Release Info:
Queen II
Released March 8, 1974 in the UK, where it spent 29 weeks on the charts, peaking at #5.
Released April 9, 1974 in the US, where it spent 13 weeks on the charts, peaking at #49.
Reached Gold status in both the UK and the US.
Tracklisting:
Side White:
1. Procession (May) 1:12
2. Father To Son (May) 6:12
3. White Queen (As It Began) (May) 4:33
4. Some Day One Day (May) 4:21
5. The Loser In The End (Taylor) 4:01
Side Black:
6. Ogre Battle (Mercury) 4:08
7. The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (Mercury) 2:39
8. Nevermore (Mercury) 1:17
9. The March Of The Black Queen (Mercury) 6:33
10. Funny How Love Is (Mercury) 2:50
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Mercury) 2:48
Liner Notes:
[thanks to Queen Picture Hall]
Freddie Mercury - vocals, piano/harpsichord
Brian May - guitars, piano, vocals, bells
John Deacon - bass guitar, accoustic guitar
Roger Meddows-Taylor - percussion, vocals
Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen
Additional production by Robin Geoffrey Cable and Queen
Engineered by Mike Stone at Trident Studios, London
Photography and art direction by Mick Rock
Sleeve concept by Mick Rock and Queen
Typography by Ridgeway Watt
Management by Jack Nelson
Virtuoso castanets by Roy Thomas Baker... and nobody played synthesizer... again.
Quotes Regarding The Album:
[thanks to Bechstein Debauchery]
John (1973): "Yeah, we've just finished our second album which is called Queen II. Sounds very boring, doesn't it? But we couldn't find a title we all agreed on. Our first LP didn't do too badly because it sold about 15 thousand copies."
John (1974): "Take our guitar sound, I mean listen to Brian, the work he puts in on stage and studio. And Freddie has that something as a singer. Queen II like the other albums is good because of the time we spent on the production. On Queen II we did all the guitar overdubs, the acoustics, bells, lots of piano, in other words, everything! We go to all the mixes, we don't just leave it to the producer. Even after the mixing we spent two weeks at Trident whilst the album was being cut."
Freddie (1975): "I don't care what the journalists say, we got that identity after Queen II. After that, we got into our own thing. America saw that it was good, and so did Japan. Since then we're the biggest group in Japan. I don't mind saying that. We outdo anybody. And that's because we've just taken it on our own musical terms. Since Queen II we've had our own identity. Of course, if we do something that's harmonised, we'll be Beach Boys, and if we do something that's heavy, we'll be Led Zeppelin, or whatever. But the thing is that we have an identity of our own because we combine all those things which mean Queen. That's what people don't seem to realise."