News Of The World

‘News of the World’ is the sixth studio album by Queen, released in 1977.

‘News of the World’ was the second album to be produced solely by the band (the first being ‘A Day at the Races’). Famous for its anthemic opening salvo, ‘We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions’ – at once an acknowledgement of and delight in their new-found stadium status – it’s possible to see ‘News Of The World’ as the last album of Queen’s ‘classic’ period, when their fusion of gaudy operatics, tearful ballads and ’70s guitar-rock came together most congruently and well.

With ‘Spread Your Wings’ the band crafted another of their typically artful paeans to hedonistic freedom, and ‘My Melancholy Blues’ is one of Freddie Mercury’s most engaging displays of self-indulgence – though they stepped up the pace appreciably on ‘Sheer Heart Attack,’ which proved that they could match anyone for sheer muscle, when the urge seized them.

The album’s most successful cut, however – Brian May’s ‘It’s Late’ – successfully married the guitarist’s power chord-fetish with Mercury’s infatuated romantic melodrama: the result, overblown on both counts, stands as a near-definitive record of this band and their sound.

180 Gram Vinyl. Mastered by Bob Ludwig. Half-speed lacquers cut at Abbey Road Studios.