The Beginning
“Queen’s roots can be traced to another group named Smile, which was typical of the blues-based, proto-heavy-metal hard rockers who proliferated in England in the wake of the late-'60s psychedelic explosion. When Smile's lead vocalist quit in 1971, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor formed a new group with flamboyant singer Freddie Mercury, formerly of a band called Wreckage, and a solid and ultra-melodic bass player named John Deacon.” JD
While they came to be known as “revered British art-rockers and glam-popsters,” JD “the quartet’s early releases consisted of fairly straightforward rock, distinguished primarily by Mercury’s theatrical, Broadway-flavored singing style.” JD When A Night at the Opera was released “there was still a perception that Queen was essentially a prog rock band.” CM “Queen was able to fully indulge its vision of symphonic rock for the first time.” JD
A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races
While the focus here is on Queen’s fourth album, 1975’s A Night at the Opera, it is necessary to mention its follow-up, 1976’s A Day at the Races. The two releases were just over a year apart from each other and shared “similar cover art and titles lifted from movies by the Marx Brothers.” JD
“Mercury said…many of the songs were initially conceived in the same period and intended to be part of an epic double album. The record company prevented that from happening, figuring that two separate releases would be more profitable than one giant blockbuster.” JD
“The combination of these two discs stands as the best testament to the musical muscle and songwriting strength of the band that is still providing new revelations, unforgettable singalong choruses, moments of headbanging glory, and plenty of fodder for arguing and head-scratching.” JD
One of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Made
Opera was the most expensive album made up to that time, taking months to record in as many as six studios simultaneously. PR That “detailed, meticulous productions” AM was a mutual effort from Queen and producer Roy Thomas Baker, who “was more than happy to oblige the boys, piling on the overdubs until the analog 16-track tape shed almost all its oxide and literally went transparent.” GW “Every penny that was spent can be heard in the grooves via the gorgeous harmony vocals, the lush, swelling orchestrations, and the masterfully recorded instrumental flourishes.” JD
The Album’s Impact
“When many rock acts were either preening, sexualized idols or campy, trenchant new wavers, Queen seemed to be both.” CS “Overboard was what Queen was all about.” CS Queen’s A Night at the Opera can be simultaneously viewed as the group’s “crowning achievement” PR and “an extravagant indulgence.” PR Certainly it can be “laughably pretentious and bombastic” JD “but that’s exactly what fans love about it.” JD The group “celebrate their own pomposity” AM in “a self-consciously ridiculous and overblown hard rock masterpiece.” AM In his book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, Tom Moon called it “the campiest rock concept album ever.” TM
The album “set a new standard for theater-rock that was imitated by dozens of bands that sought to combine the excitement of Kiss with the virtuosity of Cream.” CS The Queen sound by definition was filled with electric guitars in harmony, a rock-solid rhythm section, and many layers of vocals,” CRS but even by their own standards, Queen “broke down all the barricades on A Night at the Opera” AM with a mix of “hard rock, wistful ballads, music hall pastiche and perfectly crafted pop with classical trimmings.” PR It was “the disc that established them as a completely unique entity in rock music, quite distinct from the Seventies glam/proto metal pack with which they’d formerly been grouped.” GW “It’s prog rock with a sense of humor as well as dynamics.” AM
The Songs
One “can make the case that the 13 songs here cover 13 genres.” CM “Delivered with sly winks and high-gloss dazzle, these put Queen closer, sensibility-wise, to the theatrical entertainments of a bygone age than anything on pop radio.” TM “Tucked between the kitschy, amazingly detailed period pieces” TM are “head-spinningly intricate, illustrations of Queen’s ability to conjure music of preposterous flamboyance that somehow still manages to flat-out rock.” TM
Here are insights on individual songs.
“Death on Two Legs”
“At heart, Queen was always a Beatlesesque pop band, and it never neglected melody, even when it was rocking out with a metallic crunch, as it does on…standout tracks Death on Two Legs (Dedicated To ...)” JD and Sweet Lady, which “encompasses metal.” TM
“Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon”
There were “a few themes that might have been inspired by a toy calliope (Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon).” TM The song “integrated the English music hall tradition into Queen’s canon.” CM
“I’m in Love with My Car”
The album also features “the zooming, cleverly harmonized confession I’m In Love with My Car.” TM The former kicks off the album, “setting up a record where the unexpected is the default setting.” CM
“You’re My Best Friend”
“The lovely, shimmering You’re My Best Friend” TM reached the top 20 in the U.S. and top 10 in the UK. It reminded listeners that Queen is unique for showcasing “four distinctive songwriters.” CM In this case, bassist John Deacon – “the least experienced of the four” CM – crafted a song which “proved to be instantly recognizable, with the warm Wurlitzer electric piano tones giving way to Mercury’s persuasive vocal and May’s sure-finger guitar licks.” CM
“‘39”
“Fully half of the album tends toward camp – there are seafaring sing-alongs” TM like the “English folk” CM of ‘39 which features a rare vocal turn by guitarist Brian May, who also wrote the song.
“Seaside Rendezvous”
The album features “vaudeville-style soft-shoe tunes” TM such as Seaside Rendezvous. It is “a mutant mix of seaside cabaret and trad jazz.” CM
“The Prophet’s Song”
The “striding, colossal The Prophet’s Song” CM took the group into the world of “mystical prog rock” AM with “an eight-minute-plus epic that May conceived after a bout of illness, which touches on the idea of scourging floods and Noah’s Ark, complete with an extended vocal breakdown that turns Mercury’s voice into a self-contained studio orchestra.” CM
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
They “eventually bring it all together on the pseudo-operatic Bohemian Rhapsody,” AM which “went down in history as one of the grandest productions in rock.” CS The group fretted that “this strange song with suicidal overtones, mood changes, and a pseudo-operatic section” CRS “was a bit over the top; it would either be a huge success or an equally huge failure.” CRS It proved to be the former, becoming the group’s most beloved song and one of classic rock’s staples.
The song “was recorded over an intense three-week span and painstakingly spliced together from numerous different segments. The goal of producing a merger of rock and opera had been attempted numerous times since the mid-'60s, but in one song, Queen actually got closer than notable album-length predecessors such as Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar and the Pretty Things’ psychedelic nugget, S.F. Sorrow, in the sense of producing both an epic story set to song and a great rock tune that embraces operatic motifs.” JD
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