345. Queen - A Night At The Opera (1975)
















Track Listing

1. Death On Two Legs
2. Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon
3. I'm In Love With My Car
4. You're My Best Friend
5. '39
6. Sweet Lady
7. Seaside Rendezvous
8. Prophet's Song
9. Love Of My Life
10. Good Company
11. Bohemian Rhapsody
12. God Save The Queen

Review

As I've said before here, Queen aren't the best band in the world but by Jove they are a lot of fun. And none of their albums is as much fun as this one. Queen thankfully have a self-conscious humour about their own pomposity. And this whole album is an exercise in that. If you compare it to bands like Aerosmith they come across as quite sophisticated, really, while still coming across as a parody of the heavy metal and prog genres.

This is a good thing because both genres are ripe for sendup. Queen are not a completely spoofy band however, and even though there is a constant tongue firmly placed in cheek through here they also make great compositions. Few pop-rock songs are as perfect as Bohemian Rhapsody really.

This is not to say that it is an amazing album, the joke does get old pretty fast, but it is still a pretty entertaining album to listen too. If you like your albums to be pompous but conscious of how ridiculous they might sound this is the thing for you.

Track Highlights

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. Seaside Rendezvous
3. '39
4. God Save The Queen

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album was ranked number 230 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Channel 4 named it the 13th greatest album of all time. It was also ranked #41 on Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" and #16 on Q's "50 Best British Albums Ever!". In 2006 it was voted the ninth greatest Number One album of all time by the British public. Since its release it has consistently ranked high in many lists.

One of the first video clips ever made, Bohemian Rhapsody: