A rehearsal exercise, that's how the album A Day At The Races was and is seen. After A Night At The Opera (1975), Queen released another album a year later that was named after a film by The Marx Brothers. Besides the title, the artwork of A Day At The Races was also very reminiscent of the group's previous album. These external features matched the music perfectly, because musically Queen was also
… pretty much repeating herself. Just like the previous albums, A Day At The Races contains rock combined with elements from vaudeville and opera and Brian May and Roger Taylor were both allowed to sing their own song (often the weakest moments of their records). Yet, with the same ease with which it is dismissed as a needless repetition, A Day At The Races could be called a perfection of a development. Queen had already made many songs with hard rock riffs, but never as catchy as on Tie Your Mother Down. Most of the album shows the same craftsmanship. The sharp edges are gone, it is all not original, but A Day At The Races is full of fantastic pop. (JE)more
