A Day At The Races

When A Day At The Races was released in 1976, it was considered a "sequel" to Queen's previous album, A Night At The Opera. It had a title from a Marx Brothers movie (they would never do that again), and the logo was the same, but with a black background instead of white. The collection of songs also seemed to have counterparts. It's a terrific album, but it didn't break any new ground for them.

For one thing, there was nothing here to match the audacity of "Bohemian Rhapsody," which brought Queen international success. The closest is "Millionaire Waltz," which also has several sections and has a European music style in its title. But a better song, and my favorite on the whole album. is "Somebody To Love," which borrows a title from Jefferson Airplane and shows off Freddie Mercury's vocals. Inspired by the gospel music of Aretha Franklin, "Somebody To Love" is a balls-to-the-wall lament about the lack of love. The words are pitiful, but the delivery is life-affirming. It's one of the best rock vocals of all time.

Like the opening of A Night At The Opera, "Death On Two Legs," the opener is a hard-driving number that has nasty lyrics, only this time it's written by Brian May. "Tie Your Mother Down" is condemnation of a fellow's girlfriend's family. Another parallel is May's "Long Away," which is very reminiscent of "'39." John Deacon's contribution, "You And I," is another radio-friendly love song, just like "You're My Best Friend."

Roger Taylor also has a contribution, but "Drowse," a strange sort of minor key song, very different from "I'm In Love With My Car."

Other highlights of the album are also May compositions. I've written before how I find songs written from an ethnic group different from the composer distasteful, but May's "White Man" at least hits the spot, as it an angry, pointed condemnation of white oppression of Amerindians:

"White man, white man
Our country was green and all our rivers wide
White man, white man
You came with a gun and soon our children died
White man, white man
Don't you give a light for the blood you've shed?"

May also wrote "Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together)," a rousing sing-a-long to end the album. As a thank you to their Japanese fans, much of the lyrics are in Japanese. Mercury's compositions, "Millionaire Waltz," "Somebody To Love," and the hit single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" are all throwbacks to music hall. He also wrote "You Take My Breath Away," a love song I find a bit too lugubrious.

If any other band had made one album and it was as good as A Day At The Races it would be proclaimed a masterpiece, but for Queen it was solid, but not spectacular. It does take me back, though--I had this on vinyl and loved it. The vinyl is gone but I still love it.