Features

• The game, Queen.

• Album: 5E-513ASP Stereo.

• Produced by Queen. 1980 Elektra records.

Details

The majority of Queen’s eighth studio album, was recorded between February and May 1980. The tracks, Save Me, Coming Soon, Sail Away Sweet Sister and Crazy Little Thing Called Love (the first single from the album, released a full seven months ahead of The Game) were instead recorded in June and July of 1979. Despite the fact that Queen had recently purchased their own recording studios in Montreux Switzerland, they did not use it for this project. All tracks were recorded in Musicland Studios in Munich and were produced by Queen and (Rheinhold) Mack. It was the first Queen/Mack co-venture but certainly not the last; the collaboration would go on to produce some of the band’s finest work and be responsible for many of the biggest and best known hits.

The Game marked a major turning point for Queen in terms of musical style. For the first time the band were experimenting with disco/funk rhythms and completely emersing themselves (as they always did) in the bass-driven grooves of the day. Whatever Queen did, and whatever the fall-out might be, good or bad, they embraced it wholeheartedly and this album was no exception. The Game was the first Queen album to feature a synthesizer, though this aspect was rather less than welcome news to many long term followers of the band who had been with them through all the ‘Nobody played synths’ albums of the seventies. John Deacon in particular is known to enjoy soulful upbeat Motown and disco/dance music, and was the band member seemingly most at ease with this significant change in direction. From these sessions came the mighty Another One Bites The Dust, and not only was it a colossal international hit, it gave John his first No 1 record. Inspired by the kind of bass lines so succesfully employed by soul group Chic at that time, John’s Bites The Dust came from nowhere to take the world by storm and catapult the band into a whole new environment – not least in unlikely quarters such as the black funk clubs in New York. But not everyone was happy with the new sound and new look Queen.

For many fans, The Game’s drastically alternative feel was a change too far. While many new listeners were attracted to Queen for the first time, some of the long term supporters regarded the album as the band selling out. No matter, when released on June 30 1980 in the UK it entered the charts at number 1, and four days later in America, The Game would quickly climb to the top of their charts also becoming Queen’s first No 1 album in the U.S. and also the first long player to top the charts in both America and at home. It would achieve gold sales status for EMI in the UK, and go platinum for Elektra Records in the U.S.

Although a short album to listen to compared with previous albums, it showed the band at their most commercial appeal and was their most internationally successful album to date. More singles than ever were released from this album, all diverse in music and style and appealing to a wider fan base than ever before. Album tracks written by Roger include the chirpy Coming Soon, and the Mercury led intro to the Taylor sung vocal of Rock It (Prime Jive). Both of John Deacon's contributions were issued as singles, with Another One Bites The Dust and Need Your Loving Tonight, making him a force to be reckoned with in the singles songwriting department, along with both Freddie and Brian. One of Brian's heaviest and guitar driven songs Dragon Attack, was a stand out track on the album and a great addition to the live set on the forthcoming tours. Another of his contributions was the heartfelt and overlooked Sail Away Sweet Sister, dedicated "To The Sister I Never Had", with Brian on vocals throughout, apart from one verse featuring Freddie on lead vocal. Freddie surprisingly only had three contributions to this album with two big hit singles, and the rather obscure Don't Try Suicide.

The first single from The Game was the rockabilly inspired Crazy Little Thing Called Love, a song famously conceived by Freddie during an afternoon bath, and which he played the acoustic guitar throughout. Coupled with the much accelerated live version of We Will Rock You from the Killers album, the single was issued by EMI on October 5 1979, and reached a frustrating No 2 in the UK. In America, where it wasn’t released til December, and backed with John Deacon’s Spread Your Wings (live), it gave Queen their first American No 1. The single would also reach number 1 in five other countries and was also the first time a 12” Queen single had been released commercially in a few countries around the world.

The accompanying video marked another departure for Queen in terms of image. Directed by Dennis De Vallance and filmed at Trillion Studios in London, the Crazy Little Thing video is one of a very few for which Brian May is seen to play something other than his beloved Red Special home made guitar. For this he instead used a Fender Telecaster. No extras were available for this shoot and so four of the band’s trusted roadies were recruited to lie on their backs beneath the stage and supply the clapping hands.

Save Me, written by Brian, was the next single. Released in January 1980, in advance of the album by four months and coupled with a live version of Let Me Entertain You, this lovely ballad, accompanied by a video conceived by Brian, peaked at No 11 at home. It was never issued in America, but Elektra Japan released it in April of 1980 though this time backed with Roger’s Sheer Heart Attack (live). The video for this single was the first Queen promo to feature animation. In fact, it was one of the first music videos to mix live action performance with animation. Filmed at the Alexandra Palace in London during December’s aptly named Crazy tour, and directed by Keith McMillan, this video remains a firm favourite among fans and generated some wonderful out-takes – not least Freddie pretending to gun down a passing dove that will not play its part as per the script.

Freddie’s stirring and unforgettable, Play The Game, with startling intro and typically unambiguous lyric, was the third UK single to be lifted from The Game, and the first single by the band ever to be released with a synthesiser. It is rumoured that the album itself was to be called Play The Game, but was shortened due to Roger Taylor’s disapproval at the implication of the band being perceived as ‘playing the game’. Freddie’s single, coupled with Roger’s non-album A Human Body, emerged on May 30, one month ahead of the LP, and helped largely by a spectacular video, rose to No 14 in the UK chart. The same pairing was issued by Elektra Records in the U.S and Japan, but fared less well. The video for this, The Game’s opening track, was another memorable shoot. Filmed at Trillion Studios in London, in May 1980, director Brian Grant makes innovative use of backwards film of water, and, not for the first time in a Queen shoot, Vaseline. A topless Freddie emerges from the water smeared in the stuff, only to have a watering can of cold water thrown over him. But did he complain? Apparently yes, but ever the professional he still agreed to several further takes. It is an utterly enthralling four minutes, and among the band’s best loved and certainly most memorable films. This was also the first video in which Freddie sported his newly cropped hair and trademark moustache, which would later lead to fans throwing razor blades onto the stage during many concerts to come, a gesture which greatly amused a defiant Freddie, who flatly refused to shave it off.

Next from The Game, came the world singles chart domination that no one could have anticipated; John Deacon’s disco-based giant Another One Bites The Dust. It was the fourth and last UK single from this album, but by far the biggest. Coupled with Brian’s enigmatic Dragon Attack, the single was issued on August 22 in Britain and reached No 7. Meanwhile, elsewhere around the world, it was an unparalleled smash. In America (c/w Don’t Try Suicide) Dust gave Queen their second No 1 there in eight months and remains still to this day their best selling hit in that territory. In Japan, the same pairing was also issued. The video, filmed at the Reunion Theatre in Dallas Texas, on August 9 1980, finds the band five weeks into an extensive North America tour and shows a new-look Freddie working the song with a tight rhythmic intensity.

In November 1980, in the aftermath of a greatly successful U.S/Canada tour, Elektra in the U.S. (and Japan) released a further single from The Game, this time with John's Need Your Loving Tonight c/w Rock It (Prime Jive). No promotional film was made to accompany the song and thus it made only minimal impact.