Another one that I don't really 'need' to listen to for the purposes of the list... but did, because it's been too long since I've listened to this and it's one of my favourite Queen albums.
In a weird way it sounds like a Queen album and doesn't sound like a Queen album at the same time. Brian's guitars and Roger's pounding drums are there, the vocal harmonies are there (though not as huge and omnipresent as they would eventually become), Freddie's voice is there, though again, less 'huge' and anthemic than it would later become. Even with John's bass, there are a few bits of twiddly bass-work to be found, but he seems to just follow the guitar-line much more than on later records.
The subject matter is also very non-Queen-esque too, with mystical ogre battles, black and white queens, fairyfellers and the blistering 'seven seas of Rye', as opposed to the love songs, tales of excess, self-aggrandising lyrics, and occasional laments on loneliness of their later albums.
There's something endearing about a huge, iconic band who are only just starting to find/slip into their signature sound. I recently read a book that undertook a critical review of Queen and their music. The contributors to the book "Queen: album by album" seemed to view II as a bit of a step backwards, if not an actual failure, preferring the albums on either side of it. As stated above, this is a favourite of mine, so I don't particularly agree with what I perceive their rather narrow view of what queen were, or should have been.
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