them dressed up like ladies.

A Kind of Magic

The twelfth album Queen recorded was A Kind of Magic and it came out in 1986. The album came out after the band had received acclaim for their fantastic performance at the Live Aid Concert in 1985. The album included four hit singles the title track, “Prince of the Universe.” “One Vision,” and “Who Wants to Live Forever.”

The last track on this album “Princes of the Universe” was the theme song for the film “Highlander.” This was the last album they promoted with a concert tour.

A Kind of Magic became one of the first albums that was released in the U.S.S.R. and recorded by a major Western rock group. The label Melodiya purchased the rights along with rights to the concert film from the Magic Tour, titled Hungarian Rhapsody and filmed in Budapest, Hungary. It was very successful in the country.

The Miracle

The thirteenth album released by Queen in 1989 was called The Miracle. It took them a year to record the album due to Mercury’s health. He had been diagnosed with AIDS in 1987 but had not made it public yet. This was the last Queen album that had a photo of the band on the cover. The album rose to number one on the charts in the U.K., Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

This album includes five singles “I Want It All,” “Breakthru,” “The Invisible Man,” “Scandal,” and “The Miracle.”

The Last Two Queen Albums

Innuendo was the fourteenth album recorded by the band Queen and released in 1992. It was the last album to be released in Freddie Mercury’s lifetime. The album contained completely new material. It was their first album to go Gold in the U.S.

Nine months after the release of this album Mercury died.

There were six singles from this album and one of my all-time favorites “These Are the Days of Our Lives” and every time I see the video now I get misty-eyed when Mercury sings.

Their last studio album was Made in Heaven and released after Mercury’s death in 1991 and has on the cover the statue of Freddy Mercury overlooking Lake Geneva in Montreux, Switzerland.

The singles on the album were “Heaven for Everyone”, “A Winter’s Tale”, “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, “I Was Born to Love You”, “Let Me Live”, and “You Don’t Fool Me”.