Friday, March 15, 2019

#91 - News of the World: Queen (1977)


Everyone likes Queen. I mean, at least a little bit, right?

This album represented a slight departure for this devotedly prog rock band. Reacting to the advent of punk, the band tried to be “rootsier,” a little more rock n roll. And I guess you could say that of the album’s two hits, “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You.” I don’t know though. It’s still just arena rock to me.

The cover was designed by Frank Kelly Freas. 


It was originally a cover for sci-fi magazine Astounding Science Fiction, way back in 1953.


Freas updated the cover for the band and did something brand new for the inside.


Freas was actually one of the more famous sci-fi artists of all time. He would, in fact, win 11 Hugos, 4 Focuses, 3 Chesleys, and many more (all of which I’ve never heard of).

Looks like he would do a fair amount of cheesecake as well:




As well as a couple of Mad magazine covers to boot and eight other albums too:



The robot would eventually acquire a name (Frank), go on tour, and star in an episode of Family Guy.




None of Queen’s other covers were anywhere near as good, though these are not all that bad.




This one’s definitely famous enough for some parodies:







<#92                    #90>

No comments:

Post a Comment