Then again, he seems pretty happy right now, albeit a bit loopy coming off of the general anasethetic. We'll see if he hates me in the morning when it wears off.
For now, let's move on to the music review, and one of rock and rolls classic records of all time.
Disc 326 is...A Night At The Opera
Artist: Queen
Year of Release: 1975
What’s Up With The Cover?: As with "A Day At The Races", (the last Queen album to be reviewed, back at Disc 202) this cover features the Queen 'coat of arms', although the colours and art details in each of the covers differ. It is very cool, although I prefer the art on "A Day At The Races".
How I Came To Know It: This is the Queen album that everybody seems to know - at least by the title (many know it but still went and bought that damned greatest hits package). I grew up with "Night At The Opera", but I didn't buy it for myself until the mid-nineties when my interest in Queen was reinvigorated.
How It Stacks Up: Since my last Queen review back in November 2010, I finally found "Made In Heaven" on CD, bringing my total number of albums to fifteen. I am enjoying "Made In Heaven" but it didn't bump "A Night At The Opera" out of its prestigious position. I think it is the second best Queen album ever made, just short of my sentimental and personal favourite, "News of the World" (reviewed back at Disc 198).
Rating: 5 stars.
Every great band has an album that defines its status to the casual fan. This is not to say that album is a bad one simply because lots of people like it. In fact, the majority of the time it is the album everybody knows for good reason and while a few casual fans can often have some pretty poor taste in music, thousands of fans over several decades tend to get it right.
Although "A Night At The Opera" is only my second favourite album, it is easy to see why it is considered Queen's finest by the masses and music snobs alike. As ever, all members of Queen are at their best. We have some of Freddie's finest vocal performances ("Love Of My Life", "You're My Best Friend"), Brian May at his most amazing rock guitar ("Sweet Lady", "God Save The Queen"). Although particular songs don't jump out at me John Deacon and Roger Taylor are also at their best keeping the rhythm section going strong.
In the case of Taylor, "A Night At the Opera" has one of his signature vocal tracks, "I'm In Love With My Car." I must confess that on more than one occasion I have been in love with my car, and this song sums up that sad experience very well. Because of Freddie Mercury's gift, Taylor's vocals often go unnoticed by the general public, but amongst true Queen fans he gets much well-deserved love.
Of course this album also features That Song Everyone Knows, but let's not spoil this review by going on about a track that has been hashed and rehashed for decades.
Instead, I'd like to focus on some of the deeper cuts on this album that have always appealed to me, most notably "'39." Written and sung by Brian May, "'39" is one of my all time favourite Queen songs - probably top five. It is a science fiction story about space travel. May has long been a student of astrophysics, and obtained his Ph.D in 2007 (the whole 'I'm in a band' thing no doubt delaying him a few years).
"'39"'s underpinning is the general theory is that if you can't build a 'faster than light' or 'ftl' drive, you can't travel very far from the earth because you would die of old age before you got anywhere. Except physicists (like our friend Mr. May) suggest that an effect known as 'time dilation' can allow a spaceship to slowly accelerate to the point where you can travel incredible distances in as little as a year (it is complicated - but for the Coles Notes version, go here).
The problem is that during the journey, thousands of years could pass, relative to the 'time' that you left home port. By the time you returned, you might have aged a few years, but hundreds or even thousands of years of relative history would have passed.
By now you should be asking, 'how the hell can this make an interesting rock song?' Easily, if you forget about explaining all that science, and trust your audience. May focuses on a single person on such a journey, leaving his wife and family to seek new lands for humanity to populate:
"In the year of '39 assembled here the Volunteers
In the days when lands were few
Here the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn
The sweetest sight ever seen."
Later we learn that our volunteer 'ne'er looked back, never feared, never cried' despite the chorus revealing that he is well aware what will happen while he is away. Instead, he sends a longing song into the deep of the night sky back to his wife on earth, hoping she will feel his love over many light years:
"Don't you hear my call though you're many years away
Don't you hear me calling you
Write your letters in the sand
For the day I take your hand
In the land that our grandchildren knew."
Even knowing the terrible price cannot prepare our protagonist emotionally for his return:
"For the earth is old and gray, to a new home we'll away
But my love this cannot be
For so many years have gone though I'm older but a year
Your mother's eyes in your eyes cry to me.
...
"All the letters in the sand cannot heal me like your hand
For my life
Still ahead
Pity me."
The man has saved humanity by finding a new world, but it is a world he can never enjoy, with all the people he cared for turned to dust. For another great tale of time dilation, try Dan Simmon's excellent short story, "Remembering Siri" which covers the same themes.
OK, I got all teared up there on one song (and may I add, not That Song Everyone Knows). I'll quickly mention this album also includes one of the greatest accusation songs ("Death On Two Legs"), one of the greatest unrequited love songs ("Love Of My Life"), and one of the greatest fully requited love songs ("You're My Best Friend"). Whatever you're feeling - anger, love, heartbreak, or just a strange compulsion to hug your TR-7 - this album has a song for you that is one of the best in the genre.
And yes, it has That Song Everyone Knows as well. One of the greatest songs ever written, blah blah blah. I could go on, but all there is to say is right here. If you haven't done this yourself, then despite all odds to the contrary, you haven't heard That Song Everyone Knows enough. Go put it on again, hopefully with the rest of "A Night At The Opera."
And on that note, I'm off to roll my next CD. Where will it take me? "Anyway the wind blows..."
Best tracks: all tracks, but my favourites are Death On Two Legs, I'm In Love With My Car, You're My Best Friend, '39, Sweet Lady, Love Of My Life, and That Song Everyone Knows
No comments:
Post a Comment