Review Summary: So was I excited about Jazz? Not really. Was the album what I expected? Yes. Did I hate the album like I did News of the World? No.
I had to take my time writing this review ok I always take my time but the reason that I took that little longer was that unlike the other albums where I was curious to see what the band might do next this one I kinda knew what was gonna happen.
You see for their first four albums Queen seemed to be expanding their horizons and testing out new sounds and exploring which one fit best for them it was interesting to listen to even if at times there were major mishaps. Still by A Night at the Opera there seemed to be a band ready to be great, Bohemian Rhapsody was being played on all radio stations across the world, A night at the Opera topped just about everywhere and was also a great although a little flawed album. The band did make the mistake of thinking they’d made it when in reality they still needed to make one more big step but still it was forgiving when they did A day at the races because although it had its flaws at least it felt like a Queen album. Then came News of the world and although We will rock you and We are the Champions promised much the album itself offered nothing it was a tepid affair trying to recreate glories of the past but only no where near as good, in other words unlike their first four releases where they were moving forward this one reverted back and with it brought all the problems of the past but only this time much worse.
That’s where Jazz comes in. By 1978 it must have been clear by now that Queen weren’t going to be the band that their early promise had shown. Oh of course the hits still rolled in like they do here but there was no real excitement as there might have been for an album like A day at the races or even News of the World.
So was I excited about Jazz? Not really. Was the album what I expected? Yes. Did I hate the album like I did News of the World? No.
In other words I was expecting the usual 3 or 4 great tracks and the rest to suck. I was expecting a bad Roger Taylor song, half assed attempts to create past glories or someone elses glories. And did Jazz do that? Yes it did. So why I hear you ask weren’t you as angry as you were during your News of the World review? Because by now that is what I was expecting and Jazz gave me what I thought it would, non-inspired, zero inspiration, just recycling the same old boring stuff. But by now that had become the norm so I wasn’t as shocked and angry as I was last time out.
Anyway the album (as most Queen albums tend to do) starts of with the promising yet encouragngly risky Mustapha. The song is sang entirely in Arabic (or the few lyrics I could hear but more on that in a moment) done in a typical Death on two Legs Piano/Guitar style it also reverts back to Freddie’s own arab past which I found cool, although I wouldn’t play it out loud at any nearby Muslim mosque. The only problem is that the song is more of a novelty track than a song which is ok but sadly it’s never built upon throughout any other song in the album making it seem to just be there. Also having explored the lyrics I found that translated into english all Freddie is singing is ‘Mustapha, Ibrahim, Mustapha, Ibrahim, Allah will pray for you’ continuously, meaning the song is purely for novelty purposes and has no deeper meaning. Now that just plain sucks.
Fat Bottomed Girls follows in the tradition of Tie your mother down and Now I’m Here as classic in your face rockers. This song has attitude and lots of it and unlike Mustapha it has last ability yeah I wanna go rockin’ with those fat bottomed girls down my street tonight… wooo hooo.
Jealousy is an average filler but I did like Brian’s guitar work in this ok medley and at least it’s sung with some passion and honesty unlike most of the songs on this album. Then it’s ‘on your marks, get set go!’ in Bicycle Race which is a great song even if it’s Killer Queen mark II. Still I loved the Star Wars reference and yes it’s like Killer Queen because of Brian’s guitar solo mid section but the song in general rocks harder and is fun to listen to unlike from now on bar one song the drizzle that I’m about to review.
The first of many terrible songs comes in the name of If you can’t beat them join Them that attempts to be another We are the Champions type anthem but turns into an un-inspirational just as well have been written by a College band who have just started performing together for the first time.
Following that trade is the awful Let me Entertain You that follows in the footsteps of Sweet Lady but unlike sweet lady that had a bad chorus and bad ending Let me entertain you just has a bad everything and most of all it’s boring been done before and with a million times more passion and conviction.
They obviously haven’t learned their lesson because Dead on Time is exactly the same pap as the previous two failures and I’m gonna say something I always say when a title of a song says more than any description could… it does exactly what it says on the title.
The attempted love song In only Seven Day had just as well been written by a five year old with its ‘On Monday we went out, Tuesday we blab la bla’ or however more clichéd lyrics the band could think of. Now I’ve heard bad Queen songs but never have I heard Freddie Mercury sing with as much lack as passion as he does here, not that I could blame him especially with the dumbness of the song. Now that is worrying when the lead singer couldn’t give a damn and when you include the band too then you have a huge huge problem.
Dreamers Ball follows in the same vein as it’s tepid but at least it comes with decent lyrics this time although Freddie could give it some effort maybe Brian could have sung this one, I don’t know.
Then, dear lord I nearly forgot, ladies and gentlemen from the man who brought you Modern Times Rock ‘n’ roll, The loser in the end, Tenement Funkster, Drowse and Fight from the Inside and now he presents his latest musical disaster in the form of a terrible and I mean terrible attempt at Funk Music called Fun It, he’s husky, he’s blonde, you wish he’d stayed behind the drums... ladies and gentlemen Mr Roger Taylor.
P.S just check out the cheesy drum effects if you think I’m wrong.
Ok ok enough of the Roger Taylor jokes and yes I’ll admit I’m in love with my car is a great song before anyone writes in to remind me.
Remember what I said earlier about Brian maybe singing some of the songs because maybe I was right because Leaving home ain’t Easy is actually a good song. It’s sung with heartfelt honesty, has decent lyrics and is a heartfelt yet warm tune something most of this album has been lacking.
Not only that but it leads well to this albums strongest track Don’t stop me Now, which is everything this album should have been but never was: energetic, purposeful, and all in all a great song. Kinda reminded me of Somebody to Love but speeded up a notch and also a great song to dance too, especially in a rocket ship.
But those brief glimpses of goodness couldn’t last forever and if Roger Taylor wasn’t satisfied enough with Fun It he then has to go double the fun or I should say torture with the terrible Glam Pap rocker More of that Jazz. Not only is it bad but it ends with a quick re-run of the awfulness of what we just heard in the entire album. Worst Queen track by far.
So that’s Jazz done. I did it, I got through the pap that was Jazz although there wasno Jazz in Jazz despite the fact it’s called Jazz, so why would this album be called Jazz if…? oh I’ll shut up and do my usual recap.
MUSTAPHA
Great when you first listen to it but it has no long term qualities. 2.5/5
FAT BOTTOMED GIRLS
Great rocker in a long line of other great Queen rockers. 5/5
JEALOUSY
Average if not decent filler tune. 2.5/5
BICYCLE RACE
One of Queen’s funniest songs up there with Killer Queen. 5/5
IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM
Pap song that attempts to be an anthem but falls way short. 1/5
LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU
Doesn’t do what the title says. 1/5
DEAD ON TIME
Does what the title says. 1/5
IN ONLY SEVEN DAYS
A kind of song I’d expect my 9 year old niece to write not a millionaire rock group. 1/5
DREAMERS BALL
Not good, not great but ok I guess. 2/5
FUN IT
What would a Queen album be without a terrible Roger Taylor song? 1/5
LEAVING HOME AIN’T EASY
Brian needs to teach Freddie how to sing a song with heart and conviction. 3/5
DON’T STOP ME NOW
Great, great song. Wish more were as good as this. 5/5
MORE OF THAT JAZZ
Just plain awful and I rarely give this grade but with the songs own recap of the album just to remind me how bad it was... well that was just the final straw. 0/5
That gives Jazz an average of 2.3 which makes it so far their worst effort.
So to compare with the rest.
Queen 2.7
Queen II 2.59
Sheer Heart Attack 3
A Night at the Opera 3.98
A day at the races 2.59
News of the World 2.4
TO CONCLUDE
So what went wrong? Well have you heard about the story that you can’t teach a dog new tricks? That’s what happened here with Queen. Since the album A day at the races they have been recycling from themselves and poorly at that. There’s no cutting edge or desire (apart from the odd two or three tracks per album) and nothing new has been layed out on the table either.
2/5
