Like going up to heaven and then coming back alive

Queen - Queen II - 1974

If I had to choose one Queen album, you know, as in a "desert island" kind of situation, well, of course I wouldn't be able to choose one. I love them too much to be able to choose. Still, this is the album that I love the most by them.
I don't know if it is because it's consistently been one of their lesser known works, of if it's just that it is one of their weirdest.
No matter what the reasons may be, this is an album I have consistently loved for many years.

Musically, they moved away a bit from the more straightforward type of rock from their debut, and came up with a release that feels, at the same time, more focused and much weirder.
The two sides of the original vinyl were called "Side White" and "Side Black", which reflected both in the music and in the album cover. The first side are mostly songs written by Brian May, it's the calmer side, with more introspective and personal sounding themes. The songs are actually very good, but they sound a bit like a continuation of their first album. Now, that's not a bad thing per se, but it's not the reason I love this album so much.
Which brings us to Side Black. Even at a time of excess as the 1970s were, I think the first word that comes to mind when I think of that part of the album is "fearless". Prog bands were doing crazy things, indeed, but they surrounded them in so much complexity, that it always ended up sounding like "serious" stuff. But what we have here is a bona fide trip to a world of fairies, ogres and, of course, queens. The music is more complex than the first side, but never as complex as prog would be. It's definitely over the top, bombastic, and exaggerated. It's also daring and unflinching.
All the songs from the Side Black were written by Freddie, and in the same way that I spent a bit of time on Brian when I wrote about the first album, today it's Freddie's day.

While Brian May always brought about the hard rock influence into the band (Roger Taylor also had his moments), it was Freddie who brought the eccentricity into Queen. He was flamboyant, exuberant, excessive, and many other adjetives that probably start with "ex". And listening to this album now I realise how much of what would make Queen a respected and enduring band had to do with his unique talent. The music and lyrics on his side of the album make me feel as if I had stumbled on Alice in Wonderland and it's an amazing world. But the importance of Freddie's creative madness lies in the fact that here we can hear the blossom of the same madness that would bring us "Bohemian rhapsody", "Somebody to Love" and so many daring and incredible songs a couple of years down the line.
So, my dear Freddie, this is for you: thank you for having given us your immense talent, for never doubting yourself (and if you did, thank you for not letting doubt win), for pushing the envelope and creating such beautiful music. I have loved Freddie since I was 12 years old, and it always breaks my heart that we lost him so damn soon. But we have the comfort of his music, and his gorgeous voice to keep us company. And it's not cold comfort at all. It's warm, colourful, and a bit strange. Just thank you, Freddie.

• The song "White Queen (as it began)", while being May's, it also sounds like a song about a Queen from a mythical world. Me being me I always think about Galadriel. It actually has a much simpler origin, though: it was inspired by a girl who studied with Brian, whom he was in love with and revered. 
• I had never really paid attention to the fact that most of the higher pitch vocals in the album are actually Roger Taylor. I always liked his raspy style of singing a lot, but had never really thought of how high his falsetto could get. 
• "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" is based on the homonymous painting by victorian painter Richard Dadd. Freddie would take band members to the Tate Britain to see the painting whenever they had a spare moment. I do remember seeing the painting there, but I don't think I paid attention to the name of the painting at all. 
• The lyrics of "The Fairy..." contain the line "Soldier, sailor, tinker, tailor, ploughboy", which refers to the English nursery rhyme, which must be one of the most quoted in popular culture rhymes ever. 
• Talking about lyrics, in "The March of the Black Queen" we have "Everything you do bears a will and a why and a wherefore". I dare you to find me more songs that have the word "wherefore" in it.
• It's hard to pick a song, and I would just put the whole "Side Black", but I'm going to choose "The March...." because it's an amazing piece of music and the only reason it was not as big as "Bohemian Rhapsody" was just a matter of timing. 

When they pulled you out of the oxygen tent, you asked for the latest party

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs - 1974

This is considered to be the last "glam" album by David Bowie, and while it's an album consistently despised by critics, I think it's a great, if a bit uneven, album.

Most of the reasons why I like this album is that I really never thought of it as a glam album at all, but rather, the album in which Bowie decided to explore his future options again. Probably that's why it's not too well liked, because people don't really know what to do about it. 

The best known songs, like the title track or "Rebel Rebel" sound to me more proto-punk than glam. And also, they always seemed to me to be a good representation of the times. The gang in "Diamond Dogs" sound a lot to me like Alex's gang in A Clockwork Orange, released only one or two years before the album. 

There's a sense of a bleak future right ahead and while Bowie was always good at dystopian representations of the future, this album has a sort of immediacy that previous songs didn't have. 

There are also some songs that foresee the more soul style he would have in the next albums, especially "Sweet Thing". 

And then, to continue with the dystopia, we have two songs right out of Orwell's 1984: "1984" and "Big Brother".

So, yes, it's a bit all over the place, and not all the songs are equally great, but it still has some awesome moments, and it may be the only album from the "early" Bowie era that gives a hint of what would come, not only in the next few years, but way in the future.

• The title for this section is from the title track, and it's always seemed to me like the embodiment of a really optimistic attitude. Which is very optimistic of me, considering that the song actually starts with Bowie shouting: "This ain't rock'n'roll! This is genocide!".
• Apparently, Bowie's original intention was to do a full album based on Orwell's novel, but he never got permission from his estate, so he sort of had to scale down on the direct references to it. 
• Listening to "We are the Dead" again, I can't help of thinking that it actually has some elements that Bowie would fully explore only in the 90s and onwards.
• I'm picking the title track to put here, it's a great song, and one of the best of the album. There's a bonus track ahead, anyway.

Bonus track

• Not too long from now, we should have some Bruce Springsteen. I have a couple of album of his and like a lot of his stuff. But I absolutely love his live performances. I'll probably talk a lot about that when I get to review his massive triple live album, but it's a long time until that.
  When Bowie died, The Boss played "Rebel Rebel" as a tribute. I think it's a great version. Enjoy