A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

Finally we have Queen in the prog archives. Their first five albums are all prog, combinated with elements of pop, rock, swing, folk, blues, classic, musical. They played all these different styles and introduced the influences to the unique combination, which make Queen finally to one of the best bands the world had ever seen and heard.

The absolute masterpiece of their long career is without question the allmighty "A Night At The Opera" album, it's also the most flexible and monumental the band had ever done. On the record rule hard rockin' groovers like "Death On Two Legs" and "Sweet Lady", anthemic hard rock power ("I'm In Love With My Car"), eye-blinking chill-out melodies between jazz and opera-atmosphere ("Seaside Rendezvous", "Love Of My Life") and ambitious bombast-epics like the anthem "Bohemian Rhapsody". But the absolutely pinackle of the record is the best progressive hard-rock epic of all time, called "Prophet Song". Unbelievable how Freddie Mercury and the other members of the band handle these choir- tunes in the middle part! Any member of Queen was a great singer and also Brian May shows how a good singer he is, here in the magic "39". It is sensational, how Queen managed all of it here, to a time as the prog rock was going down and slowly died with the upcoming punk-revolution, which took control. With their grateful talents they builded up a bridge between avatgarde and hard rock and inspired not only the next prog giant in the form of Rush, but also younger talents like Savatage, Dream Theater, Symphony X or Spock's Beard.

R.I.P. Freddy Mercury