A Night at the Opera (Queen album)
| A Night at the Opera | ||||
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| Studio album by Queen | ||||
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Publication |
November 21, 1975 |
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| Label (s) | EMI / Hollywood Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
43:11 |
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Studio (s) |
Sarm, Roundhouse, Olympic Studios , Rockfield, Scorpio, Lansdowne |
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Chart placements (preliminary) Explanation of the data |
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A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock group Queen , released in 1975 . The title comes from the Marx Brothers film of the same name from 1935.
The album
The recordings for A Night at the Opera took place from August to November 1975. Released on November 21, the album stayed in the UK charts for 50 weeks, where it reached number 1. It also reached number 1 in New Zealand and the Netherlands. With three platinum awards, the album, although it only reached number 2 in the charts, was also a great commercial success in the United States . Many consider it one of the band's greatest achievements.
From November 14, 1975 to April 22, 1976, the band toured with A Night at the Opera through Great Britain, the United States, Japan and Australia.
In 2005, on the 30th anniversary of its publication, the album was released in a special edition on DVD, on which the songs were published with partly newly compiled videos.
In 2003 it was chosen by the American music magazine Rolling Stone published list of the " 500 best albums of all time " at number 230.
Just as with the follow-up album A Day at the Races , the name of the title of the album film of the Marx Brothers cited.
Track list
Page 1:
- Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to ...) (Mercury) - 3:43
- Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon (Mercury) - 1:07
- I'm in Love with My Car (Taylor) - 3:05
- You're My Best Friend (Deacon) - 2:52 *
- '39 (May) - 3:31
- Sweet Lady (May) - 4:04
- Seaside Rendezvous (Mercury) - 2:16
Page 2:
- The Prophet's Song (May) - 8:21
- Love of My Life (Mercury) - 3:39
- Good Company (May) - 3:23
- Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury) - 5:55 *
- God Save the Queen (Arr. May) - 1:15
* Singles
Information about the individual songs
Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to ...)
The song, written by Freddie Mercury, is dedicated to their manager Norman Sheffield, who they say exploited the band by giving them too little money to produce and also giving them little money from the income from the songs. The song is the last word about the separation from their former manager.
Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon
The piece, written by Freddie Mercury, is only a little over a minute long and is therefore mostly neglected, but contains text phrases that in various songs written later Queens like Bicycle Race ("Bicycling on every Wednesday evening") or Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy ("Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy") can be heard.
I'm in love with my car
Roger Taylor wrote this song for Queen roadie John Harris. Taylor liked the song so much that he insisted on using it as the B-side for Bohemian Rhapsody . The engine noise you can hear comes from the car Taylor was driving at the time. The piece was also used in commercials for the Jaguar car brand many years later .
You're my best friend
The song was written by John Deacon for his wife Veronica Tetzlaff. In the studio recording he plays a Wurlitzer electric piano next to the electric bass , the typical sound of which characterizes the song. When performing live, Freddie Mercury plays a grand piano instead of the electric piano. The pop ballad is written in C major and uses a moderate 4/4 time. The song was released as a second single.
'39
The song was written by Brian May and appeared as the b-side of the single You're My Best Friend. The text is about a spaceman who travels through space at almost the speed of light . When he and his crew return, his wife has long been dead because the space travelers have only aged one year due to time dilation , but 100 years have passed on Earth. The song is very bass and guitar heavy and resembles a country or folk piece .
Sweet lady
The song, written by Brian May, is the only hard rock piece on the album.
Seaside rendezvous
The song, written by Freddie Mercury, looks like a 30s song due to the ragtime sound and the lyrics. Roger Taylor sang the highest note on the album, a C6, on this song. In the middle part of the song, Mercury and Taylor imitate wind instruments like trumpets and saxophones with their voices .
The Prophet's Song
The song was written by Brian May and is the longest on the album at over 8 minutes. Just like Bohemian Rhapsody , it is divided into several sections that differ greatly from one another. The text is about a prophet who warns of the end of the world , but is not heard. May came up with the idea after a dream about a great flood . May accompanies the song with a toy koto .
Love of My Life
The song, written by Freddie Mercury, quickly became a fan favorite. In the studio version , Brian May plays a harp here , in the live version he uses a guitar instead. Freddie Mercury also plays the piano .
Good Company
The song, written by Brian May, sounds like a Dixieland piece, but he imitated all the instruments in the arrangement with guitars. The basic rhythm of the piece is determined by a ukulele . Mercury was not involved in the recording.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Written by Freddie Mercury and sold over 5 million copies worldwide, the song became Queen's first number one hit. The song topped the UK charts twice: once after its release and once after Freddie Mercury's death. Four additional recording studios were rented for the very complex and lengthy recordings of the song. In total, the recording cost £ 35,000.
The song can be divided stylistically into 6 sections, which differ greatly from one another. The multiple overdubbing of the voices creates the impression of a larger choir. As a single, it reached 1st place in the charts in five countries. When the track was re-released as a single in 1991 and 1992, respectively, it returned to number 1 in the UK and number 2 in the US.
God Save the Queen
This instrumental arrangement of the British national anthem, written by Brian May, has been performed at almost all Queens concerts.
Chart placements
album
The album itself reached first place in the charts in Great Britain, New Zealand and the Netherlands. It also reached top 10 positions in 6 other countries. (see also table or chart sources )
Single releases
Two singles were released for the album:
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- B-side: I'm in Love with My Car
Bohemian Rhapsody reached the first position in the charts in six countries, as well as in 3 other top 10 positions.
- You're my best friend
- B-side: '39
You're My Best Friend reached a top 10 position in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and the top 20 in two others.
Trivia
The group Puhdys used the intro from '39 as a template for their song Alt wie ein Baum.
In 2010, the Australian rock band Wolfmother covered the song You're My Best Friend in a video message as a birthday greeting for Brian May.
Web links
- Queen - A Night at the Opera at Discogs (English)
swell
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ^ The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . In: Rolling Stone , posted November 18, 2003.
- ↑ Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…) ( en ) Songfacts.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- ↑ Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon ( en ) Songfacts.com. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
- ↑ I'm in Love with My Car ( en ) Songfacts.com. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ↑ You're My Best Friend ( en ) Songfacts.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- ↑ Sweet Lady ( en ) queensongs.info. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ^ Seaside Rendezvous ( en ) Songfacts.com. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ↑ The Prophet's Song ( en ) Allmusic . Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ↑ Love of My Life ( en ) Allmusic . Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- ↑ Love of my Life ( en ) Songfacts.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- ^ Good Company ( en ) queensongs.info. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ^ Roy Thomas Baker, Gary Langan: The Making of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody . SoundOnSound, Mark Cunningham, October 1995
- ↑ CD Queen: A Night At The Opera - 30th Anniversary Edition, March 2011, Liner Notes
- ^ Bohemian Rhapsody. In: Queen Songs - The Book. Retrieved January 18, 2016 .