5. "Play the Game" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr2iDWQSwsI): Yesterday I mentioned that I consider John Deacon a pop music genius, well, I think the same of Freddie Mercury. The bridge in this one ("My game of love has just begun...") is one of the most exciting I've heard.
4. "Long Away" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e06qoOTrkE): My favourite of the several wonderful Brian May space-folk songs, with a beautiful lead vocal and all-galaxy guitar playing (of course).
3. "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke/Nevermore/The March of the Black Queen" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N73NdiH0cBk/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckRX0k9owAY) I'm not really cheating here, I don't think, because these ones pretty much function as a suite. (By the way, one of the many highlights of A Night at the Opera is the instrumental segue from May's "The Prophet's Song" to Mercury's "Love of My Life".) These songs sound best on the recently (2011) remastered versions, or on LP (if you're lucky enough to have one).
2. "Brighton Rock" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdUKi3_QntE): May is just awesome on this one, as is well known, but so's Mercury. Listen to the way he comes out of the falsetto halfway through the word "magic". How did he do that? And you've gotta love the fairground sound effects at the opening. Drama, fun, virtuosity: pure Queen.
1. "Killer Queen" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ti2P_z5IPw): Upon hearing this one for the first time, I listened to it another twenty or so times in a row. I simply couldn't believe that a song could be so perfectly crafted, and my opinion hasn't changed. The signature tune of one of the all-time rock and roll acts.
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