The Game
	Produced by Queen and Mack
	Released on June 30, 1980
	UK CHART POSITION #1 . . . US CHART POSITION #1 . . . 4x PLATINUM RECORD
	Find it at GEMM
5E-513 cover [high resolution photo]

K ronomyth 9.0: GAME OVER. Take a little trip back to 1980. That year, Peter Gabriel abandoned cymbals for his dark third album, David Bowie abandoned reason for the terrifying Scary Monsters, and Talking Heads abandoned conventional rock structures altogether for Remain in Light. Meanwhile, there was Queen, dressed up like the cast of Grease, embracing synthesizers and indulging in novelties like rap and 50s rock & roll. At a time when rock royalty chose to lead a revolution, Queen was painting itself into a corner in caricature. Thus the reason why I’ve been poking The Game with an imaginary stick of snobbish reproach for lo these last 30 years. The album had to be a sell out to find itself at such odds with the “real” royals, I reckoned, as if Queen had been laboring in obscurity for the last 6 years making avant-garde sound collages. Of course The Game is a sell out. So was Jazz. So was News of the World. In fact, the band had been selling millions of records since Opera. I guess that “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are The Champions” and “Bicycle Race” blinded me to the banality of “We Will Rock You” and “Fat Bottomed Girls,” or at least atoned for them. Atonement was harder to come by on an album with only two good works (“The Game,” “Save Me”) and a multitude of sins (“Dragon Attack,” “Don’t Try Suicide,” “Need Your Loving Tonight”). However, even I can’t argue that The Game isn’t a smartly put together album. Especially on the 1991 remaster (which features a surprisingly fun remix of “Dragon Attack”), Brian May’s guitar work is a study in versatility and economy. And if Taylor’s ravers were inching ever closer to filler, they’re no worse than what Rick Nielsen would be writing in a year or two. When The Game is fully weighed and measured, it stands as the last classic Queen album, despite shrinking from what I might see as its royal duty to take the high road. Flash Gordon, now there’s some troubling shrinkage.

HR-61063-2 front cover [high resolution scan]	HR-61063-2 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. PLAY THE GAME    (Freddie Mercury)    3:32
2. DRAGON ATTACK    (Brian May)    4:15
3. ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST    (John Deacon)    3:03
4. NEED YOUR LOVING TONIGHT    (John Deacon)    2:48
5. CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE    (Freddie Mercury)    2:44
6. ROCK IT (PRIME JIVE)    (Roger Taylor)    4:32
7. DON'T TRY SUICIDE    (Freddie Mercury)    3:52
8. SAIL AWAY SWEET SISTER    (Brian May)    3:32
9. COMING SOON    (Roger Taylor)    2:49
10. SAVE ME    (Brian May)    3:42
    
    CD/CS reissue bonus track
11. DRAGON ATTACK (1991 Bonus Remix by R.A.K. and Jack Benson)    (Brian May)    4:20

CREDITS

JOHN DEACON --
BRIAN MAY --
FREDDIE MERCURY --
ROGER TAYLOR --
Mack -- engineer
Queen -- sleeve concept
Cream -- sleeve design
Peter Hince and Christopher Hopper -- photography

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