My Fairy King
The song starts with some trippy guitars, before becoming a nice, fast-tempo intro with some of Freddie's highest vocals ever. It quickly shifts to a fairly minimalistic song with just a couple drums, some piano and occasional lead guitar... then it shifts again to a faster, denser format... then back to piano and vocals. These guys can't keep their songs with a basic style, which isn't necessarily bad, but not necessarily good either.
This song seems to be about a standard fantasy world ruled by a fairy king, with "dragons flying through the air like sparrows" and the like. Then it shifts to what seems like a massacre, before shifting to a delicious meta-lyric whith Freddie singing "Mother Mercury, look at what they've done to me"; I felt this was a nice touch. But anywho, he can't run or hide, so I assume that's the end of the golden age of the land, ending the song with some guitar.
Liar
This song begins with some drums and a metally-sounding... something, but quickly shifts into a rock song fairly standard of the era. Not necessarily bad, because it has a nice beat to it. There's not really much to say about the music; it's a fairly standard rock song until a bit of a drum solo.
The lyrics are Freddie talking to a preist in a confession box. Though the other bands singing "LIAR!" while he talks, casting doubt over Freddie's story. Freddie says some cryptic things about "Mother" and "Father"; his father seemingly walked out on him, and his mother had an iron-fist rule over him, which made him fairly submissive. Of course, this isn't Freddie himself talking, he's merely singing a role. This song is alright in both music (if you like popular classic rock) and lyrics, and comes recommended.
The Night Comes Down
This one starts off with a bass and acoustic guitar, but the drums slowly shimmer in and begin playing a nice little beat. There's a bit of a breakdown, then the lead guitar comes in and harmonizes with the drums and bass, making a haunting tune. This is quickly cut out, and it goes back to bass, acoustic and drums as Freddie sings. The haunting guitar comes in for the chorus. There's a bit of a jam with Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor to end the song, which is alright. The voices of the rest of the band harmonize beautifully in the chorus.
It goes back to Freddie's youth, and he talks of a girl named Lucy being high, possibly being a reference to Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds. I think she leaves or something, because Freddie's last words of the chorus are "and it's dark again". the next verse talks about how he used to be, laughing like everyone and loving himself, but he muses that all he can feel/see is grey as opposed to the black and white which used to colour his life. I theorise this is a metaphor for the loss of innocence that comes with growing up, though I could be wrong.
Overall opinion thus far: Queen changes between different playing styles in a lot of songs on this album, and it's pretty jarring for me. A few songs end up better for it, but some songs turn out to be a little worse. Other than that, the songs usually turn out good; "Liar" is one of the best songs on this album.
Next time, I make a mad dash for the finish line, covering the last 4 songs! Including, of course, the original "Seven Seas of Rhye" sans vocals.
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