25 years ago today - WOW - 2nd June 1986 UK release date
A remember buying it from my local record shop and racing home with it as a teenager - 15years old
Where do the years go .....?
Not my fave Queen album by a long shot but very happy memories anyhow.....
Happy Birthday - A Kind Of Magic !
dagi · Member since
The album had brilliant artwork and gatefold sleeve.
But....musically it was a mish mash, uneven with some great songs but some awful ones too.
Sadly I rarely play it.
GratefulFan · Member since
Amazing! It doesn't sound a day over 24.9999999999999999999999999999.
QueenieMarie · Member since
it is such an amazing song! love it!
Thistle · Member since
that's just taking this anniversary stuff too far now lol :)
junketerQ2 · Member since
I was 13 years old when it came out & my cousin had it & played it to death whenever I stayed at his place. I remember one of the first tracks he played me was Gimme The Prize because he thought the whole intro spoken bit from Highlander about "finding a body with a decapitated head, a head which at this time has no name" was pretty cool! AKOM was the first album that got me into Queen so it means something extra to me. Also, weirdly, one of the things that attracted me to the band was the band photo from the Princess video shoot where theyre all in their trenchcoats - I thought that was such a cool photo & they looked fantastic - I wanted to find out all about his band & so embarked on an amazing journey into exploring the back catalogue & been hooked ever since!
ITSM · Member since
I got the LP-version from my local radio station, and it followed with a bunch of papers, including the dates of the Magic tour...
A Kind of Magic isn't my favorite album, but I like Pain is so close to Pleasure, Don't Lose Your Head and A Kind of Magic.
Always liked the album art and the A Kind of Magic video.
Makka · Member since
Wow. 25 years ago huh? I remember not even knowing that it was in our record store yet and I just happened to go in the day they got it. I was half way home when I realised the fuckers hadn't put the disk in the case so I had to go all the way back again. I was not happy. A real hit and miss album but some good songs on there!
master marathon runner · Member since
Makka wrote: Wow. 25 years ago huh? I remember not even knowing that it was in our record store yet and I just happened to go in the day they got it. I was half way home when I realised the fuckers hadn't put the disk in the case so I had to go all the way back again. I was not happy. A real hit and miss album but some good songs on there! .
.
Ha ha, you paint a very funny picture ! - thanks for the laugh.
malicedoom · Member since
25 years??? Insane. I felt old enough already before reading that. :)
Some songs took a while to grow on me, but now I think this is a GREAT album.
One Vision, Friends Will Be Friends, A Kind Of Magic, One Year of Love, Who Wants To Live Forever, Pain Is So Close To Pleasure, Princes of the Universe... all outstanding.
It's funny, if the 'sales figures' on Wikipedia are to be believed, then this album (at this point in time anyway - certainly not upon initial release) has sold as much in the USA as in the UK. I guess when an album is a 'hit' in The States, you can count on a much higher sales number. And even WITH that knowledge, Freddie still didn't give a damn how Queen albums (or his own) did here. That damn, stubborn genius... :)
jaq · Member since
Silver anniversary huh? if the inflatables were sold as minis, i'd float it. Malicedoom: Princes didn't even chart. US sales must've been a grower due to Highlander. Came across today a reference about AKOM matching Yazoo's Nobody's Diary. Just the ascending bit at the start. Nothing major.
qrock · Member since
I listened to A Kind of Magic earlier today. It's nowhere near as good as Queen's albums right up to the Game. My take on AKOM is:
One Vision, album version not as good as the single version. Still, quite a good song with a great riff. Not one of Queen's great, great songs but it has its moments.
A Kind of Magic - Good song and better live (like many of Queen's songs in the 1980s). Great bass riff, powerful vocals and nice guitar touches however there is an artificial, programmed hi-hat that I find annoying.
One Year of Love - Great piece of music played by part of Queen, the orchestra and a saxaphone player. Freddie's voice is in top form, the only thing about this song that I find a shame is that the drums are fake and Brian's guitar is notably absent (like most of this album) aswell as Queen's backing vocals.
Pain is So Close to Pleasure - A nice idea and piece of music with Freddie singing well. Only thing that is a bit of a let down is the absence of Brian's guitar except the end and Roger's unispiringly over the top elelctronic drums.
Friends Will Be Friends - A better song that Pain, Friends has nice guitar touches, good lyrics, powerful vocals and suitale drumming. It's not flattering or gobsmaking like Bohemian Rhapsody or as grand as Somebody to Love, however it does convey inspirng moods.
Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen's performance musically as a group is disjointed which lowers the majesty of this song, however as ANY song it is a brilliant piece of music. The mood, orchestra, guitar solo and obvioulsy Freddie's spine chilling vocals make this almost a Queen classic. Disapointing is the fact that Roger is Queen's drummer and yet again he does not play percussion, instead some other guy comes in and does it for him (It's so difficult that not even Neil Peart could do it!).
Gimme the Prize - Unlike the rest of the album, Brian's guitar is alive and kicking in Gimme the Prize with the explosive entry. Freddie's vocals aren't bad and Roger's drumming is half decent.
Don't Lose Your Head - Overall, a very dull song except for some parts including Freddie's great vocals in "Love conquers all" and the random "Don't drink and drive the car". Like most songs on this album, Brian's guitar is only heard in the outro of the song. I'm not convinced that Roger does the drumming in this song and for a percusionist of his standard, he really should be doing his job properly.
Princes of the Universe - Best song on the album? Great vocals, guitar and drums this makes up for some of the bleak moments on this album.
Overall, this album has some good moments, however it is light years away from the heights of the 1970s. With the lack of all members standing out, it seems more of a Freddie Mercury album than a Queen album.
PrimeJiveUSA · Member since
I agree...it IS "light years away from the '70's heights".
'Nuff said.
alaynasusan · Member since
I wish I had those memories, but I wasn't even born yet when AKOM came out. I was a Miracle baby, haha.
brians wig · Member since
OMG. 25 years. I was 15 and 1986 was the year I became a fan in the true sense. Where the hell has the time gone? :(
