Queen – A Night at the Opera [180g Vinyl LP]

Queen – A Night at the Opera [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Half-Speed Mastered, Embossed Gatefold, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: 4720269
• Barcode: 602547202697
• Genre: Rock / Hard Rock / Classic Rock / Progressive Rock
• Label: Virgin EMI Records
• Originally Released: 21 November 1975
• Reissue Released: 2015
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by Queen — Freddie Mercury (vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass) and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals) — released on 21 November 1975 on EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US, and one of the most ambitious and best-loved albums in the history of rock music. Recorded across six studios — Sarm, Roundhouse, Olympic, Rockfield, Scorpio, Trident and Lansdowne — between August and November 1975, and mixed at Sarm Studios, the sessions were noted for their extraordinary complexity: band members frequently recorded simultaneously in different studios to manage the sheer density of overdubs and arrangements. It was reported at the time to be the most expensive album ever recorded, a claim that reflected the band's determination to realise these compositions without compromise. On release it debuted at number one in the UK, reached number four on the US Billboard 200, became Queen's first platinum-certified album in the United States, and is now consistently ranked among the greatest rock albums ever made — appearing at number 128 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, the album covers an exceptional range of styles within a single coherent artistic vision. "Bohemian Rhapsody" — Mercury's six-minute operatic rock suite, released as a single in October 1975 and spending nine weeks at number one in the UK — remains the most celebrated Queen recording, and the most elaborately constructed: featuring multiple distinct sections (ballad, operatic, hard rock, coda), no chorus in the conventional sense, and reportedly containing 180 separate vocal overdubs across just three nights of recording. "You're My Best Friend" — written by John Deacon and featuring him on Wurlitzer electric piano — reached number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 and is among the most purely melodic songs in the catalogue, its McCartney-esque construction a deliberate counterpoint to the album's more grandiose moments. "Love of My Life" — May's acoustic ballad, subsequently adopted as a singalong live staple — and "'39" — May's science fiction folk song written in the style of a sea shanty — demonstrate the breadth of compositional vision on a record that was never going to be constrained by any single idiom.

The album's more expansive pieces are equally remarkable. "The Prophet's Song" — May's eight-minute doom-laden epic, developed in part from a recurring dream he experienced during a period of serious illness — contains a central a cappella section using an Eventide Harmonizer to create a canon effect from Mercury's voice alone, which remains one of the most striking studio constructions in rock history. "Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…)" — Mercury's furious opening track, directed at the band's former manager — establishes the album's dramatic range from its first bars. The closing "God Save the Queen" — a layered guitar arrangement of the national anthem — was performed entirely by Brian May, and has closed Queen concerts ever since its introduction here.

This 2015 reissue on Virgin EMI Records presents the 2011 remaster — half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios Room 30, with the matrix etchings confirming MILES.ABBEY ROAD ½ SPEED.ROOM 30 on both sides — pressed on 180 gram black vinyl by Optimal Media GmbH in Germany. The sleeve faithfully reproduces the original embossed gatefold artwork with the crest logo in relief. Includes a plain paper inner sleeve. Some copies are supplied with a hype sticker reading "180 Gram Heavyweight Black Vinyl Half-Speed Mastered".

Tracklist

Side A

1. Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)
2. Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon
3. I'm in Love with My Car
4. You're My Best Friend
5. '39
6. Sweet Lady
7. Seaside Rendezvous

Side B

1. The Prophet's Song
2. Love of My Life
3. Good Company
4. Bohemian Rhapsody
5. God Save the Queen

Credits

• Freddie Mercury – Vocals, Piano
• Brian May – Guitar, Vocals
• John Deacon – Bass, Wurlitzer Electric Piano
• Roger Taylor – Drums, Vocals
• Roy Thomas Baker – Producer
• Miles Showell – Half-Speed Mastering (Abbey Road Studios Room 30)
• Label – Virgin EMI Records