a day at the races

Queen followed up the massive multi-tracked success of 'A Night at the Opera' with equally exuberant Marxism of 'A Day at the Races'. Though conceived as a companion piece to its predecessor, the album marked a big change for the band. They left Roy Thomas Baker and produced the new album on their own at Sarm East, The Manor and Wessex Studios. John Deacon recalled: "We had done four albums with him, and we came to the position where, we had learned ourselves in the studio what to do, and one didn’t really need the services of the producer, because we had within the group, within the four of us, we had plenty of the ideas. All we really needed was a good engineer. So that’s what we did with the new album, 'A Day at the Races', we more or less produced it ourselves with an engineer. "

Brian May says: "By then John Reed had taken the management burden off us and he just said 'right guys, don't worry about anything, just go in there and make the best album you've ever made' and with the joy of having that sort of yoke taken off us that we just went in and loved every minute of it. That applies to both those albums - 'A Day At The Races' too. We just thought 'how far can we go'? We were big fans of the Beatles and they had taken advantage of the studio as it was in those days but all kinds of new toys had come in by the time we were in there so we though that we'd use every colour in the pallet and create something that had never been created before."

Freddie Mercury said, "Each time we go into the studios, it gets that much more difficult because we're trying to progress, to write songs that sound different from the past. The first album is easy, because you've always got a lot in your head that you're anxious to put down. As the albums go by, you think, `They'll say I'm repeating a formula.' I'm very conscious of that."

Roger Taylor considers it "a step ahead of our previous work. We tried to avoid overcomplication, sterility-we tried to get a more basic feel in." The sound is tighter; but their dramatic flair is intact. Each of the bandmembers contributed songs: Brian May and Freddie Mercury each delivered four, while John Deacon and Roger Taylor each added one of their own. 'A Day at the Races' went to the top of the album charts in the Netherlands, Japan, and the UK. In the US, it went to number five and sold platinum.








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The multi-tracked gospel extravaganza "Somebody to Love" was written by Mercury as a companion piece to 'Bohemian Rapsody'. The single went to number two in the UK and thirteen in the US.

"Tie Your Mother Down" was composed by Brian May on Spanish guitar while working on his PhD in Astronomy in Tenerife. The single peaked at number ten in the Netherlands.

Brian May wrote and sang lead on "Long Away"

Mercury wrote "The Millionaire Waltz" about the band's manager John Reid.

John Deacon wrote "You and I" and played acoustic guitar.

"Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" is another Mercury composition. It was also released on an EP and went to number seventeen in the UK.

Brian May wrote "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" as a tribute to the band's fans in Japan. It features choruses sung in Japanese and May on piano.

 'A Day at the Races' full album:





Side one
1. "Tie Your Mother Down"   Brian May 4:48
2. "You Take My Breath Away"   Freddie Mercury   5:09
3. "Long Away"   May 3:34
4. "The Millionaire Waltz"   Mercury   4:54
5. "You and I"   John Deacon 3:25
Side two
6. "Somebody to Love"   Mercury   4:56
7. "White Man"   May 4:59
8. "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"   Mercury   2:54
9. "Drowse"   Roger Taylor 3:45

10. "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)"   May 5:50