A Night At The Opera
Released on 21st November 1975
Recorded between 24th August and 20th November 1975 at Wales (Rockfield Studios) and London (Sarm East, Scorpio, Lansdowne, Roundhouse, Wessex and Olympic), except God Save The Queen, September/October 1974 at Rockfield and/or Wessex.
Produced by Queen & Roy Thomas Baker
Engineered by Mike Stone & Gary Lyons
Music & Lyrics by Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Brian May & Henry Purcell
Arranged by Queen
Queen Are:
Freddie Mercury: Piano, Vocals
Brian May: Guitar, Vocals, Koto, Harp, Ukelele
John Deacon: Bass, Piano, Double-Bass
Roger Taylor: Percussion, Vocals
Trivia:
First and only album featuring ukelele, harp, koto and electric piano
First album starting off with a song by Freddie
With Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie completed his hat-trick of lead singles (all of which were top 10 hits in the UK)
First album getting to the peak of British charts
First album without any piano from Brian (although he did play in the demo of God Save The Queen)
First album with a song none of the band members wrote or co-wrote (God Save The Queen)
Here it is, Queen's magnum opus according to many... there's so much to talk about that it's quite hard to know where to start. First of all, some important changes in the band's surroundings:
- New manager, John Reid, who worked with Elton John as well. Reportedly, Fred and Elton became close friends, something that had an impact on Mercury's music as well.
- Freddie produced and arranged a hit single for Eddie Howell (which hit the top in South African charts), titled 'Man From Manhattan', which also featured him on piano and backing vocals and Brian on guitar.
- The band did a successful Sheer Heart Attack world tour, after which they had certainly become more advanced instrumentalists.
- John learnt to play piano during these sessions; Freddie, by his side, bought a baby-grand in Japan.
Queen were much more experienced now and they'd got a deeper control over their production than before; songs were more musically complicated than those in 'II' or 'Sheer Heart Attack', which of course doesn't absolutely mean 'Anato' is a "better" album per se. A very important factor, when compared to other band's monumental projects, is that less than a dozen people were involved in the sound of 'Anato': the four band members, plus Roy Baker, Gary Lyons, Mike Stone and the roadies. Exempli gratia, 'Sgt Peppers' had over eighty people involved in the sound: the four band members, plus George Martin, the horn-quartet in the title track, Sheila Bromberg and a string section in 'She's Leaving Home', whoever recorded the organs sampled in 'Kite', the loads of uncredited Indian musicians in 'Within You Without You', Robert Burns, Henry MacKenzie and Frank Reidy in '64', the brass section in 'Good Morning' and the 41-piece orchestra in 'Day In The Life'. Not to mention that every voice and instrument in 'Anato' was arranged by either Freddie, Brian, Roger or John, while an enormous part of 'Sgt Pepper's' material was arranged by George Martin (or Mike Leander), sometimes with very little involvement from the Fab Four.
A Concept Album?
Personally, I don't believe an album has to be rated higher than another because it's got a concept, but still, even if the lads never said 'Anato' fell into that category, they never said it didn't. So if you want to notice continuity, keep in mind that:
- There are no segues as marked as on the previous records, but still Car starts off just when Lazing finishes.
- Both sides are opened up with a fade in, Prophet's Song's outro is connected with Love Of My Life, and the latter shares one bar with Bohemian Rhapsody.
- All tracks (except for the instrumental finale) have multi-tracked vocal harmonies. The least layered in that department is Good Company, but that one's got a full jazz band made up of guitars.
Direct Sampling & Special Playing Techniques/Effects:
In spite of not being regarded as a "progressive album" by the public, 'Anato' shares with 'Dark Side' and others the use of non-musical sounds. 'Dark Side' had speaking voices, clocks, bass-generated heartbeats ... 'Anato', by its side, features:
- Death On Two Legs: Breathing-like noises (probably coming from a guitar) during the climax of the intro.
- Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon: Bicycle rings.
- I'm In Love With My Car: The exhaust from Rog's Alfa Romeo is featured in the outro.
- You're My Best Friend: John recorded a second piano mimicking bell-like tones.
- Seaside Rendezvous: Tap-dancing sounds come from Roger and Freddie hitting a board with their fingers. The entire woodwind-brass orchestra was done by Freddie and Roger too, onomatopoeically.
- The Prophet's Song: Miniature (toy) koto appears in the intro, together with the air-con.
- Bohemian Rhapsody: Guitar emulates windchimes. Beautiful effect.
Continuity With Other Records:
- Abrupt simplification of the arrangement: Two Legs (intro I - II), '39 ("pity me" is sung a capella), Prophet's Song (interlude), Bohemian Rhapsody (operatic bit). Previous examples include My Fairy King, The March Of The Black Queen and the transition between Fairy Feller's Master Stroke and Nevermore; upcoming cases are Somebody To Love, Don't Stop Me Now, Innuendo and some others.
- John's titles and/or choruses up to 1978 were all (except for one) including some form of the second person: (Don't You) Misfire, You're My Best Friend, You And I, Spread Your Wings, Who Needs You and If You Can't Beat Them.
- Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon and Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy both contain the line "there he goes again" done on backing vocals at some point late in the song.
- Love Of My Life includes the line "when I get older, I will be there at your side to remind you how I still love you", and in Roger's These Are The Days Of Our Lives, an older Freddie sings "I still love you".