Queen were straining at the boundaries of hard rock and heavy metal on Sheer Heart Attack, but they broke down all the barricades on A Night at the Opera, a self-consciously ridiculous and overblown hard rock masterpiece. Using the multi-layered guitars of its predecessor as a foundation, A Night at the Opera encompasses metal ("Death on Two Legs," "Sweet Lady"), pop (the lovely, shimmering "You're My Best Friend"), campy British music hall ("Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon," "Seaside Rendezvous"), and mystical prog rock ("'39," "The Prophet's Song"), eventually bringing it all together on the pseudo-operatic "Bohemian Rhapsody." In short, it's a lot like Queen's own version of Led Zeppelin IV, but where Zep find dark menace in bombast, Queen celebrate their own pomposity. No one in the band takes anything too seriously, otherwise the arrangements wouldn't be as ludicrously exaggerated as they are. But the appeal -- and the influence -- of A Night at the Opera is in its detailed, meticulous productions. It's prog rock with a sense of humor as well as dynamics, and Queen never bettered their approach anywhere else. [In 2005, Hollywood Records released a two-disc, remastered 30th Anniversary CD/DVD of A Night at the Opera that included a DVD featuring original and new videos, as well as audio commentary from the band.]
Library Girl and I finally went to see the Toronto performance of We Will Rock You yesterday. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's the rock opera based on the music of Queen.It was pretty entertaining.The song were obviously strong. Pretty much all the hits were included: "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Under Pressure", "Radio Ga Ga", "Crazy Lit...
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Sigh, I've recently come up with a dilemma. I have really gotten into MOGGING (i've resisted online communities since I started on the internet in 1984) and am really enjoying the musical soul connections.But I just got a new girlfriend and she is sucking my time away from MOG (and my money from music purchases).Now when I get home I've got tons-o-email from MOG and it takes so long to catch u...
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One thing I'm always amazed with here in MOGville is the sense of community. I know that's a common recurring theme in a lot of our posts, but that doesn't make it any less special. I'm surprised on a daily basis that I'm still just has gung ho about MOG as I was a year and a bit ago when I first started out. This is the longest I've ever stayed active in any sort of online community, and th...
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I don't know of too many folk-rock songs that deal with the effects on time in relation to travel near the speed of light as observed from a stationary point, as recorded in Einstein's special theory of relativity. In fact, this may be the lone candidate.in the year of thirty-nineAssembled here the volunteersIn the days when lands were fewHere the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny mornTh...
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Queen + Paul Rodgers will release their new album, "The Cosmos Rocks", in Europe on September 15 and the U.S./Canada on October 14 via EMI. A single, "C-lebrity", will precede the album on September 8."C-lebrity" was written and produced by Brian May, Paul Rodgers and Roger Taylor.Many of Queen's best-known songs have been written in humor, and "C-lebrity" follows in this pattern; it is a comme...
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Having a bit of a Queen evening on YouTube and found this wonderful live version of Love Of My LifeI was so into this album when I was about 13 (I still am, into it that is, not 13 [laughs]). A friend's parents had a copy, and we used to play it to death. Especially Death on Two Legs. This was the band that got me started on the path to heavier things, much, much heavier.
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Love of my life, you hurt me,You broken my heart, now you leave me.Love of my life cant you see,Bring it back bring it back,Dont take it away from me,Because you dont know what it means to me.Love of my life dont leave me,Youve stolen my love now desert me,Love of my life cant you see,Bring it back bring it back,Dont take it away from me,Because you dont know what it means to me.You will rememb...
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Sigh, I've recently come up with a dilemma. I have really gotten into MOGGING (i've resisted online communities since I started on the internet in 1984) and am really enjoying the musical soul connections.But I just got a new girlfriend and she is sucking my time away from MOG (and my money from music purchases).Now when I get home I've got tons-o-email from MOG and it takes so long to catch u...
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I recently dug up Queen's A Night at the Opera and was surprised at how inventive and even daring it was for pop. The Prophet's Song in particular struck me as surprsingly progressive for its day (considering prog was vilified in the late 70s / early 80s...)Anyway, this led me to looking for Bohemian Rhapsody on Youtube and, lo and behold, finding a superb cover of it by Austrian brass band Mno...
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Library Girl and I finally went to see the Toronto performance of We Will Rock You yesterday. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's the rock opera based on the music of Queen.It was pretty entertaining.The song were obviously strong. Pretty much all the hits were included: "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Under Pressure", "Radio Ga Ga", "Crazy Lit...
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I spend a lot of time on wikipedia reading about music. one thing that makes that site great is the amount of random factoids you get. And the sub-genre lists! Am not talking about the “main” genres that everyone can agree on, am talking about the sub-genres. I didn’t know there was so many until i saw them on wikipedia. Which got me thinking if people just make them up or if their for
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Someone dusted off the Muppets in between their next movie and/or commercial work to make this ode to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s really amusing and probably goes to show that this song will never die. People are going to love it forever.
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September 6: Queen, "Death on Two Legs (Dedicated To...)My music taste right now is centered on all things punk. I'm all about cutting the crap and getting to the real meat of a song, without any of the fluff and posturing. Which is why it's hard to imagine that when I was 16, virtually all I listened to was Queen, arguably the biggest breeders of fluff in hard rock history.What drew me to them...
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The Muppets just released a cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody:Impressive, but for my money not as funny as:or:Random ArticlesRouteNote Now Distribution Partner With Grooveshark – September 21, 2009I Fight Dragons – Self funding in the modern market – November 19, 2009GrooveShark At The Future Of Music Summit – October 8, 2009Digital Music Consumption Patterns – [...]
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How can you not enjoy this one -- I love Animal forgetting the lyrics and just yelling "Mama! Mama! Mama!" and Beaker's high notes. Freddy is giving a big thumbs up from heaven. I loved all those classic performances on the Muppet Show, now you can see it all again on DVD.The Muppet Show - Season One (Special Edition) The Muppet Show - Season Twopower pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll op...
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In a word: genius.RelatedMy Roots Are Showing – QueenSingstar Queen – PS3, PS2
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 "A Night at the Opera")
