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Queen - A Kind of Magic Audio CD

A fair review of the Queen "A Kind of Magic" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Queen reviews here, or go back to the Queen tabs.

Queen Band: Queen
Title: A Kind of Magic
Rating:
Release Date: 1991-06-17
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: One Vision 2: Kind of Magic 3: One Year of Love 4: Pain Is So Close to Pleasure 5: Friends Will Be Friends 6: Who Wants to Live Forever 7: Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme) 8: Don't Lose Your Head 9: Princes of the Universe 10: Forever 11: One Vision [Extended Vision][*]

Real Magic.....
The songs on this cd are so superb, it isn't even funny. This is one of Queen's true masterpiece cd's. It all started out when Brian May and the rest of Queen was asked to write a song for the movie, "Highlander". But, after seeing a rough cut of the movie. Queen ended up doing an entire soundtrack. That just fit the movie perfectly, like a glove. A real crown jewel, in Queen's catalogue of music. .


A Classic!
He practices martial arts and found that the songs included help inspire and pump him up for bouts. I bought this album for my boyfriend as motivational music. The very theme of the album is going after the prize, and I imagine it would work much the same way for any athlete and any sport. A must have for any Queen fan.


A Wonderful Collection from Queen!
You must have this in your collection if you are a FAN of QUEEN. A Kind Of Magic is a wonderful collection of songs from Queen.


Love This CD
Trust me you will want the covers. Hell anything Queen recorded with Freddie Mercury is absolutely divine!
Just don't make the mistake of downloading. The information and artwork is priceless.


Magic?... Well, Kind Of
Still, it is not solid all the way through so only 3 stars here. The value of this CD increases if you are a "Highlander" movie fan, which I am. How can one give this 5 stars? And yet it certainly deserves more than 1 star. Total time is 50:31 - not bad.

It has for me 3 first rate fabulous songs:
"Princes of the Universe"
"One Vision"
"One Vision" - alternate extended version

It seems people either really love "Princes. . . " or they hate it. Some say the lyrics are stupid, but they were written to match a movie about power, sex and immortality and I think they do that perfectly. The first 1:28 of this song is, to me, the third greatest moment in Queen recorded history (behind "We Will Rock You" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"). The rest of the song is not quite as good and gets a little bogged down in complicated structure, but it's still great. As long as they were adding alternate versions to this CD, it would have been nice to have an edited version of "Princes. . . " with just the first 1:28 in addition to the full song.

The CD has 4 other "great" songs:
"A Kind Of Magic"
"Gimme The Prize (Kurgan's Theme)"
"Who wants To Live Forever"
"Forever" - instrumental alternate of "Who Wants to Live Forever"

Again, you might have to be a "Highlander" fan to love "Gimme The Prize" but it has all the elements of a heavy metal/glam metal rocker that literally bludgeons you for over 4 minutes with sword blades clanking and a "bagpipe" guitar solo supported by a relentless percussion section - I love it!! I like the movie lines mixed in - especially the reference by Kurgan to Neil Young's great lyric, "It's better to burn out than to fade away. " However, it would have been nice to have another version on the CD that had just the music & singing with no movie lines mixes in. I think the song would be more appreciated for the great rocker that it is if this was done - I hope to hear such if they ever remaster these albums.

"A Kind of Magic" is a good pop tune that was a hit that to me has the same feel as earlier hits "Somebody to Love" or "Killer Queen. " "Who Wants to Live Forever" and its piano instrumental alternate version, "Forever" are great quiet songs, and very moving. The best part of "Who Wants to Live. . . " is from about 2:10 to 3:10 when there is just a touch of distorted electric guitar mixed in with the build-up to the final chorus. The song suffers a little with an extended coda (it's a 5:13 long song and the singing ends at 3:44) but this is because it's soundtrack music. The piano instrumental alternate version is breathtaking.

I don't like any of the remaining 4 songs, "One Year of Love", Pain is So Close. . ", "Friends Will Be Friends", and "Don't Lose Your Head. " Very mediocre, sappy, or overly 80's synth. "Pain Is So Close. . . " could have been done by Boy George, "Friends. . . " sounds like sappy REO Speedwagon, and "One Year. . . " could be Pete Cetera and 80's Chicago slop with a cheesy sax solo.

So, there you have it, 11 songs total, 3 are spectacular, 4 are great and 4 are pretty bad. Of the 7 great songs, 2 are alternate versions, so there are really just 5 unique great songs compared to 4 pretty bad ones. Many bands have done much worse but there are a whole bunch of rock albums out there that are much better. On balance, I think this deserves 3 stars. Plus, some of the good songs are not found on any of the greatest hits CDs. .


You can see a complete list of all Queen discography, or go back to the Queen tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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