I just recently got Queen's "a night at the opera" and I am conflicted...?

i thought the the 7 good, proggy rock songs didn't mesh well with the cabaret, saloon-like songs. This has produced a mixed feeling for the album as a whole.





The saloon songs weren't catchy at all (unlike stone cold crazy and killer queen).





I think that Queen should have stuck to the formula they used to make sheer heart attack and queen II.





Does anyone else have any thoughts?

I just recently got Queen's "a night at the opera" and I am conflicted...?
The diversity is one of the things that makes it great. There was so much talent and diverse tastes in that band that you weren't going to get the same thing over and over again. This is how you get rockabilly songs like "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and proggy, experimental songs like "Get Down (Make Love)."
Reply:I think bands like Queen were all the stronger for *not* following a formula. Bands like that are usually the most interesting (or KEEP things interesting)





I like this album very much.
Reply:I agree it is the diversity that helped make Queen a great band .


Such a broad spectrum is rare and when you shuffle the songs that way it shows off that aspect . Queen Rocked .


We miss you .
Reply:I loved the album. I heard it soon after it's original release. Each song was like it's own little story...so unique. Understand that Queen were pushing the envelope. Nothing was off limits. The band contained 4 equal members. Not even The Beatles could claim that. They all contributed their style creating a variety of music. Some people prefer bands to have a sound where everything pretty much sounds like everything else. One band that comes to mind is Nickelback. Queen wanted to express themselves in as many different ways as they could dream possible. This way they would avoid being bored and hopefully entertain at the same time. It was all about creativity...not just writing songs. That is why they were never popular among the critics. No one ever said you had to like everything they ever did! BTW...Queen never had a formula. Some songs were written years before Queen formed as a band. Some were written in the studio. Some had a will of their own like Bo Rhap. Some were started by one member and completely changed by another (usually Freddie.) Some were written from a hospital bed like the guitar solo to Killer Queen! To me, it's all good!
Reply:But the diversity is what makes it interesting. I hate bands that don't take chances and just churn out the same old thing.
Reply:Queen didn't have a formula. They all wrote different songs and it fit the Queen sound and aesthetic, even tho all the songs didn't sound the same.


They weren't about writing hits, they were about making albums and having fun doing it.


Queen, (like the Bealtes and Jimi Hendrix...their biggest influences) were into putting everything into every record, something the ended up lacking in their later works.


I'm a huge fan of this album. I've owned it for over 2 decades. Listen to it more and the "odd" songs may grow on you. I LOVE the funny bits on that album almost more than the rock songs.


They made a DVD about the making of that album. It's a very interesting tale. I highly recommend it.
Reply:I loved the album, it is the first rock album I owned. I loved the diversity of it, and the sheer ballsiness of it. You have way " out there" songs like Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, epics like The Prophet's song, and hard rocking songs like Death On Two legs.








It takes real creativity and nerve to do a record like that.