A Day at the Races (Album)
| A day at the races | ||||
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| Studio album by Queen | ||||
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Publication |
December 10, 1976 |
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| Label (s) | EMI / Elektra , Hollywood Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
44:24 |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
The Manor, Wessex, Sarm East (London) |
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A Day at the Races is the fifth studio album by the British rock group Queen , released in 1976 . It was named after the Marx Brothers film of the same name .
The album
The two albums A Night at the Opera (the predecessor of the album described) and A Day at the Races , released on December 10, 1976, can be regarded as sister works. Both titles refer to the Marx Brothers film titles, the design of the two record sleeves is complementary: the first white (stands for “day”, although it is the “night album”), the second black (“night” - is that “ Day album ”), both of which have the Queen logo as the cover picture. Parallels can also be found in the selection of music styles.
The best known pieces are Somebody to Love and Tie Your Mother Down . Somebody to Love is a rock ballad in which Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor multiplied their voices to a 100-part gospel choir. True to its “guitar-driven” style, it was shaped by Brian May's virtuoso harmony and came to number 11 in the US charts and number 2 in Great Britain. Tie Your Mother Down is a typical queen hard rock track. The title The Millionaire Waltz included on the album is the group's only explicit waltz . However, the song also contains 4/4 measures in the rock sequences. There are a number of other pieces in 3/4 time in Queen's oeuvre that are not marked as waltzes.
With Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) Brian May paid homage to the Japanese Queen fans. The song ends with an ascending Shepard scale .
The “cast list” of the album is a sign of their humor: Freddie Mercury as “choir meister” and with “tantrums” (“Koller”, “Tantrums”), Brian May (“leader of the orchestra”) as orchestra conductor and Roger Taylor with "Pandemonium" ('tumult'). John Deacon played acoustic guitar in You and I and Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy added sound engineer Mike Stone backing vocals.
The recordings for the album took place from July to November 1976. A Day at the Races reached number 1 on the UK charts.
particularities
As a special feature, the label only shows the coat of arms on the B side, which is also on the cover, while the A side contains the complete list of titles.
Track list
Page 1:
- Tie Your Mother Down (May) - 4:47
- You Take My Breath Away (Mercury) - 5:08
- Long Away (May) - 3:33
- The Millionaire Waltz (Mercury) - 4:54
- You and I (Deacon) - 3:25
Page 2:
- Somebody to Love (Mercury) - 4:56
- White Man (May) - 4:59
- Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (Mercury) - 2:54
- Drowse (Taylor) - 3:45
- Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (May) - 5:57
Chart placements
album
A Day at the Races achieved the following positions in the charts :
- # 1 - Great Britain ( gold ).
- # 5 - USA (Gold (Elektra), Platinum (Hollywood Records)).
- # 8 - Austria
- # 10 - Germany (gold)
Singles
- Somebody to Love (November 1976) - # 1: Netherlands; # 2: Great Britain; # 6: Canada; # 10: Italy; # 13: # 19: Denmark; UNITED STATES; # 21: Germany; # 22: Australia; # 51: Japan.
- Tie Your Mother Down (March 1977) - # 14: Netherlands; # 31: Great Britain; # 49: USA.
- First EP (May 1977) - # 17: Great Britain.
- Long Away (1977) - no placement, was only released in North America, New Zealand and Thailand.
- Teo Toriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (1977) - # 49: Japan. (only published in Japan).
See also
Web links
- Song Analysis: Drowse (www.queensongs.info) - Song Analysis (English)
- A Day at the Races at Discogs (English)
- Album review on Allmusic