Sic Semper Tyrannis

More stuff I've been listening to...

Queen's A Night at the Opera
I have no problems calling this one a masterpiece. The amount of work that obviously went into these studio creations is mind-boggling to me. The amount of arranging that is behind the multi-layered vocals and guitar parts is pretty much orchestration. This album is the original home of "Bohemian Rhapsody," a song I have always loved and whose genius speaks for itself. And it kind of encapsulates the entire spectrum of musical ideas contained on the rest of the album. There are lovely lyrical moments such as "Love of My Life." There are bouncy moments, like in "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon." There are majestic rock moments like "I'm in Love With My Car" and "The Prophet's Song." Just a fantastic album and I TOTALLY understand why this is considered a "classic." I couldn't stop listening to it.

Marvin Gaye What's Going On?
At first I was kind of ambivalent to this album. Having heard the singles and liking them a lot, the rest of the songs kind of paled for me, even though there is also an obvious attempt at linking these songs together into suites--an idea I usually like. And it's hard to imagine a ime when orchestral strings over funk music was a new idea.

But if you're into art describing the zeitgeist at the time of its creation, I can see why this one is vaunted. This is an album of political unrest right smack dab in the middle of the Vietnam War.

But I was more interested in Marvin Gaye's artistic moment here. This was a guy known for love songs and seduction. The love he speaks of on this album is the universal, "brotherly love" that I hear Christians and other religious folks talk about a lot. (And Gaye's strained relationship ith his minister father probably played into these themes as well.) That makes this album a lot easier for me to like, since I like the idea of love conquering hatred, as naive as it all sounds. Deep down, I want to believe Marvin when he says "War is not the answer..." Bearing that in mind, this might be an album written for today as well.

posted by Mike @ 6:37 AM