Queen
Jazz [Deluxe]
(Island)

Beginning with Freddy Mercury’s ode to Israel, “Mustapha,” then the naughty “Fat Bottomed Girls,” the silliness of “Bicycle Race,” the acoustic 2o’s rendering of “Dreamer’s Ball” through to the big piano/vocal balls of “Don’t Stop Me Now,” Jazz, Queen’s seventh studio album, has just been re-released to include a re-mastered CD of the original album and a second disk of goodies.

This is a fantastic vocal album from a band that was so damn fantastic vocally. From the opening and chorus of “Fat Bottom Girls” (Queen sold the original album with a poster depicting the all-female nude bicycle race staged to promote this song), to Freddy’s piano ballad “Jealousy,” the boys are in good voice here.

“Let Me Entertain You” shows off what a great band Queen was when they played hard and once again with “Dead On Time,” a song that makes Queen’s hard rock routes quite plain and shows off Brian May’s guitar and drummer Roger Taylor especially. The float-y “In Only Seven Days” is at once so un-Queen but so certainly Queen.  It’s the most interesting tune here and “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy” has some slow strings and a wonderful Brian May vocal; a rather “normal” acoustic tune from Queen.

The bonus stuff on the second disk includes the single version of “Fat Bottomed Girls,” an instrumental “Bicycle Race,” and an early, pure acoustic version of “Dreamers Ball.”

If you don’t have Jazz (or even if you do) pick this double CD set up now.