Queen
A Day At The Races

THE REVIEW

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.