Jazz-their most technically perfect album?

Is Jazz Queen's most technically polished album? I think that musically it's as clever as they ever got with the key changes in Bicycle Race, time signatures in In Only Seven Days, If You Can't Beat Them, and tricky but clean, polished vocal block harmonies on Dreamer's Ball, Leaving Home Ain't Easy and Jealousy?

There's the complexity of the drumming on Fun It, and most obviously on Dead on Time, a song which I think has a perfection and shine to it that you can rarely find on their other stuff, I mean the instrumental parts are so difficult, and the song is hardly straightforward, but it's all there and it's all perfect.

The chords and structure of Leaving Home ain't easy are amazing, and the same goes for Dreamer's Ball. Fun it is a genuinely good funk track, and In Only Seven Days, for all it's lush cheese, is a lovely tune, I think.

Mustapha and Bicycle Race are both a bit camp and comedy, but both brilliantly thought out and multi layered almost beyond belief, and Let Me Entertain You has an energy about it that I don't think any of their other rock anthems in later years (I'm thinking of Radio Ga Ga and Hammer To Fall specifically) can lay claim to.

The weak points for me are If You Can't Beat Them, and More of That Jazz-and I'm not mad keen on Fat Bottomed Girls, although there's no denying the atmosphere and power to it.

I know it sounds like I'm sucking it off a bit, but I think that even though the songs themselves may not basically be the best they ever put out, the quality and sheen to them is something to be really admired.

What do you think?

I'm afraid I always thought this was their worst-produced album.

It's difficult to articulate, but it sounds 'dull' to me - like listening to it when you have a cold!

Maybe we could have a remaster produced by Mack!

Jazz - A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.

How can an Jazz album be the technically most perfect album?

I wouldn't let Mack within a million miles of it. Or anything else for that matter.

And it's not jazz on the album is it? Anywho, fair enough!

I remember getting Jazz for Christmas 1979 and opening up the accompianing poster in front of all my relatives (oops)!

That was an extra special Christmas, because the following day I saw the band at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Always liked Jazz a lot, and would have it in my top 5, faves are Jealousy, Dead On Time and Don't Stop Me Now.

I rather like the album myself......I wouldnt but in my top 5 really, but its close....(by the way, I rather like More of That Jazz.....very cool riffage in that tune, I say)

I also like jazz a some what departure from the earlier "over the top"songs on the first few albums it sounds great in places dead on time and if you cant beat them among my faves from the album and if my memory serves me right jazz is one album they more or less performed live, what i mean is almost every song has been performed in concert at one time or another.

Yeah I like More of That Jazz.

Even if Jazz isn`t as immediatly impressive as Opera or Races, I don`t think it`s inferior to either. Bicycle indeed compresses interesting harmonic and rhythmic values in such a short time, and if you check the DTS channels of Don`t Stop Me you can note an amazing vocal work in both lead and harmonies. Of course there aren`t any guitar "orchestras" as in Queen II but it doesn`t mean the instrumental work is bad. Dreamer`s Ball is flawless and Seven Days remains multi-layered yet easy listeneable. Even though the album isn`t jazz or jazz-rock, there are indeed some subtle jazzy details here and there. Not many, but some, moe than in the other albums imho.

I think More of That Jazz is guilty of the same crime as Loser In The End, it doesn't really fit on the album they put it on. I don't know, I'm not a big fan of a lot of Roger's stuff, nothing personal, I think he's ace, but I'm not mad keen on his songs as a rule.

i agree jazz is great. queens first 8 albums are truly vintage. 'jazz is less consistent than their first six albums, with my least favorite being 'more of that jazz' the album should have ended with 'don't stop me now' which was brilliant, and 'dreamers ball' is perfect and one of my favorites, it's the only song that has a touch of jazz in it. mustapha is brilliant songwriting, only freddie could come up with that one.

Actually "More Of That Jazz" is probably one of my favorite songs on there.

I like the album, but don't like how it's not very album-oriented like their earlier ones (IE it's a bunch of individual songs in seemingly no particular order). I think they could have made it more like that by putting the songs in a better order, and getting rid of the gaps between some of them.

The end of FBG would have sounded great going directly into the beginning of Dead On Time, and maybe something with a quiet piano intro (LHAE or Jealousy) directly after the loud ending of Mustapha to contrast.

i wonder if the order of the songs has anything to do with 'jazz' being not liked. there's no filler, but they might have put one or two many songs on it. some people say they think 'fun it' is filler i disagree, it's not a all-time great song but it's still decent, 'you can't beat them' is also in that pretty good category. 'more of that jazz' could have been left off the album and you still would have had 12 solid songs. i think jazz is slightly behind the first six. jazz, the game and innuendo i always have a hard time picking which one i like better, and 'made in heaven' is also in that category.

I'm afraid Jazz has been kind of underrated. Personally I love it as same as ADATR. It includes many numbers which make live stages more lively especially FBG, Let Me Entertain You, If You Can't Beat Them and Dreamer's Ball. And almost all of its numbers prove their skills honed through some years. Besides the order of Mustapha-FBG-Jealousy-Bicycle Race is so impressive.

i agree jazz is very underated.