After a recent flurry of Queen
reviews I’ve actually reached the end of my Queen collection – all 15 albums
worth. It’s been a great ride.
Disc 749 is….A Kind of Magic
Artist: Queen
Year of Release: 1986
What’s up with the Cover? Queen has a lot of bad album covers: the four
merging heads on “The Miracle,” “Hot Space’s” badly imagined Warhol print. “A
Kind of Magic” takes top spot for worst of the worst. The band appear to be
genies from Disney’s “Aladdin” dressed up as an eighties boy band. Side note:
I’ve never seen more of Brian May’s bare chest, or less of Freddie’s.
How I Came To Know It: I have had this album since it
came out. I originally owned it on tape. My cassette version was too tightly
wound, and would always slow down when playing on my cheap ghetto blaster. One
day in frustration I threw it against the wall of my apartment and broke it for
good and all.
Next
paycheque, I replaced it on this more durable format. Fittingly, I broke the
jewel case on this one, and now the cover falls off every time I open it. I don’t
recall how it broke. Maybe it saw its own cover art in a mirror and shattered
from the shock of it all.
How It Stacks Up: I have all 15 of Queen’s studio
albums. Competition is tough and “A Kind of Magic” was only able to land in 12th
spot. Here is the full recap.
- News of the
World: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 198)
- A Night at
the Opera: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 326)
- The Game:
4 stars (reviewed at Disc 15)
- Self-Titled: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 158)
- II: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 88)
- A Day at
the Races: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 202)
- Sheer Heart
Attack: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 352)
- Hot Space: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 738)
- Innuendo: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 113)
- The
Miracle: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 52)
- The
Works: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 739)
- A Kind of
Magic: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
- Flash
Gordon Soundtrack: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 659)
- Jazz: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 80)
- Made in
Heaven: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 698)
Ratings: 3 stars
It’s always hard to review an “every note” album.
Those are albums you’ve owned so long and listened to so many times you can
anticipate every song before it comes on, and every note before you hear it. It
is like a chair you’ve sat in so long that it has started to conform to the
contours of your ass. You overlook the faults of these records because they just
feel…comfortable.
“A Kind of Magic” is an ‘every note’ album for me,
but just because I’ve been settling into it for almost thirty years doesn’t
mean it isn’t good. This is Queen, after all. It still has Freddie Mercury
singing. It still has Brian May on guitar. Both are still in full command of
their prodigious talents.
So is bassist John Deacon, but he isn’t given the
same kind of opportunity to show off. He’s got a pretty groovy riff going on
the title track, but it is maddeningly back in the mix. On “Don’t Lose Your Head” Deacon gets his
due, but now the song is weak.
As for drummer Roger Taylor, he only gets two
writing credits, and one of them is the aforementioned “Don’t Lose Your Head.” Worse, the nightmarish production values of
1986 permeate this album, and really suck the life out of his drumming, good as
it is. I feel like Taylor and Deacon are Queen’s secret weapons, and having an
album where they take a back seat doesn’t do the band justice.
There are still great tracks, though, including the
bombastic opener, “One Vision” which shows
nice patience. It has a slow atmospheric
build for over a minute before May’s guitar explodes in your eardrums. They
lyrics are mighty and inspirational in a kind of non-specific way that makes everything
seem somehow more heroic. The song was the theme for the 1986 movie “Iron Eagle.”
“Iron Eagle” starred Lou Gossett Jr. and some kid flying around in F-16s in the
service of dubious plot devices. “One Vision” is the only good thing I can
remember about the movie.
But the real movie that “A Kind of Magic” is
associated with is “Highlander” The movie featured Christopher Lambert and Sean
Connery running around with swords chopping people’s heads off in service of a
dubious plot point as well. Unlike “Iron Eagle” was loaded to the gunwales with
good things. The movie is also chock-full of music from this album.
When I was in high school, “Highlander” was one of
my favourite movies. I even emulated hero “Connor MacLeod” by wearing a trench coat
and sneakers to school (no sword). Over the years I’m sure I’ve exhorted Sheila
watch it multiple times. I think around the third viewing, she even started to
like it.
The songs over the years appealed to me partly
because they reminded me of the movie. “Princes
of the Universe” captures the bombast of someone who is immortal unless
they are beheaded. It is full of May’s grandiose guitar. “Gimme the Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)” is the ultimate villain music,
with screeching metal guitar and even an audio clip of the movie’s final
swordfight (spoiler alert: it ends with someone losing their head).
Right about now you are realizing that Roger Taylor
song I mentioned earlier is literally about not losing your head.
Basically, Queen has demonstrated once again that
they can do a soundtrack, fully capture the feel of the film, and still bring a
heap of value-added Queen musicality.
Over the years my love for “Highlander” has never
faded, but my favourite songs on “A Kind of Magic” have moved around a little.
I still love the bombast of “One Vision”
and “Princes of the Universe” but my
new favourite track is “Friends Will Be
Friends.”
I’m not sure “Friends
Will Be Friends” is even featured in the film, but it is Queen at their
best. No other song on the album comes close to letting Freddie soar vocally,
and May’s guitar work is unhurried and sweet. The 80s production is toned to
the point that this song could easily appear on an earlier classic like “News
of the World” or “Day at the Races.”
“Friends Will
Be Friends” has no beheadings featured, but it is just as literal when it
comes to its subject matter:
“Friends will be friends
When you’re in need of love they
give you care and attention.
Friends will be friends
When you’re through with life and
all hope is lost,
Hold out your hand cos friends
will be friends, right till the end.”
Friends are awesome, and I’m lucky to have a lot of
great ones. This song always makes me think of them. Through all the weird
production, and all the conceptual movie songs, Queen took a time out on “A
Kind of Magic” to touch my heart with music. That’s the reason why just like
the characters in “Highlander” they are going to live forever.
Best
tracks: One
Vision, Pain is So Close to Pleasure, Friends Will Be Friends, Princes of the
Universe
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