Why is A Night At The Opera so good?

It's ADATR for me. I agree with Holly2003 about The Prophet song too, I loved the track when it first came out, but a bit too self indulgent for me.
I also think YTMBA is a better song than LOML. Drowse and You and I better than the two songs they wrote on Opera too.
As for Sweet Lady, great verses, ruined by a very weak chorus.
Also as ADATR was produced by the band themselves I think that this also makes me believe it is their finest album ever.
My top 5 albums in order are. 1. A Day At The Races. 2. Queen II. 3. Sheer Heart Attack. 4. The Game. 5. A Night At The Opera.

I still don't agree that ANATO is an exceptionally good album. IMHO, the album as a whole is inferior to both SHA and ADATR - I personally think ANATO is so popular simply because of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Im sorry, but I do not understand how you can have The Game in the top 5 Queen albums. Lyrically and musically it is inferior to many other Queen albums, in my opinion.

Queen 2 is better.

Thanks for that. Very enlightening.

Thomas Quinn wrote:

"I personally think ANATO is so popular simply because of Bohemian Rhapsody."

Could be, but I think the album from a songwriting, production and musicianship POV is the greatest representative of the genius of Queen. Sweet Lady may be hated, but there is more amazing guitar work, and musical personality in the end section than many bands have in their catalogue. The Prophets Song may be indulgent, but lyrically, it has as much meaning or more today ("love is still the answer") than it did 35 years ago. Not to mention the beauty of Love of my Life, the majesty of GSTQ, it goes on and on. For me, it represents everything they were trying to achieve on the first three albums, and got it right on the fourth.

Even ff Bo Rhap were out of ANATO, it'd still be their top album in my opinion: '39, Good Company, LOML ... basically everything sans the stupid 'cheese' line on SL is absolutely magnificent.

I disagree with Brian being a composer trapped in a guitarist's body: he's both, simple as that; and not only that: he's also a singer, arranger, producer, etc.

ANATO hit the nail on the head in terms of creativity, performance, chemistry, success, timing, diversity, influence, etc. While Freddie was by far the chief force behind that album (in terms of songwriting, production, arrangements and performance), they all had valuable input and they all contributed their best.

A lot of Queen albums have some or many of those features, but IMO none of them has all of them combined (e.g. Queen II has no input from John as songwriter, Races is a bit less creative -IMO- as it's a sequel, etc.).

Putting Bohemian Rhapsody aside it is full of amazing creativity and dynamics.

I mean:

The Prophet's Song(my personal favorite Queen song)
'39 (Top Ten)
Death On Two Legs (Top Ten)
Good Company
Sweet Lady
Love Of My Life

All some of my favorite songs. There's really not a track I don't like.

Sebastian:

"Races is a bit less creative -IMO- as it's a sequel"

That is not an opinion backed up with an argument, it's an opinion backed up with another opinion. I really don't see ADATR as a sequel in anything but name - otherwise, you could argue that ANATO is a sequal to Sheer Heart Attack, because the 'concept album approach' of Queen II was abandoned there, and all four members contributed songs. I don't think that is a legitimate argument, but it's just as good an argument as the one for ADATR being a sequel to ANATO - I think that's a purely subjective thing.

As for songwriting, I agree that there are great songs on both albums. However, ADATR doesn't have a single track I like to skip - ANATO does (Sweet Lady), as well as having a number of tracks that leave me unaffected: I'm In Love With My Car and Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon (which is interestingly constructed, I have to admit).

On the other hand, the only song on ADATR that I find less than absolutely appealing is You and I, which is still a good song.

Of course it's a subjective argument, that's why I wrote IMO. Races is, IMO, a sequel in more than the title. We've got:

A skiffle-based number.
A Deacon ballad.
A Taylor song in triple metre.
A Mercury piano ballad.
A classical-influenced song with intricate arrangement.
A vaudeville-influenced track (well, two on Opera).

They've got loads of differences as well, just like brothers (or twins) do, but that doesn't make them any less related, IMO.

Plus, there was thought of ANATO being a double album, or at least a ton of ADATR was written in the time of ANATO's writing. So sequel or not, there is a commonality between the two albums.

Everyone in the band has stated that ADATR was supposed to mirror ANATO. That the album's song layout would be similar. Once they completed ANATO, they pretty much continued to record and it was pretty much like they were still recording ANATO. So yes i would say ADATR is a sequel to ANATO. Or more like a little brother.

* Edited, TBP on the next one *

The debate ANATO vs ADATR is a very interesting one indeed, probably more so than ANATO vs Queen II as it involves two records that are closer together.

I personally prefer ANATO but I think they're both masterpieces. Even if Bo Rhap were part of Races instead of Opera, I'd still choose Opera (even though I love Bo Rhap). One of the main reasons is that ANATO's got my two favourite Queen songs ('39 and Good Company) and it's, IMO, stronger, in terms of:

* Resourcefulness (e.g. vocal orchestration on Rendezvous, guitar jazz band on Good Company).
* Roger's voice (both lead and harmonies, including higher and lower notes).
* Roger's drumming (e.g. Sweet Lady).
* Bass-lines (e.g. Good Company, Prophet's Song).
* John's playing (e.g. LOML).
* Freddie's piano-playing (e.g. LOML).
* Songwriting (e.g. '39 vs Long Away, both magnificent though).
* Guitar choirs (e.g. Good Company, National Anthem, even '39 for a brief moment).
* Use of more instruments, therefore a broader sound palette (harp, ukelele, koto, double-bass vs harmonium).

Races wins, IMO, in terms of:

* Brian's voice (excellent on both albums, but better on ADATR IMO).
* Vaudeville (IMO, GOFLB is a better song than Rendezvous and LOASA).
* Lyrics (no 'some kind of cheese' line).
* Brian's piano playing (Teo Torriatte vs the GSTQ guide track).
* Overall piano sound (not playing, though, IMO - it seems they had access to better pianos or better tuners in '76).
* Quality of the backing tracks (Somebody to Love, for instance, has less bleeding than Bo Rhap).

Of course all of those points are entirely subjective - a lot of people may prefer Millionaire Waltz' bass-line, for instance. Myself, I think that one's extraordinary, but I rate Good Company and Prophet's Song as even more extraordinary bass-lines.

The other main reason why, IMO, ANATO is better than ADATR (although I love both albums and I think they're both masterpieces) is that ANATO has The Prophet's Song. ADATR has White Man, which is a very good song (very underrated too), but they're not on the same league IMO.

While '39 and Long Away are close in terms of quality (loads would prefer the former, loads would prefer the latter), so are Bo Rhap and either STL or TMW (in fact, I agree with Freddie that STL is perhaps a 'better' song than Bo Rhap), so are IILWMC and Drowse, so are Best Friend and You and I, so are LOML and YTMBA ... the only one where I personally feel ANATO was much better was comparing TPS with White Man. That gave them the edge, IMO.

I think Sebastian summed it up pretty well