Queen - Flash Gordon (soundtrack) (35th anniversary)

Today (December 8th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the release of the Flash Gordon soundtrack album, the ninth studio album from Queen. This one spent fifteen weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 23. It also charted at number 29 in Australia and Norway, number 25 in Sweden, number 12 in Japan, number 10 in the UK, number 7 in the Netherlands, number 2 in Germany, and number 1 in Austria.

For my full review of this album, click here.

For more from Queen, click here.

Queen - The Game

Today (June 30th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of The Game, the eighth studio album from Queen. It went to number 17 in France, number 11 in Australia and New Zealand, number 10 in Italy, number 7 in Sweden, number 5 in Austria and Japan, number 2 in Germany and Norway, and number 1 in Canada, the Netherlands, and the UK. Here in the US, it went to number 8 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 1 on the US Billboard Album chart. It spent forty-three weeks on that latter chart, with five weeks at the top spot.

Billy Squier - Signs of Life

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Signs of Life, the fourth studio album from Billy Squier. It was co-produced by Squier and Jim Steinman. The album spent twenty-nine weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 11.

Queen - The Works

Today (February 27th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of The Works, the eleventh studio album from Queen. This 1984 release went to number 23 on the US Billboard Album chart (with a twenty week total run on the chart), number 22 in Canada, number 14 in France, number 12 in Australia, number 9 in New Zealand, number 7 in Japan and number 4 in Italy. It went to number 3 in Sweden and West Germany, number 2 in Austria, Norway and the UK, and number 1 in the Netherlands.

Jeffrey Osborne - Stay With Me Tonight

This Fall marked the thirtieth anniversary of Stay With Me Tonight, the second studio album from Jeffrey Osborne. This R&B release went to number 56 in the UK, number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 3 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

DVD: Queen - Live In Budapest

On July 27th of 1986, British rock legends Queen performed at the Népstadion in Budapest, Hungary, becoming the first western act to perform in front of a stadium crowd behind the “Iron Curtain”. János Zsombolyai, one of the country’s leading cinematographers and directors, captured that landmark event on 35mm film.

Queen - News of the World

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

On October 28th of 1977, the English rock band Queen released News of the World, their sixth studio album. As had previous albums, this one too was a multi-Platinum seller in the US and Canada. Chart-wise, it went to number 15 in New Zealand, number 9 in Sweden and Austria, number 8 in Australia, number 7 in Germany, number 4 in Norway and the UK, number 3 in Japan and on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 2 in Canada, and number 1 in France and the Netherlands.

Queen - Hot Space

Today (May 21st) marks the 30th anniversary of the tenth studio album by the British rock band Queen. Hot Space fused a number of different elements like pop, disco, R&B and dance into the musical mix, which was a bit of a turn-off to many of their fans who preferred their earlier, traditional rock sound.

The album went to number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 15 in Australia, number 7 in France, number 6 in Japan, number 5 in Germany, number 4 in their native UK and in Sweden, number 3 in Norway, and number 1 in Austria and the Netherlands. Six of the tracks were released as singles with varying degrees of success.

DVD: Queen - Days of Our Lives

The title of this 2011 BBC documentary about the legendary rock band Queen comes from a track from their 1991 album Innuendo, their final studio release with lead singer Freddie Mercury. Drummer Roger Taylor penned a song called “These Are the Days of Our Lives” for that record. The title too could reflect a bit of the American soap opera by the same name for, as this documentary points out, the band went through quite a bit of trials and tribulations in their twenty years as a group.

Queen - Flash Gordon (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In researching yesterday’s blog post, I realized I had nearly forgotten about the soundtrack to the 1980 science fiction film Flash Gordon, which starred Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Timothy Dalton and Max von Sydow. With its campy style and bizarre costumes, this film adaptation of the classic comic-strip failed to win over large audiences.

The soundtrack, with music performed entirely by the rock band Queen, fared only slightly better. This, their ninth studio album, went to number 10 on the UK charts (where it was also certified Gold), number 2 in Germany and number 23 in the US.

Queen - A Night at the Opera

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

This past week would have marked the sixty-fifth birthday of Queen’s amazing, energetic, charismatic and matchless front-man Freddie Mercury. As such, I thought it was only fitting that I do a review of one of his band’s albums, their fourth studio release from 1975 A Night at the Opera.

Taking its name from the classic Marx Brothers comedy film from 1935, the album was a commercial success; it has been certified multi-platinum and went to number 1 in the UK and number 4 in the US. A Night at the Opera is also recognized on a number of critical lists. The BBC ranked it at number 9 on its poll of the Top 100 Albums. Q magazine ranked it number 17 on the list of the 50 Best British Albums Ever. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 230 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.