Sold Date: December 19, 2020
Start Date: November 26, 2020
Final Price: £49.00 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 5512
Buyer Feedback: 54

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QUEEN Sheer Heart Attack 1974 UK EMI 1st PRESS NEAR MINT QUEEN
Sheer Heart Attack

UK EMI (EMC 3061) FIRST PRESSING (November 1974)
BARELY PLAYED, GREAT SOUNDING ORIGINAL COPY

PRESSED WITH THE FIRST ISSUE EMI LABELS WITH QUEEN CREAST AND ‘MADE IN GT. BRITAIN’ STATEMENT
MATRIX NUMBERS: YAX 4881 - 3U / YAX 4882 - 4U
THE RECORD IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL FULLY LAMINATED AND DEEPLY GLOSSY GARROD & LOFTHOUSE SLEEVE "Made and printed in Great Britain"
COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL LYRIC INNER SLEEVE PRINTED ON LIGHTLY TEXTURED SOFT CARD WITH SQUARE CUT CORNERS AND OPENING THUMB NOTCH

Queen II was a breakthrough in terms of power and ambition, but Queen's third album Sheer Heart Attack was where the band started to gel.
It followed quickly on the heels of the second record — just by a matter of months; it was the second album they released in 1974 — but it feels like it had a longer incubation period, so great is the progress here. Which isn't quite to say that Sheer Heart Attack is flawless — it still has a tendency to meander, sometimes within a song itself, as when the killer opening "Brighton Rock" suddenly veers into long stretches of Brian May solo guitar — but all these detours do not distract from the overall album, they're in many ways the key to the record itself: it's the sound of Queen stretching their wings as they learn how to soar to the clouds.
There's a genuine excitement in hearing all the elements to Queen's sound fall into place here, as the music grows grander and catchier without sacrificing their brutal, hard attack.
One of the great strengths of the album is how all four members find their voices as songwriters, penning hooks that are big, bold, and insistent and crafting them in songs that work as cohesive entities instead of flourishes of ideas. This is evident not just in "Killer Queen" — the first, best flourishing of Freddie Mercury's vaudevillian camp — but also on the pummelling "Stone Cold Crazy," a frenzied piece of jagged metal that's all the more exciting because it has a real melodic hook. Those hooks are threaded throughout the record, on both the ballads and the other rockers, but it isn't just that this is poppier, it's that they're able to execute their drama with flair and style.
There are still references to mystical worlds ("Lily of the Valley," "In the Lap of Gods") but the fantasy does not overwhelm as it did on the first two records; the theatricality is now wielded on everyday affairs, which ironically makes them sound larger than life. And this sense of scale, combined with the heavy guitars, pop hooks, and theatrical style, marks the true unveiling of Queen, making Sheer Heart Attack as the moment where they truly came into their own

Side 1:
Brighton Rock
Killer Queen
Tenement Funster
Flick Of The Wrist
Lily Of The Valley
Now I'm Here
Side 2:
In The Lap Of The Gods
Stone Cold Crazy
Dear Friends
Misfire
Bring Back That Leroy Brown
She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettoes)
In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited

LABELS: NEAR MINT
Clean, unmarked labels with barely a spindle trace to be seen
VINYL Visual: NEAR MINT
Both surfaces shine like new and are clean and unmarked
VINYL Audio: NEAR MINT
Plays beautifully throughout with no audible issues of note
SLEEVE: NEAR MINT
Some creases to the extremities but nothing major otherwise the cover is crisp, clean, sharp and fresh
INNER SLEEVE: VERY GOOD
The lyric inner is a little tired with small seam splits on the bottom and side edges and nicks on the opening edge but it is unmarked and clean

POST & PACKING:
A PROTECTIVE POLY SLEEVE, NEW ANTI-STATIC LINERS, QUALITY BOX (NOT ENVELOPE) MAILER AND AMPLE STIFFENERS ARE ALWAYS USED TO ENSURE THAT YOUR RECORD ARRIVES SAFELY
UK: £5.00 (Recorded Delivery)
EUROPE: Airmail: £15.00 (International Signed For delivery)
INTERNATIONAL: Airmail: £20.00 (International Signed For delivery)
DUE TO THE CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES I WILL ONLY BE POSTING ONCE A WEEK ON FRIDAY

Combined Post: Additional records £1 (UK) £2 (Europe including Russia) £3 (International)
Guarantee: All records are unconditionally guaranteed (including sealed and/or unplayed) and I will offer a complete, no quibble refund upon return of the item should you not be pleased with it in any way  _gsrx_vers_1251 (GS 8.2.1 (1251))