Jazz album reissue

Anton3283 wrote:

Blah blah blah coming soon 1978

No that one came and went just before 1979 happened!

Why don't they go back and do all the 70s albums in Special editions like NOTW over a period of, say, 3 years or so?
I don't want to have to wait until 2025 to hear a decent special edition of ANATO.

They always do this: half-ass or overlook the first batch off whatever they put out and then they perfect/correct it... before getting bored and stop doing it altogether. That's why GVH1 sucks, GVH2 is Ok and we got no GVH3. Oh, and did anyone get all 100 of Queen's Top 100 Bootlegs...

Jazz isn't good. The first album in my opinion to contain filler. Too busy still touring the NOTW album to give suitable time to the next project. The only thing that would interest me is if they completely remixed it, not remastered but remixed in the same way that version of Under Pressure was remixed on the Classic Queen album and gave it a complete and amazing shot in the arm (the origins of which are still shockingly unknown)

Still puzzles me how they wanted a whole new direction with NOTW from previous albums and it seemed to work to the bands liking so what do they do next? Get RTB to produce the next one? Bizarre?!

I really do not understand by what criteria did you determine that this album is the worst. In my point of view the weakest album is Flash Gordon although Flash Gordon is not album, only soundtrack

With better production and sequencing, it could've been a really terrific album. I think it's crazy to rank it anywhere near the bottom spot in their catalogue.

Like Queen II, omit the Roger composition/s and you're left with something a lot better. More of that Jazz doesn't incense me like it does some people, but it's definitely among the weakest material on the album. Fun It has a good riff and the verses are fine, but the bridge is among Roger's worst writing, both lyrically and musically ('Hey everybody, everybody gonna have a good time tonight').

No way is "JAZZ" the worst Queen album, i think INNUENDO takes that title as the band were just letting Freddie sing anything to get the work out of him. I do believe though that Brian & Roger still have a lot of private unreleased stuff that they wont let go off as its better than what has previously been released. We aint seen half of the brilliance in the archives yet and Freddie has been gone 26 years! Maybe when May & Taylor are hard up they might give in and treat us all !

With the possible exceptions of Misfire and Loser in the End, I don't think there's a weak song on any of the 1970s albums, and even those songs have their moments. In the 1980s Don't Try Suicide and Coming Soon are nothing special, but the real crap began with Body Language, and then we had laughably bad songs like Tear It Up, Man on the Prowl, Friends will be Friends, Don't Lose Your Head, Party, Khashoggi's Ship, Chinese Torture, Hang on in There, Ride the Wild Wind, Delilah, and Too Much Love Will Kill You -- all of which I could do without ever hearing again. I've been charitable to about another 10 songs Queen released after The Game which are basically filler but have some redeeming qualities (such as My Life Has Been Saved).

happystar wrote:

I do believe though that Brian & Roger still have a lot of private unreleased stuff that they wont let go off as its better than what has previously been released. We aint seen half of the brilliance in the archives yet

There's not a shred of evidence to support that. Why would you assume that stuff that wasn't good enough to get onto an album originally would be better than what was released? I can only think of a few examples of that, and those songs ended up as b-sides i.e. See What a fool I've Been and A Human Body. Let Me in Your Heart Again was surprisingly good and if it wasn't for similarities to Hammer to Fall, it would've been a better option than Tear it Up or Man on the Prowl on The Works. Most of the other 'good' stuff ended up on solo albums. I mean, how bad must a song be if it didn't make it onto a Queen 1980s' album or a Cross album? Fucking abysmal, I'll bet!

"I really do not understand by what criteria did you determine that this album is the worst. In my point of view the weakest album is Flash Gordon although Flash Gordon is not album, only soundtrack"

If you are talking to me I didn't say it was the worst.

To mooghead: no I do not talk to you.

"I do believe though that Brian & Roger still have a lot of private unreleased stuff that they wont let go off as its better than what has previously been released. We aint seen half of the brilliance in the archives yet"

Beat me to it Holly, I had literally copied this exact part to respond. Where do people get this stuff from?

Again to mooghead: you don’t believe but I want to know this too

"With the possible exceptions of Misfire and Loser in the End, I don't think there's a weak song on any of the 1970s albums,"

In Only Seven Days, Leaving Home Ain't Easy, Fight From the Inside, Fun It, Get Down Make Love. Of course all personal opinion but I could quite happily never hear these again...

Jazz seems to me to suffer more from production than bad writing. There are some low spots and filler but much worse than that is what RTB did. I would love to hear a total remix but even then I'm not sure that would solve the problem.

I think a lot of the sound problem comes from source, for instance the snare sound on most of the album is small, thin has no punch or depth. It sounds like a very shallow shel with an over tightened head. By contrast some of the toms sound huge. The bass drum sound is flat, the cymbals sound brittle and harsh. The vocal sounds are very hard edged and metallic sounding, lacking warmth and depth most of the time. Some of the guitar tracks sound great but many suffer the same as the vocals.

By contrast the studio albums that bookend Jazz both sound much more organic and natural despite the synth on The Game. NOTW much of the time has the feeling that your in the room with the band. . By contrast Jazz is a mess. I don't buy the idea that they didn't spend enough time writing, recording and producing it, not when you consider how quickly NOTW was done.

Jimmy Dean wrote:

it really is Queen's worst album. If it didn't have 3 huge singles - more of you would agree. not only does it have the highest percentage of weak tracks, but it also has a bad running order and is in my opinion the worst-produced album in their catalog.

Partially agree, but I wouldn't go that far.

Jazz is the first time they're out in the wilderness a bit. They've sorted out their finances, and they're no longer hungry. But while the album has a few spotty bits and 2 or 3 of the tracks aren't up their standard set on the previous string of albums, it's far from their worst moment.

By the 80s they were way less focused and purely writing as individuals. They were still much more of a unit in 1978, and the lack of togetherness shows on many of the later albums. Hot Space and AKOM are far weaker - they are each half filler.

Jazz is sonically the weakest 70s Queen album for sure, but it has far too many redeeming features to be considered the worst in their catalogue. Fun It is the weakest track, but it's still far better than the derivative trite that is Pain Is So Close To Pleasure and Don't Lose Your Head.

When I think of an album with three hits and filler, I think of AKOM, not Jazz. Jazz, while weak at times, is still a band being artistic and maintaining some sense of focus. We just can't say the same for most of AKOM and Hot Space.

If you took away One Vision, Who Wants To Live Forever, and Princes Of The Universe, what's left on AKOM?

And if Hot Space doesn't have the last three tracks, what's left?

In both cases - not much.

Jealousy, Dead On Time, and In Only Seven Days are still quintessential Queen. Certainly they're not as strong as the non-singles on SHA or ANATO, but these tracks are far from filler. That said, they also do mark the end of the early Queen sound.