Still, as Freddie said of himself, вЂњWhen IвЂ™m performing I am an extrovert, yet inside I am a completely different man.вЂќ A shy side shown to the outside world during any press campaign was balanced by the manвЂ™s feverish work mode, and time at The Manor in Oxfordshire was packed with incident as the perfectionist in him helped drive the show forward. I only saw him in concert once and as they say, he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand.вЂќ In years to come, Mercury would top polls as being the greatest frontman in rock of all time with the voice to match his dramatic intensity. And of course, I always admired a man who wears tights. As David Bowie commented later, вЂњOf all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the restвЂ¦ he took it over the edge.

No such problems in Edinburgh and Cardiff meant that those lucky audiences also got a preview of the forthcoming single вЂњTie Your Mother Down.вЂќ There was further change in the air these would be the last dates in which Freddie sported long hair and his trademark Biba black nail polish.ДЇreddie, ever the artist, intuitively knew it was time for him to evolve.

The concert was so well attended that the police enforced a curfew. Prior to release, Queen played a short four-day summer tour, including a triumphant appearance at LondonвЂ™s Hyde Park. The format worked admirably since A Day At The Races also went to #1 in the UK and breezed into the American top 5. Enter Mike Stone, the principal engineer and long-time technical associate whose overdubbing skills had so impressed on вЂњBo Rap.вЂќ Very much a Mercury ally, StoneвЂ™s quiet presence allowed for a relaxed beginning to what would prove to be a winning combination of clever commercial pop, albeit with a highly sophisticated edge, and QueenвЂ™s trademark heavy metal and classically influenced melodicism. Roy Thomas Baker and the musicians decided theyвЂ™d traveled far enough down the road together. A winning combinationДЄnd yet there was significant change afoot.

Marx brothers a day at the races