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This is Queen reining back the multi-layered production of previous albums and doing something more basic, probably because punk was raging in the UK at the time and they had to adapt. In fact the Sex Pistols were making NMTheBo&^%$@s in the studio next door and Johnny Rotten came in to see Freddie and said to him "Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?" and he replied "We're doing our best, dear.". Priceless. Anyway I bought this aged 16 on release and wasn't disappointed although, like all Queen albums, it has its weak tracks (although I like the previous 3 albums). All of the singles are great but it's the lesser known tracks that raise this above most of their albums for me; All Dead All Dead, a quirky track with an odd beat that works due to a strong tune, Get Down Make Love, a slightly menacing dramatic start to side 2, My Melancholy Blues, a great vocal by Freddie (one of his loveliest) but best of all It's Late. This track at over 6 minutes is in my top 3 Queen tracks. Some great guitar work, a top tune and it just keeps on coming, ramping up the drama. I personally like Sleeping on the Sidewalk, it's very basic but a good tune with, again, some nice guitar. Who Needs You is the worst track, forgettable B side material. Still, a great album, shame they couldn't keep up the quality and this is where I left the Queen story at the time (other than liking some singles) probably to listen to more of that punk and new wave although much later I came to appreciate the next album (Jazz).

Fully agree with the main review. First 3 albums are killer and from then on it’s a steady slide to commercialism with a brief improvement. My personal favourite is the 3rd album Forever Now greatly helped by Todd Rndgren’s superb production. This double has most of the great tracks though I would have swapped some of the later tracks for more tracks from Forever Now for instance the excellent title track plus Fall from the first album and House from Book Of Days, one of only 2 worthwhile tracks on that album for me, the other being Entertain Me which is included.