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Ladies and gentlemen, the Queen......
Sometimes that's all it would take to introduce a band that, despite the critics, is still today one of the most famous in the world. 300 million copies sold (excluding singles), 707 concerts worldwide, an eccentric singer with an exceptional voice (reaching full 3/8 without falsetto), a unique guitarist with an original sound, a drummer with a hippie face, the true engine of the band, and, finally, a typical rock bassist. These are, dear ladies and gentlemen, the reasons that compelled me to review A Day at the Races, a 1976 album.
Just a year after the triumph of "A Night at the Opera", the four return to the studio to produce these 10 songs, trying to replicate the success. Although many critics see it as a poor copy of its predecessor, in reality A Day at the Races is the continuation of the artistic journey started with Queen II, and in general, it is a lighter and more accessible album, with a less dramatic and more fun atmosphere. As usual, it seems that the band enjoys surprising by constantly changing genres.
The first track, Tie Your Mother Down, based on a single persistent riff by Mr. May, is the best hard rock track ever made by Queen and becomes the ideal opening for live concerts. The atmosphere changes immediately with You Take My Breath Away, a poignant and slow ballad by Freddie on the piano, and with the light rock of Long Away, where Brian, a graduate in astrophysics, sings his love for the stars. And here we are at the fourth piece, The Millionaire Waltz, the pinnacle of rock opera, one of the most surprising and entertaining tracks in Queen's career, which in four memorable minutes alternates waltz, operetta, hard rock, and opera music with a guitar that seems to come from another century, and with Freddie's tributes to one of his favorite divas, the blue angel Marlene Dietrich. The same retro taste is found in the pop of good old Fashioned Lover Boy, a fun duet between piano and voice, and in Teo Torriatte where Freddie sings a verse in Japanese to thank the Japanese fans.
In White Man, a socially themed track (racism), they rediscover the blues. According to an unwritten agreement, all members of Queen must contribute to an album with their own pieces, and so John Deacon and Roger Taylor each signed one, and while the bassist confirms his pop talent with You and I, Roger signs one of his best pieces, the hypnotic Drowse, a psychedelic sonic representation of the feeling of dizziness that accompanies the Sunday afternoons of a rocker grappling with his memories of being an ordinary boy in a provincial town, closing with a line like a true star ("I think I'll have some poached eggs for breakfast").
The best track on the album is still Somebody to Love, the last gem of the rock opera, a genre that reaches its peak here before being surpassed by the times and challenged by punk. Somebody to Love is Freddie's latest vision, setting everything up as a game between his melodic line and the complex choral score, seemingly chasing each other until the final crescendo. One of the most famous songs by Queen, almost proving the validity of Freddie's artistic project, who, in the era of punk, continues to greet the audience with a raised champagne cup!
"As a child, they always told me that rock was devilish music, but Queen is proof they were wrong. They were everything to me, pure champions!" Axl Rose
"The style of Queen was unique, imitating them is impossible" Ozzy O.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Tie Your Mother Down (04:48)
Get your party gown
And get your pigtail down
And get your heart beatin' baby
Got my timin' right
I got my act all tight
It's gotta be tonight
My little school babe
Your Momma says you don't
And your Daddy says you won't
And I'm boilin' up inside
Ain't no way I'm gonna lose out this time
Tie your Mother down
Tie your Mother down
Lock your Daddy out of doors
I don't need him nosin' around
Tie your Mother down
Tie your Mother down
Give me all your love tonight
You're such a dirty louse
Go get outta my house
That's all I ever get from your
Family ties, in fact I don't think I ever heard
A single little civil word from those guys
I don't give a light
I'm gonna make out all right
I've got a sweetheart hand
To put a stop to all that
Snipin' and grousin'
Tie your Mother down
Tie your Mother down
Take your little brother swimmin'
With a brick (that's all right)
Tie your mother down
Tie your mother down
Or you ain't no friend of mine
Your Mommy and your Daddy
Gonna plague me till I die
They can't understand it
I'm just a peace lovin' guy
Tie your Mother down
Tie your Mother down
Get that big big big big big big
Daddy out the door
Tie your Mother down yeah
Tie your Mother down
Give me all your love tonight
All your love tonight
(Give me every inch of your love)
03 Long Away (03:33)
You might believe in heaven
I would not care to say
For every star in heaven
There's a sad soul here today
Wake up in the morning with a good face
Stare at the moon all day
Lonely as a whisper on a star chase
Does anyone care anyway
For all the prayers in heaven
So much of life's this way
Did we leave our way behind us
Such a long long way behind us
Who knows when, now who knows where
Where the light of day will find us?
Look for the day
Take heart, my friend, we love you
Though it seems like you're alone
A million lights above you
Smile down upon your home
Hurry put your troubles in a suitcase
Come let the new child play
Lonely as a whisper on a star chase
I'm leaving here, I'm long away
For all the stars in heaven
I would not live
I could not live this way
Did we leave our way behind us
Such a long long way behind us
Leave it for some hopeless lane
Such a long long way
Such a long long way
Such a long long way
Such a long long away
I'm looking for
Still looking for that day
08 Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (02:54)
I can dim the lights
And sing you songs full of sad things
We can do the tango just for two
I can serenade and gently play
On your heart strings
Be your Valentino just for you
Ooh love, Ooh loverboy
What ya doin' tonight, hey boy?
Set my alarm, turn on my charm
That's because I'm a good old fashioned loverboy
Ooh let me feel your heartbeat
(Grow faster faster)
Ooh can you feel my love heat
Come on and sit on my hot seat of love
And tell me how do you feel right after all
I'd like for you and I to go romancing
Say the word your wish is my command
Ooh love, Ooh loverboy
What ya doin' tonight, hey boy?
Write my letter
Feel much better
And use my fancy patter on the telephone
When I'm not with you
I think of you always
I miss you -
(I miss those long hot summer nights)
When I'm not with you
Think of me always,
I love you, love you
Hey boy, where did you get it from?
Hey boy, where did you go?
I learned my passion
In the good old fashioned school of loverboys
Dining at the Ritz we'll meet at nine precisely
(One two three four five six seven eight nine o'clock)
I will pay the bill, you taste the wine
Driving back in style in my saloon will do quite nicely
Just take me back to yours that will be fine
(Come on and get it)
Ooh love
(There he goes again)
Ooh lover boy
(Goes my good old-fashioned lover boy)
What you did tonight, hey boy?
Ev'rything's all right, just hold on tight
That's because I'm a good old fashioned (fashioned) loverboy
09 Drowse (03:45)
It's the sad-eyed, goodbye yesterday moments I remember
It's the bleak street, weak-kneed partings I recall
It's the mistier mist
The hazier days
The brighter sun
And the easier lays
And there's all the more reason for laughing and crying
When you're younger and life isn't too hard at all
It's the fantastic drowse of the afternoon Sundays
That bored you to rages of tears
It's the unending pleadings to waste all your good times
In thoughts of your middle-aged years
It's a vertical hold, all the things that you're told
For the everyday hero it all turns to zero
And there's all the more reason for living or dying
When you're young and your troubles are all very small
Out here on the street
We'd gather and meet
And scuff up the sidewalk with endlessly restless feet
And half of the time
We'd broaden our minds
More in the poolhall than we did in the schoolhall
With the downtown chewing gum bums
Watching the night life, the lights and the fun
Never wanted to be the boy next door
Always thought I'd be something more
But it ain't easy for a small town boy
It ain't easy at all
Thinking it right, doing it wrong
It's easier from an armchair
Waves of alternatives wash at my sleepiness
Have my eggs poached for breakfast, I guess
(I think I'll be Clint Eastwood)
(Jimi Hendrix, he was good)
(Let's try William the Conqueror)
(Now, who else do I like?)
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Other reviews
By poeta73
The music it contains is unassailable in terms of quality.
'Somebody to Love' needs no introduction...just one adjective: brilliant.
By Walterstarman1
"A Day at the Races is a beautiful album, without a doubt, where the predominant element is the melody."
"‘Somebody to Love’ is the symbolic piece of the album and one of the band’s flagship songs. It’s already History."
By Silvaplana
"Without Queen, rock would not have known the best of itself."
"'Somebody To Love' represents a uniqueness never repeated in the world of rock and perhaps in the entire light music as well."
