|
Queen
Oct 11, 2019 15:09:39 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Oct 11, 2019 15:09:39 GMT
Unless there are demos around, it's probably worth noting that we don't know what it would have sounded like had it been finished for Sheer Heart Attack the album. The style, sound, etc., may have been somewhat different and it might have been a great fit. Or a terrible one. Who knows?
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 11, 2019 15:45:15 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 11, 2019 15:45:15 GMT
Unless there are demos around, it's probably worth noting that we don't know what it would have sounded like had it been finished for Sheer Heart Attack the album. The style, sound, etc., may have been somewhat different and it might have been a great fit. Or a terrible one. Who knows? That's true, so my assessment is solely based on the released version. Maybe a 1974 version might've sounded more Queen-ish.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 15, 2019 15:56:37 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 15, 2019 15:56:37 GMT
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1975)
Is it Queen's best album? That can be debated. But, A Night at the Opera is Queen's most iconic and most revered. And for good reason. A Night at the Opera is a great album, the kind of album on which legendary reputations are built. The kind of album that becomes part of a band's legacy.
Let's start with that long song that's buried at the end of Side 2, shall we? Bohemian Rhapsody, thanks in part to Hollywood, keeps finding ways to reach new audiences. No amount of burn out or overplay from classic rock formats can take away the sheer genius on this song, arguably Queen's all time masterpiece. Pretty much everything that's great about Queen is wrapped up in just under six minutes. I also think it's one of the last examples of their more daring songwriting that I'm afraid we wouldn't see as much of as their career went on.
Bo Rhap isn't the only song on the album that you can blare in your car and headbang to. The album opener Death on Two Legs features Freddie at his most deliciously bitchy on the lead vocals (on lyrics written by May on Queen's old management group). The song, and album opens, with a nightmare soundscape of piano, guitars, then a piercing scream before Freddie's gentle piano lulls the listener, and perhaps subject of the song, into a false sense of security before Brian's guitar and the vocals kick in.
You also have Roger Taylor's ode to cars with I'm in Love With My Car, which perfectly uses his more gruff vocal style. The Prophet Song is built around a proto metal riff, and is something that wouldn't sound out of place on one of Black Sabbath's Dio years albums, but the track runs a bit long as the vocal trickery in the middle isn't nearly as effective as on Bohemian Rhapsody. Sweet Lady is another, more less distinct rocker.
John Deacon contributes his best song to date with the electric piano driven You're My Best Friend, perfectly sequenced after Roger's car themed rocker. In another example of great sequencing, the ballad Love of My Life, which would become a sing a long live staple in a stripped down acoustic version, follows on the heals of The Prophet Song.
Only Freddie Mercury and Queen could get away with having Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon and Seaside Rendezvous, the later song featuring a crazy mix of guitar sounds and fake mouth trumpet on an iconic rock album.
One of the albums more underrated songs is Brian May's '39, a mostly acoustic song with heartbreaking science fiction lyrics and those trademark Queen harmonies on the chorus. This is one of May's two lead vocals, the other being Good Company, on which Brian also sings background vocals, making this a rare Queen song with no participation from Mercury.
The album closes with an instrumental version of the UK Anthem God Save the Queen, which was used as Queen's outro tape after each concert for the remainder of their career.
So, Queen's fourth album is their most enduring triumph, and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Sgt. Pepper's, Pet Sounds, and Dark Side of the Moon. Personally, it's probably my 3rd or 4th favorite Queen album behind the first two, and maybe Sheer Heart Attack.
|
|
bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
|
Queen
Oct 15, 2019 19:50:53 GMT
kds likes this
Post by bellbottoms on Oct 15, 2019 19:50:53 GMT
A Night at the Opera is a masterpiece, and I agree it belongs in the same ranks as Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper’s, etc. There is nothing else like it (that I’ve heard) except for maybe it’s follow-up, but that’s getting ahead. I’ll try to stay focused.
The variety of themes and the various manners in which they’re expressed really does reflect the full spectrum of themes and emotions of an opera - not that I’m an expert in opera as a genre, but my understanding is that like any other classic form of theatre, operas range from tragedy to comedy and can include elements of both in a single production.
So not only did Queen attempt to bring elements of opera and musical theatre into the songwriting and production, they made sure just to gouge just about every last corner of human emotion.
This album just goes everywhere, and everywhere it goes, it goes all the way. I love every gasping rollercoaster moment of it.
The anger and vitriol of Death on Two Legs is such an epic way to open the album. And then before you’ve even had a chance to process that drama, you’re flippantly laughing it off with Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon. Then a whole whack of lust vrooms in, and then suddenly it matures to enduring love and devotion. Then comes the folksy distant longing of ’39, only to be turned around to a more resentful kind of longing.
And that’s just Side A.
Side B keeps that swaying push and pull of themes and styles coming, until it builds to the album’s climax. I don’t quite know what to say about Bohemian Rhapsody that hasn’t already been said, so many times. It’s 1992 resurgence created a memorable beacon of my teenage years. That song got me listening to Queen, committing my scant allowance to the Classic Queen compilation and playing it repetitively, learning every word and belting along to it every day after school until my mom pleaded with me to give it a rest.
It sort of amazes me just how early in Queen’s career Bohemian Rhapsody (and the album it’s on) arrived. Imagine trying to fill those shoes afterward. But what an incredible achievement, just a few years into their career. It also amazes me that I don't call it my favourite Queen album. Kind of makes me wonder what exactly goes into my own thought processes sometimes, haha.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Oct 15, 2019 20:02:30 GMT
Side B keeps that swaying push and pull of themes and styles coming, until it builds to the album’s climax. I don’t quite know what to say about Bohemian Rhapsody that hasn’t already been said, so many times. It’s 1992 resurgence created a memorable beacon of my teenage years. That song got me listening to Queen, committing my scant allowance to the Classic Queen compilation and playing it repetitively, learning every word and belting along to it every day after school until my mom pleaded with me to give it a rest. It sort of amazes me just how early in Queen’s career Bohemian Rhapsody (and the album it’s on) arrived. Imagine trying to fill those shoes afterward. But what an incredible achievement, just a few years into their career. It also amazes me that I don't call it my favourite Queen album. Kind of makes me wonder what exactly goes into my own thought processes sometimes, haha. That was around the same time I got into Queen, the summer of 1992. I got a cass-single of the song, which was reissued due to the success in Wayne's World. I later got that Classic Queen tape later in the year and wore it out until I made copies of the Queen albums from my father's CD collection. In a way, despite the fact that 11 albums followed, I don't think that Queen ever equally the greatness of Bohemian Rhapsody or A Night at the Opera (I know I said they peaked in late 1974 so I think they were still riding that peak here in 1975), and to be fair, I don't think they were trying to either, as that would really be a foolish task, instead the just went down different roads, but more on that later.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Oct 15, 2019 22:40:19 GMT
I think this album belongs in the conversation of the greatest albums of all time, not just of Queen's discography. I'm not saying it's the greatest album of all time ... but I'm not saying it's not, either. Once you reach a certain level of greatness, frankly, you're splitting hairs. There are probably 10-20 albums that belong right there in that conversation.
A Night at the Opera is an absolute masterpiece of arrangement and production, a perfectly sequenced set of diverse songs. If it's Queen's greatest album, it's not just about the songs on their own--on which level we could easily argue--but about the entirety of the experience. And start to finish, it's brilliant. Campy showtunes, hard rock, prog rock, light pop, folk, balladry, and "Bohemian Rhapsody," which comprises a couple of the aforementioned categories along with the faux opera middle section besides.
As I've said before, it's not just the songs with this band, but the cleverness of the arrangements throughout. Cases in point: - Background vocals interacting with the lead, like responding to Freddie's "I'm bound to be proposing on a Saturday night" with "there he goes again"
- Using the guitar as a Dixieland jazz band in "Good Company," or as a mournful cello in "Love of My Life" - Vocalizing both brass (Roger Taylor) and woodwinds (Mercury) in "Seaside Rendezvous
It's a labored-over album, but it doesn't take on the tedious tendencies of so many such projects. It isn't dull and lifeless, but bursting with love, lust, rage, affection, and laughter.
A few oddities or details of note: - My copy (1991 CD) shows Mercury as the sole songwriter of "Death on Two Legs," so KDS, I'm curious as to your source of May being the lyricist. (I swear I've also heard the others describe Freddie as writing it, and them being a little taken aback by it.) - The same CD has some strange credits, such as listing the band with their primary instruments under "Cast," and then listing lead vocalist (if it's not Freddie) and any other instruments (e.g., John Deacon on electric piano on "You're My Best Friend") ... but in neither place does it ever list piano. Call me crazy, but I think I detect a piano here and there! - "You call me sweet like I'm some kind of cheese" does not belong on a rock album, much less hard rock song ... BUT I LOVE IT. - I'd never heard that Mercury wasn't on "Good Company" at all.
Great, great album.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 16, 2019 12:12:53 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 16, 2019 12:12:53 GMT
I'm actually misremembering the credits on Death on Two Legs. There was a quote that Brian May felt bad singing on the song, which I think I mistook maybe moons ago that Brian was slated to sing lead, but I think I confused that story with the lead vocals on Pink Floyd's Have a Cigar. So, yeah, it's a Freddie song, I just did a KDS mind scramble.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 16, 2019 12:30:19 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2019 12:30:19 GMT
Forgiven!
I should add re Good Company, I went back to listen, sure id hear some evidence of Freddie.
Nope. Doggone it, you’re right. I would’ve sworn there was piano, but there’s just drums, bass, and Wall o (the other) Brian.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 16, 2019 12:48:35 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 16, 2019 12:48:35 GMT
Forgiven! I should add re Good Company, I went back to listen, sure id hear some evidence of Freddie. Nope. Doggone it, you’re right. I would’ve sworn there was piano, but there’s just drums, bass, and Wall o (the other) Brian. I'd recently read that (I've already forgotten where), and I happened to be listening to Queen the other night, and Good Company came on, and I thought I'll be damned, there's no Freddie.
|
|
bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
|
Queen
Oct 16, 2019 13:36:13 GMT
Post by bellbottoms on Oct 16, 2019 13:36:13 GMT
That was around the same time I got into Queen, the summer of 1992. I got a cass-single of the song, which was reissued due to the success in Wayne's World. I later got that Classic Queen tape later in the year and wore it out until I made copies of the Queen albums from my father's CD collection. In a way, despite the fact that 11 albums followed, I don't think that Queen ever equally the greatness of Bohemian Rhapsody or A Night at the Opera (I know I said they peaked in late 1974 so I think they were still riding that peak here in 1975), and to be fair, I don't think they were trying to either, as that would really be a foolish task, instead the just went down different roads, but more on that later. I think you're probably right - they probably realized they had captured lightning in a bottle with A Night at the Opera and Bohemian Rhapsody in particular, and rather than try to outdo it or match it, just focused on continuing to make great music. I do think some of that some residual lightning was still with them for the couple of years that followed A Night at the Opera though.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 16, 2019 14:02:16 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2019 14:02:16 GMT
I think Sheer Heart Attack through either Jazz or The Game is all in that prime era of greatness, roughly equivalent to the Beatles Rubber Soul onward. It’s basically all great, not literally every song, but just the bulk of the work taken together. Astoundingly good stuff.
If there’s one individual pinnacle, it’s probably “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but it’s one high peak among 5-6 years of peaks.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 16, 2019 14:03:41 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 16, 2019 14:03:41 GMT
I think Sheer Heart Attack through either Jazz or The Game is all in that prime era of greatness, roughly equivalent to the Beatles Rubber Soul onward. It’s basically all great, not literally every song, but just the bulk of the work taken together. Astoundingly good stuff. If there’s one individual pinnacle, it’s probably “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but it’s one high peak among 5-6 years of peaks. I'll expand more on this later, but I tend to split Queen's era of greatness into different levels.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 17, 2019 19:57:07 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 17, 2019 19:57:07 GMT
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 15:16:00 GMT
Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 15:16:00 GMT
A DAY AT THE RACES (1976)
It's very easy to think of A Day at the Races as a sibling to A Night at the Opera, given the title and album art. But, the albums themselves are distinctly different.
I suppose some parallels could be drawn. Somebody to Love could be viewed as a slightly more down to earth Bohemian Rhapsody. The same could possibly be said for The Millionaire Waltz. You Took Me Breath Away could be viewed as a similar take on Love Of My Life.
But, to my ears, both albums have a different sound and feel, despite the similarities.
In some ways, A Day at the Races might even be a more accessible album. There's no sci fi lyrics about space / time travel. There's no long proto metal epic about soothsayers. There's no six minute song with an opera section. No, there's a little more boy / girl type themes, on the riff heavy rocker Tie Your Mother Down, You Take My Breath Away, You and I, and the brilliant pop rock ditty Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy. On the subject of the Tie Your Mother Down, I do think the opening overture should be it's own separate song, much like Procession and Father to Son from Queen II.
Brian and Roger's token leads are among their best. The former on the acoustic driven Long Away, and the later on Drowse, which is quietly one of Queen's best ballads in my opinion.
White Man, features a lyrical theme that hard rock and heavy metal fans would came back to time and time again, the flight of the Native American. It also happens to be one of their heavier songs. The shouty, heavy chorus likely providing a template for a lot of heavy metal over the next decade plus.
The album closes with a love letter to Queen's Japanese fans, Teo Torriate. Perhaps that's why the track is somewhat overlooked in other regions, but it's a great album closer, ending with the "never-ending staircase" (as Brian May called it) motif from the opening of the album.
Of course, Somebody to Love with the infectious gospel esque call and response vocals become a staple. But, much like the previous four albums, there's so much great material here, that much of it gets overlooked - Drowse, Teo Torriate, White Man, and even the hauntingly beautiful You Take My Breath Away.
ADATR, for me, brings an end to Queen's classic era. Even though it's their first album without Roy Thomas Baker producing (who I feel like I didn't mention enough), I think the band retained much of the sound from those Baker produced albums. I feel like, starting with News of the World, the band went into more of an arena rock direction, but more on that later.
|
|
|
Queen
Oct 18, 2019 15:54:13 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 15:54:13 GMT
I love this album. You're right that while it's often paired with A Night at the Opera (for obvious reasons), it is its own work. But I'd say it can also be paired with its predecessor precisely for that: it is a brilliant album that presents a broad range of styles.
For me, there is only one misstep: "White Man." Queen tends not to do politics well, usually coming across as ham-handed (see: "Is This the World We Created?"), a complaint that also tends to spoil rock bands' take on European/American treatment of Native Americans (see Europe's "Cherokee"). The riff itself is cool, though.
Everything else ranges from good to great. The biggest hit, obviously, is "Somebody to Love," and if anything it's underrated. Honestly, it's genius. And speaking of classics, "Tie Your Mother Down" is fantastic, combining May's rocking guitar with Mercury's campy humor (and great voice, obviously).
"Teo Toriatte" is gorgeous, as is "You Take My Breathe Away." "Long Away" and "You and I" are two in a long line of Queen album tracks that upon further reflection are great pop-rock songs almost entirely unnoticed by the world.
"Millionaire Waltz" is ambitious, probably the most ambitious song on the album along with "Somebody to Love." Obviously it takes a certain taste, but for me it's great. I feel similarly about the similarly creative, similarly silly "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy." Both deliver those classic Queen background harmonies.
A Day at the Races isn't better than A Night at the Opera, but I'm not confident that it's any worse. Absolute classic.
|
|