Queen II vs. A Night At The Opera

But aside from personal taste, what does Queen II have that A Night At The Opera doesn't have? I've always wanted to hear a good answer to this one..

I'd say Queen II. A Night At The Opera is brilliant, but there's just something about Queen II.

[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]
But aside from personal taste, what does Queen II have that A Night At The Opera doesn't have? I've always wanted to hear a good answer to this one..[/QUOTE]
Freddie's masterpiece - side black
complete and utter genius
the embryo of Bo Rhap (FFMS/nevermore/black queen)

and to it's immense credit it also lacks something that Opera doesn't - the god-awful "sweet lady"

[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]
But aside from personal taste, what does Queen II have that A Night At The Opera doesn't have? I've always wanted to hear a good answer to this one..[/QUOTE]
[b]Atmosphere[/b]

Personally, I prefer Queen II to ANATO; however, I'm not saying it's better. Like Bob pointed out, they reached a creative pinnacle at that point and, based on sheer production alone, it is far superior. Roy Thomas was reaching a peak as well as the band!

Interesting point about the production on ANATO.
If you are going to make that comparison look at it from another view.
Queen II was recorded on a 16 track machine, which when you listen to it now makes it that much more special, the amount of multi tracked guitars and vocals take it beyond just 16 track recording. To me that and Sheer Heart Attack are Roy Thomas Bakers best Queen production jobs.

ANATO was recorded on 24 track machines at multiple studios, again they were pushing the boundaries but the end product in some ways sounds brittle and lacks the warmth and earthiness that the earlier albums had and indeed that The self produced A Day At The Races captured, which I believe is a better sounding album than ANATO

Queen II for me, but A Day At The Races I consider their best album.

NATO and Jupiter.

Things they share in common:

1. Gas Giants

2. Jupiter is usually the fourth brightest object in the sky, Roger Taylor is the fourth brightest member of Queen

3. A big red spot

4. Galileo Galilei discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter: Euroger, Mayo, Ganafreddie, and Casdeacon

5. The orbits of most of the system's planets lie closer to Jupiter's orbital plane than the Sun's equatorial plane EXCEPT MERCURY

6. During the period July 16, 1994, to July 22, 1994, over 20 fragments from the comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 (SL9, formally designated D/1993 F2) collided with Jupiter's southern hemisphere, during this same period, John Deacon had decided he'd had enough.

7. average Jupiter year = 11.75 earth years...coincidentally the exact amount of time that'll elapse before a new queen song makes a top 10 chart placing
8. Jupiter surface temp -148 degrees.... fittingly....it'll be a cold day in hell before Brian may regains his musical integrity and dignity

I put the two together in a fight last night after reading this post.

a Night At The Opera won on Vinyl.... obliterating Queen II
(i was surprised because the elaborate and lifted cover made me think it would be a little too "soft" to hold up well)

however, My CD copy of Queen II (EMI) destroyed my CD copy of A Night At The Opera (Hollywood) presumably because it was made from better stock plastic.

So there you have it folks....
a TIE.

For me, it's no contest. ANATO is Queen's best album, as well as my all-time favourite album. Furthermore, while Queen II is great, I don't even think it's in Queen's top 2. SHA was IMO Queen's second best album, and was almost as good as ANATO.

As good as II was (especially the black side), Queen IMO took a massive leap forward with SHA. Not only did arguably the group truly come into its own from a performative perspective, and not only was it the first album to feature a song by John, but was the first truly versatile Queen album, and its creativity was arguably unmatched by any other Queen album, save for ANATO.

ANATO was recorded on 24 track machines at multiple studios, again they were pushing the boundaries but the end product in some ways sounds brittle and lacks the warmth and earthiness that the earlier albums had and indeed that The self produced A Day At The Races captured, which I believe is a better sounding album than ANATO

Excellent point - I would say a better album altogether

well,

my very first lp at the time was sheer heart attack; I discovered that "this" band had made two lp's arlier. I bought them without knowing. Being blown away by Queen II, meanwhile buying a night at the opera, I almost forgot Queen I....

Now, 37 years later, I cann't choose: the 5 first albums (a day at the races included) are great; "news of the world" was for me "strange", as "Jazz" was even more by the first listening... But these albums (and I have got over than 1000..) still are listened to at my place. Still think that Queen I is underestimated...

But in my opinion, you cann't compare; maybe just catalogue in "QueenI and Queen II", "sheer heart attack, "a night and a day", and then the followers, ... Ok, I am biased being a huge fan, (I like everything)but the old queen is the best that was ever made....

Sorry for my bad English

overated album im sorry to say its ok but shear heart attack was sooperdooper my friends.

If I'm being banished to a desert island and I can only choose between Q2 and ANATO to take with me, it will be Q2. ANATO was the first rock album I bought way back in 1975, then SHA, then Q2. When I hit Q2 I have never stopped loving it, and now 35 years later I appreciate Queen's early psychedelic/prog rock/glam metal stylings of the first two albums than any of the pop that followed.

That said, I also find the production of ADATR far superior to ANATO.