Queen – Sheer Heart Attack [180g Vinyl LP Half Speed]

Queen – Sheer Heart Attack [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Half-Speed Mastered, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: 602547202680
• Barcode: 602547202680
• Genre: Hard Rock / Glam Rock / Pop Rock / Arena Rock
• Label: Virgin EMI Records / Universal Music
• Originally Released: 8 November 1974
• Reissue Released: 2015
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Sheer Heart Attack is the third studio album by Queen — released on 8 November 1974 on EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US — and the record on which the band's signature sound crystallised into something fully realised and commercially unstoppable. After the promising but uneven debut Queen (1973) and the more ambitious Queen II (1974), this album demonstrated that the group's instinct for layered multi-tracked vocals, dynamic arrangement and stylistic range could be delivered with complete conviction across an entire record. It debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and reached number twelve in the United States, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. More significantly, it produced the band's commercial breakthrough in both territories: "Killer Queen" — released as a single in October 1974 and reaching number two in the UK and number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 — was their first major international hit and remains one of the finest examples of Queen's ability to fuse rock instrumentation with music hall wit and operatic vocal arrangement. Freddie Mercury described it as his favourite Queen composition of the period, calling it "a bit of a kitsch adventure."

The album was recorded across four studios — Trident Studios, Wessex Sound Studios, Rockfield Studios and Air Studios — between July and October 1974, partly under difficult circumstances: guitarist Brian May contracted hepatitis midway through the sessions and was hospitalised for several weeks, with his guitar parts completed in accelerated sessions after his recovery. The circumstances, far from diminishing the record, appear to have concentrated the remaining three members' efforts: drummer Roger Taylor's "Tenement Funster" and bass player John Deacon's "Misfire" are among the album's most characterful individual contributions, while Mercury's "Killer Queen", "Lily of the Valley" and the closing "In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited" demonstrate his growing command of the full studio as compositional tool. May's "Now I'm Here" and "Brighton Rock" (featuring the first extended live guitar solo ever recorded using a delay unit) are among the most powerful rock performances on any Queen record. The album's critical reputation has been consistently high: AllMusic called it the point at which "everything fell into place," and it was ranked among the best albums of 1974 in several contemporary polls.

This 2015 pressing presents the album remastered at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine (℗ 2011 Queen Productions Ltd), with lacquers cut at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios — confirmed from the matrix runout: "MILES ABBEY ROAD ½ SPEED". The half-speed process gives the pressing demonstrably cleaner high-frequency reproduction, wider stereo imaging and improved dynamic range. Pressed on 180 gram black vinyl at Optimal Media GmbH in Germany, presented in the original sleeve with a printed inner sleeve reproducing lyrics and credits. The catalogue number and barcode are identical on this pressing.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Brighton Rock
2. Killer Queen
3. Tenement Funster
4. Flick of the Wrist
5. Lily of the Valley
6. Now I'm Here

Side B

1. In the Lap of the Gods
2. Stone Cold Crazy
3. Dear Friends
4. Misfire
5. Bring Back That Leroy Brown
6. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)
7. In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited

Credits

• Freddie Mercury – Vocals, Piano
• Brian May – Guitar, Vocals
• Roger Taylor – Drums, Vocals
• John Deacon – Bass
• Roy Thomas Baker – Producer
• Queen – Producers
• Miles Showell – Half-Speed Lacquer Cutting, Abbey Road Studios
• Gateway Mastering Studios – Remastering
• Label – Virgin EMI Records / Universal Music