Queen Day At The Races CD

Queen: Brian May (vocals, guitar); Freddie Mercury (vocals, piano); Roger Taylor (vocals, percussion); John Deacon (bass).
Recorded in England between July and November 1976.
Queen: Freddie Mercury (vocals, piano); Brian May (guitar, vocals); John Deacon (bass); Roger Taylor (vocals, percussion).
Recorded in England between July and November 1976.
In every sense, A Day at the Races is an unapologetic sequel to A Night at the Opera, the 1975 breakthrough that established Queen as rock & roll royalty. The band never attempts to hide that the record is a sequel -- the two albums boast the same variation on the same cover art, the titles are both taken from old Marx Brothers films and serve as counterpoints to each other. But even though the two albums look the same, they don't quite sound the same, A Day at the Races is a bit tighter than its predecessor, yet tighter doesn't necessarily mean better for a band as extravagant as Queen. One of the great things about A Night at the Opera is that the lingering elements of early Queen -- the pastoral folk of "39," the metallic menace of "Death on Two Legs" -- dovetailed with an indulgence of camp and a truly, well, operatic scale. Here, the eccentricities are trimmed back somewhat -- they still bubble up on "The Millionaire Waltz," an example of the music hall pop that dominated Night, the pro-Native American saga "White Man" is undercut somewhat by the cowboys 'n' indians rhythms -- in favor of a driving, purposeful hard rock that still could have some slyly hidden perversities (or in the case of the opening "Tie Your Mother Down," some not-so-hidden perversity) but this is exquisitely detailed hard rock, dense with minutiae but never lush or fussy. In a sense, it could even function as the bridge between Sheer Heart Attack and Night at the Opera -- it's every bit as hard as the former and nearly as florid as the latter -- but its sleek, streamlined finish is the biggest indication that Queen has entered a new phase, where they're globe-conquering titans instead of underdogs on the make. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
A DAY AT THE RACES appeared almost exactly one year later after 1975's hugely successful A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, proving to be a more-than-deserving follow-up and nearly duplicating its predecessor's success. Queen was now a master of the recording studio, utilizing every piece of technology to its fullest, which helped push such demanding tracks as "Somebody to Love" over the top. But Queen certainly wasn't just about studio tricks; the band had the strong tunes to back up its rich sound.
In addition to aforementioned gospel-tinged hit "Somebody to Love," the album features many other strong tracks--a politically-charged song about the plight of the American Indian ("White Man"), several touching love songs ("Teo Torriate," "You and I," "You Take My Breath Away"), and old-timey tunes ("The Millionaire Waltz"). Freddy Mercury and the boys also include a healthy dose of their trademark Queenly rock on "Tie Your Mother Down" and break out some excellent pop ditties in the form of "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" and "Long Away."Q (Magazine) (p.118) - "[T]he breadth of its ambition remains ever impressive, as doe tracks such as May's stomping 'Tie Your Mother Down' and Mercury's baroque one-two, 'Somebody To Love' and 'Gold Old-Fashioned Lover Boy.'"