News of the World (album)
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| News of the World | ||
| Image:Queen News Of The World.png | ||
| Studio album by Queen | ||
| Released | October 28, 1977 | |
| Recorded | July-September 1977 at Basing Street, Wessex | |
| Genre | Rock Progressive rock Hard rock Heavy metal | |
| Length | 39:30 | |
| Label | EMI/Parlophone Elektra Records (US) Hollywood Records (US) | |
| Producer(s) | Queen, assisted by Mike Stone | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Queen chronology | ||
| Image:Queen A Day At The Races.png A Day at the Races (1976) | Image:Queen News Of The World.png News of the World (1977) | Image:Queen Jazz.png Jazz (1978)
|
News of the World is a Queen album released on October 28, 1977.
Containing such hit songs as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" (which are both commonly heard at sporting events) and "Spread Your Wings", the album went four times platinum in the United States alone and is tied with 1980's The Game as Queen's best American selling album.
The album is considered one of Queen's strongest albums, albeit a bit of an abrupt departure from the band's progressive mysticism into a much more spontaneous recording. Brian May confirmed this on In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to News of the World.
The album was once again produced by the band members themselves and was recorded at Sarm West and Wessex Studios, England and co-produced and engineered by Mike Stone.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- Side 1
- "We Will Rock You" (May) - 2:01
- "We Are the Champions" (Mercury) - 2:59
- "Sheer Heart Attack" (Taylor) - 3:24
- "All Dead, All Dead" (May) - 3:09
- "Spread Your Wings" (Deacon) - 4:32
- "Fight From the Inside" (Taylor) - 3:03
- Side 2
- "Get Down, Make Love" (Mercury) - 3:51
- "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" (May) - 3:07
- "Who Needs You" (Deacon) - 3:07
- "It's Late" (May) - 6:27
- "My Melancholy Blues" (Mercury) - 3:29
1991 Hollywood Records bonus track:
- "We Will Rock You ('1991 Bonus Remix Ruined by Rick Rubin')" (May) – 4:47
[edit] We Will Rock You
"We Will Rock You" was not released as a single in its own right in the U.K., but as a B-side to "We Are the Champions". Despite this, it became one of Queen's biggest songs worldwide, and a staple of arena and stadium sports everywhere. It was a conscious decision by Brian May to make the song so simple and anthemic ("stomp, stomp, clap, pause" in a 4/4 metre), so that the audience at their concerts could be more directly involved in the show. At the time, Queen was looking to connect with their audiences and fans at live shows in new ways. Elektra Records in the US recommended to the band they put "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" together as a single and the double A-side reached #4 in the US in 1978. In the video for "We Will Rock You" and "Spread Your Wings" Brian May used a copy of his guitar. He supposedly didn't want to commit his Red Special (which he made with his dad when he was 16) to outside conditions, as the videos for these songs featured the band performing in the snow. The duplicate guitar was made by John Birch, but May never felt comfortable with its sound. The guitar was used as a stage backup for several years before Brian threw it offstage during a performance out of frustration, breaking it into several pieces.
[edit] We Are the Champions
"We Are the Champions" had been already written in 1975 but it wasn't recorded until 1977, according to what he said in one of the A Night At The Opera DVD audio commentaries. Freddie Mercury was thinking about football when he wrote it and all of his life was surprised that nobody composed anything to overtake it. "We Are the Champions" was the first promotional video for which fan club members were invited to participate in the filming. The video was filmed at the New London Theatre on October 6th 1977. Everyone got a single and Queen did a free concert after the shoot.
[edit] Sheer Heart Attack
"Sheer Heart Attack" was half-finished at the time of the eponymous album. Roger Taylor sang it all on the demo but for the definitive version the band decided Mercury should co-sing lead vocals (probably based on the fact that May already sang two and Taylor sang one). Guitars and bass were played by Taylor, apart from some guitar "screams", during the instrumental section, which were played by May.
During this time, the punk rock movement went into full effect, and this song was viewed as something of a jab at the musicians who felt bands like Queen were too self-indulgent. Of note is the lyric "I feel so inarticulate", and the fact that Taylor stated in interviews that he thought many of the 1970s punk bands had very little talent.
[edit] All Dead, All Dead
"All Dead, All Dead" features uncredited piano by May. May also sang it and was supported by Mercury on backing vocals. It was written about a cat May had owned in his childhood, as he said in a radio "in the studio" programme.
[edit] Spread Your Wings
"Spread Your Wings" was written by John Deacon and featured him playing acoustic guitar. The piano is by Mercury, although Deacon mimes it in the music video. It's the first Queen single without harmony vocals.
[edit] Fight From the Inside
"Fight From The Inside" is another minimalistic track by Taylor, who played bass, rhythm guitars and sang lead vocals. Taylor used mostly Fender Stratocasters and borrowed Deacon's basses for those purposes, as confirmed by the roadies in a Fan Club mag at the end of the year.
[edit] Get Down, Make Love
"Get Down Make Love" was composed by Mercury, and contains some of his most explicit lyrics. There are no synthesizers: strange noises were achieved by May using his Red Special guitar and an Eventide Harmonizer. The song was covered by Nine Inch Nails and appears on their Sin single.
[edit] Sleeping on the Sidewalk
"Sleeping On The Sidewalk" was written and sung by May. The song does not feature Mercury and the backing track was done on a first take (with some mistakes made by Deacon on the bass). May did his guitar section, inspired by Eric Clapton.
[edit] Who Needs You
"Who Needs You" was composed by Deacon. Instead of featuring him on bass, both he and May played Spanish guitars. May played maracas as well and Mercury recorded cowbell and lead vocals.
[edit] It's Late
"It's Late" was May's idea of having a song as a three-act theatrical play. It features tapping one year before Eddie Van Halen "invented" it, although May has credited an unnamed bar-band guitarist from Texas as his own primary inspiration for using this technique, as he said to Guitarist magazine in late 1982. The song was released as a single in 1978 and peaked at #72 in the US.
[edit] My Melancholy Blues
"My Melancholy Blues" was composed by Mercury. There are no backing vocals or guitars. The most bluesy aspect about the song is the title since the track is more related to jazz. Deacon played fretless bass on stage during this song but for the record he used a regular bass.
[edit] Singles
- "We Will Rock You"/"We Are The Champions" released October 7, 1977 in the UK as a double A-side, it reached number 2.
- "Spread Your Wings" followed as the second single from the album. Written by John Deacon and released in the UK on February 10, 1978, it reached number 34.
- "It's Late"
[edit] Queen about the record
| It's a spontaneous album. I think we've managed to cut through to the spontaneity lacking in our other albums. I have no apologies to make for any of our previous albums. We're proud of them and wouldn't have let them out if we weren't. But I now feel some may have been over-produced, so we wanted to go with a more spontaneous, rock & roll based album. It was nice to do something that didn't need such intensity. For example, with "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" we did it in one take because it just seemed right the first time. We like to think of the album as a window on an unguarded moment, not a set piece. Each cut seems to do that, from the participation songs to Freddie's mood pieces. Even his numbers on the album are different, from his heavy "Get Down, Make Love" to "My Melancholy Blues", which is just what it says. | ||
| —Brian May | ||
| "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" was the quickest song I've ever written - I just wrote it down, and I'm quite pleased with it as well, because it's not highly subtle, but it leaves me with a good feeling. It was the sort of thing any guitarist who had played a bit of the blues would do, and I could have very well had Eric Clapton in the back of my mind. It was a one-take thing as well - so it had a kind of sloppy feel, but that works with the song. I suppose "It's Late" is as close to typical Queen as you can get, and there's a kind of style in there, which I've often thought about, which is somewhere between my kind of thing on "It's Late", and one of Freddie's, something like "We Are the Champions". It's so easy for us to do, and we can slip into it almost without thinking, on stage and on record. Once Freddie starts playing E flat and A flat on the piano, which he very often does, it has a particular sound. . . (that) produces something different out of me. | ||
| —Brian May | ||
[edit] Cover
The album's cover was a painting by American sci-fi artist Frank Kelly Freas. Taylor had the issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" (October 1953) whose cover-art depicted a giant intelligent robot holding the dead body of a man. The caption read: "Please... fix it, Daddy?" to illustrate the story The Gulf Between by Tom Godwin. The robot killing the man was likened to a child injuring a bug and looking up at his parents saying "what have I done?". The painting inspired the band to contact Freas, who agreed to alter the painting for their album cover, by replacing the single dead man with the four "dead" band members (Taylor and Deacon falling to the ground). The original painting (also called The Gulf Between) features on the cover of Freas's collection of art As He Sees It (Paper Tiger, 2000).
Brian May confirmed the cover was Roger Taylor's idea on an episode of the US radio show In the Studio With Redbeard which devoted an episode to the making of News Of The World.
[edit] Personnel
Lead vocals by Freddie Mercury except:
- All Dead All Dead: Brian May
- Fight from the Inside: Taylor
- Sleeping on the Sidewalk: May
Backing vocals by Freddie Mercury except:
- We Will Rock You: band and crew
- Sheer Heart Attack: Taylor and Mercury
- All Dead, All Dead: May and Mercury
- Fight from the Inside: Taylor
- Sleeping on the Sidewalk: May
- It's Late: Mercury, May and Taylor
Drums by Roger Taylor.
Maracas in "Who Needs You" by Brian May.
Cowbell in "Who Needs You" by Freddie Mercury.
Percussion in 'We Will Rock You' by Queen.
Bass guitars by John Deacon, except "Sheer Heart Attack" and "Fight from the Inside" (Roger Taylor).
Electric guitars by Brian May, except "Fight from the Inside" and "Sheer Heart Attack" (Taylor and May).
Guitar effects in "Get Down Make Love" by Brian May.
Acoustic guitar in "Spread Your Wings" by John Deacon.
Acoustic guitars in "Who Needs You" by John Deacon and Brian May.
Pianos by Freddie Mercury except "All Dead, All Dead" (May).
[edit] Charts
| Country | Charts | Sales | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak position | Weeks | Certification | ||
| Canada | 1 | Platinum | 300.000 | |
| France | 1 | Gold | 560.000 | |
| Netherlands | 1 | Platinum | 70.000 | |
| Portugal | 1 | Silver | 10.000 | |
| Japan | 3 | 90.000 | ||
| United States | 3 | 36 | Platinum (x4) | 4.200.000 |
| Norway | 4 | |||
| United Kingdom | 4 | 20 | Platinum | 600.000 |
| Germany | 5 | Platinum | 700.000 | |
| Austria | 9 | |||
[edit] Miscellanea
During the recording of the album, the Sex Pistols were recording their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols in the next studio and Johnny Rotten was eager to meet Mercury, so he crawled on all fours through Queen's studio, up to the side of the piano where Mercury was playing, and said "Hello Freddie!" before crawling out<ref>When Johnny met Freddie at YouTube</ref>.
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] External links
| Queen |
| John Deacon | Brian May | Freddie Mercury | Roger Taylor History | Live performances | Songs |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Queen | Queen II | Sheer Heart Attack | A Night at the Opera | A Day at the Races | News of the World | Jazz | The Game | Flash Gordon | Hot Space | The Works | A Kind of Magic | The Miracle | Innuendo | Made in Heaven |
| Live albums: Live Killers | Live Magic | Live at Wembley '86 | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions |
| Compilation albums: Greatest Hits | At the Beeb | Greatest Hits II | Classic Queen | Queen Rocks | Greatest Hits III | Stone Cold Classics |
| DVDs: We Will Rock You | The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert | Greatest Video Hits 1 | Live at Wembley Stadium | Greatest Video Hits 2 | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions | Super Live in Japan |
| Related Articles |
| Queen + Paul Rodgers | Smile | The Cross |
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