It's All Too Late

Albums
News Of The World - Queen

News Of The World - Queen
An album of songs at last. And some pretty good ones at that. As ever with Queen albums the great tracks are the album tracks as opposed to those that were released as singles. We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions are not to be discarded of course, but they are a little overplayed at the expense of some very good music.
The styles are well mixed, from the gentler Spread Your Wings and It's Late to the punky Sheer Heart Attack and the hard corners of Fight From The Inside and slightly more offbeat Mercury tracks like Get Down, Make Love.
There are no real explosions from any of the band members, Freddie's voice is fairly subdued, May's guitar work is as versatile, entertaining and good to listen to as ever without being virtuousic, Deacon and Taylor do what is needed and a little extra here and there. There is a fair bit more piano from Freddie than on a lot of the other albums and it works well and adds a nice sound.
A solid Queen album then. Not their best, but a long way from their worst.

Recommended to:
-Queen fans
-fans of easy to listen to guitar based rock
-pretty much everyone else

Not recommended to:
-people surprise by the revelation that Queen recorded tracks that weren't on the three Greatest Hits compilations
-those who think it isn't music without at least three key changes and time signatures with 11s in them.

Laser Squad Nemesis

As a special treat to make up for my absence, a double helping of Alliance predictions, Anaraknaphobia and the Crimson Scales from division one and the Bouncing Krauts and Brigantes from division two.

Anaraknaphobia:
Named after a Marillion album (possibly), their good taste may see this clan do well (possibly). A strong finish last season and a hat full of highly ranked players make this line-up one to be feared. Probably not quite strong enough to take the title, but I would be surprised to see them finish outside of the top three or four.

Crimson Scales:
One of the handful of season 0 clans still fighting, age seems to have wearied the Scales. They have made some good moves in the recruiting game though and are looking stronger than the line-up that was struggling badly at the end of last season. I am not convinced that this will be enough though and it will be another season of struggles to survive in the top flight.

Bouncing Krauts:
The second new clan this season and another one lacking some top flight names to give early confidence. Still a team to watch out for though, maybe next season rather than this, which will probably see steady games for a mid table finish.

Brigantes:
Another very experienced clan, but that didn't count for much last season with the Brigantes being clear wooden spoon winners. I think that was a harsh end result and they be boosted to do better this season, reaching a mid-table position that more accurately reflects their dedication to the competition.

Other People's Mistakes

And a double dose here as well:

Never be afraid to admit a mistake. Everyone really is very nice, and the
handful of bastards, well, they will meet their judgement one day. It
makes you feel so much better than sinking down in pointless blame
shifting and covering up.

Don't take little things too seriously.