A Night At The Opera
Track List:
1. Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to…) (Mercury)
2. Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon (Mercury)
3. I'm In Love With My Car (Taylor)
4. You're My Best Friend (Deacon)
5. '39 (May)
6. Sweet Lady (May)
7. Seaside Rendezvous (Mercury)
8. The Prophet's Song (May)
9. Love Of My Life (Mercury)
10. Good Company (May)
11. Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury)
12. God Save The Queen (Trad., arr. May)
By 1975, there was no doubt that Queen were one of the up and coming bands. Songs like Killer Queen had seen the band becoming established and frequently heard on the radio.
And then something happened which upped the ante considerably. Perhaps I'm projecting too much of my own thoughts into this, but the "thing" that happened was Bohemian Rhapsody, which propelled the band into the spotlight like few songs ever do. It reached No 1 in the U.K. and stayed there for 9 weeks. Twice as long as singles were expected to be for uncut airplay, it was played and woe betide any DJ who dared to talk over it. I've been unable to discover whether there's any truth to the rumour that Roger Taylor locked himself in a closet and refused to come out until I'm In Love With My Car was selected as the B side. Whether that rumour is true or not, his composition earned him a tidy sum in royalties as Bohemian Rhapsody sold in unprecedented numbers worldwide.
What impresses me about A Night At The Opera is that Bohemian Rhapsody is only one of many great songs. On first listening, there are some strange offerings such as Seaside Rendezvous and Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, but subsequent spins reveal some of the genius involved in the music. Songs like '39, Love Of My Life and The Prophet's Song keep the excellence going, while Death On Two Legs shows a darker side of Mercury, as his hatred towards the band's first manager boils over.
As usual, the album sleeve proclaimed "No synthesisers" and, alongside the regular instruments, the band employed a number of other "real" instruments including double bass (Deacon on '39),
thimbles tapped on a table (Mercury and Taylor on Seaside Rendezvous), harp (May on Love Of My Life). Mercury and Taylor also mimicked woodwind and brasswind instruments using only their voices on the "instrumental" section of Seaside Rendezvous.
Bohemian Rhapsody is generally credited with popularising the music video, which was originally supplied to the BBC so that the band did not have to appear live on Top Of The Pops.
I really didn't intend to dwell on Bohemian Rhapsody in this write up. There are so many great songs on this album that deserve equal play, but to write anything about the album without going into detail about the song would be like writing about Led Zep IV without mentioning Stairway To Heaven.
By the time 1975 was out, Queen had their rock anthem and the beginnings of a set list which would stand them in good stead for the arena rock for which they would become noted.