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Queen: A Day at the Races

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Parlophone Records
Released: 1976.12.10
Time:
 44:24
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Queen
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.queenonline.com
Appears with: Brian May, Roger Taylor,  Freddie Mercury
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Tie Your Mother Down (Brian May) - 4:48
[2] You Take My Breath Away (Freddie Mercury) - 5:09
[3] Long Away (Brian May) - 3:34
[4] The Millionaire Waltz (Freddie Mercury) - 4:54
[5] You and I (John Deacon) - 3:25
[6] Somebody to Love (Freddie Mercury) - 4:56
[7] White Man (Brian May) - 4:59
[8] Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (Freddie Mercury) - 2:54
[9] Drowse (Roger Taylor) - 3:45
[10] Teo Torriatte [Let Us Cling Together] (Brian May) - 5:50

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Freddie Mercury - Lead & Backing Vocals, Piano
Brian May - Electric, Slide & Acoustic Guitars, Backing Vocals, Lead Vocals on [3], Plastic Piano & Harmonium on [10]
Roger Taylor - Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Lead Vocals on [9], Rhythm Guitar, Tympani on [9], Gong on [1]
John Deacon - Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar on [5]

Mike Stone - Engineer, Additional Vocals on [8]

Justin Shirley-Smith - Audio Supervisor
Kris Fredriksson - Audio Restoration, Audio Supervisor
Bob Ludwig - Mastering
Pete Brown - Coordination
David Costa - Art Direction
John Reid - Management
John Harris - Equipment Supervisor

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded between July - November 1976 at The Manor, Sarm East, Wessex.

Special thanks to Tim Friese-Green.



The current consensus is that rock is well into its third generation. But the bands which have pulled the music furthest from its roots remain critically dismissed. There are reasons for such disdain. Lumped together as art-rock, such bands as the three above seem to threaten the artistic stature of anything less complex, or more simple. But it is even harder for hard-rock-oriented listeners to find rock at all in the styles of bands as diverse as Focus, Gentle Giant, Be-Bop Deluxe, Boston and Kansas, the other young bands which share sounds or approaches similar to Genesis, Queen and Starcastle. Yet such music can't be denied analysis forever. Liking it asks too much, perhaps, but listening is probably obligatory, at least for critics.

These groups are not art-rock in the sense that they confine their borrowings to orchestral classical music, as such progenitors as the Nice and Emerson, Lake and Palmer often did. Nor were they spawned in artistic communities such as the ones that nurtured Roxy Music or Patti Smith. For performers such as Genesis, Queen and Starcastle, rock is still the dominant influence. These third-generation bands have a mixed litter of second-generation antecedents: the Mothers of Invention, Cat Stevens, Procol Harum, Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, Traffic, Jethro Tull, Yes, Phil Spector, King Crimson, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Yardbirds.

In the most noteworthy art-rock essay (contained in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll), John Rockwell calls such bands "eclectic experimentalists." But until one attempts to assemble such a list of sources, it's hard to see how awesomely accurate his term is. The eccentric combination of influences is what distinguishes most of these groups. The vocal structures of the Beach Boys, for instance, have influenced Queen as deeply as they have Eric Carmen. Yet Queen's instrumentation owes more to Led Zeppelin, Yes and the Beatles. Starcastle are an inflection-accurate replication of Yes. Genesis are nearly free from overt emulation, but their debts to Jethro Tull and King Crimson hardly need ferreting out.

Still, the sensibility of these bands is discernibly different from that of the equally imitative third-generation heavy-rock acts like Aerosmith, Kiss and even Thin Lizzy, The heavy bands are, in some ways at least, attempting to recapture and redefine the spirit of the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. The eclectic experimentalists are more baroque—their goal is a rigorous, complicated structure rather than emotive resonance.

This sometimes takes the form of grand silliness. A Day at the Races is probably meant to be the sequel to Queen's 1976 smash, A Night at the Opera, but nothing much has changed. Queen is the least experimental of such groups, probably because their commercial aspirations are the most brazen. They have managed to borrow all that's frothiest from their influences, from the fake-orgasmic vocal contortions of Robert Plant to the semi-vaudevillian pop of the Beach Boys and Beatles. In addition, to cement their "seriousness," they use instrumental effects which hint at opera in the same way that bad movie music palely evokes the symphony. Blessed with Freddie Mercury's passable pop voice and guitarist Brian May, who manages to fragment and reassemble the guitar styles of Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton in interesting, if pedestrian, ways, Queen will probably top the charts until one or the other of its leaders grows restless and spins off another version.

Fountains of Light is not the sequel to Jackson Browne's "Fountain of Sorrow." It is the follow-up to Starcastle's self-titled debut album of last year, a moderate hit. Starcastle might have been celebrated as the first American group to break the British eclectic-experimental hegemony. Unfortunately, Boston's 2 million-selling debut album eclipsed them. But Starcastle has another distinction. It is the most blatantly imitative group ever assembled. Fountains of Light continues on the path of the band's first album; from beginning to end, Starcastle can hardly be distinguished from Yes. The vocals are a perfect echo of Jon Andersen's, the changes in tempo and dynamics are straight from the Yes catalog, the fascination with pop mysticism is identical (though this is a trait common to the genre). Occasionally, harder elements intrude, as though in assertion of a rougher Americanism, but never for long enough to challenge the feeling that one might be listening to the world's first musical clone.

Genesis is closer to the mainstream of the form, and far superior to either Queen or Starcastle. Their assemblage of elements is more truly experimental than the simple recycling the others do, or at least it's more interesting. The most noticeable ingredients are British folk, King Crimson-style space music and, lately, with the ascendance of vocalist (and drummer) Phil Collins, jazz rock. The last is abetted by the recent addition of percussionist Chester Thompson, a veteran of Weather Report and Frank Zappa's Mothers.

Genesis is more listenable, though, mostly because its music is prettier. Its gracefulness is derived from British folk, in somewhat the same way that Jethro Tull's was. Onstage, the guitars of Steve Hackett and Michael Rutherford are dominant, generating a kind of fire that's as close as such bands come to rock & roll of the old order. Wind & Wuthering relies more heavily on Tony Banks' synthesizer, which costs them some bite but lends a feel that is more pop. Rutherford's "Your Own Special Way" is a first-rate pop song, somewhat like the Yes hit, "Roundabout."

What is most surprising about these bands is that they are not the cold technicians that hostile, dismissive criticism often paints them. Indeed, Wind & Wuthering is more melodically innovative than most of the new mainstream rock. What really leads to the charges of iciness is something else, I think — a kind of class-based cult of musicianship, which is truly arrogant because it refuses to articulate just what moods its complex structures are meant to evoke. Eclectic experimentalism is determinedly middle-class—thus, the general obsession with synthesizers and other gadgets, the devotion to science fiction and pop mysticism and, in the case of Genesis, a ruinous lyrical preoccupation with half-digested English literature courses. If pretty but empty describes most bands of this type, the emptiness is more lyrical than musical — somewhere, each of these groups is driving at a point having meaning to itself (and maybe its cult). Without accepting such folderol as Starcastle's "Dawning of the Day" or Genesis' "All in a Mouse's Night" at face value, extracting meaning from the songs is like code breaking.

Still, the presumptuousness of Genesis in naming an album after a classic children's tale and an Emily Brontë novel is no greater than that of Joni Mitchell on her equally obfuscatory The Hissing of Summer Lawns. The lyrics of "All in a Mouse's Night" are no sillier than half of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

The excesses of others do not excuse these. Queen and Starcastle seem, like most rock right now, to be filling a marketing void—Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and Yes being inaccessible to varying degrees, they provide alternate product. But Genesis are doing something different than that. However haughty they may be about it, and however short of the mark they may fall, they are at least attempting to make art of their own particular jumble. This seems, to me at any rate, a much more worthy goal than simply churning out another million-seller—even if the producers of successful product rather than failed art are the ones I am more comfortable listening to.

Dave Marsh - February 24, 1977
RollingStone.com



In every sense, A Day at the Races is an unapologetic sequel to A Night at the Opera, the 1975 breakthrough that established Queen as rock & roll royalty. The band never attempts to hide that the record is a sequel - the two albums boast the same variation on the same cover art, the titles are both taken from old Marx Brothers films and serve as counterpoints to each other. But even though the two albums look the same, they don't quite sound the same, A Day at the Races is a bit tighter than its predecessor, yet tighter doesn't necessarily mean better for a band as extravagant as Queen. One of the great things about A Night at the Opera is that the lingering elements of early Queen - the pastoral folk of "39," the metallic menace of "Death on Two Legs" - dovetailed with an indulgence of camp and a truly, well, operatic scale. Here, the eccentricities are trimmed back somewhat - they still bubble up on "The Millionaire Waltz," an example of the music hall pop that dominated Night, the pro-Native American saga "White Man" is undercut somewhat by the cowboys 'n' indians rhythms - in favor of a driving, purposeful hard rock that still could have some slyly hidden perversities (or in the case of the opening "Tie Your Mother Down," some not-so-hidden perversity) but this is exquisitely detailed hard rock, dense with minutiae but never lush or fussy. In a sense, it could even function as the bridge between Sheer Heart Attack and Night at the Opera - it's every bit as hard as the former and nearly as florid as the latter - but its sleek, streamlined finish is the biggest indication that Queen has entered a new phase, where they're globe-conquering titans instead of underdogs on the make

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



Both regal and raunchy, Queen was at the height of its powers in the mid-70s, riding the soaring vocals of Freddie Mercury, the ringing guitar crunch of Brian May and the band's shameless theatrical flourishes. Coming so quickly after the band's A Night At the Opera opus, this 1976 album works hard at repeating the same hit-making elements, down to the matching cover art. If A Day At the Races lacks the same level of pop tunesmanship, there is still energy in these tracks, particularly in the rocking "Tie Your Mother Down" and the emotional "Somebody to Love," which set a blueprint for future ballads by the band.

Steve Appleford - Amazon.com



Okay, so they're effete, flaky, fey. And proud. So, what? This (sort-of) sequel (self-produced) to A Night at the Opera reeks of arch naivete. Freddie Mercury warbles with lunatic ebullience. There's cracked innocence and frisky excess here.

And just enough rock & roll to keep the kids horny. A crunge of pseudo-Celtic metal called "White Man." A daffy, dumb-dumb, Hooploid "Tie Your Mother Down." Perfect for the stage show.

Enough already. Mercury's got four new ones. As always, his constructions provide Queen's flashiest and most dubious moments. At last, the singer has achieved vocal chops of breathless effervescence. Which means he sounds like Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop or Sarah Bernhardt with emphysema.

Mercury's production effects have a crude, Busby Berkeley opulence. Freddie Mercury is to rock & roll what Carmen Miranda was to tropical fruit. His "You Take My Breath Away" is either exquisitely lovelorn or monumentally vapid, depending on the humidity. Who cares? It's all moisture and barometric pressure.

"The Millionaire Waltz," A Day at the Races's would-be "Bohemian Rhapsody," moves swiftly from the intricate to the awkward. Soon, it collapses under the weight of an unsound conceit, auto-annihilating like the best of Western culture.

The single, "Somebody to Love," rollicks in 3/4 time, propelled by a drolly exuberant choral arrangement. "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" apes Paul McCartney's cutesy music-hall camp: references range from the sublime "Martha My Dear" to the ridiculous, vaudevillian "Honeypie." For hardcore cultists, there's a two-bar "Rock-a-bye Baby" steal. A spirited and impeccable Freddie Valentino send-up.

Brian May adorns throughout with lovely crypto-classical, chicken-squawk guitar. His songwriting gifts are conventional, but not inconsiderable. "Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together)" is a precious, Nipponese-inflected "Auld Lang Syne." May's "Long Away" is Races's strongest and least tricked-up track. It's a haunting Beatles/Byrds amalgam, all shimmering electric 12-strings and aching harmony. Never smart-ass or strickly for laughs, "Long Away" - unlike most of Races - feels real.

But, hey. Let's not fault Mercury's fabrications for shrewd indulgence. Ostentation is the man's strategy, and Queen albums beg to be judged by their pomp. Grandeur is the other side of pretension. And Freddie Mercury is abrasive - but oh so knowing. These Limey lads are effete, flaky, and fey, but they're not blase. With A Day at the Races, they've deserted art-rock entirely. They're silly now. And wondrously shameless. Rule Britannia!

Wesley Strick - QueenArchives.com



A Day at the Races is the fifth album by British rock group Queen, released in December 1976. It 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, taking its name from the subsequent film by the Marx Brothers. 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 in the US, and subsequently reached platinum status in the same country. A Day at the Races was voted the 67th greatest album of all time in a national 2006 BBC poll.

The Washington Post 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 gave the album a mixed review, writing, "With A Day at the Races, they've deserted art-rock entirely. They're silly now. And wondrously shameless." Dave Marsh, writing in Rolling Stone, was more critical and described Freddie Mercury as possessing a merely "passable pop voice". He found Queen to be the least experimental of eclectic contemporary rock groups and accused them of having "brazen" "commercial aspirations".

In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Somebody to Love", along with ballad "You Take My Breath Away", as the best tracks on the record, and said that the album marked a point where Queen "entered a new phase, where they're globe-conquering titans instead of underdogs on the make". Q magazine wrote that "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'." Ben Sisario, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), found the album "a little too predictable" and called it "a quickie sequel to Opera."

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 No. 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 of the Chicago Sun-Times included the record in his "The Great albums" in 2006.

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