Sheer Heart Attack - Definition and Overview

Sheer Heart Attack
LP by Queen
Released	November 12, 1974
Recorded	July to September 1974 at Trident, Wessex, Rockfield and Air Studios
Genre	Rock
Length	39 min 9 sec
Record label	Elektra
Producer	Queen, Roy Thomas Baker
Professional reviews
Allmusic.com	4.5 stars out of 5	link (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:nq6ibkk9sak0)
Queen Chronology
Queen II (1974)	Sheer Heart Attack (1974)	A Night at the Opera (album) (1975)

Sheer Heart Attack is a Queen album from 1974. This was their first commercial success, after the relatively lukewarm response to the first two albums, Queen, and Queen II. It was produced by Queen and Roy Thomas Baker for EMI in the UK, and Elektra in the US.

The single, "Killer Queen" reached #2 in the British charts, and saw their first appearance on Top of the Pops.

Several songs from this album harken back to the earliest days of Queen and their predecessor Smile. "Brighton Rock" houses a superb guitar solo by Brian May, which begin life in the Smile song "Blag", then floated around in the live and BBC versions of the song "Son And Daughter", before finding its home in on the opening track here. "Stone Cold Crazy" was the first song written by all four members of Queen after John Deacon completed the line-up in 1972. As none of the members could remember who what which bits of the song when it came time to record "Sheer Heart Attack", they agreed to credit it to them all.

"Now I'm Here" was written by Brian May while recovering from an infection (from a tainted vaccination needle given prior to their Australian Tour that year). It reflects on their support of Mott The Hoople, for whom they opened on their North American Tour, which was cut short when May fell ill.

Track listing

1. "Brighton Rock" (May/Queen) - 5:08
2. "Killer Queen" (Mercury) - 2:57
3. "Tenement Funster" (Taylor) - 2:48
4. "Flick of the Wrist" (Mercury) - 3:46
5. "Lily of the Valley" (Mercury) - 1:43
6. "Now I'm Here" (May) - 4:10
7. "In the Lap of the Gods" (Mercury/Queen) - 3:20
8. "Stone Cold Crazy" (Deacon/May/Mercury/Taylor) - 2:12
9. "Dear Friends" (May) - 1:07
10. "Misfire" (Deacon) - 1:50
11. "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" (Mercury) - 2:13
12. "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)" (May) - 4:08
13. "In the Lap of the Gods Revisited" (Mercury/Queen) - 3:42

Personnel

• Freddie Mercury - Piano, Vocals
• Queen - Producer
• Brian May - Banjo, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Ukulele, Vocals
• Roger Taylor - Percussion, Drums, Vocals, Screams
• Roy Thomas Baker - Producer
• John Deacon - Guitar (Acoustic), Bass, Fiddle, Guitar, Guitar (Bass), Double Bass
• Mike "Clay" Stone - Engineer

"Sheer Heart Attack" is also the name of a song written by Roger Taylor featuring on the Queen album News of the World.