Rock & Roll Queen

Originally released in the U.K. during the first flurry of excitement following 's 1972 breakthrough, is both an excellent introduction to the group's pre- background, and a vivid portrait of why it took them so long to actually make it. Just four of the eight tracks are what one would consider truly representative of 's early powers -- the title track, of course, the claustrophobic and and the grinding The remainder can be summed up either as novelty fragments ( ), entertaining throwaways (an instrumental cover of ' and the non-album ), or live spacefillers -- eight minutes of 's were out of place enough on the otherwise sublime album. They have no business whatsoever on a putative best-of. But it is that very inconsistency which made the original albums the minor/ignored classics they undoubtedly were -- , after all, gave the band more than a major hit single; he also introduced discipline and order to the ranks, focusing vocalist on a role as leader, and reminding him that even democracies need some kind of game plan. After , albums were focused tight as a drum. Before him, they sprawled all over the place, and sprawls with them. Indeed, that might even be why it continues to occupy such a resolute place in the heart of the true fan, long after both its contents and its purposes have been superseded by subsequent anthologies. There is nothing here which cannot be as easily obtained elsewhere, with even the once super-rare a production conceived as a between-albums 45, now as familiar as any of its stablemates. But lives on regardless, the first compilation and, for all its brevity, faults, and idiosyncrasies, still one of the most breathtaking. This band knew no fear. ~ Dave Thompson