Elton John in the early 1970s is like crack heroin

Best Song(s):

Honky Cat
I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself
Susie (Dramas)
Salvation
Amy

17 tracks over 70 minutes and they're all incredible. Jeff Lynne is either god or very close to it. Concerto for a Rainy Day in particular is ascendant and one of the best cohesive pieces of music ever made. Somehow not even a top 5 album from 1977, absurdly good year for music.

Best Song(s):

Turn to Stone
Across the Border
Night in the City
Jungle
Standin' in the Rain
Big Wheels
Mr. Blue Sky
Sweet is the Night

A great collection of basically every song from my niche McCartney-esque pop king. It's a shame his label never promoted him because he was one of the most promising young artists of all time, you don't get the nickname one-man Beatles for no reason. With My Face on the Floor is one of my favorite songs of all time. Mother Earth is also excellent. There's just a great number of fun little tracks.

Best Song(s):

Mother Earth
Holly Park
With My Face on the Floor
Somebody Made for Me
Fresh as a ... read more

ELO, tasked with the impossibly high expectation of following up Out of the Blue one of the best pop albums of the 70s delivered another one of the best pop albums of the 70s. This is Jeff Lynne in his absolute prime and he couldn't write anything that didn't end up becoming a hit. Fairly sure his daily speech was solely comprised of catchy hooks.

Best Song(s):

Shine a Little Love
Last Train to London
Midnight Blue
Wishing

Second best five track King Crimson album with an obligatory long mostly improv 4th track. This album is so incredible to listen to, even though I don't return to it very much. Starless is possibly their best work.

Best Song(s):

Red
One More Red Nightmare
Starless

These guys are really popular for a band that has basically no staying power in my mind. Never heard anyone say that their favorite band is Foreigner except for me three years ago for some reason. Anyways, this is a fairly solid effort with a handful of good songs. Not really any substance here, this is just two/three songs crafted for the radio masquerading as a full LP.

Best Song(s):

Blue Morning, Blue Day
Double Vision
Tramontane

As an homage, this is good, but as an album it's really nothing to write home about. This is effectively a collection of vocal demos that Freddie Mercury had created over his career that the band just added instrumentals to. The songs really do nothing for me though, apart from the vocals. Notable moments here include the ending of Heaven for Everyone, and an absolutely insane vocal run on Mother Love at 1:48 (you must listen to this song it is haunting), but that's about it.

I wanted to talk ... read more

What a comeback!!

This album is awesome and really interesting to listen to with the knowledge that Freddie would die later that year. This is his swan song and as he is actively dying he somehow manages to produce the best album Queen has made in 15 years. You wouldn't be able to tell from listening to this that Freddie was dying though, he sounds amazing, I Imagine largely due to the fact that he took actual vocal lessons for the first time. Everyone in the band brings it here, they knew it ... read more

WHO SAID THAT MY PARTY WAS ALL OVER????

Not as bad as some will have you believe, but this is just impressively mediocre. The most popular songs on here aren't very popular for Queen standards but they're some of the best pure pop songs that they've made in a long time. I get a surprising amount of enjoyment out of listening to this. Khashoggi's Ship, which should without a doubt be absolutely awful, is somehow one of my favorite 80s Queen tracks. The good songs here have great hooks with a ... read more

Agony. Agonizing is the only word I could use to describe listening to this steaming pile of dog shit. Starting with the album cover, this has got to be the ugliest cover I have ever seen. The cover has no impact on the music of course, it's just that bad. I will save two songs from my wrath. Admittedly, One Vision and Who Wants to Live Forever are awesome songs. Combined, they take up about a quarter of the tracklist, but they can only save it so much.

The other seven tracks are all god ... read more

Compared to Flash Gordon, this is a massive improvement, but as an album experience there's really no substance here. It's weird because most of the songs are solid but put together it just makes for an uninspiring listen. This album has some of my favorite Queen songs, like Keep Passing the Open Windows and Hammer to Fall, but there's some absolutely awful stuff here. I'd be perfectly content with not hearing Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free for multiple lifetimes. I Want to Break Free ... read more

Honestly? Hot Space is way overhated by Queen fans and music fans in general. It's not a great album by any means but this could've been so much worse. The idea of Queen doing disco sounds much worse than the actual execution. I can enjoyably listen to most of the tracks, and the ones that I can't are mostly just boring, uninspired, or sappy. Body Language however is an exceptionally awful song. I don't know 1) what they were thinking and 2) how a song could possible be that bad. Strong ... read more

What a disaster. This album has like three OK songs and fifteen uninspiring filler shitty ones. Honestly barely remember this because I've listened to it like twice but it is a true stinker. Not like you could expect this to be could anyways. It's apparently a bad movie and to my knowledge Brian May is the only one who really worked on it at all. Thankfully this is the worst it gets for 80s queen but there's still not much to look forward to.

Best Song(s):

Flash's Theme
Football Fight
The Hero

We are so back!!!! This album is a lot of fun, but I can't deny that quality-wise it's just not very good, it's hard not to love though. The quality takes a considerable dip about halfway through, but it's not as bad as some will have you think, even if the writing becomes really sappy and awful. Queen's musicianship is on full display here.

Best Song(s):

Dragon Attack
Another One Bites the Dust
Need Your Loving Tonight
Sail Away Sweet Sister

They could just slap a Queen logo on anything at this point and it would sell, which is exactly what they did. Most of the songs on here are depressingly uninspiring, except for a few that carry a LOT of the weight. The least popular songs are the best on here. It's a shame Queen has kinda resigned themselves to making slop. More of That Jazz in particular is an absolute travesty of a song. An awful idea with somehow even worse execution which denies the perfect closer, Don't Stop Me Now from ... read more

Not really close to anything they've made up to this point, but this is still a good album. Queen's imminent decline lines up exactly when they started making flavorless stadium rock. Thankfully, this album only features two flavorless stadium rock songs. Regardless, this album isn't very well rounded, a lot on the songs on here are massive whiffs, but most of them connect. IMO the best song from the NotW sessions is actually a bonus track on the deluxe version called Feelings, Feelings, would ... read more

The better of the "a ___ at the ___" duo, but people are too afraid to admit that. Songs are consistently a very high quality, and there's just nothing on here not to like. Maybe Tie Your Mother Down can get a little boring after enough listens, but this has a bunch of Queen's most underrated tracks. White Man??? Drowse??? Teo Torriatte??? These are all like, top 25 Queen and no one listens to them. Drowse especially is hauntingly beautiful and honestly surprisingly well-written from ... read more

What an album, man. Every song on this is awesome, as much as people shit on I'm in Love with My Car. Bohemian Rhapsody obviously deserves its flowers, but this has some of Queen's most cohesive and best work. Death on Two Legs is unironically maybe the best diss track ever made until like, a week ago. Everybody was firing on all cylinders here. Queen's most popular for a reason.

Best Song(s):

Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)
'39
The Prophet's Song
Bohemian Rhapsody

Pre-commercial Queen is so much fun to listen to. They'd get their first taste of it here, but there's still an extensive amount of experimentation. The guitar work on this album is next-level, Brighton Rock has an epic meandering 3 minute guitar solo, and the delay pedal layering on Tenement Funster is delicious. She Makes Me is beautiful and tragic and easily one of the most slept-on Queen songs.

Best Song(s):

Brighton Rock
Tenement Funster
Now I'm Here
In the Lap of the Gods
She Makes Me ... read more

Queen doing prog was one of the best things to happen to music. This album takes you to Rhye, slaps you in the face and takes you back in just 40 minutes. Great mix of experimentation and approachability, some of Queen's best and most longstanding work on here. Just don't ask about what comes before rub-a-dub-a baby oil.

Best Song(s):

Father to Son
White Queen (As it Began)
The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke
The March of the Black Queen
Seven Seas of Rhye