A Day at the Races

A Day at the Races was the next album after the best known Queen Studio Album A Night at the Opera and kept the same Marx Brothers theme going however. A Day at the Races is a classic album with the usual Orchestral and virtuso Brian May at work however the album lacked the same Heavy Feel from previous albums, Freddie with his fine vocals and piano flourishes and his intelligent way of producing music and vocals, Roger Taylor, Not playing the same Drum role as in previous works but still influential and last but not least John Deacon playing his bass at his best or most comfertable. However despite having the Classic Hit Somebody to Love, the album was a chang in direction for Queen as their style moved from the Classic Hard Rock/Progressive Rock style and the album also proved to be the last of Queen's iconic 70s backing vocal harmonies. Was this a mistake or was this the start to Queen being a more Po/Rock orientated band with big singles. You can say Queen were not the same after A Day at the Races neither was A Kind of Magic but if this was to prove to be a good thing or a bad thing is down to personal opinions. If Bohemian Rhapsody and Queen did not become so big maybe the next album would have been different. But I'd like to know from you: Was A Day at the Races a Good Album or a Disapointing Album, Should Queen have continued their heavy sound and was a change in Queen's career.

Definitely a great album. All the ideas they started exploring in a more exhaustive and polished way in ANATO still had a lot of potential and deserved a further development. Anything released after ANATO would have been regarded as a decline, I guess, but they still managed to put out a wonderful album which is for sure one of Queen's best - in a sense, it's stronger than ANATO in terms of consistency. There was no I'm In Love With My Car or Sweet Lady this time: the album was very good from start to finish. However, It never sparkles just like ANATO did for lack of masterpieces which could rival such songs as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "39", "Prophet's Song", "Love of My Life", "Seaside Rendezvous", and "Good Company". If you take into account that the aforementioned songs are all in ONE album, it's hard not to see anything that followed as the beginning of a downfall.
 
Judged on its own and without the burden of comparison with ANATO, though, it's a great album featuring some of Queen's best songs. ADATR is arguably - not to me, I prefer "News Of The World", but I can see why some would like ADATR better - the best post-ANATO era album. 

That such great albums as A Day At The Races & News of The World should be followed by such a vulgar, bad-produced and, except for a few tracks, uninspired album as Jazz was a sign that Queen was starting its plunge into mediocrity. They managed to recover briefly with The Game, but from then on the band was as good as any other - it delivered occasional hits but was overall insipid. When things seemed to start getting better again with Innuendo, it was unfortunately too late already.

My top 3 favorite songs from this album:

1) Teo Torriatte
2) White Man
3) Somebody To Love

A day at the races was a great release,  and was actually more consistent than a night at the opera.  I have it at #3. only behind queen2 and opera.  Solid album, but no way was it gonna have so many huge moments like opera did.  The only thing that races could have had was one more heavy song like tie your mother down.

Such a fantastic album-simly love it.My favorite songs is -Teo torriate,Drowse,Somebody to love and You and I.

It's all about Tie Your Mother Down! That song never fails to make me headbang. I love that song so much that I even like the WASP cover, and WASP is a band I really hate.

lol, when did wasp cover that song?....I listened to wasp in the mid eighties, and don't remember them covering tie your mother down.

That's exactly the reason you haven't heard it. It's on one of their 90's albums, Still Not Black Enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_5PqRNFEyY

Saif wrote:

That's exactly the reason you haven't heard it. It's on one of their 90's albums, Still Not Black Enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_5PqRNFEyY

That's a pretty good cover.

lalaalalaa wrote:

Saif wrote:



That's exactly the reason you haven't heard it. It's on one of their 90's albums, Still Not Black Enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_5PqRNFEyY

That's a pretty good cover.

Then tie your mother down!!!

followed up ANATO with ADATR these boys were pure genius !!

 



Saif wrote:



It's all about Tie Your Mother Down! That song never fails to make me headbang. I love that song so much that I even like the WASP cover, and WASP is a band I really hate.

yeah.... for me Tie Your Mother Down make the Cd a sucess... and can't forghet about Drowse, with magnific Roger's voice ;D

somebody to love is still genious,  and the millionare waltz is brilliant. The whole album is great.

mike hunt wrote:

somebody to love is still genious,  and the millionare waltz is brilliant. The whole album is great.

For me, Somebody to Love is the highlight of the album.

oh yea, somebody to love is the highlight.  let's have a little fun from best to worst. Every song is good.
1. somebody to love-  Brillaint
2. millionare waltz-  genious
3. tie your mother down- classic
4. you take my breath away- fred at his best
5. let us cling together- beautiful
6. you and I-  john does it again
7. long away-  Good song, A nice sound to this one.
8. white man-  pretty good,  a much needed rocker.
9. drowse-  my least favorite, but still solid. roger's voice is Good.

When I first bought it, I immediately loved the intro. Also, I want to underline White Man.