metal and even a little bit of folk music" and felt that the album "did little to separate the group from others exploring similar territory in the early '70s." David Chiu of Medium opined that Mercury's songs were similar in style to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, whereas Brian May's songs "were also baroque-sounding at times, albeit more introspective." Side one "Keep Yourself Alive" Brian May wrote "Keep Yourself Alive" after the band had been formed but before John Deacon joined, as confirmed by former bass player Barry Mitchell (on an unofficial question and answer session held on an online forum). According to Brian May in a radio special about their 1977 album, News of the World, he had penned the lyrics thinking of them as ironic and tongue-in-cheek, but their sense was completely changed when Freddie Mercury sang them. Roger Taylor and Brian May sing the vocal bridge of the song. Former bassists and the band themselves recall that Freddie Mercury might have helped on the musical arrangements based on the fact that the band were in a more collaborative period in the pre-studio days, and he usually got his way with structural ideas. While it is highly possible that he contributed ideas to the song (the modulation types and the expanded form are closer to his style than to May's), even in that case Freddie Mercury would be more a co-arranger than a co-writer per se (like George Martin on The Beatles' songs). "Doing All Right" "Doing All Right" was written by Brian May and Tim Staffell while in Smile, however, it was never released on Smile, only on Queen. This is one of the few Queen songs to feature Brian May on the piano. He also played his old Hallfredh acoustic guitar on this track and on later tracks such as "White Queen (As It Began)" and "Jealousy". The band played this song as early as 1970, and it was notable as the band's first song Freddie Mercury played live on the piano. Staffell sang it when it was a Smile song, and Freddie Mercury tried to sing in the same manner when it became a Queen (band) song. This song is not played much at concerts, played at least once at Earls Court's in 1977. "Great King Rat" This song, written by Freddie Mercury, is an example of Queen's earliest sound, with lengthy, heavy