Is A Night At The Opera In the shadow of other great bands albums Of the 7

How does A Night At The Opera stand up to say Zep4 or The stones popular albums, or the Who's Next?.....I think opera holds it's own, but some might say it's the weakest of all these albums.  In the shadow of the The stones,  ect.   How great do Queen fans think Opera really was compared to their contemporaries?

Unfortunately, the general public sees Queen as more of a "singles band and not an "album" band.

It's a shame, because I would hold up ANY of Queen's albums of the '70's to the 3 artists that you mentioned.

My understanding is Led Zepppelin was never really a singles-oriented band. Yes, they released singles, but their popularity was based on issuing rock solid albums. The same went for Rush, who also released singles but their fanbase was built of the strength of epic albums. 

Queen's success was partly (mostly?) based on having an ear second to none when it came to picking singles and putting them forward, the result being two and a half Hits albums worth of successful songs. For sure, they could rock out with stellar albums, but because they could string together popular rock hits, where Zeppelin appealed to a less broad market (rock afionados and concert goers, less radio listeners), Queen built that legacy. 

I'd like to add, though, that Queen is recognized by album fans as having at least few that stand up to anything other bands put out. Maybe that's where the push to focus on the albums is coming from, resulting is the Deep Cuts collection.

Are you serious?
OPERA compared to... anything by Led Zeppelin?

If A Night At The Opera were just Death on Two Legs and Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, it'd already be far better than anything Led Zeppelin did on their career, put together.
On everything.

But I would compare A Night at the Opera with Out of the Blue by the Electric Light Orchestra. I'd stick for Queen but you can't ignore how brilliant some songs on that album (Out of the Blue) are.

In my humble opinion, A Night At The Opera TRIUMPHS over Led Zeppelin IV. Four reasons why it triumphs:

1. Brian could kick Jimmy Page's butt to Neptune just by using one hand and being blindfolded.
2. The album cover of IV is unbelievably simplistic compared to the artistic wonder of the ANATO cover
3. Led Zeppelin IV has Stairway to Heaven on it - ANATO has Bo Rhap
4. ANATO is without a doubt a milestone of rock 'n' roll.

Personally, I don't really like Stairway to Heaven. Mainly because its so freaking overrated. You can't believe how many 'greatest rock songs' lists have it at #1. It's unthinkable. What really annoys me is when Bohemian is 2nd on somebody's list, and Stairway beats it to the top. How in the name of all things heavy and rocking is that possible?!??!!?? If you think I'm being paranoid and making that claim up, search on Youtube. Such a thing has happened at least three times on seperate lists. People say 'oh Stairway is the holy grail, it goes through so many musical changes...' - PFFFFTT to that! The song has a plain repetitive guitar melody that never changes in any way for about five-and-a-half minutes, then a minute-long solo by Page which sounds like he did it backwards while drunk, then a minute-and-a-half section that barely qualifies as hard rock. Sorry to any Zeppelin fans, but I'm on the backlash side.

Bo Rhap on the other hand - there's a song that goes in all directions you want it to! Six sections in six minutes! Acapella through to emotive ballad - and please note the ballad section is minimialist for a time because for the first thirty seconds it has no drums, and the guitar track is only harmonic most of it. Then a blistering solo, multi-tracked opera choirs, through to a headbangingly furiously heavy metal part to a sweeping outro. Enough said - best song in rock. Or quite frankly, best song in music. Explanations aren't necessary of why, because it would take about ten pages worth of typing to explain.

br5946 wrote:

1. Brian could kick Jimmy Page's butt to Neptune just by using one hand and being blindfolded.

Personally, I don't really like Stairway to Heaven. Mainly because its so freaking overrated. You can't believe how many 'greatest rock songs' lists have it at #1. It's unthinkable. What really annoys me is when Bohemian is 2nd on somebody's list, and Stairway beats it to the top. How in the name of all things heavy and rocking is that possible?!??!!?? If you think I'm being paranoid and making that claim up, search on Youtube. Such a thing has happened at least three times on seperate lists. People say 'oh Stairway is the holy grail, it goes through so many musical changes...' - PFFFFTT to that! The song has a plain repetitive guitar melody that never changes in any way for about five-and-a-half minutes, then a minute-long solo by Page which sounds like he did it backwards while drunk, then a minute-and-a-half section that barely qualifies as hard rock. Sorry to any Zeppelin fans, but I'm on the backlash side.
I agree.
But I do like the song, it's a nice song.
The problem is... as you said, it's the same thing going on, for hours. No changes, no arrangements... no nothing!

There's a version by John Miles, which is very nice.
Of course Mr. Miles is a much muuuuuuuuch better singer than Plant but still being much better performed than the original, it's still an 8 minute song which could be a 4 minute one and be the same.
Besides... the heavy medieval folk-feel... I mean, really? What's original about that?

Not that it SHOULD be original but you need to see something different in that song if you're gonna compare it with Bo Rhap.
What I see is a song... a nice song, poorly performed by Led Zeppelin. By other performers, it could be perfectly played and all but it's still a nice song, not more than that.
It doesn't really have any musical element that stands out as brilliant.

The arpeggio progression is nicely written with the cromatism goin on but come on, it's not something we've never seen before.

It's like... if you say Stairway to Heaven can be compared with Bohemian Rhapsody, then Kissing a Fool by George Michael (which I enjoy much more than Stairway to Heaven, and I find more interesting musically) can also be compared to Stairway to Heaven or Bo Rhap.

Great question...between Opera, Who's Next and IV

I'm going to use a point system. Epic songs means that it's widely acclaimed and well-liked by the general public. Note that Rock And Roll is not included as such even though it fits that description - it's a fairly basic rock number that loses its appeal with every listen unlike every other epic song classified below. For that reason, I bumped it to "very good". Very good songs are those that are considered among the better songs of the band's cannon and help the album's cause. Ok songs are those that are good but don't add to the album. Filler means the album would have been better if the song wasn't on it!

Out of the three bands, the Who is my least favorite - I own all of Queen's and Zeppelin's albums but only a handful of Who albums (My Generation, Sell's Out, Tommy, Who's Next & Quadrophenia) - and regardless of that fact, I would still argue that Who's Next is better than A Night At The Opera. 

Opera:

Epic songs - Bohemian Rhapsody, You're My Best Friend, Love of My Life (3)

Very good songs - Death on Two Legs, I'm In Love With My Car, '39, Sweet Lady, Prophet's Song (5)

Ok songs - Lazing, Seaside Rendezvous, God Save The Queen (3)

Filler: Good Company (1)

Points: [ (3 x 5) + (5 x 3) + (3 x 1) + (1 x -1) ]= 32 / 12 x 10 = 27pts

Who's Next: 

Epic songs: Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, Won't Get Fooled Again (3)

Very Good Songs: Bargain, My Wfe, Getting In Tune (3)

Ok songs: Love Ain't For Keeping, The Song Is Over (2)

Filler: Going Mobile (1)

Points: [ (3 x 5) + (3 x 3) + (2 x 1) + (1 x -1)] = 25/9 x 10 = 28pts

Untitled (IV):

Epic Songs: Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven (2)

Very Good Songs: Rock And Roll, Misty Mountain Hop, When The Levee Breaks (3)

Ok Songs: Battle of Evermore, Four Sticks (2)

Filler:  Going To California (1)

Points: [ (2 x 5) + (3 x 3) + (2 x 1) + (1 x -1)] = 20/8 x 10 = 25pts

I'm sorry but that's totally nonsense.

of course it's nonsense... A Night At The Opera is the best of the three because Queen is totally the greatest band of all time...

Ok... new comparison folks... 1) A Night At The Opera 2) The Transformed Man 3) Metal Machine Music.

Be honest now. Don't let favoritism get in the way here!

Good Company is filler?  As far as I'm concerned it's the single most important piece of guitar innovation in the 70s, next to Eddie Van Halen.

Going to California is filler? as far as i'm concerned its the singlemost piece of guitar innovation in the 70's, after Brian May.

Master Marathon Runner

I do thing Jimmy Page was highly innovative. I don't think anyone could play as poorly.
Everyone thought you had to know how to play the guitar to... well, play the guitar.

He proved them all wrong!

Funky Horsie wrote: I do thing Jimmy Page was highly innovative. I don't think anyone could play as poorly.
Everyone thought you had to know how to play the guitar to... well, play the guitar.

He proved them all wrong!
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Wow, controversial ....

Yawn.

is it?