Queen – A Day At The Races

180 Gram Vinyl. Mastered by Bob Ludwig. Half-speed lacquers cut at Abbey Road Studios. ‘A Day at the Races’ is the fifth album by Queen, released in December 1976. It was the band’s first completely self-produced album, and the first not to feature producer Roy Thomas Baker. As its title suggests, a companion-piece to ‘A Night At The Opera’ in almost every sense: ‘Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’ recalls the fey, music-hall spirit of the previous album’s ‘Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon’, just as ‘White Man’ echoes ‘The Prophet’s Song’. ‘Somebody to Love’, meanwhile, attempts to outdo even the grandiosity of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – this time substituting the influence of American gospel for Italian opera, and allowing Mercury’s diva inclinations to run riot. Over-the-top, undoubtedly – but the band knew it.