A Night at the Opera [Bonus Tracks]

1	Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...) 3:43
2	Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon 1:08
3	I'm in Love With My Car 3:05
4	You're My Best Friend 2:50
5	'39 3:25
6	Sweet Lady 4:01
7	Seaside Rendezvous 2:13
8	The Prophet's Song 8:17
9	Love of My Life 3:38
10	Good Company 3:26
11	Bohemian Rhapsody 5:55
12	God Save the Queen 1:11
13	I'm in Love With My Car previously unreleased / Bonus Track / Remix 3:05
14	You're My Best Friend previously unreleased / Bonus Track / Remix 2:50

Barnes & Noble

Though the Zeppelin-derived hard rock found on Queen's first few albums put the band on the map, it was 1975's A Night at the Opera that showed the full scope of the group's abilities and ambitions. There's a sprinkling of driving '70s-style rock here, but eclecticism is the order of the day. From the concert-harp-laced ballad "Love of My Life" to the vaudeville shuffle of "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" and bassist John Deacon's pure pop gem, "You're My Best Friend," the album amply demonstrates the range of styles these accomplished songwriters and musicians were capable of exploring. Though the late Freddie Mercury's superhuman voice often took center stage, Queen was a band of equals -- Brian May's folk-rocker "'39" and the aforementioned Deacon composition are as important to the structure of this album as its acknowledged centerpiece, "Bohemian Rhapsody." On "Rhapsody," Mercury overdubbed his voice countless times to produce a mock-operatic choral effect that simultaneously takes advantage of and satirizes the use of classical elements in '70s rock. The quirky, inventive tune turned the band into a worldwide sensation. Jim Allen

All Music Guide

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. Stephen Thomas Erlewine