This is by far my all-time favorite album ever! There is no other album that combines pop/rock/dixieland/classical etc the same way. A perfect 10 out of 10 album!
In the end, and I’m a Zep guy, this is the greatest recorded work ever. The studio use, the incredible harmonic vocabulary, the frikkin voices! Unmatched
My favourite song on the album is ‘39. The thing I love most is it’s a trick: it’s in a major key, upbeat rhythm, it gets us singing and dancing and grooving - and it’s a sad song. Well played, Sir Brian😸
This is why I loved Queen so much. Everything they did sounded fantastic. They took me out of my music comfort zone and I believe they may be the reason that I love so many genres to this day.
It's the perfect album. From the songwriting to the in studio production to the instrumentation It's a masterpiece. Even the post production deciding the order the songs would run in. And they were definitely pushing the boundaries of what rock music should be. It'd almost 50 years old and still stands up.
This album brings me so much memories, i used to hear it completely everyday during the week, because its duration is almost the time i was in the bus ride from my Music College to my house in my city, but i didn't hear it in years! It was amazing to recall all the music details and see i still know a lot of it by heart
As a Queen fan. What made Freddie Mercury write Death On Two Legs was that John Deacon had just got married, and he asked for a deposit to put down to buy his own home and the Sheffield brothers who were Queen's manager at the time said no and the brothers had just brought a brand new Rolls-Royce car. So that's why they looked to get out of their management deal and went to Elton John's manager John Reid which help them to get out of the deal which the band had to pay a percentage of first 3 albums which was about £100,000 to get out of the deal.
I think John needing a deposit was the final straw but Freddie was done Roger said Freddie said he refused to make any more music, they had no royalties for their albums and Freddie had no royalties for seven seas and killer queen Roger said it was about the money but equally that Freddie felt disrespected Freddie pretty much made them find a lawyer to get out of the deal, the found Jim Beach also finding John Reed not sure if one or both were responsible for getting EMI to sign them directly who also gave a huge advance for NATO album
@@chewymew Brian was living in a small bedsit, and Freddie was living in a flat with a water leakage problem, but he’d stay with Mary once in a while, I think Roger was also living in a flat, and I think goes the same for John and Veronica.
Extraordinary album. The Prophet's Song is my favorite of Queen's songs and what really turned me into a lifelong Queen fan about 49 years ago. Your analysis video of this song is how I found your channel. I always come away from this in awe of their superb talent and wide range of style. I last saw Brian and Roger in 2019, still vibrant, delightful, and truly enjoying their music. They are treasures.
@@hardboiledPhil I actually don’t hate that fact. Makes those who have heard it appreciate that much more VS the big hits. Just my 2 cents. That and Bohemian Rhapsody are my 2 favs, can’t pick one lol.
"I'm in Love with my Car" is one of my favourites. In any other Band Roger would have been the lead singer. Very underrated as a singer, but essentially important for Queen's harmonies.
Fantastic! Queen have so many hidden gems on their albums, that rarely get reacted to. Thanks for checking out the whole album. Next a day at the races to see how their musicianship improves.
Good Company - Brian also played the brass sounding instruments on his home made guitar mostly, using wah pedals, bottleneck slide, small speakers etc to similate each instrument. As a guitarist myself I am gobsmacked at his ability on not just his guitar playing but his inventiveness.
He also recorded each string one at a time on separate tracks, so that it wouldn’t have the distinct guitar-y sound of crossing strings, as part of the effect
Delightful, dapper, dashing Doug, took his friends and fans down the river Queen, meandering, mesmerising, a kind of magical journey… Thanks Doug Barry❤🇿🇦🔥🤩 Cape Town South Africa
HE FALL AND EVENTUAL FINAL DEATH OF QUALITY ROCK MUSIC TIES IN DIRECTLY WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT AND CONTINUED ADVANCEMENT OF TARGETED MARKETING ACROSS ALL METHODS OF MEDIA. I just thank the Good Lord Above that I grew up during the "classic rock" era, so I did get to see almost every band I wanted to see - some more than once - save for a very few. Best live band I've ever seen, bar none. I also thank The Lord that my 24yo son is mainly a classic rock fan!
December 1975. Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. My roommate, Eddie Levy, brings this album back to our dorm room from our local record store the Mushroom on Broad St. We must have listened to it a hundred times that weekend. that is why i got a C in organic chemistry.
I'm a big Queen fan and found all of their music good. One of their albums I truly love is Jazz. The versatility of the music is amazing, some of which you would recognize.
There was always a brag line on their liner notes that proclaimed there were no synthesizers involved in their music. They were incredibly proud of the fact that Brian used his own handmade guitar to produce all those sounds. :)
@Serai3 I think their earlier material said "no synthesizers used" is because critics had never heard Red Special before, and assumed it was some type synthesized guitar. By The Game, they started using them and they removed the "no synthesizers used"
This was my first album. My dad thought it was opera for kids, so my parents got it for me Queen. If he'd seen Freddie, that would have been the end of that. Haha One more you have to do is White Queen at Hammersmith.
Cool that you are doing the whole album! Just want to point out that the youtube video you chose for the music is based on the 5.1 version (audio dvd) of the album and sounds quite different from the regular stereo version of the album.
The incredible, self-harmonising, cross-channel echoing, canon effect we hear in Freddie's vocal on The Prophet's Song had originally been employed on Brian's guitar in earlier live sets. It is glorious on guitar as well, yet Queen struggled to find a permanent home for it. Various songs had been adorned with this vagrant guitar 'piece' in a live setting. For example, we can hear it in 2 channel repeat on Queen at the Beeb (BBC recordings very early in their career) in the song Son and Daughter (c. 4min 10). In the end they settled on writing it into the middle of Brighton Rock where they used 2 channel repeat on the studio album Sheer Heart Attack, track 1, c. 3min 20 and the later Live Killers album, track 16 c. 2min 30, using the '3 channel' repeat we hear here on The Prophet's Song.
Masterpiece. Queen managed to combine opera and rock, in a spectacular fusion, never before seen in 1975, nor since. The choirs are spectacular, unique!
Dude I just subscribed. You just brought such a huge smile to my face over the course of this hour. You took me back to the time when I very first discovered Queen in 1978 with News of the World. I instantly became a Queen fan, (We will rock you, We are the champions, etc.) then I went backwards purchasing their first, second, and third albums before this one. The next one is Day at the Races which is phenomenal also. Freddie often quoted that we are not a band made up of singles, people needed to listen to their whole album to understand where they were coming from creatively and musically. Thanks so much for doing this, man. It's nice to see other people experience these albums the way we did when we were younger! Back when music was so exciting, experimental and truly creative!
@Doug.Helvering This sounds odd. I think this had the audio set to 5.1 instead of regular stereo. That would be why certain things sound oddly too loud, out of place, or completely disappears. These albums were originally mixed for stereo and (I think) how they should always be listened to.
Thanks, Doug, for this. I wore this album out back in the day. I haven't listened to this in a while. Loved your comments and options. I've seen Queen live nearly a dozen times. Queen is and will always be my favorite band!!! Also, saw Brian live as well. What a gentleman. Keep the reviews coming.
Thx. Dug it. BTW, Brian (in his comments on "Classic Albums" in 2006), said about "Good Company" that the jazz band he listened to growing up, and whose instruments he mimicked with his guitar work, was The Temperance Seven.
It was very warming to see you reacting to that legendary album. I only hope some day you will react to the eponymous debut album by Gentle Giant. It also ended with the rendition of British National Anthem, five years before Queen. While their debut was likely not characteristic of their classic eclectic progressive rock style, it was among their most versatile albums! The accompanying story called A Tall Tale, great mascot face album cover, fantastic tunes in various genres: from early 70s' King Crimson-inspired "Alucard" to vivid hard rocker "Why Not?" to mellow "Isn't It Quiet And Cold?" to Palestrina-inspired "Giant" to perfect prog-wise ballad "Funny Ways". I think you may easily fruitfully joyfully react to, well, any of their studio album 1970 thru 1977 inclusive...
I always thought Bohemian Rhapsody was his personal journey with his sexuality, “killed a man” was him killing the man that his mother wanted him to be (she also wanted him to be a lawyer or a doctor like his cousins, can you imagine?) mamma didn’t mean to make you cry” but he can’t continue to live a lie “body’s aching all the time” I saw an interview where Roger said it was about relationships. Who knows? I can’t believe I’ve been listening to it for 49 years in a few weeks and never ever tire of it, and I never will. I very much enjoyed this and your reactions to Queen II the black side. Queen to me are the best of the best and Freddie is/ was incredible. Thank you
I'm In Love With My Car is also in 6/8 waltz time. So funny! A hard rocking waltz to describe his love for his car... In Seaside Rendezvous, I believe, if I recall from interviews on the "making of" A Night At The Opera, The band, sans Brian, used thimbles on the finger tips for the tap dancing parts, kazoos and mouths for the tooting noises and the whistle was one of those whistles that the harder you blow, the higher the pitch. They experimented a lot in the studio for that album.
Fun fact: When "Night at the Opera" came out and the band toured with it, can you believe they played it in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Civic?! Less than 3,000 people in there. A year later they were filling the Inglewood Forum (12,000 seats), and soon after were filling up stadiums. But for "Opera" the venue was intimate by comparison. I sat in the 8th row with one of my pals. Don't remember much from that show cuz I screamed my head off the entire time. But I do remember rocking out big time to "Now I'm Here." Brian played his ass off on that one.
Hey Doug - can you imagine what would happen if a new band - looking for a contract - took this album (as a demo) to all the labels? They would be laughed out of every single office with the followiing comments "are you guys a pop band? a rock band? etc... we can't market this." Same goes for a lot of my faves from this best period in rock music. As a new band - without their catalog already established - Elton would have been instantly shown the door for anything that he put out after Honky Chateau, Zeppelin would never have gotten away with anything after Zep II, etc... Btw - Dr. Brian May has a PhD in Astrophysics, (and sits on the boards of several observatories throughout the UK and Europe), Freddie and Roger both had Bachelor Degrees in Art while John Deacon received First Class Honors with a degree in Electronic Engineering. The good guys win for a change. Refreshing.
I remember the prophet song well. You recorded it on a Sunday what you don't normally do. I was homeless and living in my van at the time. That was 3 years ago Doug. I'm glad I could introduce you to Queen in such a way. Now you're wearing the jacket and doing whole albums I love it. I've been with you since the beginning and I'm still here. You're welcome.
I agree A Day At The Races is a better overall album it has no weak songs and sounds more like a whole, and more mature.And I grew to loathe Bohemian Rhapsody being around when it first was released it was played too much and after all airplay after Freddy's death it for me became overrated. I rather listen to Innuendo which is in the same vein and has that beautiful acoustic guitar segment by Steve Howe .
It was the early 80s and my dad would usually blast this LP off in his home stereo, from start to finish. To my mind, up to this day there is nothing that comes even close to how brilliant this album is; I just can’t believe how someone could come up with something as good and original as this, and the fact that it was made in 1975 (when everything was much more rudimentary) makes it even more incredible. If there was a piece of music that humanity would have to send through space in hopes of reaching out to other beings in the universe, for me, A Night The Opera has to be it, quite simply because it has it all.
Thanks for reacting to this album. I was 13 when it was released. I consider this my generation's Sgt. Pepper, which is amazing when you realize that only 8 years separated these two albums.
A few comments on the BoRap video. You must try to put this into context. At this point, only die-hards had ever seen the Queen II cover which begins the video - for that matter, had ever actually seen Queen at all. Even those die-hards had likely never actually seen Queen live. This was a half-dozen years BEFORE MTV. Visually, this was jaw-dropping, breath-taking and countless other hyphenations! Those of us who were already on board at this point were elated and proud of what our discovery had produced. It literally surpassed EVERYTHING.
Seeing this on Midnight Special is one of those seminal moments. That show was the best and so gave me many great musical memories, including watching Prince's first TV performance (I Wanna Be Your Lover).
The person who compiled the video used re-mixed versions of the songs. The differences are not huge, but are very noticeable to someone like myself who has been listening to this album frequently since it's release.
The reaction to the bridge in love of my life gave me chills. Finally someone who gets the complexity of this work. I wish Doug could talk about this music with Brian. I never heard anyone dig into this with Brian. Few could have a tit for tat talk with Brian on technicalities.
@@Doug.HelveringThanks my friend, I’ve been here before with my channel content and can empathize, hope it was just blocked. But, the holder may have acted themselves outside of content ID. A video that clears checks can be more risky than one that is flagged without deducing their unique permitted use cases.
No matter how many times I hear Bohemian Rhapsody, I just can't get tired of it. Freddie's voice is straight-up perfection. Brian, Roger, & John are virtuosos. Every song is just amazing.
Hi Doug. I'm enjoying the Queen experience again through your ears and eyes, '39 was the lullaby that I sang to my children in the early '80's. Beautiful song and memories. Thank You.
Queen often modulate to the IV (the verses of Love of my Life and Bohemian Rhapsody), sometimes with verses in I and choruses in V (Save Me). They're known for more adventurous modulations, but they did the I-IV (and other diatonic keys) very often.
My all time favourite Queen album which I heard for the first time in 1976 as a 15 year old when I moved from the north of England to the south. My new friend, Lisa, who lived in my road, invited me to her house and we listened to the whole album in her bedroom. I was hooked. All Queen members wrote different songs and were so different. First heard Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975 which mesmerised me. Not enough superlatives to describe Queen to me as a 14 year old. Now I’m aged 62, this album invokes the same feelings, thoughts, passion and unending questioning interest as it did to my 14 year old self. Sublime.
@@srirahulpremkumar1600 zepp were big from 1969, floyd only from 1973... it took 4 albums for the public to realise Queen's genius... i still don't think many 'get it' in uk.
Thank you, Doug. Without you reacting to this in its entirety, I wouldn't ever listened to it again. So I did now after more than 3 decades of Queen silence. Queen with their albums Live Killers and Opera were my favourites at the age of 8 to 10. Thanks to my 10 years older brother. What a fantastic album this is. I still know every sound, note, and tweak. But my recollection of this thing as a whole was nearly gone. I recall that The Prophet Song was my favourite song then. It's been mind opening for me to listen this again, understanding better what has happened to my musical brain ending up in King Crimson or Soundgarden or Jinjer. Beautiful 😍. Always love your reactions when you go to bit of musical analysis and theory.
Night reminds me so much of Rush's 2112 in that (same general time frame) both bands were faced with extreme pressures to write hits and instead both bands doubled down on their weirdness/uniqueness and created two of the 70's most iconic albums
What a beautiful album! I have loved it since just after a decade after it was made. I am jealous of the experience of anyone hearing it for the first time. At the risk of sacrilege, what a killer remaster, by the way!
Classic album :) The song, Good Company, wow, Brian May plays like a full jazz band - on his guitar :) My first ever concert was Queen, Glasgow Apollo in 1979... (I'm not as old as you/me think I am. I was 14 years old/young). I was expecting a guy to come on stage and introduce Queen. Nope, lights went down, very loud rumble of thunder.. Then a blinding flash of light backed up by a ridiculously loud explosion of sound to expose the band onstage rocking ;) Can't ever forget my first ever live concert ✌ 😎
Love your take on one of my favorite LPs. Love that you have the Beatles, Yes and Umphrey’s McGee behind you. If you had a Rush and Tull LP back there my life would be complete!😊
Brian May is an extraordinary guitarist. He could shred with his speed, but for him it's always about the song and the tone, and what an amazing range of tones he could produce. The range of musical styles on this album is wild. Spectacular album start to finish. By the way, Roger often does the high harmonies above Freddy, so he has a pretty great voice himself. Oh, and they never used synthesizers. Just standard effects pedals.
I bought this on vinyl when it was released (I was 13). I haven't played it for ages and really enjoyed watching this with you. I'd forgotten some of the shorter tracks - what fun!
Probably one of the most original broadcasters ever. When EMI refused to release Bo-Rhap as a single, he "purloined" a reel-to reel copy and played it 14 times on his Capital Radio show that weekend - the rest is history!
I've loved this album since the first time I played the my aunt's LP on their stereo when I visited them when I was a teenager back in the 90s. My wife bought me the remastered CD in 2011. I love the ordering of the tracks and the transitions between the songs.
This was the first Queen album i heard, and it started my love of their 🎵 music. They are to my mind the GOATs, and this album, the writing, the production, the concepts.... Simply brilliant.
This is the right way to listen to these songs, all at once! Its a great trip! Now Do a Day at the Races, my favorite Queen album and hear the genius continue!
Amazing episode Doug! This album still gives me chills after so many decades. I will recommend an album for you to review that has some of the best harmonies and musicianship from a band that never made it big. The band is Jellyfish and the album, Spilt Milk. You won't be disappointed.
There's a gingerness to Brian's singing voice that I think was really underutilized in Queen. It's easy to forget because Freddie is such a legendary voice, but the band was full of singers with lots of talent in their own right. Also "sci-fi folk" is a legitimate subgenre called "filk". '39 is usually considered one of the first filk songs.
OMG you did it!
A respect to Roy Thomas Baker; as from Freddie himself: "a genius"
@@lawrenceabbott5292 and Mike Stone
Did what? Talked right through it, we all know the lyrics and don’t care what key it’s in.
This is by far my all-time favorite album ever!
There is no other album that combines pop/rock/dixieland/classical etc the same way. A perfect 10 out of 10 album!
'39 has got to be one of their most underrated gems. SO GOOD!!
In the end, and I’m a Zep guy, this is the greatest recorded work ever. The studio use, the incredible harmonic vocabulary, the frikkin voices! Unmatched
My favourite song on the album is ‘39. The thing I love most is it’s a trick: it’s in a major key, upbeat rhythm, it gets us singing and dancing and grooving - and it’s a sad song. Well played, Sir Brian😸
This is why I loved Queen so much. Everything they did sounded fantastic. They took me out of my music comfort zone and I believe they may be the reason that I love so many genres to this day.
Almost 50 years later and this album STILL blows my mind!
The smile that came across your face when Seaside Rondevue started is why Queen are the legendary band they are.
I was thinking the exact same thing. 😊
It's the perfect album. From the songwriting to the in studio production to the instrumentation It's a masterpiece. Even the post production deciding the order the songs would run in. And they were definitely pushing the boundaries of what rock music should be. It'd almost 50 years old and still stands up.
This album brings me so much memories, i used to hear it completely everyday during the week, because its duration is almost the time i was in the bus ride from my Music College to my house in my city, but i didn't hear it in years! It was amazing to recall all the music details and see i still know a lot of it by heart
As a Queen fan. What made Freddie Mercury write Death On Two Legs was that John Deacon had just got married, and he asked for a deposit to put down to buy his own home and the Sheffield brothers who were Queen's manager at the time said no and the brothers had just brought a brand new Rolls-Royce car. So that's why they looked to get out of their management deal and went to Elton John's manager John Reid which help them to get out of the deal which the band had to pay a percentage of first 3 albums which was about £100,000 to get out of the deal.
I think John needing a deposit was the final straw
but Freddie was done Roger said Freddie said he refused to make any more music, they had no royalties for their albums and Freddie had no royalties for seven seas and killer queen
Roger said it was about the money but equally that Freddie felt disrespected
Freddie pretty much made them find a lawyer to get out of the deal, the found Jim Beach
also finding John Reed
not sure if one or both were responsible for getting EMI to sign them directly who also gave a huge advance for NATO album
The managers were rich while Queen still lived like they were still students despite being internationally famous
@@BaguetteGamingOfficialTo add to that, I think Brian, Roger, and John had to move back in with their parents, and Mary was supporting Freddie
@@chewymew Brian was living in a small bedsit, and Freddie was living in a flat with a water leakage problem, but he’d stay with Mary once in a while, I think Roger was also living in a flat, and I think goes the same for John and Veronica.
Extraordinary album. The Prophet's Song is my favorite of Queen's songs and what really turned me into a lifelong Queen fan about 49 years ago. Your analysis video of this song is how I found your channel. I always come away from this in awe of their superb talent and wide range of style. I last saw Brian and Roger in 2019, still vibrant, delightful, and truly enjoying their music. They are treasures.
BR is the classic Queen song but for me Prophet's Song is their best - shame most of the public have never heard of it.
@@hardboiledPhil Prophet's had the "bad" to be on same album of BR. A lot of people never heard of it. How absurd is that?
@@hardboiledPhil I actually don’t hate that fact. Makes those who have heard it appreciate that much more VS the big hits. Just my 2 cents. That and Bohemian Rhapsody are my 2 favs, can’t pick one lol.
Thanks fot the memories (I'm not crying, you are!).
"I'm in Love with my Car" is one of my favourites. In any other Band Roger would have been the lead singer. Very underrated as a singer, but essentially important for Queen's harmonies.
Tenement Funster is another great Roger vocal. It works in the song suite on Sheer Heart Attack, but I would love to hear it as a complete song.
39 is brilliant both lyrically and overall.
So good to play guitar along with too.
One of my favorite queen songs (I don’t know them well aside from hits and this album).
@Scottlp2 it's a deep rabbit hole to explore. Their earlier stuff is amazing. Their later stuff, not so much. Still worth exploring.
Lilly of the Valley. Check it out.
@@robertkelsow-geall7395 Some of their later stuff is great especially Innuendo.
Now it's mandatory reacting to the following album: A DAY AT THE RACES 🎵🎶
Queens harmonies are just the best, its like another instrument by its self, amazing. ❤
The Prophet’s Song AND Bohemian Rhapsody on the same record side…that simply can’t be topped !
Fantastic! Queen have so many hidden gems on their albums, that rarely get reacted to. Thanks for checking out the whole album. Next a day at the races to see how their musicianship improves.
"Long Away" is another Brian May classic from that album. That beautiful musical statement courses through my veins. And is in my bones.
It is such a joy to watch you enjoying their music! 😊
They are so insanly talented and brave to experiment without care!
Good Company - Brian also played the brass sounding instruments on his home made guitar mostly, using wah pedals, bottleneck slide, small speakers etc to similate each instrument. As a guitarist myself I am gobsmacked at his ability on not just his guitar playing but his inventiveness.
He also recorded each string one at a time on separate tracks, so that it wouldn’t have the distinct guitar-y sound of crossing strings, as part of the effect
Didn't they also place the speaker in a box to get the sound.
Delightful, dapper, dashing Doug, took his friends and fans down the river Queen, meandering, mesmerising, a kind of magical journey…
Thanks Doug
Barry❤🇿🇦🔥🤩
Cape Town South Africa
HE FALL AND EVENTUAL FINAL DEATH OF QUALITY ROCK MUSIC TIES IN DIRECTLY WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT AND CONTINUED ADVANCEMENT OF TARGETED MARKETING ACROSS ALL METHODS OF MEDIA. I just thank the Good Lord Above that I grew up during the "classic rock" era, so I did get to see almost every band I wanted to see - some more than once - save for a very few. Best live band I've ever seen, bar none. I also thank The Lord that my 24yo son is mainly a classic rock fan!
December 1975. Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. My roommate, Eddie Levy, brings this album back to our dorm room from our local record store the Mushroom on Broad St. We must have listened to it a hundred times that weekend. that is why i got a C in organic chemistry.
I'm a big Queen fan and found all of their music good. One of their albums I truly love is Jazz. The versatility of the music is amazing, some of which you would recognize.
I saw them live 1985 No auto tune no synthesisers just talent
They were using synthesizers on this Tour then
@@MUSiC-world-20986 - Yes, just like they did at Live Aid, which also had taken place in '85. Exactly 39 years ago today, too! 😊
There was always a brag line on their liner notes that proclaimed there were no synthesizers involved in their music. They were incredibly proud of the fact that Brian used his own handmade guitar to produce all those sounds. :)
@Serai3 I think their earlier material said "no synthesizers used" is because critics had never heard Red Special before, and assumed it was some type synthesized guitar.
By The Game, they started using them and they removed the "no synthesizers used"
@@chewymew Yeah, I know. I was listening to them in the 70's. That's how I know about the liner notes. I had all their albums.
Musically, The Prophet's Song Is one of the greatest proggy jams ever...
Queen were huge fans of the Beatles. If I remember correctly, Freddie loved classical and opera music so he wrote his songs with that in mind.
Queen is Thee band that expanded my musical horizons, Most specifically A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races.
This was my first album. My dad thought it was opera for kids, so my parents got it for me Queen. If he'd seen Freddie, that would have been the end of that. Haha
One more you have to do is White Queen at Hammersmith.
This my friend's is why Queen, are the greatest band of all time.
Cool that you are doing the whole album! Just want to point out that the youtube video you chose for the music is based on the 5.1 version (audio dvd) of the album and sounds quite different from the regular stereo version of the album.
I wondered why it sounded different!
I was wo dering that as well, more guitar licks in You're My Best Friend
The incredible, self-harmonising, cross-channel echoing, canon effect we hear in Freddie's vocal on The Prophet's Song had originally been employed on Brian's guitar in earlier live sets. It is glorious on guitar as well, yet Queen struggled to find a permanent home for it.
Various songs had been adorned with this vagrant guitar 'piece' in a live setting. For example, we can hear it in 2 channel repeat on Queen at the Beeb (BBC recordings very early in their career) in the song Son and Daughter (c. 4min 10). In the end they settled on writing it into the middle of Brighton Rock where they used 2 channel repeat on the studio album Sheer Heart Attack, track 1, c. 3min 20 and the later Live Killers album, track 16 c. 2min 30, using the '3 channel' repeat we hear here on The Prophet's Song.
Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon is written in the style of Noel Coward.
This is such an amazing album! So glad you got to this one for an EPL!
John Deacon is a highly underrated bassist.
"make the best record you can" that's brilliant. Who would have thought of that?
Um, every band ever?
Lou Reed "Metal Machine Music"
Masterpiece. Queen managed to combine opera and rock, in a spectacular fusion, never before seen in 1975, nor since. The choirs are spectacular, unique!
Few People noted Death On To Legs is a tango played as a rock.
Dude I just subscribed. You just brought such a huge smile to my face over the course of this hour.
You took me back to the time when I very first discovered Queen in 1978 with News of the World. I instantly became a Queen fan, (We will rock you, We are the champions, etc.) then I went backwards purchasing their first, second, and third albums before this one. The next one is Day at the Races which is phenomenal also. Freddie often quoted that we are not a band made up of singles, people needed to listen to their whole album to understand where they were coming from creatively and musically. Thanks so much for doing this, man. It's nice to see other people experience these albums the way we did when we were younger! Back when music was so exciting, experimental and truly creative!
@Doug.Helvering This sounds odd. I think this had the audio set to 5.1 instead of regular stereo. That would be why certain things sound oddly too loud, out of place, or completely disappears. These albums were originally mixed for stereo and (I think) how they should always be listened to.
Cool, it's not just me. Here I am thinking my speakers aren't functioning properly!
I was thinking the same. Really different mix.
Thanks, Doug, for this. I wore this album out back in the day. I haven't listened to this in a while. Loved your comments and options. I've seen Queen live nearly a dozen times. Queen is and will always be my favorite band!!! Also, saw Brian live as well. What a gentleman. Keep the reviews coming.
Thx. Dug it. BTW, Brian (in his comments on "Classic Albums" in 2006), said about "Good Company" that the jazz band he listened to growing up, and whose instruments he mimicked with his guitar work, was The Temperance Seven.
"Love of my life" still chokes me up...damn it's only when I hear to I realsie how much I still miss him
43:42 "It's so classical"...and at this moment, Freddie's playing on the piano something that could easily have been written by Mozart.
It was very warming to see you reacting to that legendary album. I only hope some day you will react to the eponymous debut album by Gentle Giant. It also ended with the rendition of British National Anthem, five years before Queen. While their debut was likely not characteristic of their classic eclectic progressive rock style, it was among their most versatile albums! The accompanying story called A Tall Tale, great mascot face album cover, fantastic tunes in various genres: from early 70s' King Crimson-inspired "Alucard" to vivid hard rocker "Why Not?" to mellow "Isn't It Quiet And Cold?" to Palestrina-inspired "Giant" to perfect prog-wise ballad "Funny Ways".
I think you may easily fruitfully joyfully react to, well, any of their studio album 1970 thru 1977 inclusive...
I always thought Bohemian Rhapsody was his personal journey with his sexuality, “killed a man” was him killing the man that his mother wanted him to be (she also wanted him to be a lawyer or a doctor like his cousins, can you imagine?) mamma didn’t mean to make you cry” but he can’t continue to live a lie “body’s aching all the time”
I saw an interview where Roger said it was about relationships. Who knows?
I can’t believe I’ve been listening to it for 49 years in a few weeks and never ever tire of it, and I never will.
I very much enjoyed this and your reactions to Queen II the black side. Queen to me are the best of the best and Freddie is/ was incredible.
Thank you
I'm In Love With My Car is also in 6/8 waltz time. So funny! A hard rocking waltz to describe his love for his car...
In Seaside Rendezvous, I believe, if I recall from interviews on the "making of" A Night At The Opera, The band, sans Brian, used thimbles on the finger tips for the tap dancing parts, kazoos and mouths for the tooting noises and the whistle was one of those whistles that the harder you blow, the higher the pitch. They experimented a lot in the studio for that album.
Fun fact: When "Night at the Opera" came out and the band toured with it, can you believe they played it in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Civic?! Less than 3,000 people in there. A year later they were filling the Inglewood Forum (12,000 seats), and soon after were filling up stadiums. But for "Opera" the venue was intimate by comparison. I sat in the 8th row with one of my pals. Don't remember much from that show cuz I screamed my head off the entire time. But I do remember rocking out big time to "Now I'm Here." Brian played his ass off on that one.
Hey Doug - can you imagine what would happen if a new band - looking for a contract - took this album (as a demo) to all the labels? They would be laughed out of every single office with the followiing comments "are you guys a pop band? a rock band? etc... we can't market this." Same goes for a lot of my faves from this best period in rock music. As a new band - without their catalog already established - Elton would have been instantly shown the door for anything that he put out after Honky Chateau, Zeppelin would never have gotten away with anything after Zep II, etc... Btw - Dr. Brian May has a PhD in Astrophysics, (and sits on the boards of several observatories throughout the UK and Europe), Freddie and Roger both had Bachelor Degrees in Art while John Deacon received First Class Honors with a degree in Electronic Engineering. The good guys win for a change. Refreshing.
Some context on 39 which you may or may not know already... but Brian May has a PhD in astrophysics.
I remember the prophet song well. You recorded it on a Sunday what you don't normally do. I was homeless and living in my van at the time. That was 3 years ago Doug. I'm glad I could introduce you to Queen in such a way. Now you're wearing the jacket and doing whole albums I love it. I've been with you since the beginning and I'm still here. You're welcome.
Hot take maybe but I think Day At the Races is an overall better album. That being said, I love this album so much!
I totally agree. It’s one of their best
I agree A Day At The Races is a better overall album it has no weak songs and sounds more like a whole, and more mature.And I grew to loathe Bohemian Rhapsody being around when it first was released it was played too much and after all airplay after Freddy's death it for me became overrated. I rather listen to Innuendo which is in the same vein and has that beautiful acoustic guitar segment by Steve Howe .
I agree too, to me A Day At The Races is a better album, even though I love this album too.
It was the early 80s and my dad would usually blast this LP off in his home stereo, from start to finish. To my mind, up to this day there is nothing that comes even close to how brilliant this album is; I just can’t believe how someone could come up with something as good and original as this, and the fact that it was made in 1975 (when everything was much more rudimentary) makes it even more incredible.
If there was a piece of music that humanity would have to send through space in hopes of reaching out to other beings in the universe, for me, A Night The Opera has to be it, quite simply because it has it all.
This album shows what great musicians they were. Brian learned to play the harp for Love Of My Life, and John learned to play the double bass for 39.
“All through the years in the end it appears there was never really anyone but me” - I have a tattoo of that on my rib cage. Seriously.
Thanks for reacting to this album. I was 13 when it was released. I consider this my generation's Sgt. Pepper, which is amazing when you realize that only 8 years separated these two albums.
A few comments on the BoRap video. You must try to put this into context. At this point, only die-hards had ever seen the Queen II cover which begins the video - for that matter, had ever actually seen Queen at all. Even those die-hards had likely never actually seen Queen live. This was a half-dozen years BEFORE MTV. Visually, this was jaw-dropping, breath-taking and countless other hyphenations! Those of us who were already on board at this point were elated and proud of what our discovery had produced. It literally surpassed EVERYTHING.
Seeing this on Midnight Special is one of those seminal moments. That show was the best and so gave me many great musical memories, including watching Prince's first TV performance (I Wanna Be Your Lover).
standing with 15,000 people singing love of my life with Brian May with 15,000 sets of tears is an experience that wont be forgotten in a hurry
I love '39 so much. One of my favorite Queen songs of all time. This is without a doubt my favorite Queen album.
Hats off, this is great! Queen and Doug, in feelings, what sweetness!
The person who compiled the video used re-mixed versions of the songs. The differences are not huge, but are very noticeable to someone like myself who has been listening to this album frequently since it's release.
The reaction to the bridge in love of my life gave me chills. Finally someone who gets the complexity of this work. I wish Doug could talk about this music with Brian. I never heard anyone dig into this with Brian. Few could have a tit for tat talk with Brian on technicalities.
This is the greatest music album in history.
I really love how Queen And… handle ‘Love of my Life, letting the audience sing it.
Rough day Doug, thanks for uploading alternate content.
Hoping your weekend is better than today was for you. Sending good vibes.
@@Doug.HelveringThanks my friend, I’ve been here before with my channel content and can empathize, hope it was just blocked.
But, the holder may have acted themselves outside of content ID. A video that clears checks can be more risky than one that is flagged without deducing their unique permitted use cases.
One of my top 5 favorite albums of all time. Thank you!
Random thought: "Good Company" feels like a response to "When I'm 64"
It is so much fun going through Queen with you. Thank you!
No matter how many times I hear Bohemian Rhapsody, I just can't get tired of it. Freddie's voice is straight-up perfection. Brian, Roger, & John are virtuosos. Every song is just amazing.
Hi Doug. I'm enjoying the Queen experience again through your ears and eyes, '39 was the lullaby that I sang to my children in the early '80's. Beautiful song and memories. Thank You.
Thank you for this video ❤️❤️❤️
Heard '39 was also the 39th song they put on record.
Queen often modulate to the IV (the verses of Love of my Life and Bohemian Rhapsody), sometimes with verses in I and choruses in V (Save Me). They're known for more adventurous modulations, but they did the I-IV (and other diatonic keys) very often.
You will love "39" still one of my favorites on this album!
A Night at the Opera deserves to be one of the albums behind you, it's a masterpiece (one the many by Queen).
Thanks for listening your way through my favorite album of all time.
My all time favourite Queen album which I heard for the first time in 1976 as a 15 year old when I moved from the north of England to the south. My new friend, Lisa, who lived in my road, invited me to her house and we listened to the whole album in her bedroom. I was hooked. All Queen members wrote different songs and were so different. First heard Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975 which mesmerised me. Not enough superlatives to describe Queen to me as a 14 year old. Now I’m aged 62, this album invokes the same feelings, thoughts, passion and unending questioning interest as it did to my 14 year old self. Sublime.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s was queen as big as bands like led zeppelin and pink flyod in the uk??
@@srirahulpremkumar1600 hardcore Queen fans knew the majesty of Queen II before bo rhap was famous... 1976 was the big year of Queen in uk.
@@TONE11111 were they as big as led zeppelin and pink flyod during their heyday in the uk??
@@srirahulpremkumar1600 zepp were big from 1969, floyd only from 1973... it took 4 albums for the public to realise Queen's genius... i still don't think many 'get it' in uk.
@@TONE11111 that’s impossible. When I was in the uk , almost everyone I knew loved Queen
Thank you, Doug. Without you reacting to this in its entirety, I wouldn't ever listened to it again. So I did now after more than 3 decades of Queen silence. Queen with their albums Live Killers and Opera were my favourites at the age of 8 to 10. Thanks to my 10 years older brother. What a fantastic album this is. I still know every sound, note, and tweak. But my recollection of this thing as a whole was nearly gone. I recall that The Prophet Song was my favourite song then. It's been mind opening for me to listen this again, understanding better what has happened to my musical brain ending up in King Crimson or Soundgarden or Jinjer. Beautiful 😍. Always love your reactions when you go to bit of musical analysis and theory.
Night reminds me so much of Rush's 2112 in that (same general time frame) both bands were faced with extreme pressures to write hits and instead both bands doubled down on their weirdness/uniqueness and created two of the 70's most iconic albums
Lovely stuff Doug! This is one of those albums that's been with me my whole life, thanks to my parents, and it will never get old.
What a beautiful album! I have loved it since just after a decade after it was made. I am jealous of the experience of anyone hearing it for the first time. At the risk of sacrilege, what a killer remaster, by the way!
Great video - and I'm mesmerised by this slightly different mixing than the one I'm so used to!
The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 1 AU.
0.39 AU from the Sun is the planet - Mercury.
Coincidence?
Well, Brian IS an astrophysicist.
Classic album :) The song, Good Company, wow, Brian May plays like a full jazz band - on his guitar :) My first ever concert was Queen, Glasgow Apollo in 1979... (I'm not as old as you/me think I am. I was 14 years old/young). I was expecting a guy to come on stage and introduce Queen. Nope, lights went down, very loud rumble of thunder.. Then a blinding flash of light backed up by a ridiculously loud explosion of sound to expose the band onstage rocking ;) Can't ever forget my first ever live concert ✌ 😎
Love your take on one of my favorite LPs. Love that you have the Beatles, Yes and Umphrey’s McGee behind you. If you had a Rush and Tull LP back there my life would be complete!😊
'39 is my favorite Queen song.
Brian May is an extraordinary guitarist. He could shred with his speed, but for him it's always about the song and the tone, and what an amazing range of tones he could produce. The range of musical styles on this album is wild. Spectacular album start to finish. By the way, Roger often does the high harmonies above Freddy, so he has a pretty great voice himself. Oh, and they never used synthesizers. Just standard effects pedals.
I bought this on vinyl when it was released (I was 13). I haven't played it for ages and really enjoyed watching this with you. I'd forgotten some of the shorter tracks - what fun!
9:28 Kenny Everett...God that takes me back. His show was mad.
Probably one of the most original broadcasters ever. When EMI refused to release Bo-Rhap as a single, he "purloined" a reel-to reel copy and played it 14 times on his Capital Radio show that weekend - the rest is history!
Have you reviewed Only the Good Die Young? its a tear jerker, Brians tribute to Freddie.
I've loved this album since the first time I played the my aunt's LP on their stereo when I visited them when I was a teenager back in the 90s. My wife bought me the remastered CD in 2011. I love the ordering of the tracks and the transitions between the songs.
I find myself eternally grateful that I saw Queen four times back in the 70´s when they performed all of these masterworks. Lucky boy indeed.....
That koto is a minature which was given to Brian on their Japanese tour
Thank you so much man! I had this album long ago and i forgotten how great it is. I have goosebumps listening right now.
This was the first Queen album i heard, and it started my love of their 🎵 music. They are to my mind the GOATs, and this album, the writing, the production, the concepts.... Simply brilliant.
no one before, and no one after will be capable to do every type of music in just one album like Queen did.
This is the right way to listen to these songs, all at once! Its a great trip! Now Do a Day at the Races, my favorite Queen album and hear the genius continue!
The prophets song is my favorite queen song
Amazing episode Doug! This album still gives me chills after so many decades.
I will recommend an album for you to review that has some of the best harmonies and musicianship from a band that never made it big.
The band is Jellyfish and the album, Spilt Milk. You won't be disappointed.
There's a gingerness to Brian's singing voice that I think was really underutilized in Queen. It's easy to forget because Freddie is such a legendary voice, but the band was full of singers with lots of talent in their own right. Also "sci-fi folk" is a legitimate subgenre called "filk". '39 is usually considered one of the first filk songs.