qrock wrote: 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.
Nice work - I'd say I have to agree with about 99% of that !
bryony