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A Night At The Opera (album)

A Night at the Opera
Queen A Night At The Opera.png
Studio album by Queen
Released 21 November 1975
Recorded August – November 1975
Studio Sarm, Roundhouse Studios, Trident Studios, Olympic Studios, Scorpio and Lansdowne, London and Rockfield, Monmouthshire
Genre
Length 43:10
Label
Producer
Queen chronology
Sheer Heart Attack
(1974)Sheer Heart Attack1974
A Night at the Opera
(1975)
A Day at the Races
(1976)A Day at the Races1976
Singles from A Night at the Opera
  1. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
    Released: 31 October 1975
  2. "You're My Best Friend"
    Released: 18 May 1976
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 5/5 stars
Chicago Tribune 3/4 stars
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5 stars
Pitchfork Media 8.9/10
PopMatters 9/10
Q (1993) 3/5 stars
Q (2006) 5/5 stars
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 3/5 stars
Uncut 5/5 stars
The Village Voice B–

A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 21 November 1975 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release. The album takes its name from the Marx Brothers film of the same name, which the band watched one night at the studio complex when recording.A Night at the Opera incorporates a wide range of styles, including ballads, songs in a music hall style, hard rock tracks and progressive rock influences.

The album topped the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart and became the band's first Platinum-selling album in the US. The worldwide sales for the album are over six million copies. It also produced the band's most successful single in the UK, "Bohemian Rhapsody", which became their first UK number one and one of the best-selling singles in both the UK and the world.

"Death on Two Legs" can be referred to as Freddie Mercury's hate letter to Queen's first manager, Norman Sheffield, who for some years was reputed to have mistreated the band and abused his role as their manager from 1972 to 1975. Sheffield denied that in his autobiography entitled "Life on Two Legs: Set The Record Straight", published in 2013, and referred to copies of the original 1972 management contracts between Sheffield and Queen, which were included in the book as proof of his defence. Though the song never makes direct reference to him, after listening to a playback of the song at Trident Studios during the time of album release, Sheffield was appalled, and sued the band and the record label for defamation, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement, but also confirmed his connection to the song.


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Wikipedia

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