27. Queen / A Night At The Opera. 1975. 5/5

Leading up to the release of their fourth album in the closing months of 1975, the individuals that made up the band named Queen were far from the financially well-off persons that they became in the years following. There were no yachts and cars and luxurious homes. The band had made a commercial breakthrough with the single “Killer Queen” from their third album “Sheer Heart Attack”, which had made #2 in the UK and #20 in the US. This didn’t flow through to the band, whose contract they had signed with Trident Studios meant that each was on a retainer of £60 a week. Brian May was living in a bedsit in Earls Court and Freddie Mercury lived in a flat in Kensington with rising damp. The contract situation reached its inevitable impasse when recently married John Deacon was denied a cash advance of £4,000 by manager Norman Sheffield to put a deposit on a house. This led to a decision by the band to find a way to break their contract and find new management in order to regain control of their own finances. As it turns out, not an easy thing to do without some financial cost to yourself. The band was eventually able to release itself from its restrictive contract after nine months of negotiations, though within that agreement they had to spend £100,000 to buy out of their contracts, as well as offer 1% of the royalties of their next six albums to Trident. The band then signed to EMI, and took on new management with John Reid, who was also the manager of Elton John. Upon his appointment, he has been quoted as saying "I'll take care of the business; you make the best record you can". The band took him at his word.
Writing and recording and production of the new album went over a period of four months, at several different venues and studios. Roy Thomas Baker, who had also split from Trident Studios, again came on board to produce the album. Because of the sheer volume of vocal overlays and recording of instruments, the band utilised a 24-track rather than the 16-track they had used for their first three albums, the results of which could be heard from the first songs produced in the studio. The time in the studio was spent meticulously arranging and recording the vocal dubs and overlays for the tracks that required them, and for the complexity of recording techniques the band was utilising to get the sound that they wanted for their album. In many ways, each of the three preceding Queen albums had all been building to this, the album that brought together everything that they had learned from writing, singing and playing in the studio, all of the ways they had brought together to record and interpret and build their songs into more than just songs, but into soundscapes. Tracks that portrayed their piece of the story, and sewing it all together to become the masterpiece of creation that would eventually take on the name of “A Night at the Opera”. It became a great deal more than that.

I am not even going to attempt to break down this album for you like I tend to try to do on most episodes. And the reason for that is, it has been done so many times over the past fifty years that anything I might say in any respect has already been said before, by far more intelligent and knowledgeable people about that kind of thing than I am. I am a fan, I love music and I love Queen, but going through each song and explaining how they did it, that’s not going to be my go. There are several excellent documentaries out there on the band and this period of their career, and of course there is the wonderful Classic Albums episode on the album with Brian and Roger that pretty much tells you everything you need to know on the technical aspects and the stories behind the songs. So I would certainly recommend that if you haven’t already seen it. What I CAN offer you here is my thoughts on the songs, what works and what isn’t quite my style.
The opening three song stanza that is more or less one song in three acts is just fantastic. Each part has aits own unique style, and yet in recording them as the band does, with almost no break between each track, does give off the impression of one track. “Death on Two Legs” is uniquely incredible in its own right, a song that musically sounds a bit like the way Queen had occasionally produced heavy songs, but lyrically is a new concept. Those heavy songs were, in the main, the domain of Brian May, but here Freddie Mercury offers us a very clear reason why no one should ever cross him, never ever do anything to wrong his friends. Will he come for you with a gun or knives or his fists to seek retribution and retaliation? No. He will come at you with the most vitriolic and hate anger spewing that you could ever imagine possible. He will put it into song, he will open his new album with it prominently position as the opening track, and it will be played for eternity as a reminder of the wrong you have perpetrated upon him and them. THAT’S the way to fight back. “Death on Two Legs” never mentions the band’s former manager in its lyrics. The closest anything comes to pass is on the band’s live album released a couple of years later “Live Killers”, when Freddie introduces the song with ‘this is about a real motherfucker of a gentleman, we call him ‘Death on Two Legs!’ On hearing the song, their now ex-manager sued the band and the record label for defamation, which was settled out of court, but it did go to prove that Norman Sheffield was the centre of the song’s vitriol. (And how could that be proven by the lyrics? The law just doesn’t work most of the time). There were reservations from the record company about putting it on the album, but it is proof of both Freddie’s personality and aura that it not only made the album, it leads it off. I mean, the beautiful piano opening into Brian’s wonderful guitar gives you no idea of what is to come once Freddie starts singing. It is still one of my favourite Queen songs, because nothing is left in the tank here. It is a ripper. And then to segue immediately into Freddie’s next piece, ”Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon” is so off putting, so off centre, like being on a roundabout as a kid in the playground, and somebody suddenly grinds it to a halt, and because you haven’t been holding on you go soaring off it into the dirt. I love the way Freddie has recorded his vocals here – apparently produced through a microphone recording the vocals that were coming through headphones in a tin bucket elsewhere in the studio. And from this crashing straight into the drums and guitars and piano booming for the start of Roger Taylor’s dream piece, “I’m in Love with My Car”. Roger's songs always have something special about them, they have a take on a subject that is unusual but also strangely close to home. The value of being in love with your car, of polishing and cleaning it to within an inch of its life, of driving it around town proudly but then rushing home to the garage at the merest sign of rain or dust, definitely takes in a certain piece of the population. Beyond that, it is a great song, and Roger sings it with passion. It did of course cause some friction with sections of the band when it became the B side to the single release of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and thus Roger received the same credits and money because of that. Ah the problems when money is not the universal commodity it became for all of them eventually.
Speaking of which, John Deacon’s second ever song writing credit on a Queen album is next, and what a song it is, the second single released from the album, “You’re My Best Friend”. Written for his new wife, it is its own love letter from John to her, and must surely have been used by millions of people all over the world for that reason as a result since its release. The Wurlitzer electric piano her uses in the song is so immediately beautiful, it's hard to believe Freddie hated it being used, because it is the very distinctive aspect of the track. It has been used on the soundtracks of so many TV shows and movies, for me most memorable in “Shaun of the Dead” and “Peter’s Friends”. It is a beautiful love song, that can and is beloved by music lovers of all ages and persuasions. My favourite song on the album follows, with Brian May’s “39”. I am a science fiction nerd, and having a song written about someone going into space and returning a year later, only to find that a century has passed on earth, has always tickled by geeky attitudes. The fact that Brian, who studied astronomy at university, wrote the song made it even better. Brian sings the lead vocal on the song as well, and the layered vocals in the middle of the track are wonderful, with Roger once again in charge of the highest notes hit. It is an outer space ballad, utilising all of the amazing subtleties that the band has grown over their years.
The first side of the album comes to its conclusion with two differing songs, firstly the Brian May guitar rock based track “Sweet Lady”, one that I hesitate to describe as ‘a typical Queen hard rock track’ but it still fits the description. Great rhythm from Roger, John and Brian with Brian’s licks and solo bringing out the best qualities of the song, while Freddie croons along. Secondly is Freddie’s “Seaside Rendezvous”, styled much like a music hall number and performed to suit, with Freddie and Roger bringing their talents to the fore to imitate the various instruments available.
Side 2 opens with the epic “The Prophet's Song", relating the biblical story of the great flood and Noah’s ark, all of which the idea came to composer Brian May in a dream. He then spent some time of the construction of the song, the arrangements that needed to be coordinated to the different parts of the story to give them the musical and vocal backing the required. When you listen to the song in the context of what is going on, it is quite the production, and not one that would have been easily conceived and arranged. How do you follow that up? Well, with Freddie’s own love letter, “Love of My Life”. Based for the first half around Freddie’s piano, Brian playing the harp and his acoustic guitar, with Freddie’s lead vocal and the layered harmony of voices behind him like a choir, it wrings the emotion from you in the way it was meant to. Here again, this ballad like John’s and Brian’s, showcase the ability of the band to create tracks like these without compromising their own music. Something that is a very difficult thing to do. This is followed by “Good Company”, Brian’s Dixieland and jazz sounding composition that has him performing on the ukelele and lead vocal, and which does not have Freddie performing in any capability.
The song that the entire world knows follows, the one that truly began the band’s ascension to the heights they rose to, “Bohemian Rhapsody”. You know the song, either like it or love it or put up with it. Its composition by Freddie is amazing, and that story itself is worth investigating if you don’t already know about it. The fact that the band just called it “Fred’s Thing” in the studio, because he was working on it all the time but without any strategy as such. That he wrote and recorded it in blocks, with the recording of the instruments being down without the band members knowing how it would be used and put together, is just fabulous. The ballad to start, the opera in the middle, the heavy concert to finish, with the ballad reprise at the end. It is a rock opera in one track, an epic, a progressive rock track that defies that term by way of its structure and movement. And it was a great song even before “Wayne’s World” came around, but anyone who doesn’t think of that scene in the movie at the point that Roger hits that out of control highest note before the song descends into the headbanging riff from Brian is just lying. And, to finish it all off, Brian gives us “God Save the Queen”, a perfect send off for what is pretty much a perfect album. Depending on how you define that.

As I no doubt mentioned on my recent podcast episode extolling the virtues of Queen’s final album “Made in Heaven” - episode 156 for those of you who may have missed it – my introduction to Queen came through the radio singles of the early 1980’s, in particular my fist memory of Queen being “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, before purchasing “The Works” as one of my first ever albums on vinyl. These, along with the “Greatest Hits” album were my introduction to Queen, along with the next 1980’s releases of “A Kind of Magic” and “The Miracle”. The albums from the 1970’s came after that for me, mostly because I was comfortable with those albums and the music they offered me.
The first time I heard, and my main knowledge of songs of this album, came from the live album “Live Killers”, which I also had around this time. It was where I first heard “Death on Two Legs”, “I’m in Love With My Car”, “Love of My Life”, “39” and “God Save the Queen” (for what it was) came from that live album, all of which I enjoyed immensely, and probably hastened my chase for those other albums by the band. All of them, in retrospect.
So I got the album. I can’t tell you where or when. That memory has unfortunately disappeared from the filing cabinet. But I do remember how I felt listening to this entire album those first few times – thinking ‘what the hell have I walked into here?’ Because, as explained, it is a rollicking ride through that opening five tracks of the album. And yes, I could just say the whole of Side A and that would also be accurate. But it is those first five tracks that get me every time. The rage of “Death on Two Legs”, the jauntiness of “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon”, the bombastic “I’m in Love with My Car”, the divineness of “You’re My Best Friend”, the sheer beauty of “39”. These five tracks to me draw and drive picture frames through the mind. And onto the second side, with the epicness of “The Prophet’s Song”, the wrought emotion of “Love of My Life”, andjust the bohemian rhapsody of “Bohemian Rhapsody”. All of it was entrancing from the very start, and it brought a new level to my love of the band Queen from what had been built on those albums I had from the 1980’s into the 1990’s.
Whether it was supposed to be this way or not, I have always listened to this album as a collection of songs, as a selection of skits and plays and stories gathered together and put on stage, played at the opera or on A Night at the Proms that was often broadcast when I was a kid at my grandparents. Each song acts as a scene of the whole, a place where the performers enact that part of the story, before moving off stage and the next part comes out to be performed. Each its own tale, and yet tied together to form a whole, the title of “A Night at the Opera”. The collection of songs on this album represents a great variety of genres and types, so much so that on any other album it might not work, that it might be a little too radical in approach. But for Queen, and in this situation, it works like a dream.
As with all of the albums I review for this podcast, I have had my copy out again over the last... almost two weeks. Listening to it all over again, in between the other albums. Always knowing that if I needed a pick me up, and album to give me a lift during the workday, that this one was the one I could go for. And which I did. It is still just an amazing album. And yes, I can admit that songs such as “Seaside Rendezvous” and “Good Company” I could quite easily do without, if I were of a mind to. I could easily skip them if I needed to. They are there as a part of the album, but to me they aren’t a big part of what makes this album as magnificent as it is. But I still listen to them. Because they ARE a part of this album.
This album has reached its 50th anniversary, something that seems so incredibly unlikely and impossible. And yet Freddie has been gone for 34 of those 50 years, and that too seems impossible. Despite having owned this CD for more years than I could count, I still dally with going out and buying the anniversary issue on vinyl, just because. Because why not? It will get used. This album has been played by me every year since I first discovered it, and I doubt that is ever going to change. Having it on vinyl just feels like the right thing to do.
Arguments will always rage over what IS the best Queen album of all time. There are 15 to choose from in regards to studio releases. And favourites will always reign in an argument. But taking emotion out of the argument, and just judging an album on the quality of the songs that are a part of it, considering the work that it took to produce those songs at the quality they reached, and the nature in which the albums have been put together and hold their value after all this time, it would be difficult not to have “A Night at the Opera” very near the top of the tree. If not the top. It was an incredible achievement in the history of music, and its influence is still found today in bands and musicians and music around the world.