Disc 15 is...The Game
Artist: Queen
Year of Release: 1980
How I Came To Know It: "The Game" is the first Queen album I ever heard. My brother Virgil is 7 years older than me and in his teens was big into music. He brought "The Game" home on record. I loved Queen immediately, and I love Queen to this day. They are one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
How It Stacks Up: Queen has 15 studio albums of which I own 13 (I am still looking for Made In Heaven and Innuendo). "The Game" is solid but not the tops. I would say it is top 5.
Rating: 4 stars.
This album has a special place in my heart, partly because I've known it since I was 10 years old. Every track that comes on I have to ask myself, "was this a hit?" The fact that I am asking shows the strength of the material.
"The Game" is a crazy little mix of awesome bass riffs, plaintive power ballads and Broadway numbers. Or - as my friend Spence would say - "Just another great Queen album."
When I was a kid, "Another One Bits the Dust" and "Dragon Attack" were the songs I lived for. I would go in my brother's room just to hear them. "Another One Bites the Dust" is incredible funk guitar, right in the middle of a rock album. Is that allowed? It is if you are Queen.
These tracks are still good, but I would add "Sail Away Sweet Sister" and "Save Me" to the list. Incredibly strong and emotionally resonant tracks.
If you don't have any Queen, I wouldn't pick this first, but it wouldn't be far from first. If you are thinking of getting "Greatest Hits" stop thinking that. You'd be just as happy with this or four or five other Queen albums as good or better.
Don't sell your relationship with this band short with a best of. You WILL like their albums. There is a reason they are one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and "The Game" holds its own in such august company.
Best tracks: Another One Bites The Dust, Sail Away Sweet Sister, Save Me."
1 comment:
I am grateful for getting to know Queen as an album band - this could easily have been "Greatest Hits" in my music collection before I met you.
Awesome album - what about those ass-tastic extra tracks, though, on the remasters??
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