Queen – A Night at the Opera

At my current job, it’s a furniture store that is supplied with satellite fed music videos and they feature songs from all kinds of music from different eras. From the Motown hits of the 60's to Bon Jovi of the 80's to current pop and country hits. One of the videos that was on last week, I noticed a scene of people in an old record store. Anyone remember those? The kind where you could flip through endless copies of 12"X12" cardboard filled musical joys on round vinyl.  For a brief moment, it left me feeling nostalgic for a different time. One of those times, included a record store I experienced in Austin TX in the spring of 1990.

In The book of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, there are at least 3 albums by Queen listed in the book. But, the one that hooked me was an album that I had known but took about 15 years to reel me in.  Of Course, I'm talking about the classic A Night at the Opera.

 

 

 

Released in 1975, the band had a huge hit in the 70's and then again in the early 90's with their highly unusual hit Bohemian Rhapsody.

For me, I remember (in 1977) when Queen had a big radio hit with We Will Rock You and We are the Champions. My sister Kathy had the live album Live Killers. I remember sneaking a listen to the album because there was a picture of topless women in the inner sleeve. Oh well, it wasn't until my 9th grade freshman English class that I was really drawn into the artistic expression of Queen.  We were doing a section on poetry and my teacher used two examples (through music) in albums by the Beatles and Queen.  The Beatles example was the story that Lennon and McCartney told in Eleanor Rigby from the album Revolver. The other example was Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Yes, I found out about Bohemian Rhapsody in my freshman English class. I'm sure there was a piece of paper with lyrics printed on it. We listened to the songs and followed along with the lyrics.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality
Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me
Mama I just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away

Whoa....some guy killed a man and now he's telling his mom about it....this is crazy! Better yet, the education system used this as a learning tool..LOVE IT!  This would have happened (probably) the spring of 1982.
As time went on, Queen fell prey to the technology of music making of the 80's. In 1980-81, I was still excited about the music they were making with their album - The Game which featured Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. I also think I was the only one of my peers that actually enjoyed the Flash Gordon movie primarily because of the Queen soundtrack. But, then came songs like Body Language, Under Pressure, Radio Ga-Ga and I Want to Break Free.  Radio Ga-ga just seemed like the silliest title ever.  Body Language seemed more dance oriented with more electronic instrumentation and I Want to Break Free had a video which featured the band in drag. For a teenage boy, you didn’t want your rockers to seem….well….gay!  Well, now we know that Freddie Mercury was bisexual and had partners of both sexes.  But, in the early 80’s, I didn’t want to know that and I sure didn’t want to support a band that did.  Looking back, I was either in a serious Beatles, Who or Van Halen kick at the time. So, I didn’t have time for a band like Queen that had resorted to using Synthesizers.
But, the thing that kept me going and interested in Queen was wondrous layered vocal harmonies and the sound of Brian May’s guitar.  Many musicians are blessed to have a signature sound when they play.  Ringo Starr has a signature way of playing drums (example: Ticket to Ride, Tomorrow Never Knows and Revolution).  Eddie Van Halen has a distinct signature style of playing. Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Stewart Copeland, Geddy Lee, and many others all have signature styles on their respected instruments.  But, Brian May’s guitar sound is what astonishes me and brings me back to the music of Queen. In 1984, I bought an EP cassette of Brian May’s Starfleet Project. I found out that on this “Project” was a celebrity lineup of musicians that included Eddie Van Halen and Brian May on guitars, Phil Chen (formerly of Rod Stewart’s band) on bass and REO Speedwagon’s Alan Gratzer on drums.  I loved it and the simple guitar jamming that was featured on this. To put it simply, Brian May’s guitar sound is very similar to the band’s name. Queen’s guitar sound is “Majestic”  

After my family moved to Hastings in 1984, I joined them after graduation in 1985. I worked for my Dad at the Gibson's store he was managing at the time. While I was employed there, I made a friend in John G. That summer of 85, we would spend so much time talking about music. I still remember both of us stocking groceries on the afternoon of July 13th, 1985. We would keep running to the backroom to listen to the live broadcast of the original Live Aid. John was a huge Queen fan.....still is. So with his palpable love for the band, my interest was automatically heightened. He introduced me to a lot of Queen's earlier albums. Subsequently, any time I think of Queen, my memory of John is usually included.
The band released A Kind of Magic in 1986 and then The Miracle in 1989.  By now, I knew what I liked. I thought A Kind of Magic was great. They had music from the movies Highlander and Iron Eagle and it featured a lot of Brian’s guitar sound. The Miracle was good too. But, I only feel like I enjoyed the first half and not so much the second half.

In March of 1990, my friend Kevin had a fantastic idea of going back to his hometown of  Leander Texas (just outside of Austin) for Spring break. Well, Austin Texas was where Stevie Ray Vaughan started his musical career and that was cool enough for me and the South by Southwest festival was just wrapping up the weekend we would arrive. So, we saw a ton of live music on 6th street. We went to a bunch of record stores. When I say “record stores”, they were honest to God record stores. They were used record stores where you could take the LP up to a counter top filled with turntables and a set of headphones and have a listen. But, the store I remember and probably have a store poster somewhere was called “the Inner Sanctum”. That was the way I felt when I was deep in listening mode….I would be in my own “inner sanctum”. That was the coolest store outside the state of Nebraska I had ever been to.  I know I bought about a few LP’s that day. I don’t remember what they all were. But, I do remember that the main purchase was the album I had heard all those years ago in my 9th grade English class. We got back to Kevin’s house and we were lucky enough that his folks were off at work for the day.  They didn’t seem to be big rock fans. So, It was a fantastic time to listen to my new purchase on the family stereo. What hit me from the beginning was the undeniable harmonies and outstanding production of this album by Roy Thomas Baker.

So, I sat there in Kevin’s family’s living room with my album cover open as I read through all the album credits and let the music play over me. The continuity of the music goes from the foreboding piano and guitar of Death on Two Legs then to the mock victrola sound and megaphone sound of Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon. Then, drummer Roger Taylor takes at turn at lead vocals with I’m in Love with my Car.  I always admired drummers who also sing lead and backing vocals.

You’re My Best Friend is next and just a great affirming message for anyone who wants to express what friendship means to them. I myself made a mix tape for my friend Bob for his first marriage that included this. I believe I made a “love letter” CD for my former wife that included this song because I considered her a friend first and foremost…still do. I always thought that Roger Taylor’s drum fills on this are very cool. Listen closely, he is playing the fill starting from his floor tom and going up the rack toms. Which, is very unusual because drummers traditionally start higher and end on the floor tom. Then, the albums segues into Brian May’s science fiction folk of ‘39, followed by Sweet Lady, and Seaside Rendezvous.
Side Two opens with the soaring harmonies of the Prophet’s Song. From there, the album just flows together with Love of My Life and into Good Company. Love of My Life is definitely a showcase of the power of Freddie Mercury’s voice. I have turned up the volume of this song in the car and attempted to sing along….I reiterate…”attempted”.   As a former vocal music student, I tip my hat to the vocal power of Freddie Mercury.  We often speak fondly of Rock Stars and celebrities after they pass away. Sometimes, they are a little far fetched. For me, Freddie is at the top of a fraternity of great rock frontmen.   When Freddie was honored with a giant concert in 1992, only then did it become obvious as a handful of musicians and vocalists undertook the task to sing Queen songs with Freddie Mercury vocals. Many did passable jobs. The others were probably wondering about the future of their careers.
Back to the album…after Good Company, We venture into a song that is part rocker, part opera and part folk song. It’s been parodied by the Muppets. It even reached legendary status as a piece of comedy history in the SNL spinoff movie-Wayne’s World. It became so big, that even my nephew (who was born in 1985) knew nothing about Queen or Wayne’s World in 1992 expect that guys drive along banging their heads and singing “Galileo Galileo!” It’s even a rather popular tune at Karaoke nights..Just ask my ex-wife.  In the book-1001 Albums, Bohemian Rhapsody is described as:

Since their 1973 debut, Queen’s ambitious template had included bombastic classical references, falsetto freak-outs and pagan mysticism. But, it was on album number four that they melded all these into the epic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody'.

The album wraps up with Brian May playing his signature guitar arrangement of God Save the Queen which us kids in America would sing as My Country Tis of Thee or just plain America.  This is truly an album created and born in Britain but is loved worldwide.  It’s an album that’s become so engrained in my life it’s almost like a part of my genetic makeup.  I remember after I originally bought that album and transferred it to tape that I would wake up early in the mornings with the melodies of some of the lesser known songs ringing through my brain. Now, that’s an album with a definite imprint (and impact) in my life.