01	Mustapha						03:01
	02	Fat Bottomed Girls						04:17
	03	Jealousy						03:13
	04	Bicycle Race						03:03
	05	If You Can't Beat Them						04:15
	06	Let Me Entertain You						03:02
	07	Dead On Time						03:23
	08	In Only Seven Days						02:29
	09	Dreamer's Ball						03:30
	10	Fun It						03:29
	11	Leaving Home Ain't Easy						03:15
	12	Don't Stop Me Now						03:29
	13	More Of That Jazz						04:15

EMI CDP 7 46210 2 (c) 1978 Queen Productions Ltd re-issued in the USA on Hollywood Records as HR-61062

Queen
Jazz
Hollywood (61062-2)
UK 1978

Freddie Mercury, vocals, piano;
Brian May, guitars, backing vocals;
Roger Taylor, percussion, backing vocals;
John Deacon, bass

Tracklist:
1. Mustapha - 3:05
2. Fat Bottomed Girls - 4:12
3. Jealousy - 3:15
4. Bicycle Race - 3:05
5. If You Can't Beat Them - 4:17
6. Let Me Entertain You - 3:02
7. Dead on Time - 3:28
8. In Only Seven Days - 2:27
9. Dreamer's Ball - 3:32
10. Fun It - 3:18
11. Leaving Home Ain't Easy - 3:13
12. Don't Stop Me Now - 3:44
13. More of the Jazz - 4:13

total time 42:52


dom

Queen went to Montreaux, France to record this album, reunited with super-producer Roy Thomas Baker (who'd missed News of the World), and though it's not remembered as well as their biggest hits, it may have been the last of the prototypical Queen albums. Similar to the previous album, there are stabs at various popular music styles of the time like disco and country rock, though per usual the band's take on them was uniquely eccentric. What stands out most about the album is the rather sentimental feeling, as if they knew their time was coming to an end. Tracks like "Bicycle Race" and "Mustapha" just didn't seem to make as much sense in a pop music context as they might have three years earlier.
The one member who always seemed to on top of trends was Roger Taylor. His "Fun It" and "More of that Jazz" aren't exactly songwriting triumphs, but should be crystallized as examples of late 70s pop-rock. Elsewhere, John Deacon continued his study in MOR male heartbreak with "In Only Seven Days", and May's "Leaving Home Ain't Easy" may be the single most tear-jerking moment in their canon.

Jazz is a very interesting Queen album: on the one hand going ten directions simultaneously, and on the other so obviously idiosyncratic that its rewards seemed out of touch with the rest of rock. As a whole, the best since Opera, with which it shares a general lack of cohesion, but somehow just doesn't seem as regal.

Let's start with "Fat Bottomed Girls". Hand it to Queen, they didn't limit their flair for overstatement to any particular demographic group. As the times changed, so too did the band's odd assimilation of disparate popular styles. This one is sort of like The Eagles crossed with Led Zeppelin meeting Freddie at the cheesecake factory. Tongue-in-cheek or impassioned plea to end world hunger? You be the judge.

The band bring out the by-then-standard kitchen sink production on "Bicycle Race". For what it's worth, probably the last mini-opera the band ever put to tape, though some would argue that after "Bohemian Rhapsody" it was done anyways. However, they still had a few tricks up their sleeves, such as the pop-culture references to Star Wars and Jaws, and the cool massed bike bells in the middle. A good time had by all, if you let them, and why would anyone deny Mercury his toys?

How to describe "Don't Stop Me Now"? Sex machine, Broadway style is one way, I suppose. Just think of what Flashdance could have been had Mercury been in charge. Truthfully, this may be the only overtly homosexual song the band did, but if you just want to think of it as "outgoing", that's OK too. Bouncy, footloose, fancy-free, and that disco breakdown in the middle will leave you breathless. 'Get down, make love,' they said, and they meant it.

(c) ground and sky