I think this might be my favorite Queen album after A Night at the Opera. In many ways, those two albums most represent Queen as a band. A Night at the Opera is Queen at their most grandiose, a fun sort of tongue-in-cheek kind of prog-rock. The Game represents another aspect of what made Queen great: they're musical chameleons. The album's opener, "Play the Game", and closer, "Save Me", are the only two tracks that are distinctly 'Queen'; the rest of the album they change up styles and, in doing so, become unrecognizable.
The most famous example, of course, is "Another One Bites the Dust." It's well documented that, due to the track's success on Black radio, that many assumed that Queen were actually a Black band. Most also know "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", the band's dead on take on rockabilly but the entire album is an experiment in musical dress up.
"Need Your Loving Tonight" is a Cars style, new wave number, "Rock It (Prime Jive)" is an attempt at heartland rock and "Don't Try Suicide" is clearly influenced by the Police (I can't find anything to confirm this, but my guess is that it might actually be Queen's way of addressing the controversy surrounding the Police's own suicide themed single, "I Can't Stand Losing You", which had been banned by the BBC the previous year). Also, "Dragon Attack" is just a great tune that splits the difference between the funk of "Another One Bites the Dust" and Queen's typical, hard rock style.
Key Tracks: "Play the Game", "Another One Bites the Dust", "Dragon Attack", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
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