November marks the 40th Birthday of Queen’s ‘A Night at the Opera’. Considered by many as the bands most definitive album, it sported the 3rd best selling single of all time in the UK – Bohemian Rhapsody.
As a keen pianist myself, I know that simply hitting a B-flat octive in the left hand and running through the third inversion of the chord in the right hand can stop people in their tracks! I’d recommend that you watch Queen’s Live Aid set if you haven’t already (but I’m pretty sure you have) to see the effect I’m talking about!
From the unusual to firm favourites
However, if you move beyond the super famous single, you discover some rather eclectic gems such as ‘Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon’. This was recorded by playing Freddie’s vocal through headphones into a tin bucket to achieve a sound not too dissimilar to that of singing through a megaphone, as MUSE did on their cover of ‘Feeling Good’. The album also hosts ‘Seaside Rendezvous’ which features both Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor performing the whole bridge section of the song with their voices, imitating various instruments.
Queen – Good Company (A Night At The Opera 30th Anniversary, 2005) https://t.co/kDyABVVhNc
— Spadino (@spadi84) November 9, 2015
Not all of the album tracks are quite as unusual though. ‘Love of my Life’ was always a firm audience favourite at concerts; so much so that Freddie would often hear more of the song sang to him from the crowd than he would sing to them!
A Night at the Opera has so much more to give than ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. It can make you smile, laugh and cry in the space of 43 minutes but it really showcases the minds that made Queen one of the greatest bands out there!
Take a listen and let us know what you think in the comments below!
