Queen – A Day at the Races (1976)

Queen is included in most lists of the best bands that ever existed. Also, many of their albums are included in best ever albums lists. A Day at the Races doesn't have that many hit songs that would be known to wider audiences, but it is an amazing album. I got this album on vinyl from my father who had bought this album back in the day when it was a new album. It's one of the greatest albums I've gotten from him. There's something very special about holding an original copy of a legendary album. The smell of the cardboard and vinyl is part of the experience and when you lower the needle on the record, the tiny scratches you hear make the sound truly authentic. I like to think how it must have felt back in the day to get a new vinyl album and to take it home and listen to it for the first time. you rarely get that same sensation anymore, because you can already listen to the album in advance online.

Queen is an astonishing band. Many people just talk about Freddie Mercury's vocals when discussing Queen's music and, fair enough, his vocals are astonishing, but I just feel like that is not giving the fun acknowledgement to the amazing band. Freddie Mercury's piano playing is also brilliant. Brian May's guitars are another thing that is often mentioned. He has his own sound in his guitar. Even before you hear Mercury's voice, you can recognise the band from the guitars. Also the drumming and bass playing is amazing on these albums. Queen draws lots of influences from early 70's progressive rock and the rhythm changes are conducted beautifully on their songs. Especially the melodic bass playing on this album is quite amazing. Queen uses rock instruments to play basically classical music. And lastly I must mention the vocal harmonies. The choral singing parts in Queen's songs are unique.

The album was following the highly ambitious Night at the Opera, so Queen had big shoes to fill. Some people might think that they couldn't fill those shoes, but I really feel like this album is just as good as its predecessor. It kicks off with an amazing rock song Tie Your Mother Down that brings out Mercury's amazing raspy vocals. It's followed by an amazing ballad You Take My Breath Away, which shows the range of Mercury's falsetto beautifully. Also, the piano is amazing in this song. The Millionaire's Waltz shows Queen as the modern classical band. Somebody to Love is the first mega hit off this album. It's on the legendary Queen compilation as well and for a good reason. The vocal harmonies in this song are astonishing. White Man shows another side of Queen. Here the band is quite heavy almost a metal band. Probably my favourite song from this album is the Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy. This almost a show tune shows the amazing composing capability of this band. The melody is just amazing. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) is a great finale for the ambitious album. Especially the beginning of this ballad is quite epic.

Queen was also known for their amazing live shows. If I had a chance to see five historical bands live that don't exist anymore, Queen would probably be on that list. Even if they're touring even now occasionally, it really is not the same band anymore without Freddie Mercury and I think it's just cashing on old songs nowadays. I'm very pleased though, that there are many live videos of Queen performing. This is actually an official music video, and not a live video, but it still gives some sense of what it would've been like on one of Queen's gigs.

I will return to talk about Queen many times at the course of this blog, so I'm going to stop here for now. I just want to say that Queen is one of those completely unique bands that have made history on their music. It's also been a very important band in my life already from those moments as a child when my father used to listen to their albums.

Listen to the album on Spotify.