A Day at the Races (album)
Encyclopedia
A Day at the Races is the fifth album by British rock
group Queen
, released in December 1976. A Day at the Races was the band's first completely self-produced album, and the first not to feature producer Roy Thomas Baker
. Recorded at Sarm East
, The Manor
and Wessex Studios
in England, A Day at the Races was engineered by Mike Stone. The title of the album followed suit with its predecessor A Night at the Opera
in taking its name from a film by the Marx Brothers
.
In recent years, a number of publications have cited A Day at the Races as one of the band's finest works. The album peaked at #1 in the UK, Japan and the Netherlands. It reached #5 on the US Billboard 200
and was Queen's fifth album to ship gold
(500,000 units shipped) in the US. It subsequently reached platinum status (one million shipped) in the US.
described A Day at the Races as "a judicious blend of heavy metal rockers and classically influenced, almost operatic, torch songs." The Winnipeg Free Press
was also appreciative, writing, "Races is a reconfirmation of Queen's position as the best of the third wave of English rock groups." Circus
offered a mixed review, writing, "With A Day at the Races, they've deserted art-rock entirely. They're silly now. And wondrously shameless." Lifelong Queen detractor Dave Marsh
, writing in Rolling Stone
, was less appreciative, describing Freddie Mercury as possessing a merely "passable pop voice", and concluding, "Queen will probably top the charts until one or the other of its leaders grows restless and spins off another version."
Allmusic awarded the album 3.5/5 stars, naming singles "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Somebody to Love", along with ballad "You Take My Breath Away", as the best tracks on the record, and saying it marked a point where Queen "entered a new phase, where they're globe-conquering titans instead of underdogs on the make". while Q
awarded it 4/5 stars, writing, "The breadth of its ambition remains ever impressive, as do tracks such as May's stomping 'Tie Your Mother Down' and Mercury's baroque one-two, 'Somebody To Love' and 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy'." George Starostin wrote, "considering that it does have its fair share of undisputable classics and that the boys' songwriting and arranging are still at an all-time high, I give it a nine with no remorse."
In 2006, a national BBC
poll saw A Day at the Races voted the 67th greatest album of all time. The same year, in a worldwide Guinness
and NME
poll to find the "Greatest 100 Albums of All Time", A Day at the Races was voted #87. It was also featured in Classic Rock
and Metal Hammer's
"The 200 Greatest Albums of the 70s," being listed as one of the 20 greatest albums of 1976. Out
ranked it #20 of 100 in a poll of "more than 100 actors, comedians, musicians, writers, critics, performance artists, label reps, and DJs, asking each to list the 10 albums that left the most indelible impressions on their lives." In the 1987 edition of the The World Critics List, the BBC's Peter Powell
ranked A Day at the Races the 6th greatest album of all time, and Jim DeRogatis
' included the record in his "The Great albums" in 2006.
, when May was working on his PhD
in Astronomy
in early 1968. He wrote it on Spanish guitar and thought he'd change the title and chorus later on, but Mercury liked it and they kept it that way.
The song is preceded by a one-minute instrumental intro using a Shepard tone
harmonium figure, which is actually a reprise of the ending of "Teo Torriatte": this was intended to create a "circle" in the album, typical, for example, of Pink Floyd
's albums. The ascending scale was created by recording a descending scale on a harmonium and playing it backwards for the record. The main theme of the intro is the same as that of "White Man." A music video was made for the song, directed by Bruce Gowers
, based on a performance clip shot at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island
, New York in February, 1977 during the band's US arena headlining tour. After its release in 1976, the song was played by Queen on every subsequent tour.
(of a multitracked Mercury) regenerating in reverse, which gradually evolves into the repeated phrase "you take my (breath away)" and reintegrates into the next track, "Long Away."
electric guitar
for the rhythm parts instead of his Red Special
. He'd wanted to use a Rickenbacker
because he admired John Lennon
, but he did not get along well with the thin neck of the instrument.
(Queen and Elton John
's manager at the time). It's another multi-key and multi-metre song like "Bohemian Rhapsody
," using abrupt arrangement changes and including Brian May doing multi-tracked guitar choirs. It features a noteworthy example of John Deacon's 'lead bass' playing.
The song Niech Żyje Bal (Long live the ball) performed by Polish singer Maryla Rodowicz
and released as an award-winning single in Poland in 1985 contains a waltz-like bridge which, although implementing different melody, is inspired and arranged similarly to Brian May's multilayered Millionaire Waltz middle solo.
and Mercury playing Elton John
-esque piano parts. This song was never played live.
of the album. Written by Freddie Mercury, the song was inspired by gospel
music, especially that of Aretha Franklin
, and Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to create a 100-voice gospel choir.
Like "Bohemian Rhapsody
", the major hit from Queen's previous album, this song has a complex layering of vocal tracks, this time based on a gospel choir arrangement. The lyrics, especially combined with the gospel influence, create a song about faith, desperation and soul-searching; the singer questions both the lack of love experienced in his life and the role and existence of God. Staying true to Queen's guitar-driven style, it was also filled with intricate harmony parts and a solo by May. Mercury recorded a wide range of notes, going from a G#2 (in the last choral verse) to a Ab5 (at the peak of his melisma
on "ooh" over the choir break). It went to number 2 on the UK charts and number 13 on the U.S. singles chart.
at the hands of European immigrants. Its riff was used for the album intro, similarly to "Father To Son
" and "Procession" some years before. This song would be the focal point for a Freddie Mercury vocal solo on the A Day at the Races tour and would serve as both a Mercury vocal solo spot and a Brian May guitar solo
spot on the 1977-78 News of the World
tour. The song is one of Queen's heaviest works, thematically and musically. On the later 2005 Return of the Champions Tour
and the later 2008 Tour
the riff to 'White Man' was used as an introduction to 'Fat Bottomed Girls'.
Multi-tracked vocals enhanced the song as well as May's guitar choirs. The song was once performed live on Top of the Pops
in June 1977, with Roger Taylor singing the Mike Stone part. Most of the track was a concert staple on the band's A Day at the Races Tour
and News of the World Tour
.
and timpani and doing all of the vocals. May played slide guitar
during this and "Tie Your Mother Down" (the second guitar solo in the middle of the song). Taylor's song on the previous album, "I'm In Love With My Car", was also in 6/8.
"Drowse" is notable for being Roger Taylor's first "soft" song, his previous compositions being usually the heaviest rock pieces of the album. Taylor sings octave lead vocals during the verses (except for the third and final verse).
The song is notable for having two choruses sung in Japanese; it is one of only three Queen songs (the others being "Las Palabras de Amor" from Hot Space
and "Mustapha", from the album Jazz) in which an entire verse or chorus is sung in a language other than English. The song features a piano, a plastic piano, and a harmonium
, all of which are played by Brian May. It is the only point in the album in which Mercury does not play piano.
The album’s closing harmonium melody is also its opening melody; the sequence was attached to the beginning of "Tie Your Mother Down", the first track on the album. May described it as "a never-ending staircase", otherwise commonly known, musically, as a Shepard tone
.
would come to an end after almost 40 years. According to Universal Music, all Queen albums are to be remastered and reissued in 2011.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
, released in December 1976. A Day at the Races was the band's first completely self-produced album, and the first not to feature producer Roy Thomas Baker
Roy Thomas Baker
Roy Thomas Baker is a multiple award-winning Anglo-American music producer, songwriter, arranger and Recording Academy Governor, who has produced Platinum and Gold certified pop and rock records from the 1970s to the present.- Career :Baker began his career at Decca Records in England at the age...
. Recorded at Sarm East
Sarm East Studios
Sarm East Studios is a recording studio that was located at the southern end of Brick Lane in east London. It is now called The London Recording Studios.- History :...
, The Manor
The Manor Studio
The Manor Studio was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. It was the first residential recording studio in the UK...
and Wessex Studios
Wessex Sound Studios
Wessex Sound Studios was a recording studio located in Highbury New Park, London, England. Many renowned popular music artists recorded there, including The Sex Pistols, King Crimson, The Clash, Theatre of Hate, XTC, The Sinceros, Queen, Talk Talk and The Rolling Stones...
in England, A Day at the Races was engineered by Mike Stone. The title of the album followed suit with its predecessor A Night at the Opera
A Night at the Opera (Queen album)
A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock group Queen, released in November 1975. Co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, A Night at the Opera was, at the time of its release, the most expensive album ever recorded...
in taking its name from a film by the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
.
In recent years, a number of publications have cited A Day at the Races as one of the band's finest works. The album peaked at #1 in the UK, Japan and the Netherlands. It reached #5 on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
and was Queen's fifth album to ship gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
(500,000 units shipped) in the US. It subsequently reached platinum status (one million shipped) in the US.
Track listing
Reception and legacy
The Washington PostThe Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
described A Day at the Races as "a judicious blend of heavy metal rockers and classically influenced, almost operatic, torch songs." The Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
was also appreciative, writing, "Races is a reconfirmation of Queen's position as the best of the third wave of English rock groups." Circus
Circus (magazine)
Circus was a monthly American magazine devoted to rock music. It was published from 1966 to 2006. In its heyday the magazine had a full-time editorial staff that included some of the biggest names in rock journalism, including Paul Nelson, David Fricke, and Kurt Loder, and rivaled Rolling Stone in...
offered a mixed review, writing, "With A Day at the Races, they've deserted art-rock entirely. They're silly now. And wondrously shameless." Lifelong Queen detractor Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
, writing in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, was less appreciative, describing Freddie Mercury as possessing a merely "passable pop voice", and concluding, "Queen will probably top the charts until one or the other of its leaders grows restless and spins off another version."
Allmusic awarded the album 3.5/5 stars, naming singles "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Somebody to Love", along with ballad "You Take My Breath Away", as the best tracks on the record, and saying it marked a point where Queen "entered a new phase, where they're globe-conquering titans instead of underdogs on the make". while Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
awarded it 4/5 stars, writing, "The breadth of its ambition remains ever impressive, as do tracks such as May's stomping 'Tie Your Mother Down' and Mercury's baroque one-two, 'Somebody To Love' and 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy'." George Starostin wrote, "considering that it does have its fair share of undisputable classics and that the boys' songwriting and arranging are still at an all-time high, I give it a nine with no remorse."
In 2006, a national BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
poll saw A Day at the Races voted the 67th greatest album of all time. The same year, in a worldwide Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
and NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
poll to find the "Greatest 100 Albums of All Time", A Day at the Races was voted #87. It was also featured in Classic Rock
Classic Rock (magazine)
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of...
and Metal Hammer's
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
"The 200 Greatest Albums of the 70s," being listed as one of the 20 greatest albums of 1976. Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...
ranked it #20 of 100 in a poll of "more than 100 actors, comedians, musicians, writers, critics, performance artists, label reps, and DJs, asking each to list the 10 albums that left the most indelible impressions on their lives." In the 1987 edition of the The World Critics List, the BBC's Peter Powell
Peter Powell (disc jockey)
Peter Powell is a former disc jockey, popular on BBC Radio 1 in the late 1970s and 1980s, who has a second career in talent management.-Early career:...
ranked A Day at the Races the 6th greatest album of all time, and Jim DeRogatis
Jim DeRogatis
James "Jim" DeRogatis is an American music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, and for fifteen years was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.He joined Columbia College Chicago as a full-time...
' included the record in his "The Great albums" in 2006.
Tie Your Mother Down
"Tie Your Mother Down" was written in TenerifeTenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
, when May was working on his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
in early 1968. He wrote it on Spanish guitar and thought he'd change the title and chorus later on, but Mercury liked it and they kept it that way.
The song is preceded by a one-minute instrumental intro using a Shepard tone
Shepard tone
A Shepard tone, named after Roger Shepard, is a sound consisting of a superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. When played with the base pitch of the tone moving upward or downward, it is referred to as the Shepard scale. This creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually...
harmonium figure, which is actually a reprise of the ending of "Teo Torriatte": this was intended to create a "circle" in the album, typical, for example, of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's albums. The ascending scale was created by recording a descending scale on a harmonium and playing it backwards for the record. The main theme of the intro is the same as that of "White Man." A music video was made for the song, directed by Bruce Gowers
Bruce Gowers
Bruce Gowers is an English television director and producer, best known for work on large-scale live music and event productions. He started his career in his native England where his landmark music video for Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" brought him international recognition leading to his...
, based on a performance clip shot at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York in February, 1977 during the band's US arena headlining tour. After its release in 1976, the song was played by Queen on every subsequent tour.
You Take My Breath Away
"You Take My Breath Away" was written by Freddie Mercury and based on the harmonic minor scale. All of the vocals and piano were done by him, and he performed it by himself at Hyde Park before recording it. There is a vocal interlude between this song and the next one that begins with a wash of vocals (repeating the words "take my breath") created by echoesDelay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
(of a multitracked Mercury) regenerating in reverse, which gradually evolves into the repeated phrase "you take my (breath away)" and reintegrates into the next track, "Long Away."
Long Away
"Long Away" was composed and sung by May. He used a Burns Double Six 12-stringTwelve string guitar
The twelve-string guitar is an acoustic or electric guitar with 12 strings in 6 courses, which produces a richer, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar...
electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
for the rhythm parts instead of his Red Special
Red Special
The Red Special is an electric guitar owned by Queen guitarist Brian May and custom-built by May and his father. The Red Special is also sometimes named in reviews as the Fireplace or the Old Lady, both nicknames used by May when referring to the guitar. A guitar that would define May's signature...
. He'd wanted to use a Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
because he admired John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, but he did not get along well with the thin neck of the instrument.
The Millionaire Waltz
"The Millionaire Waltz" was written by Mercury about John ReidJohn Reid (music)
John Reid is a Scottish manager and music industry figure, currently living and working in Australia.Between 1975 and 1978, Reid was the manager of British rock group Queen and Kevin Ayers...
(Queen and Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's manager at the time). It's another multi-key and multi-metre song like "Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
," using abrupt arrangement changes and including Brian May doing multi-tracked guitar choirs. It features a noteworthy example of John Deacon's 'lead bass' playing.
The song Niech Żyje Bal (Long live the ball) performed by Polish singer Maryla Rodowicz
Maryla Rodowicz
Maryla Rodowicz is a Polish singer.-Early life:She studied at Liceum Ziemi Kujawskiej in Włocławek and graduated from the Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego in Warsaw...
and released as an award-winning single in Poland in 1985 contains a waltz-like bridge which, although implementing different melody, is inspired and arranged similarly to Brian May's multilayered Millionaire Waltz middle solo.
You and I
"You And I" is John Deacon's song on the album. It features him on acoustic guitarAcoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
and Mercury playing Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
-esque piano parts. This song was never played live.
Somebody to Love
"Somebody to Love" is the hit singleHit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
of the album. Written by Freddie Mercury, the song was inspired by gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
music, especially that of Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, and Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to create a 100-voice gospel choir.
Like "Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
", the major hit from Queen's previous album, this song has a complex layering of vocal tracks, this time based on a gospel choir arrangement. The lyrics, especially combined with the gospel influence, create a song about faith, desperation and soul-searching; the singer questions both the lack of love experienced in his life and the role and existence of God. Staying true to Queen's guitar-driven style, it was also filled with intricate harmony parts and a solo by May. Mercury recorded a wide range of notes, going from a G#2 (in the last choral verse) to a Ab5 (at the peak of his melisma
Melisma
Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.-History:Music of ancient cultures used...
on "ooh" over the choir break). It went to number 2 on the UK charts and number 13 on the U.S. singles chart.
White Man
"White Man" was written by May about the suffering of Native AmericansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
at the hands of European immigrants. Its riff was used for the album intro, similarly to "Father To Son
Queen II
Queen II is the second album by British rock group Queen, released in March 1974. It was recorded at Trident Studios, London in August 1973 with co-producers Roy Thomas Baker and Robin Cable, and engineered by Mike Stone....
" and "Procession" some years before. This song would be the focal point for a Freddie Mercury vocal solo on the A Day at the Races tour and would serve as both a Mercury vocal solo spot and a Brian May guitar solo
Guitar solo
In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
spot on the 1977-78 News of the World
News of the World (album)
News of the World is the sixth studio album by British rock group Queen, released in 1977. Containing hit songs "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions" and "Spread Your Wings", the album went 4x platinum in the US, 2x platinum in the UK, and achieved high certifications around the world as...
tour. The song is one of Queen's heaviest works, thematically and musically. On the later 2005 Return of the Champions Tour
Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour
Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour was a world concert tour by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, joined by singer Paul Rodgers under the moniker of Queen + Paul Rodgers. The tour was Queen's first since the Magic Tour in 1986, and the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury in November 1991...
and the later 2008 Tour
Rock the Cosmos Tour
The Rock The Cosmos Tour was the second and last concert tour by Queen + Paul Rodgers, promoting their first and only studio album "The Cosmos Rocks". The opening date was recorded for a DVD release. which was released on 15 June 2009. The tour included one of the largest open air concerts in...
the riff to 'White Man' was used as an introduction to 'Fat Bottomed Girls'.
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy
"Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" was written by Mercury. The song starts with a piano and vocal introduction by Mercury, then continues, with the bass and drums adding on, at the start of the chorus. The second verse is sung, followed by another chorus. At this point, the drums, bass and guitar drop out, which then leads into the bridge, sung by Freddie Mercury and Mike Stone. Following the Brian May guitar solo, another verse is sung, and then the chorus ends the track.Multi-tracked vocals enhanced the song as well as May's guitar choirs. The song was once performed live on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
in June 1977, with Roger Taylor singing the Mike Stone part. Most of the track was a concert staple on the band's A Day at the Races Tour
A Day At The Races Tour
The A Day at the Races Tour was a concert tour by the British rock band Queen, and supported their late 1976 album A Day at the Races.This tour was the first to use the song Somebody to Love and many others. Plus Brighton Rock and Bohemian Rhapsody were performed in full for the first time...
and News of the World Tour
News of the World Tour
-Tour dates:-External links:* *...
.
Drowse
"Drowse" was Roger Taylor's song in 6/8 having him playing rhythm guitarRhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
and timpani and doing all of the vocals. May played slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
during this and "Tie Your Mother Down" (the second guitar solo in the middle of the song). Taylor's song on the previous album, "I'm In Love With My Car", was also in 6/8.
"Drowse" is notable for being Roger Taylor's first "soft" song, his previous compositions being usually the heaviest rock pieces of the album. Taylor sings octave lead vocals during the verses (except for the third and final verse).
Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)
"Teo Torriatte" was Brian May's tribute to the Japanese fans.The song is notable for having two choruses sung in Japanese; it is one of only three Queen songs (the others being "Las Palabras de Amor" from Hot Space
Hot Space
Hot Space is the tenth studio album by British rock band Queen, released in May 1982. Marking a notable shift in direction from their earlier work, Queen employed many elements of disco, pop music, R&B and dance music on Hot Space, being partially influenced by the success of their 1980 hit...
and "Mustapha", from the album Jazz) in which an entire verse or chorus is sung in a language other than English. The song features a piano, a plastic piano, and a harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, all of which are played by Brian May. It is the only point in the album in which Mercury does not play piano.
The album’s closing harmonium melody is also its opening melody; the sequence was attached to the beginning of "Tie Your Mother Down", the first track on the album. May described it as "a never-ending staircase", otherwise commonly known, musically, as a Shepard tone
Shepard tone
A Shepard tone, named after Roger Shepard, is a sound consisting of a superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. When played with the base pitch of the tone moving upward or downward, it is referred to as the Shepard scale. This creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually...
.
Singles
In the UK the first track to be released as a single was "Somebody to Love" on 12 November 1976 (EMI 2565). It reached number 2. "Tie Your Mother Down" followed on 4 March 1977 (EMI 2593), reaching number 31, and "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" on 20 May 1977, reaching number 17. In the US, "Somebody to Love" was released on 10 December 1976 ( Elektra E45362) and reached number 13. It was followed by "Tie Your Mother Down" (Elektra E45385) in March 1977, which reached number 49. Both of these were released in Japan: in addition, "Teo Torriatte" was also released exclusively in Japan.Personnel
- Freddie MercuryFreddie MercuryFreddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
– lead and backing vocals, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Brian MayBrian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
– electricElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, slideSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
and acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Long Away", piano, plastic piano, harmoniumHarmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion... - Roger TaylorRoger Meddows-TaylorRoger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...
– drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals and rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
on "Drowse", timpani - John DeaconJohn DeaconJohn Richard Deacon is a retired English multi-instrumentalist and song writer, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, acoustic guitar on "You and I" - Mike Stone – additional vocals on "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
Chart performance
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums Chart | 8 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 4 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 1 |
| German Albums Chart | 10 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 11 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 3 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 8 |
| UK Albums Chart | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 5 |
2011 re-issue
On 8 November 2010, record company Universal Music announced a remastered and expanded reissue of the album set for release in May 2011. This as part of a new record deal between Queen and Universal Music, which meant Queen's association with EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
would come to an end after almost 40 years. According to Universal Music, all Queen albums are to be remastered and reissued in 2011.