No synthesisers

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Q.� What's the best Queen album for new fans to listen to < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

A.� Probably the third album, Sheer Heart Attack, which saw a swerve in musical direction that was to become a trademark of the band. They left behind a section of fans who enjoyed the bombast and sorcery of the first two albums, and picked up a far larger pop-oriented fan-base with this, their most varied musical output.

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Q.� Surely in those days, bands were too busy touring to spend weeks in a studio

A.� That's true, but Queen were obliged to halt their hectic touring schedule to allow guitarist Brian May to recover from a bout of hepatitis, and the other members used the time to fine-tune their third offering into the carefully crafted work it became.�

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Q.� What's the appeal of this album

A.� In a word, diversity. It's a mass of styles and influences used as a sonic palate to mix and match to fit the mood of each song. There is a boldness of approach in this album that showed Queen at their inventive best, willing to bring in any vocal or instrumental style to enhance a song to its best effect. The effectiveness of Queen's effortless shift in musical styles is highlighted in this album better than any other.

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Q.� For example

A.� Contrary to their usual style�- if indeed there is such a thing�- Queen were capable of rocking it up with the best of them. Their track Stone Cold Crazy was not only covered by metal gods Metallica, their version gained them a Grammy, proof if any were needed that Queen were a long way from the fey pop pompadours they were tagged by detractors at the time.

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Other tracks reveal a diversity of musical styles that is breathtaking. The bouncy bass-led Misfire from John Deacon contrasts with the epic Brighton Rock, the ragtime Bring Back That Leroy Brown which is pure British music hall, and the knockout one-two of She Makes Me and In The Lap Of The Gods, musical maps in the use of technology that defy the relatively primitive studio techniques available to the band at that time.

Q.� Is that why the sleeve says 'No synthesisers!'

A.� Undoubtedly. Even when listened to today, in a musical climate of endless computer-generated effects and sounds, it is still awe-inspiring to realise that the musical effects on those final tracks were created using guitar and keyboard effects only, a tribute to the ingenuity of the band, and producer Roy Thomas Baker.

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Queen delighted in the contradiction of their musical and visual image. Fronted by the ever-flamboyant Freddie Mercury, and backed up by the pretty-boy drummer Roger Taylor, the corkscrew-haired guitarist Brian May, and the solid and rarely speaking bassist John Deacon, Queen are a fine example of the best bands being a sum of their parts making a creative whole. Underneath their OTT stage shows and screaming interviews there was a serious massively talented group of musicians who refused to compromise from the start, and went on to become one of the greatest live and recording bands this country has ever produced.

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Q.� And this is where it all began

A.� To all intents and purposes, yes. Sheer Heart Attack is the album that announced Queen as a serious musical force, a reputation they expanded over the next twenty years, ensuring that they are more popular now than ever. This album could so easily have been a promise that lead to nothing, a brief flash in the pan. It was in fact a calling card, a musical foundation that Queen were to build on, taking their army of fans with them into new areas and proving critical labels and attempts to define them ever more futile. Queen were always groundbreaking, sometimes too experimental even for their own fans, but their energy and invention was announced with this album.�It rarely got better than this.

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Andy Hughes