Where Queen are best remembered for hit singles and that one about the opera, A Day at the Races is where the band truly shine. Thematically rewarding, instrumentally sound and, overall, a strong effort from the band who were ever reliant on the breakout track. Like many bands of the 1970s and 1980s, one song was enough to gain airplay and coast off of. That song for A Day at the Races is Somebody to Love, but in a rare stroke of luck for the band, the songs that surrounded their sole hit here are of exceptional quality. Albums to follow A Day at the Races would highlight, as clear as can be, the change in direction for the band. Where their self-titled debut and Sheer Heart Attack had been strong yet conventional displays of what could work for the group as deeper, meaningful projects, A Day at the Races is arguably the most successful. Even the deeper cuts are strong here.
Take that triple bill of Tie Your Mother Down, You Take My Breath Away, and Long Away. It’s a succession of quality instrumental work, inspired and reactionary but, crucially, reserved. Brian May is not given license, as he would be on the more popular and arguably more grating material to follow, to throw away the purpose of the song for a showy moment with his guitar. Hard rock and glam rock genre fundamentals are blurred well here, a showmanship from Freddie Mercury is what keeps it alive for Tie Your Mother Down. Queen are exceptional when it comes to those showboating thrills, though it would take A Day at the Races and the collection of staggering tracks within to prove this. May is best utilised as a guitarist when the rest of the band are given something to do. Roger Taylor’s drumming, particularly, is the crucial backing he needs for the more out-there guitar solos, as is the case for Tie Your Mother Down. An excellent opener that defines the album better than breakout hit, Somebody to Love.
Queen can be heard toying with their influences on A Day at the Races, and their understanding of the may rock and roll sub-genres is a huge part of their appeal here. They lose their way a tad, ironically in pursuing a sound that would match up with Mercury’s vocal work best of all. The glitz and glamour, the harmonising sound of The Millionaire Waltz, while not bad, is the sort of soppy piano rock the band would rarely deliver on. Somebody to Love, the B-side opener, is nothing short of staggering. It’s where that piano-led tone and harmonising is played around with best, but crucially is that ability to bleed in the tougher rock components May and Taylor bring in. Instrumentally slick but writing that falls short on White Man feels more like traditional Queen work. They’re a band who rarely put the instrumental quality and writing style on the same level.
But when they do, as they did during the first half of A Day at the Races and bits of the B-side, there is a rewarding listen to be had with Queen. They’re instrumental prowess often overblows the true quality of their work, hiding within it the lacklustre writing or occasional repeat of what had worked before in the studio. White Man tries and fails to get that pendulum sound, the ricochet from one ear to another quietly abandoned a few seconds after beginning. Instead, they transition into a more spaced-out, ambitious sound which ends all too soon. A double bill of Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy and Drowse once more highlights the instrumental thrills of the band, but then the writing for both tracks is simple enough to work without too much of an overhaul needed. A Day at the Races is as ambitious as their debut album, and there would be few other albums from Queen that match this feeling, this creative flair.
