4.5 stars - Classic Queen

A Day At The Races (1976.) Queen's fifth album.



Late in 1975, Queen released their now-legendary A Night At The Opera album. The album was the most expensive album ever recorded by any musical artist at its time of release, and it would go multi-platinum and become the band's best-selling and most-popular effort of all. How would Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, and Brian May follow up their massive successes achieved by that album? One thing was for sure - it wouldn't be easy. But they tried their best, and on December 18, 1976, the A Day At The Races LP, the much-awaited follow-up to the previous year's A Night At The Opera. Much like Opera, this one took its name from an old Marx Brothers film. Listeners had great expectations. Would those expectations be filled? Read on for my review of A Day At The Races.



To be perfectly honest, I don't think that this album tops Opera. I don't think anything tops that album (although some come close and even tie it.) However, this is still a damn good album, through and through. The first track on the album, Tie Your Mother Down, is one of my all-time favorite Queen recordings, period. Admittingly, I could care less about the minute-long intro which does little more than build the suspense (should have been its own track), but I'm not complaining. The song flat out rocks, blowing the work of most other artists right out of the water. The other big hit from this LP (and the more popular of the two hits) was Somebody To Love. This is an artsy classic rock ballad as only Queen could pull off. The song still gets heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and why not? But, as with any album by any artist, you've gotta go beyond the hits to explore the true excellence of the album. Listen to Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, The Millionaire Waltz, and Teo Torriate to see what I mean. There's no such thing as a weak Queen album, and Races lives up to that rule and then some.



Like the other Queen remasters, this one remasters the sound and adds liner notes, rare photographs, and bonus remixed versions of songs from the albums. Like the other remasters, though, the bonus tracks are lackluster. However, they have a serious redeeming merit - the version of Tie Your Mother Down cuts the intro, which I feel added nothing to the song in the first place. It's a rare example of an instance where I like the remix more than the original album version! The Somebody To Love remix, like most of the bonus track remixes, is practically identical to the album version, making it a rather disappointing bonus.



A Day At The Races is one of Queen's finest efforts. It's always had to live in the shadow of the wildly-popular album that preceeded it, and while A Night At The Opera is the superior album overall, Races is no slouch. Four-and-a-half stars all the way. DO NOT hesitate to add this masterpiece to your Queen collection.

Excellent, and Well Paced ...

The placement of the songs on this album show that QUEEN learned a lot from the extensive touring in how to pace a show.

Absolutely all of the songs on this album have appeal to someone. In my view, if you don't like the entire album, it's because you have a limited taste in music; the one thing that QUEEN was, and is still thanks to CD and Video, is diverse.

Even the much maligned DROWSE is great if you are in the mood for it.

I have been playing this back to back with BRUTAL PLANET in the car for a few weeks, and it compares very well.

On just so many levels, these songs are very accessible; unfortunately, some great works were never chosen for live performance.

Even in the original Vinyl, this work is a masterpiece. And in the remastered version, wow... it is just brilliant. Well worth the purchase price.

Queen Reaching Superstardom (4.5 stars)

Queen's magnificent follow-up to the album "A night at the opera", is among one of their best albums. The album brilliantly orchestrates Queen's capability for producing brilliant rock tunes as well as heart-warming ballads. The album is strong throughout in its lyrical quality and possesses strong guitar riffs and beautiful piano from Mercury.



Now to cover the minor flaws, at times the flow from song to song is a bit shaky. Also, if you're a huge fan of the rockish track "tie your mother down", which opens the album, you may be disappointed as their are no other songs off this album that possessv the vicious rock of that track. If you're interested in hearing the ballads from Queen, you may also be disappointed that they only have a few. The most notable being "Take my breath away" and "Somebody to love".



However, I love the great mix of ballads and rock songs and that quality makes this album one of Queen's best.



Best songs:



Tie your mother down: One of the heaviest songs in Queen's collection of rock tracks, this track has an impressive flow to it with a powerful opening guitar riff in it. At the time of its release The Times referred to it as: "Sheer bloody poetry", and they were right. An instant classic. 10/10



Take my Breath away: One of the most tender ballads ever written by Freddie Mercury, this beautiful tune is most impressive in its simplicity. It carries a very basic piano tune that Mercury sings over with brilliance.



Somebody to love: Although it wasn't successful following its release in 1977, this song is among one of Queen's best. This beautiful power ballad is highlighted by Mercury's magnificent singing voice. It has a wonderful melodic feel to it and will have you singing along in no time.



Good old Fashioned Lover Boy: A light rock track with very strong lyrics and a fast paced, catchy tune.



Worst Song:



Drowse: This is the only track written by Roger Taylor and I find that it drags on. it carries a solid rock tune to it, but it has no chorus. Roger Taylor has written much stronger rock songs than this one, i.e. sheer heart attack.



Overall, This belongs in any Queen fan's collection. Despite a few very minor flaws, it carries some of the best tracks ever written by Queen.

undderated

this album is SOOOO GREAT!! tie your mother down is a hard rocker that sets you on fire!!!9.7/10 take my breath away cools you down it's beautiful 10/10 long away shows brian mays vocals at their best 9.9/10 the millionare waltz i love it every second of it is great. 10/10 you and i this track makes you feel happy inside it really does10/10 SOMEBODY TO LOVE. my favorite queen song, my favorite song on earth i would buy the whole album just for this a++++++++++++ 1000000000000/1000000000000. white man pee yu it stinks!!! it's so bad i skip it every time.0/10 good old faishoned lover boy this song is so catchy and so great!!!! 10/10 drowse o.k after you heard white man you thought you were clean but nope another stinker. i hate this song NEGATIVE10/10

teo torriatte i love this song especially when they do the over dubs in the chorus. 10/10 over all a excellent album