A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

INTRODUCTION

I remember my brother coming home late one evening in December 1975. He had bought two albums, one all wrapped up in black plastic (this mysterious one I will review also in the near future) and one white album. Boy, was I excited! The white album was the fourth Queen album and the first one I got to know. I already knew Queen from their fantastic singles "Now I'm Here" and "Killer Queen", and "Bohemian Rhapsody" was just released. This was however my first introduction to their non-single discography. ANATO turned out to be a very fine album and for me it was the start of a journey discovering all of their wonderful previous releases.

TRACK by TRACK

1) Death On Two Legs (10/10)

2) Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon (9/10)

3) I'm In Love With My Car (7/10)

4) You're My Best Friend (5/10)

5) '39 (5/10)

6) Sweet Lady (6/10)

7) Seaside Rendezvous (7/10)

8) The Prophet's Song (10/10)

9) Love Of My Life (6/10)

10) Good Company (6/10)

11) Bohemian Rhapsody (10/10)

12) God Save The Queen (6/10)

CONCLUSION

Together with "Queen II" "ANATO" is as proggy as it can get with Queen. The variety of musical styles, the bombast, the vocal harmonies, Brian's unique way of guitar playing, the constant changing of moods between ballad and rock in one song. Everything that made Queen such an interesting band is present here.

There is however one thing about Queen that always puzzled me. And that is the way they always seemed to "succeed" in incorporating one or more les memorable tracks on their albums. On ANATO these tracks are "You're My Best Friend" and "'39". They are not bad at all, but they are way behind magnificent songs like "The Prohet's Song", "Death On Two Legs" and "Bohemian Rhapsody". That makes that this album just comes a fraction to short of being a masterpiece. Nevertheless I definitely regard it as an excellent addition to any prog music collection!

Album rating: 74% = 4 stars

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