Queen "A Night at the Opera" (1975) - got it
Although I did listen to the album again for the 1001 albums (twice in
fact) I'm mostly just going to plagiarise another review
I wrote when I was re-listening to all of the Queen albums a few years back. ~apologies, this will be a long one~
Queen started with a fairly cohesive 'band' sound over their first couple of albums, but the work of the individual songwriters (mostly) became easier and easier to pick.
On night at the opera they're kind of in a middle ground, you can pick
the different songwriters but this is still such a cohesive 'album',
right from the opening piano flourishes through to the big finale of "Bohemian Rhapsody"
and "God save the Queen".
"Death on two legs" is such a great opener, Freddie belting it out with real
venom before the wall of voices comes crashing in to back him up. Mercury then performs a compositional 180 with the light and
cheery 'Lazing on a Sunday afternoon'.
Roger Taylor's "I'm in love with my car" is such a musically strong
slice of rock (some great lead guitar) that I'm actually able to ignore
the fact that he used the lines:
"Told my girl I just had to forget her, Rather buy me a new carburettor
So she made tracks sayin' ths is the end now
Cars don't talk back
they're just four wheeled friends now"
The rock calms down into John Deacon's much lauded 'You're my best
friend'. It's not my favourite of his ("spread your wings" holds that
spot) but I have succumbed to its charms over the years.
Brian May's '39' is an odd mix of old and new. It kind of
has an olde timey folk feel, yet lyrically it is a sci-fi story. Roger Taylor's eerie falsetto in the middle section is particularly stunning. "Sweet
lady" is one that I never really used to like, but listening to it now, I'm not sure why as the verses sound kind of like David Bowie rock
tracks or maybe the rolling stones, while the chorus riff... it's like
part funk, part metal ...like extra heavy Hendrix (makes sense as Roger, Brian and
Freddie were all big fans of Jimi, with Freddie in particular following
him around on tour in the UK)!
Side a is rounded out with another jaunty little music-hall number ,
complete with a kazoo horn section and Freddie and Roger doing a tap
dance routine by wearing thimbles and drumming on the recording console!
Side B kicks off with 'The Prophet's song' (the longest song Queen
released while Freddie was alive) which has always been a favourite of
mine. I would be surprised if some 90s alt-rock bands like Soundgarden
and Alice in Chains haven't heard this song, the riffs and vocal
harmonies are very ahead of their time. The vocal/delay section in the
middle is still mind-blowing... almost literally, I was listening to the
album while walking home from the gym and I just fell over, I
was getting so disorientated trying to follow the different parts as
they flicked from one ear to the other.
"Love of my life"... I really kind of prefer the live version of this
song, just acoustic guitar with the power of Freddie's voice and the
quality of the songwriting brought to the fore, but
this song is beautiful in any form.
"Good company"; I'm guessing it was Brian aiming for a George Formby
sound, but to me it kind of comes off sounding more Paul McCartney and
not necessarily in a good way. "Bohemian Rhapsody"... this song is still
amazing no matter how many times I've heard it, seen the video, sung it
at karaoke, or watched it in Wayne's world. The album's outro of 'God
save the Queen' is a brilliant cheeky little touch and really does make
it feel like you've reached the end of a journey or sorts with the album.
