opera races
Senior Member
Queen
All That Jazz
1978
Written, arranged and performed exclusively by Queen.
Freddie Mercury - Vocals, piano
Brian May - Guitars, vocals
Roger Taylor - Percussion, vocals
John Deacon - Bass guitar
All That Jazz
1978
Written, arranged and performed exclusively by Queen.
Freddie Mercury - Vocals, piano
Brian May - Guitars, vocals
Roger Taylor - Percussion, vocals
John Deacon - Bass guitar
Side 1
Mustapha (Mercury)
Fat Bottomed Girls (May)
Jealousy (Mercury)
Bicycle Race (Mercury)
If You Can't Beat Them (Deacon)
Let Me Entertain You (Mercury)
Side 2
Dead On Time (May)
In Only Seven Days (Deacon)
Dreamer's Ball (May)
Fun It (Taylor)
Leaving Home Ain't Easy (May)
Don't Stop Me Now (Mercury)
More Of That Jazz (Taylor)
In my humble OR opinion, Queen's album Jazz is somewhat underrated and underappreciated. While it's not my favorite Queen album subjectively, and objectively not one I would place with their very best albums, I still have always felt this is an album worth exploring and one that I have played frequently and enjoyed very, very much over the years.
Jazz does not sound like a conventional rock album. It is not actually a jazz album either! Like the previous Queen albums, Jazz showcases Queen's excellent musicianship and (one of the things I've always loved about Queen) each song is different. The overall vibe of most of the album is deliberately campy and humorous. As a sheltered life type of 16 year old I found some of the lyrical content and accompanying attitude a bit shocking. Now I find it amusing and with the understanding and hindsight of someone who was there in 1978 and is here now I can smile and laugh. Both then and now I have made some sort of personal connection with most of the songs, some which have changed subtly over the years.
While Freddie's voice is his dominant contribution on the album in terms of the listening experience, one element I feel gets overlooked is his piano playing. Freddie is quite a good piano player - not in the virtuoso sense but in that he had a nice touch and way of playing which very much adds to all of Queen's songs. On Jazz, listen to Don't Stop Me Now (Mercury), focus on the piano part, and I think one can hear what I mean. Brian May's unique and superb guitar playing is also highlighted in this song; in fact Brian's guitar is all over the place on Jazz and in a great way. Jazz is an album that has an abundance of musical elements to listen to, hear, discover and enjoy.
Don't Stop Me Now is one of several energetic songs on the album that leaves me almost breathless at the end. My personal connection to it is that there is an unintentional reference to an inside joke my best bud and I used to have and I guess still refer to once in awhile... but it would take to long to explain here and go way off topic!
Well, I've already started with the song by song breakdown. I wasn't sure I was going to do that and I don't necessarily have detailed comments about my take on every song but here goes with the rest. I indicate the writer for each song since it is interesting to note and consider who did what on Jazz and the same holds true for all the Queen albums particularly the early albums where the songs were credited as individual rather than group efforts. Then again ... while I am thinking of this subject, what I find surprising about Jazz is that, for me at least, is the writers of some of the songs is not always who I would guess off the top of my head. (I don't have the songwriting credits on Jazz memorized believe it or not.)
Mustapha (Mercury) - A middle eastern sounding sort of piece that I always thought was interesting but honestly had no clue about. Now it occurs to me that maybe there's some tie-in with Freddie's ancestry in there? One funny thing I noticed is the song begins somewhat softly so you turn up the volume then suddenly the music comes blasting out of the speakers (or into your ears depending upon how you're listening to it)
Fat Bottomed Girls (May) - This song is part of the familiar hit "double single" along with Bicycle Race which I would assume most are familiar with. For some reason I wouldn't peg Brian May as writing this song. This is one of the songs that was a bit shocking but still quite funny to me at 16. I am not going to go into my personal connection with this song
Oh, and something I think people miss out on with CD's and miss out by downloading and not having the actual media at all ... vinyl record albums sometimes came with posters and other goodies included. Jazz had a poster of the female nude bicycle race which I guess was staged to promote the album and song ... My own fondest memory of this song is when I saw Queen perform live in 1980 and Freddie's bawdy intro to the song ... oh yeah I was happily screaming and hollering at that!Bicycle Race (Mercury) - While there are no whistles in this song there are actual bicycle bells! As a song Bicycle Race is campy and overblown but what a great campy and overblown song! Initially this was my favorite song on the album and still is one of my favorites. Some of the lyrics which in 1978 I found a bit shocking I think I understand the irony better now. For the most part I did and do still take the song literally. At 16 I was still really into riding my bicycle all over the place (weather permitting in the great white north). What it meant to me was ride my bicycle and forget about all the b.s. and crazy things going on in the world. I love to ride my bicycle I just want to ride my bike. Come to think of it, I should ride my bicycle a lot more than I have been. It's a good thing to do ...
Jealousy (Mercury) - Overall I don't make an emotional connection with this track lyrically but the song does highlight Freddie's piano playing which I mentioned previously and of course Freddie's vocals and Queen harmonies.
If You Can't Beat Them (Deacon) - I remember first being puzzled by this song then decided the lyrics were probably some sort of joke or irony going on - it's not really telling you to follow the crowd but the opposite! (IMO)
Let Me Entertain You (Mercury) - Another song I first found a bit shocking but now I think it's pure over the top Freddie explaining (tongue-in-cheek) exactly what Queen is all about and what they are going to do! Brian, Roger and John provide the over the top musical portion. I love the related sound bites of the supposed audience at the end.
Dead On Time (May) - Awesome music. Another song on Jazz that leaves me almost out of breath at the end. Methinks I have mellowed out in some aspects. I remember relating to this song as playing on anxieties about getting to work or wherever on time - and the consequences; i.e. Freddie declaring YOU'RE DEAD" followed by a real thunderbolt courtesy of God ... Now ... meh I'm not one of those to make it everyone else's problem if I'm running a bit late. ... and when I don't HAVE to be somewhere and not at a particular time ... I'm in no big hurry ... but it seems like everyone else is.
In Only Seven Days (Deacon) - Considering John Deacon wrote You're My Best Friend it is no surprise he wrote this bittersweet song about a short but intense holiday romance.
Dreamers Ball (May) - This has become one of my favorite songs on Jazz. The tune is an old school jazzy sort of style perhaps reminiscent of the 1920's or 1930's. Freddie plays the part of the crooner and gently tugs at a few emotions while Brian's guitar work ably substitutes for the jazz age instruments.
Fun It (Taylor) - A funky sounding track which probably would not have sounded out of place in dance clubs at the time. Surprisingly, to me, this song was written by Roger rather than John.
Leaving Home Ain't Easy (May) - A thoughtful and philosophical song written and sung by Brian.
More Of That Jazz (Taylor) - Roger wrote and sings this song. There is an unexpected mashup (not sure I'm using the correct term but that is the word that springs to mind) of all the songs on the album inserted near the end which then segues back into the last bit of the song. Interesting way to end an album!
I am hard pressed to give Jazz an actual overall rating. Again, I don't consider it a top Queen album but I think it's better than it was originally given credit for by the critics and general public. The music has a lot of interesting elements and there is much to explore on this album. I always enjoy listening to Jazz and it comes around fairly frequently in my album rotation.
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I've always found it to be an underrated song in Queen's catalog too. For me though it's more of a song album than an album album, ya know? I think it's largely because each song is so drastically different from every other song on the album stylistically (which is both good and bad). In either case a lot of my favorite Queen songs are on this album like "Don't Stop Me Now", "Fat Bottomed Girls", and "Dead On Time". 
