Jazz is a 1978 album by Queen. It was the band's seventh studio album. The album's varying musical styles were alternately praised and criticised; it was subject to a viciously scathing Rolling Stone review by Dave Marsh which included the suggestion that "Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band." Nevertheless, the album made it to #6 on the American Billboard 200.
The band had intended to sell the album with a poster depicting the all-female nude bicycle race staged to promote "Fat Bottomed Girls", but in the USA it was only available through mail order so as not to upset retailers. A small version of the poster comes with the Crown Jewels box set.
Roy Thomas Baker temporarily reunited with Queen and became their producer for this album. It was 3 years since he co-produced Queen's 1975 album A Night at the Opera. But this album also was the last album he co-produced for the band.
This was the first Queen album recorded outside the UK, for tax purposes.
Included in the liner notes is the attribution "Thunderbolt courtesy of God", referring to the crash of thunder heard at the end of the song "Dead On Time" which May recorded with a portable audio recorder during a thunderstorm.
The album artwork was suggested by Roger Taylor, who previously saw a similar design painted on the Berlin Wall.
1. Mustapha
"Mustapha" is a song written by Freddie Mercury and recorded by English rock band Queen. It is the first track of their 1978 album Jazz. "Mustapha" was released as a single in Germany, Spain, Yugoslavia and Bolivia in 1979, although it didn't cause much of an impact on the charts.
In live performances, Mercury would often sing the opening vocals of "Mustapha" in place of the complex introduction to "Bohemian Rhapsody", going from "Allah we'll pray for you" to "Mama, just killed a man...". However, sometimes the band performed an almost full version of the song from the Crazy Tour in late 1979 to The Game Tour in 1980, with Mercury at the piano. They dropped the second verse and went from the first chorus to the third. Also notable is that the song was often requested by the audience, as can be heard on Live Killers.
Although some fans believe that Mercury could speak more languages because of the lyrics of this song (and others such as "La Japonaise" and parts of "Bohemian Rhapsody"), he only knew English and perhaps Gujarati or Hindi, because of his Indian background and education in India (Gujarati is the native language of the Parsis).
2. Fat Bottomed Girls
"Fat Bottomed Girls" is a hit single by the English rock band Queen. It was released in 1978 on the album Jazz. The song was written by Queen guitarist Brian May and was one of the few Queen songs played in an alternative guitar tuning commonly called "drop D tuning". The lyrics express the axiom "Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder", albeit done in a humorous and overtly sexual tone. The song is also considered ironic due to the ambiguous sexuality of lead singer Freddie Mercury.
Vocal arrangements are quite different between the studio version and the live version. In live performances, the lead vocals during the chorus were sung by Freddie Mercury and harmonised with an upper voice (Roger Taylor) and a lower voice (Brian May). In the studio version, there is no higher harmony. The lead vocals are sung by Freddie Mercury, while May performs the lower harmony. In the chorus, May has lead vocals.
The single version (which can be found on Greatest Hits) omits the extended guitar interludes between the verses as well as fading out before the ending.
"Fat Bottomed Girls" was released as a Double A-side with the song "Bicycle Race." This cut includes the line "Get on your bikes and ride". Bicycle Race also contains the line "Fat bottomed girls, they'll be riding today, so look out for those beauties, oh yeah", completing a double cross-reference between the two songs.
The original single cover featured a nude woman riding a bicycle. When many stores refused to stock the single because of the cover, the label altered the image so that the woman was wearing panties.
Cover versions:
* The band Antigone Rising covered the song on the 2005 tribute album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.
* Hayseed Dixie covered it in bluegrass style on their 2002 album A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love, where it's back to back with Spinal Tap's parody Big Bottom.
* The Feeling performed this song on their 2007 UK tour.
* Kevin Fowler covered the song on his 2002 album High on the Hog.
* On the Ozzfest 2006 tour Atreyu used the intro to open their set. As well as using it during their European tour in November 2007.
* Eric Church uses this song now as his intro to "I Pledge Allegiance To The Hag" in his live performances.
* The song was covered by American Idol Season 5 contestant Bucky Covington during Queen week
* This song was also covered by The Rockers in their CD, "We are the Champions. A tribute to Queen"
* A song set to the same tune "Triple D's" was featured in an episode of Rick & Steve sung by lipstick lesbian Kirsten to her wife Dana who had been insecure about the weight she's put on since giving birth.
* Kid Rock did a southern rock version of the song on 2004's CMT Outlaws Concert Special.
Featured appearances:
* The song as used in the second season of the series My Name is Earl in episode seventeen.
* The song was used as the opening theme for Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary Super Size Me.
* The song was also played during surgery on episode 40 of Nip/Tuck (2005).
* The song was mentioned in the song "Mix Tape" from the Broadway musical Avenue Q.
* Part of the song is sung at the end of the Father Ted episode, "The Mainland", by Fr. Noel Furlong, when he is trapped in a cave under a large pile of rocks, with only his hand showing.
* A song set to the same tune "Triple D's" was featured in an episode of Rick & Steve.
* The song was released for Guitar Hero: World Tour as downloadable content on March 26, 2009.
3. Jealousy
"Jealousy" was penned by Mercury and features May playing his Hairfred acoustic guitar placing small pieces of piano wire under the frets to produce the "buzzing" effect of a sitar. All vocals were recorded by Mercury. It was released as a single in 1979.
4. Bicycle Race
"Bicycle Race" (Sample (info)) is a single for the English rock band Queen. It was released on their 1978 album Jazz and written by Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury. The song is unusual for a Queen single in that it shows off the band's humorous side. Among other comic moments it has a middle eight which features bicycle bells. Fans would often replicate this at Queen concerts with their own such bells.
To release this song Queen staged a bicycle race with 65[citation needed] naked women. The video was originally banned and subsequently re-edited with added special effects to censor the offensive imagery.
It was released as a Double-A side with the song "Fat Bottomed Girls". A crudely retouched photograph of a naked cyclist from the bicycle race was used for the single cover (now sporting a pair of bikini bottoms).
Cover versions:
* This song was covered by the German dance artist Blümchen (1996). Her version contains samples from Queen's original recording.
* The song was covered in 2002 by Upsilon Acrux on Queen tribute album released by Three One G records.
* The song was covered by Lemon Demon and was released on the bonus tracks to his Damn Skippy album in 2005.
* The song was covered again in 2005 by Be Your Own Pet on a Queen Tribute album.
* The song was covered again in 2006 by Between the Buried and Me on their covers album The Anatomy Of.
* The song was also covered in 2009 by Jason Lytle which can be heard on his MySpace.
5. If You Can't Beat Them
"If You Can't Beat Them" was another Hard Rock composition by John Deacon and was a live favourite for the band in late '70s. It is one of the few songs by Deacon where May plays all the guitars and contains a guitar solo of over two minutes, making it one of the longest guitar solos in a Queen song.
6. Let Me Entertain You
"Let Me Entertain You" was written by Mercury, directed towards the audience. The line "we'll sing to you in Japanese" is a reference to May's Teo Torriatte, from A Day at the Races. The idea of a guitar riff in parallel sixths was re-used later in the Innuendo track, "The Hitman".
7. Dead on Time
"Dead on Time", written by May, features some of the fastest and most aggressive guitar work by its author, as well as some equally complicated yet ferocious drumming by Taylor. Performed at breakneck speed, it was considered by most fans to be an ideal live number, but was curiously never played in concert; May would only incorporate snippets of it in his guitar solos during the Jazz Tour. The song resembles "Keep Yourself Alive" from Queen's self-titled debut album. Particularly the guitar play is similar to that of Keep Yourself Alive, although it's faster in "Dead on Time". In the last chorus, the words "keep yourself alive" are sung, and in the lyrics attached to the album, those words are written in capitals.
The song ends with the sound of a thunderbolt, followed by Mercury screaming "You're dead!" The thunderbolt was actually recorded by May on a portable recorder during a vicious thunderstorm. Amusingly, the album's liner notes credit the thunderbolt to God.
8. In Only Seven Days
"In Only Seven Days" resembles Deacon's previous song, "Spread Your Wings". Deacon also played acoustic guitar and electric guitar.
9. Dreamer's Ball
"Dreamer's Ball" is May's tribute to Elvis Presley, who had died one year before. The arrangement for the concert version was completely different, with May and Taylor doing vocal brasses.
10. Fun It
"Fun It" was a funk track with a disco vibe by Taylor, where both Mercury and himself shared the vocals. Taylor did the lead vocals, while Mercury was backup. Taylor used Syndrum pads and played most of the instruments.
11. Leaving Home Ain't Easy
"Leaving Home Ain't Easy" was a ballad by May, who also sang all the vocals (lead and harmony). His voice was sped up for the bridge.
12. Don't Stop Me Now
"Don't Stop Me Now" is a 1979 hit single by Queen, from their 1978 album Jazz. Lyrics and music were written by Freddie Mercury and Daniel Preece. It was recorded in August/September 1978 in Nice, France.
Musically, the song is based around Mercury's piano playing, with John Deacon and Roger Taylor providing a bass guitar and drums backing track. The song also provides an example of Queen's trademark style of multitrack harmony vocals for the chorus lines. Several recordings were laid over each other to achieve the final sound. On the studio version, Brian May's only guitar playing is in his guitar solo, but on live versions performed on the band's 1978 and 1979 tours, May would also play rhythm guitar throughout the rest of the song to add a rockier feeling to it.
The lyrics have cosmic imagery describing feelings of power and exhilaration, for example "I'm gonna go, go, go there's no stopping me / I'm burning through the sky yeah 200 degrees…".
The single reached #9 in the UK charts but only #86 in the US.
It is famous for being a song Brian May did not like, and is the advertising jingle for the Trafford Centre.
Despite the fact that the studio version is one of Queen's most popular songs, it only lasted from 1978-1979 live, with the last performance in the Crazy Tour.
* In 2005, this song was voted as "The Greatest Driving Song Ever" by viewers of the BBC television program Top Gear, but the trophy given to Roger Taylor (probably intentionally) was mis-engraved, reading Stop Me Now.
* The 2004 horror/comedy Shaun of the Dead featured the song near the end of the movie. The song is played on a jukebox in the Winchester pub as three of the main characters circle around the zombie former barkeep while hitting him over the head with pool cues in rhythm with the song, leading Shaun to utter the line; "David, kill the Queen!" Also, during the song, various things happen to the beat of the music, such as lights flashing. Thematically, the song is ironic, as its upbeat feel completely contradicts the protagonists' no-win scenario when it accidentally is played on jukebox.
* The song is featured in a Panasonic commercial in Australia during coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics, featuring Australian Olympians in their childhood on home videos.
* The song was also featured in FOX's cartoon series "American Dad!" during the first season episode "Roger 'n Me".
* The song also featured in the credits of a British television show on the history of the Concorde aircraft.
* 'Don't Stop Me Now' is also the title of a group show held at Trolley Gallery, London in June 2008, of artists examining the body beyond death
* The song was featured in a series of Gatorade Propel advertisements.
* The song was used in a commercial for Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, showing airport trucks having a race along the runway to a background of the song playing. This was later changed to Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer.
* This Song was used in the Australian Queensland Motorways Ad for their new tolling system.
* It was used by M-Net in an advertising campaign in the early 90's.
* The song is featured in graffiti film Grovt Skadeverk 2.
Cover versions:
* McFly, the cover is the official song for Sport Relief 2006. It reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart on the week ending 29 July 2006.
* The Vandals, 2004 (punk)
* Fobia (in Spanish)
* In the European release of the drumming game Donkey Konga (2004)
* The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
* Katy Perry covered the song twice on her Hello Katy tour.
13. More of that Jazz
"More of that Jazz" is yet another one of Taylor's bitter comments about current society and the way rock and roll is disrespected. It is loop based and Taylor plays most instruments and sings all vocals, reaching some very high notes (peaking on a E5). The outro also contains short clips from many songs on the album, including "Dead on Time", "Bicycle Race", "Mustapha", "If You Can't Beat Them", "Fun It" and "Fat Bottomed Girls".
