Lester's Album Discussion Thread - A Day At The Races

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Zander05 wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Asterik wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Millionaire Waltz- Now I like this but it doesn't compare to March of The Black Queen. Still the arrangements are sublime and the guitar orchestration is great so yes I love it.[/QUOTE]

Asterik, I think you're comparing two entirely different tracks, mate. MOTBQ could be compared to the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody or My Fairy King - but it's not even in the same category as TMW.

'Millionaire' could easily be compared to My Melancholy Blues. Both tracks are Freddie's sort of Ritzy, classy pieces. MOTBQ Is operatic and dripping with vocal harmonies and small quirks and full of fantasy.

I could say that since I like Queen II a lot, Black Queen is more brilliant. But then, ADATR comes in an extremely close second, so I could just as easily say Waltz is better. But I think that both tracks are beyond brilliant in their own categories.

Sorry if this was off-topic, I just felt the need to say something.[/QUOTE]

I completely disagree with you. There is no way you can compare MW and MMB- the stuff that Fred puts into it is remarkable; there are lots of multi-tracked harmonies on MW whilst MMB is very simple and spontaneous; Freddie slumped over a piano capturing his feelings. Millionaire Waltz has several sections to it just like BR and MOTB and like them draws on orchestral music as an influence for the sound. There is a multi-tracked guitar solo again sounding like a cello or something. MW is full of fantasy and has small quirks in the arrangments. There is also a heavy rock part that is oddly reminiscent of BR so yes, in my view it is worth comparing and it doesn't stand up for me. I have no idea how you could possibly compare it with Melancholy Blues when it is a guitar, multi-track free piece of midnight lounge jazz. I'm sorry but it isn't on.

I agree with Asterik- it is structuraly similar to BoRhap and TMOTBQ- and def not MMB. But I disagree that it doesn't stand up. It's pretty much on the same level as those two compositions IMO. Wanderfully over the top...

I wasn't saying anything based on the structure of the song (though Asterik is quite right), I was talking more in terms of genre (or style, if you will) of music.

My Melancholy Blues is 4 in the morning lounge music. Could easily see this being played by a piano player to close any bar. Millionaire Waltz is the polar opposite of that, fun, frenetic and heavily orchestrated. I see about as much resemblance between MMB and MW as I do MW and Body Language.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]BHM 0271 wrote: [/QUOTENAME]My Melancholy Blues is 4 in the morning lounge music. Could easily see this being played by a piano player to close any bar. Millionaire Waltz is the polar opposite of that, fun, frenetic and heavily orchestrated. I see about as much resemblance between MMB and MW as I do MW and Body Language.[/QUOTE]

Ditto.
IMO all of the aforementioned songs can stand up very well on their own, each may have queenesque similarities, as all bands have some signature thing, however, they're all unique in a certain way.

I think this shoulda been a double album ala A night at the opera/ races anyone else think so?

if my memory serves me correctly, that was the original intent, but things fell through.
However, it was released afterwords so...
Oh well, its still not too late!

Nice timing. I've been on a Queen sabatical (to which I will return as soon as I have posted this) but I love to find a thread about this album.

Lester, I could wax lyrical about this album for paragraphs, but it could also suffice to say I agree with you completely. I am also unable to separate Queen II and ADATR as the best Queen albums, but if I had to, ADATR would get the nod. This would be because, as you say, there is not a weak track on this album.

For me it was the peak of Freddie's songwriting. Somebody to Love, You Take My Breath Away and The Millionaire Waltz are simply breathtaking.

I love all the songs on this, and yes, it was all slowly downhill after this. They could have called it a day after this album and still be remembered as one of the all time top bands.

I have listened to this album in its entirety well over a thousand times, and I am still to weary of it. Even Roger's offering is great. :) And Teo Torriate is one of my all time favourite Queen songs. And this doesn't even mentions John's wonderful You & I.

Nuh. Queen didn't make a better album than this. And if anyone says "yes they did - The Miracle, I will puke on them" :))))

A Day at The Races

I Purchased this album in 1994 on tape, then on CD in the USA in 1999 in order to get the Hollywood release extra tracks.

1) Tie Your Mother Down : Excellent
2) You Take My Breath Away : Excellent
3) Long Away : Very Nice
4) The Millionaire Waltz : Interesting
5) You And I : Very Nice
6) Somebody To Love : Excellent
7) White Man : Very Good
8) Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy : Very Good
9) Drowse : Very Good
10)Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together) : Excellent

I listen to this album a lot, probably a few times a month. Not a weak track on the album. I think TYMD, YTMBA and TT(LuCT) are amazing pieces on this album.
These are just my views!

When I first heard ADATR, in 1976, at the age of 12, I remember being quite disappointed, comparing it to ANATO, but now, I rate it above it's predecessor. At least, I did, until the DVD-A of ANATO came along! ADATR is definitely a more 'complete' work than ANATO, and apart from Drowse (which still isn't that bad), there isn't a bad track on the album.

I remember hearing the first single, Somebody To Love, on my Dad's car radio, and falling in love with it straight away. I bought the single on it's day of release, complete with that cartoon picture sleeve, and played it over and over again. The B side wasn't half bad either, and was probably the heaviest thing Queen had done so far, but I remember thinking it sounded very much like The Prophet's Song. White Man remains one of my favourite Queen tracks, and has been a perfect compilation coupling with It's Late on many home made tapes and CDs. Again, one of those tracks you can never play loud enough!

Anyway, going back to the album, TYMD was a great opener, and showed that the band were still rocking. A better album / concert opener would be hard to find. Now, at the time, I thought You Take My Breath away was a real deflation from the rocking TYMD, and was the first disappointment of the album. It's still not one of my favourite tracks, but it is a great vocal performance from Freddie, and it's difficult now to see where else it could have fitted onto the album. Long Away, again, seemed like a filler at the time, but now, it's one of my favourite Brian tracks, and I think it's a shame it was never played live at the time, as it would have been great to hear Fred sing it. Oooh, here's a gem! Millionaire Waltz!! Should have been a single! A great track indeed, and probably the closest the band came to Bohemian Rhapsody Part II, even though it's totally different! The best track on ADATR, without doubt, in my opinion, and another to always appear on subsequent home made compilations. Can't wait for the DVD-A of this one! You and I was a nice easy going partner to You're My Best Friend, but nothing to write home about, and I can't even remember how it goes now. I've already talked about STL and WM, so on to Good Old Fashioned Loverboy. I love this track! It's cute, quirky and has a great solo from Brian, and the TOTP version was even better! I remember taping that from the TV with a portable cassette recorder! Drowse couldn't have been titled better - if this was the best RMT could come up with, then he shouldn't have bothered, but it was 'the rules' that Bri and Rog had their own tracks on each album. Teo Torriatte was a grower on me. Didn't like it at first, but grew to appreciate it later on.

At the time of their releases, I thought that this album was weaker than ANATO and NOTW, but now, I prefer it to ANATO in many ways, and I like it easily as much as NOTW. I feel lucky to have been around at the releases of these classic albums, as I think it does bring a different perspective, having been there, and remembering how I felt at the time, compared to how I see and hear the albums now.

WHAT A GREAT ALBUM!!!!

MAGNIFICO!!!


Maybe the best Queen album.

Well, you have almost said everything.
I have to say that in my opinion this album shows a high peak of creativity, the band sounds as one, a round circle and so most of the songs do, they are so well constructed, with such a taste and skill that I would listen again and again to only find out new details on any one aspect: instrumentation, voice treatment, structure, lyrics...
I find also the piano has much to do with this album atmosphere of sweetness, mistery and sadness(Take my breath away), rhythm and explosion of different feelings( somebody to love, the millionaire waltz, You and I), the lovely vaudeville atmosphere of Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy. I also belive in this respect, that You take My breath Away is definitely the one Ballad: lyrics, voice treatment, intimate mood, has it all to make you drawn into a landscape of sadness and hope, great lyricism.
One of the songs I really find so well done and so complex but which turns out to be so easy listening, well at least for me, is TMW, it has so many different rhythm and tempo patterns, but all the time it goes back to the vals rhythm as a connecting thread. It's just brilliant.
I love all the effects of background vocals, the multi track effects, and think it's one of Queen master achievements to be remembered. And regarding this aspect we have all Freddie's songs from this album, his composing was superb at the time. Just all of them little masterpieces.
May's Teo Torriate with the opening piano and the subtle entrance of Freddie's voice and the subsequent entrances of instrumentation is magnificent. And the chorus seems to have nothing to do musically with the verses, but it just works out perfectly, IMO.
And I find the children-like chorus most appropiate after the climax of the song.
Drowse is also a nice song that makes me feel like dreaming, and love also Roger's voice in it, I have to say more than bri's at Long Away.
No need to say I find Brian's guitar instrumentations just amazing and in such a unity with the flow of the music, nothing is there to fill in some blank space, as it apparently happens sometimes with some of the guitar solos on later jobs. Here everything counts and entwines into a perfect unit. That's the magical thing about ADATR, IMO.
I wish they would have kept explorating from this point, I think they went to try very different paths on the new albums to come.
Sorry for any mistakes, non-english speaking queen member.
And thanks Lester for such interesting and fruitful debate. ;)

1) Tie Your Mother Down : Excellent
2) You Take My Breath Away : Good
3) Long Away : Good
4) The Millionaire Waltz : Good
5) You And I : Good
6) Somebody To Love : Excellent
7) White Man : Excellent
8) Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy : Awful
9) Drowse : Good
10)Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together) : Excellent


I'd give this album 6/10.

Don't want to sound like an ass, but this isn't a ratings thread - the key word here is "discussion".

I know that Lester, just a bit tired and lack of energy played a factor!


Races is considered the younger brother to Opera, and follows on in the same vein (many tracks having been recorded at the same time) in terms of the flow of the album.

It's a good album, but not as groundbreaking as ANATO, the Roy Thomas Baker influence that is apparent on that isn't so much here at times (save for Breath Away and Somebody To Love)....

Not in my top 5 but a good album netherless.