Queen: A Night at the Opera
Once again, good blogging material comes from another blogger. Yesterday, it was Marie. Today, it’s Sheila. I’ve blogged about Queen before. They are one of my favorites and I have all of their early vinyl albums through A Day at the Races.
I was late getting started on my album collecting. I had 45s and 8-track tapes for a time and I can’t say with any certainty when I got a turntable but I’m guessing it was sometime in 1975. That brings me to the pictures below. I bought A Night at the Opera in 1975 at Lenny’s Records. More about that in a moment.
Lenny’s was a forerunner to today’s electronic pirates. He sold bootlegs. I must confess I bought a handful of them featuring Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and The Who. A bootleg in 1975 was a ripoff not so much for the artist but for any person dumb enough to buy one. He charged a dollar more for bootlegs than for regular records. About bootlegs: Concert sound equipment was not then what it is now. Recording equipment, particularly amateur recording equipment, was not then what it is now. In addition to those limitations, people that made and marketed bootleg albums were shady. Lenny’s proclaimed “ALL bootleg record sales are final”. What you got when you bought one was anyone’s guess. Most of them sound like a person snuck in an old reel-to-reel tape recorder and turned it on whenever their favorite songs started. One I have of The Who is just a compilation of studio recordings that I already had along with two horrible live performances stuck in. One is of Led Zeppelin at the Whiskey A Go Go. That’s probably the best bootleg I have in terms of quality recording but it’s still pretty bad. I haven’t listened to it in 30 years. Lenny’s is long gone and my days of buying illicit music, however short (Two Deep Purples, two from The Who, two Led Zeppelins, and one Queen) they were, are over.
Anyway, back to the Queen album pictured below (Pardon the not-so-good lighting in my computer room): I was in Lenny’s looking through my favorite bands when I came across this one in 1975. I had all Queen albums then but I didn’t have this one yet. In fact, I’m not sure it had even been released to the general public. Record companies used to pass out promotional copies to radio stations, record stores, and other assorted VIPs a few days before their mass release. The record stores were supposed to spur sales of said albums by playing them for their customers. Lenny had other ideas with this one, I suppose. He took this freebie and put it in his rack for sale. I bought it like any other album. Telling this story probably kills any Ebay value this album may have had and I really do wish I could say Freddie, Brian, Roger or John handed it to me while on tour in New Orleans. Sorry, not the case. This one is one of my well-played ones. It has scratching, popping noises where I used to clumsily put the stylus down on my favorites; Death On Two Legs, 39, and Bohemian Rhapsody. If you don't know this sound and are not one of my young nieces/nephews, I think I hate you. I’ve since bought the remastered CD version of A Night at the Opera but I won’t be parting with this one any time soon.
Quote of the Day
You talk like a big business tycoon
You’re just a hot air balloon
So no one gives you a damn
You’re just an overgrown schoolboy
Let me tan your hide
Queen, Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to ......
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "Coming next: a car which gets really quite cross if someone tries to break into it, and a fanny which shouts “gerroff!” if it’s being raped."
Even a bad bootleg of a favorite band is hard to resist. Especially the old stuff. I'm proud of you for giving up your evil ways. Some amongst us are just too weak. ;)
It was different then, Marie. Led Zeppelin, for instance, almost never appeared on camera or released live material. The only ways to see or hear them live was to go to one of their concerts or find a bootleg record. Today, almost all artists release DVDs of concert footage and release professionally-recorded live albums. Mark Knopfler even allows cameras and recording equipment at his concerts. In this day and age, I think record companies are becoming obsolete and artists can/should market their music directly to the public.
Queen is a favorite of mine too, Rob. A while back one of the first (totally legal!) purchases of music I made over the Internet was "Queen - The Crown Jewels". It's a box set of their first 8 studio albums. I think it retailed for well over $100 and I got it for about $35. One of the best purchases I ever made.
I can also totally relate to your story of starting album collecting. I got my first turntable in 1975 as well. And I too don't like people who can't relate to scratches and popping noises. I also miss the format of "an album". In the digital age, everything is on demand in whatever order you want. I have favorite "album sides". Both sides of Night at the Opera would be 2 of them.
Oh...I left out - that's the first 8 studio albums "on CD". The Prophets Song sounds a lot better without the scratches and pops.
That's a fantastic deal, Hyde. It's going for well over $100 now. When providence allows at CrabAppleLane...
Interesting that you mention having a Zeppelin bootleg from the Whisky. I wonder if that was mislabeled - no bootleg has yet circulated from their appearances there in 69. Just a couple weeks ago, a bootleg company announced that it had acquired a tape of Zep at the Whisky in 69 & it will be released soon. If you could maybe email me some info, I'd be really interested to know the setlist, bootleg title, etc. of the Zep at the Whisky boot that you have. If you want some better quality Zep boots, try dimeadozen.org, they have a couple dozen being torrented. Thanks, BBB
I looked for it a few minutes ago. I have some albums in a box that I can't get to right now and it must be in it. When I dig it out, I'll post a picture of it. If memory serves, it was a plain white album with a pink piece of paper glued to the front. I think Communication Breakdown, Bring It On Home, and What Is And What Should Never Be were on it. I have another bootleg that has Immigration Song on it but that one was a little later. As for it being mis-labeled, that's not out of the realm (Bootleg records in those days were ripoffs) but I'll have to wait until I can play it again to see if there are any distinguishing announcements on the record. I honestly don't remember. I haven't played it in 30 years. Stay tuned.