Ogre Battle
The song starts off very, very faint. But it speeds up, and as it speeds up it gets louder and louder... until the voices of the members of Queen pierce through. Then it sounds like backmasked vocals, before Freddie starts singing. The melody is fairly standard Queen fare, and the guitar solo isn't that great. And for some reason, there's some screaming - literal screaming - in the background, as if it's a track ripped straight from a fantasy movie. That was probably the point, I guess.
It begins with Freddie talking about a long time ago, remembering when an old man told him a fable. The song is that fable, speaking of an ogre who terrorized a fantasy world (presumably Rhye). The next verse tells how to avoid the ogre when travelling through the mountains, and then an army appears to take it out. The screaming is indeed a battle. the last verse details the aftermath of the battle.
The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke
Ogre Battle leads to this one, which is decidedly much lighter and sillier than the last one. It's fairly soft, and I SWEAR there's a synth in this. Either Queen tweaked their voices and guitar in the studio, or they're using a synth before 1980. The last verse has a spooky feel to it, with the guitar playing a dulled, buzzing couple of notes low and chilling throughout.
The song is about a group of fairies gathering to see "the Feller" working to deliver something. Honestly, I can barely catch a word of this... There's something about a ball or something with a dragonfly trumpeter? I don't know. It ends with them asking him to open
Nevermore
This song is a soft piano song, with added vocal harmonies from Brian and Roger. This song only goes for just over a minute, so there isn't really a chorus; Roger and Brian sing the title while Freddie sings the song, and then they all join in at the end.
This one is pretty sad and sentimental. His woman is crying, and he... Oh, who am I kidding, I'm barely getting anything. I might have to start looking up the lyrics and geting help from them. It goes from one thing to another; It's raining in the dry season, his woman is crying, he asks her to stop, something happens, and suddenly she's left him or something... curse you, poor sound quality! Why are you so quiet?!
Thoughts So Far: I was disappointed by Ogre Battle, but Fairy Feller and Nevermore had alrightish lyrics and pretty nice music to it. I prefer Side White so far, but let's see if the last 2 songs can change my mind.
Next time, I finish with the last 3 songs of Side Black: "The March of the Black Queen", "Funny How Love Is" and "Seven Seas of Rhye (Complete)"!
