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.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lazing on a Sunday AfternoonFreddie Mercury, Queen | Queen | Play | 01:07 | 2 MB | 6 MB |
| 2 | I'm in Love with My CarQueen, Roger Taylor | Queen | Play | 03:04 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 3 | You're My Best FriendJohn Deacon, Queen | Queen | Play | 02:50 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 4 | '39Brian May, Queen | Queen | Play | 03:30 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 5 | Sweet LadyBrian May, Queen | Queen | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 6 | Seaside RendezvousFreddie Mercury, Queen | Queen | Play | 02:15 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 7 | The Prophet's SongBrian May, Queen | Queen | Play | 08:20 | 19 MB | 50 MB |
| 8 | Love of My LifeFreddie Mercury, Queen | Queen | Play | 03:35 | 8 MB | 19 MB |
| 9 | Good CompanyBrian May, Queen | Queen | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 10 | Bohemian RhapsodyFreddie Mercury, Queen | Queen | Play | 05:53 | 13 MB | 34 MB |
| 11 | God Save the QueenQueen, Traditional | Queen | Play | 01:13 | 2 MB | 6 MB |
| 12 | Death On Two Legs | Queen | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 42 mins | 98 MB | |||||
| 42 mins | 263 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roy Thomas Baker | Producer |
| 2 | David Costa | Art Direction |
| 3 | John Deacon | Bass (Electric), Composer |
| 4 | Kris Fredriksson | Audio Restoration, Audio Supervisor |
| 5 | Bob Ludwig | Mastering |
| 6 | Gary Lyons | Engineer |
| 7 | Brian May | Arranger, Composer, Executive Producer, Guitar |
| 8 | Freddie Mercury | Composer, Vocals |
| 9 | Queen | Arranger, Composer, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 10 | Justin Shirley-Smith | Audio Supervisor |
| 11 | Mike Stone | Executive Producer |
| 12 | Roger Taylor | Composer, Executive Producer, Percussion |
| 13 | Traditional | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |