Provided below is everything
you didn't know, but should know
about the greatest album every recorded.
A Night At the Opera --
- was the fourth studio album by the British rock
band Queen, released in 1975 by EMI in the UK and, a year later, by Elektra
Records in the U.S., where it peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and became
the band’s first platinum-selling album.
- was the most expensive album ever recorded at
the time of its release.
- is cited by music publications as Queen’s best
production.
- takes its name from the Marx Brothers film the
band was watching one night while writing and recording in the studio.
- was the first of 3 album covers designed by Freddie
Mercury, who had a degree in graphic design. For this album he designed a
colorful logo for the band against a pristine white background with the bands
name and album title calligraphied beneath.
- begins with an opening track, Death on Two
Legs, that is a dark, hate-filled tirade against their first manager,
Norman Sheffield, who reportedly took over 90% of the band’s initial earnings, financing
a lavish lifestyle for himself while the four young musicians worked tirelessly
touring and recording, were denied down payments for homes, a request for a
grand piano, personal autos, and Roger Taylor being chastised repeatedly for
breaking drumsticks because they were too expensive to replace – all while Sheffield‘s
Trident recording company was buying Sheffield a new Rolls Royce and homes.
While Freddie Mercury is given full credit for the lyrics, he would later claim all four Queen members contributed to the lyrics. Brian May would later state he was reluctant to participate in that process and fretted about recording it. - The mood lightens considerably in the next track
composed by Mercury. Lazing On a
Sunday Afternoon is a sassy and playful, yet remarkably intricate
composition that blends old-fashioned early 20th century
Vaudevillian charm with 70s dynamics in less than two minutes.
- Roger Taylor’s I’m In Love With My Car is
dedicated to one of Queen’s roadies, Jonathan Harris, who was often kidded
about his Triumph TR4 being “the love of his life!” The revving sounds at the conclusion of the
song were a recording of Taylor’s car at the time that he was apparently in
love with, an Alpha Romeo.
- You’re My Best Friend is one of my
favorite Queen songs. It, along with Find
Me Somebody to Love, I play regularly at full volume when home alone. While
Freddie Mercury returns on this third track as lead vocalist, the song was actually
penned by bassist John Deacon as a tribute to his wife, Veronica.
- 39 is not one of my faves, reflecting subject
matter only an Astrophysicist like Brian May (truly, he is) would appreciate, and who sings it in his usual reflective tone.
- Brian May’s next number, Sweet Lady, is a
bit more tension-filled. It’s about a
fight between a man and a woman in a relationship. The first two verses are
from the woman's point of view, explaining how she feels unsatisfied and
frustrated with the relationship, and the third verse is from the man's
perspective, reassuring her that in due time, everything will succeed.
- Despite what is repeatedly reported, Freddie Mercury did
not study opera. As said earlier, he studied graphic art and design. A classically trained pianist
at an early age, he admitted in an interview (Melody Maker, May 1981)
that he could read "very little" sheet music. Though his classical training
certainly influenced his compositions for Queen.
Freddie Mercury's exceptional musical abilities included having perfect pitch, as noted by his piano teacher. This rare talent undoubtedly contributed to his prowess as a musician and songwriter. Perfect pitch allowed him to grasp musical nuances effortlessly, enriching his performances and compositions.
Track 7, Seaside Rendezvous, was written by this musically gifted Freddie Mercury and is probably best known for the "musical" bridge section which begins about 53 seconds into the song. What often goes unrecognized, yet makes this piece so amazing, is that the section is performed entirely by Mercury and Taylor using their voices alone, with Taylor at one point hitting the highest note on the whole album - a C6 (no wonder he described his voice in interviews as like 'the dog whistle!").
Mercury imitates woodwind instruments including a clarinet and Taylor mostly brass instruments, including tubas and trumpets, and even a kazoo. The tap dance segment is also "performed" by Mercury and Taylor on the mixing desk with thimbles on their fingers. Mercury plays both a grand piano and a jangle honky-tonk piano.
The song has an intentionally created old-time feel, with a ragtime sound and lyrics that could easily have come from the 1930s (think “Be My Clementine”). Back in those days before we were glued to televisions, people would go to the beach (the “Seaside”) to relax on weekends and then enjoy musical theater in the evenings. That is what Mercury reported later they were trying to pay homage to in this song. - Next, we encounter the reverent intensity of May’s
The Prophet’s Song, a song that was inspired by a dream May had about
the Great Flood while he was battling hepatitis. The song's lyrics are not religious in nature,
but they do convey a message of people “getting on board,” coming together
and caring for one another before calamity consumes us.
- If you’ve never been to a Queen concert, the
next track, Mercury’s Love of My Life, is the song in which contemporary
audiences turn on their smartphone flashlights (in Mercury’s time it was their lighters that people lit as Freddie initiated the audience to sing along).
Sources who knew Freddie best have unanimously reported that Freddie composed the song for his love at the time, David Minns. The story put out in the press by Queen management is that it was written for his fiancée at the time, Mary Austin. - May’s bouncy, yet contemplative Good Company
is a light segue way to the album’s pièce de résistance –
- Bohemian Rhapsody – Freddie Mercury’s
masterpiece, like most artistic masterpieces, was not without challenges
in its creation (think Michelangelo’s rift with the Pope while painting the
Sistine Chapel, or the difficulty architects like Gaudi and Frank Lloyd Wright
had in leading others to see their vision).
This masterpiece was recorded by Queen and co-producer Roy Thomas Baker at five different studios between August and September 1975. Due to recording logistics of the era, the band had to bounce the tracks across eight generations of 24-track tape, meaning that they required nearly 200 tracks for overdubs. Referred to by the other bandmates as “Fred’s Thing” (often while groaning) during the lengthy and complicated recording sessions that this one track necessitated, it has become one of the band’s signature tunes and remains an inspiration to generations of musicians beyond Mercury’s own time. Not surprisingly, a 2018 biopic about the band would be titled Bohemian Rhapsody.
Mercury referred to Bohemian Rhapsody as a "mock opera" that resulted from the combination of three songs he had written. Today considered one of the greatest songs of all time, the song is notable for its lack of a repeating chorus. The six-minute suite consists instead of several sections: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. - The album’s finale is Brian May’s now classic rendition of God Save the Queen. Not surprisingly, Freddie Mercury relished this role. He would cavort onstage in royal robe and crown during this number – just as Queen’s current front man, Adam Lambert, does for contemporary audiences today.
I came across this recent find at a shop located on the Square in Georgetown, TX. Still sealed and unopened, the Deluxe Remastered version from Hollywood Press (2011) is beautifully packaged and I am delighted to add this vinyl LP to my library.
I hope you've enjoyed this background on one of the greatest albums of all time. Can you tell I love Queen?!
I am a huge Pet Shop Boys fan!
I feel like
I grew “out” with these guys!!! LOL!
It's always with a sense of shame
Perhaps no other pop song’s lyrics have spoken to me in the way their hit “It’s A Sin” did.
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common too
Some of my best memories out on the dance floor were happening while the techno thumpin’ beats of the Pet Shop Boys were electrifying the club.
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
 |
| Thank you 'boys' for being the soundtrack for so many great times! |
Celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary at their Dreamworld Tour concert filmed at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. In this lavish stage show with a full backup band and mesmerizing visual backdrops, the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe perform their greatest hits including “West End Girls” “What Have I Done To Deserve This” “Opportunities” “and “It’s A Sin.”
At school they taught me how to be
So pure in thought and word and deed
They didn't quite succeed
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
Get your glow stick ready, boys!
Pet Shop Boys: Dreamworld is
now available streaming on
PBS Passport!
Audio DVD recommendation
 |
| Lakmé; 2023 DVD. |
When I reflect on my favorite soprano Arias many come to mind:
“Casta Diva” from Bellini's Norma, 'O mio babbino caro' from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, 'Un bel dì vedremo' from Puccini's Madam Butterfly...
But my favorite soprano Arias that I listen to most often are found in Delibes'
 |
| 1971 |
Today I am enjoying the 2023 DVD release of a performance of Lakmé at the Opera Comique in Paris and it is blowing me away! Sabine Devieilhe is magnificent!
I highly recommend!!!!
_____________________
1st Qtr, Jan-Mar 2024 - Highlighting
 |
| Hot front man, Brandon Flowers |
Along came The Killers and I was drawn to their hard driving sound in their hits "All These Things That I've Done", "When We Were Young", "Mr. Brightside", and "Somebody Told Me." I held them in my peripheral vision - perhaps that should be peripheral audio - in that way meaning not actively seeking them out for my home soundtrack or driving queue, but definitely turning up the radio when their hits were played.
tell me, how many sons
(Oh oh oh oh)
(I'm standing crying)
(I'm standing crying)
Flowers is co-founder, lead vocalist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers, which he formed with bandmate Dave Keuning in 2001. Raised in the Mormon church - and still a member of that faith community by all accounts - Flowers had this to say about the song's inspiration in a Rolling Stone interview:
"The lyrics originated in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting. December 14th, 2012, I woke up, unlocked my phone and, like so many others, saw the pleas to ‘Pray for Sandy Hook. The news was devastating. Heart-wrenching. A gut punch. But, sadly for some Americans, not as shocking as it should have been. As a father I’ll never fully comprehend what that community and those parents went through. But my church upbringing taught me to mourn with those that mourn and I did it the best way that I knew how. I cried for those kids and teachers. I got on my knees and I prayed for those families.
We dishonor our values, our ancestors and our heritage when we tear gas our brothers and sisters seeking asylum,” Flowers continued. “I see my family in the faces of these vulnerable people at our border. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that my grandmother and her family immigrated from Lithuania to escape the U.S.S.R.’s oppression. They chose to leave everything they knew behind to come to America and work grueling jobs in dangerous coal mines, rather than endure tyranny at home.”
“And ‘enough was enough’ is basically where it comes from. It started in my mind around when Sandy Hook happened, and as a father how that affected me. And then it just started stacking up – things like Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, things like what’s happening at the wall. This stuff didn’t seem to be in harmony with the values that I believe my country was founded on. I would start the song and then I would put it away and I’d say, ‘I’m not the guy to do this,’ or I’d feel inadequate, waiting, somebody’s going to write this song. Then it just piled up … Las Vegas, Orlando, Parkland, and it just kept coming and I was just like, I have to get this out.”
 |
| VIDEO: The Killers, "Land of the Free" |
Spike Lee directed the track’s arresting video, which highlights the struggles and resiliency of real-life migrant families near the U.S./Mexico border. The Killers gave the filmmaker full creative control for the clip, which he filmed over a few weeks toward the end of 2018.
Today in 2024 one of our two major political parties in 'the land of the free' persists in blocking any sensible gun legislation that would target military-style assault weapons and require tougher registration background checks for gun purchasers -- all aimed at ending the horrific number of mass shootings we have in this country;
and, this week this same political party's leaders proudly told their base they will reject any proposed legislation aimed at fixing our immigration crisis (without having seen the bi-partisan drafted proposal) simply because they don't want the opposing party to get credit for it.
Making it clear that for all they care, we should all simply
"Move on, there's nothing here to see!"
Move on, there's nothing here to see!
In the land of the free
(but, I'm standing crying)
In the land of the free...
__________
Most Pleasant Surprise in 2023?
Cher’s New Christmas CD!
That’s right! The most pleasant arrival in this whole year came at the end of this year. Cher’s new CD Christmas is so good I cannot stop listening to it – and I’ve been listening to it on my AmazonMusic and Spotify since November 1!
Cher said in a recent interview that her Mom never interfered or made recommendations about her musical recordings -- except for one wish, that Cher would make a Christmas album. It is Cher's one regret that she didn't fulfill that wish for her Mom before her passing in 2022. Well, it has arrived!
Warning:
This ain’t yo grannie’s Christmas album!
This is a fun holiday feast of tunes meant to generate
smiles and, better still, get you rockin’ 'round the Christmas tree. People, prepare to dance!
“DJ Play A Christmas Song!”
This song is so much fun!
British producer Mark Taylor (responsible for much of Cher’s bombshell comeback album Believe in 1998) – is responsible for generating this hit single, one that is sure to become a Christmas standard the likes of which we ain’t seen since Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas!
Cher
debuted "DJ Play a Christmas Song" on October 3, 2023, at Silencio
nightclub in Paris, performing at a private event hosted by H&M and the tune spread like wildfire before the
jack o’ lanterns were coming down at WalMart!
Cher’s Christmas project features duets with --
- my favorite crooner Michael Bublé with whom she remakes his
holiday classic “Home” and it is beautiful and heartwarming;
- Cyndi Lauper and it is my 2nd
favorite track on the CD “Put A Little Holiday In Your Heart”;
- Stevie Wonder who rides along with Cher on “What Christmas Means To Me”;
 |
| Cher and Darlene Love perform at the lighting of Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center, NY. |
- and with the legendary Darlene Love the pair recreate “Baby Please Come Home” a hit for Ms Love that Cher performed backup on 40 years ago!
 |
| Cher with her Mom Georgia Holt who passed away in 2022. |
Who knew it would be Cher that would come
along with the end-of-year catharsis I needed.
But perhaps that’s why I’ve been one of Cher’s most ardent fans through
the years. Pick it up or download it
today – I promise you’ll be having one very, merry Christmas!
4th Qtr, Oct-Dec 2023
My parents and grandparents had quite a collection of LPs and I've been cleaning them up and giving them a spin - mostly Classical, Country, and Czech polka bands.
However, I have also found, to my surprise, sweet Pop tunes on 45s. Lordy, how I am lovin' on my turntable hearing Bobbie Gentry deliver his Ode to Billy Joe (Capitol Records, July 1967)and Vicki Lawrence tell about The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (song written for her to sing by her then husband Bobby Russell and released on Bell records in 1973).
I've also discovered some amazing Rag and Blues artists on 78s. Take for instance this rare find [pictured] - I'm A Rattlesnakin' Daddy!
One of the first recordings by Blind Boy Fuller (1907-1941), recorded in New York in 1935. Fuller was one of the most popular of the Piedmont blues artists. He was an amazing guitar player as well as a great singer. Listening to him on this number you'll hear him fingerpicking in a hard edged rocking style that portends the beginnings of 1950s 12-bar rock. There's no doubt the roots lie here.
But clearly the family enjoyed classical piano works on their Victrola - and later stereo console. It took a lot of work to get these cleaned up but I have really enjoyed hearing Rubinstein interpret Chopin's Waltzes (RCA Victor, 1964).
A rather interesting find has been their numerous selections courtesy of the Silvertone Record Club. The Silvertone Record Label (1916-1950) had quite a chaotic history - including its on and off relationship with Sears.
Following the Depression era, Silvertone re-emerged for the second time as a label for Sears in 1940 only to be discontinued one year later, in 1941. These 1940-1941 Silvertone records were produced and pressed by Columbia Record Corporation. My grandparents only had one of these.
Silvertone would come back one last time in 1950. These were red Vinylite pressings produced, this time, by Mercury Records. My grandparents had multiple copies of these, clearly because they had joined the club. Shown here is one of the trio sets and it contains numbers by the Allen Roth Orchestra, Glenn Osser Orchestra, and Sylvan Levin directing an orchestra backing up contralto Claramae Turner.
What have I been using to clean my wonderful finds?
 |
| BigFudgeVinyl |
from record sleeves
to safe cleaning supplies
3rd Qtr, Jul-Sept 2023
...I love listening to...
Host Suzanne Bona is a delight! I'm either doing one of two things on Sunday morning - making my drive in to work or preparing my bi-weekly full course breakfast. In either adventure, Sunday Baroque on
89.5 KMFA - Austin's Classical Music Station is my soundtrack!
____________
...my most recent CD purchase:
I acquired it essentially for the Nocturne String Quartet in D and In The Steppes of Central Asia but found myself loving every selection found here, including the Overture and Aria from his opera Prince Igor.
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian-Russian extraction and today is a composer unfamiliar to most people. Truly unfortunate. Yet, once they hear his works they will typically say, "Oh, yeah...l do know that one!"
____________
I stay Left on the dial,
and only tune in to these stations
89.5, 90.5, 91.3
 |
| Austin's Classical Music Station |
Enjoy looking through my Library:
______________________________Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:
Body:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;Sedentary activities, Sugars, Salt.
Trust me,
you’ll be feeling better in no time!Mind & Spirit:
Avoid the 3 F’sManufactured in these mediums are
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
______________________________
Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
you’ll be feeling better in no time!
Avoid the 3 F’s
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
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