Customer Reviews

Live at Brixton Academy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Read all the reviews, unfortunately they only had the CD to listen to. I was fortunate to be in London in Feb. 1994 when this was available on VHS (PAL) version. Since I have a couple of multisystem VCR's I am able to enjoy this concert like it should be. Yeah, Brians voice often was a little weak, but what did you expect, he is from a band that had Freddie Mercury handling the majority of the vocals. The guitar playing was top notch and the band was extemely well suited to backing him up. Also the backing vocalists were quite attractive and they were very talented as well and put a lot of "movement" into singing the backing vocals. The concert was extremely well filmed and it is a shame that this has not been released to DVD yet and may never be. At least I bought two copies, so if the one ever wears out, I still have another, and I am probably the only one in the US to have this...lucky me. If you only bought the CD version of this, you only got half the show, this was a concert that was very entertaining and to see Brian playing the "Red Special" up close a lot was great. Dennis C.

No one can down Brian May. His vocal is and has always been tremendous. Anyone who has listened carefully to the Queen albums knows that Brian's vocals are and have always been immaculate. Playing amazing guitar at the same time just gives him more points. The fact that he's performing old Queen tunes just goes to show how much of their material he actually penned. Hail Brian May. Hail Queen.

This album captures the style that Brian contributed most to Queen: hard-edged, emotion-packed music. This is a roller coaster ride through his solo work and songs from Queen. I especially liked his version of "Since you've been gone". This album is a must for any fan of Queen or Brian May. When he plays "Now I'm Here", it is awsome to hear Brian do the vocals. His soulful approach to Freddie's words is inspiring. GET THIS ALBUM!

I saw May live in Royal Oak, MI on his Back to the Light tour. He and his band were spectacular. This album captures that fire. Too bad Cozy Powell his drummer died. Listen to this disc, and you'll know what I mean.

If you are a Queen fan this is a must have,great piece of music
and the late Cosy Powells drumming is incredable.

BEING A FAN OF QUEEN I KNEW BRIAN COULD SING AND IS THE BEST GUITARIST IN THE WORLD. BUT, I DID NOT EXPECT WHAT I HEARD ON THIS CD. HE IS AWESOME. I AM SO GLAD HE DECIDED TO DO HIS OWN TOUR AND CD'S. ALTHOUGHT FREDDIE WAS
A GREAT SINGER AND SHOWMAN, BRIAN WAS ALWAYS IN HIS SHADOW.
HE PUT TOGETHER A GREAT BAND WITH COZY POWELL ON DRUMS. THEY SEEMED TO ENJOY WORKING TOGETHER. COZY HAS BEEN MISSED SINCE HIS UNTIMELY DEATH. BUT, THE WORK WITH BRIAN WILL GO ON FOREVER.
IF YOU ARE A FAN OF QUEEN OR BRIAN MAY THIS IS A MUST OWN. YOU WILL ENJOY THIS CD. IF YOU DON'T KNOW QUEEN OR BRIAN'S MUSIC YOU SHOULD BUY IT AND YOU WILL BECOME A FAN OF BOTH.

Didn't realise how old this CD was, but the different spin on the style of music was a change.

While Brian doesn't have the vocal chops of Freddie or Paul Rodgers, the versions of Queen songs (notice that Brian wrote the majority of the ROCKERS for Queen) kick much butt. I'd LOVE to see the video of this. But the cd is certainly sheer listening pleasure, and should be played at high volume. The Brian solo stuff is well done too. If you love Queen's Rockier songs, these are the definitive live versions. I saw Queen in 1986 at Wembley, a show that was preserved for posterity, and currently available on CD or DVD. With that said, compare the versions of the same songs between the two, and the Brian May live cd is superior.

Brian's first live album...and it shows. Unfortunately, his voice was not as stong then as it is now and it breaks quite often attempting many notes. The only song in which he does it perfectly is "Love of My Life", which if you think about it, should've been the hardest for him to do. Not from just an emotional aspect (Freddie always sang this as a duet with the audience, Brian now had that job....what pressure) but he pulls it off..even hitting a higher note in the middle than Freddie did.The concert was recorded at the half-way point in his tour that year. To me, the band wasn't smooth.His female backing singers didn't suit his lead and often sounded odd when they harmonized.It was nice to see Brian bring back the slow/fast combination of "We Will Rock You" for this tour. I will admit it took some time for me to get used to a different drumming style on the Queen songs (nothing against Cozy.)In all honesty, this was a decent effort but shouldn't have been released. A live album should have been put out from his last tour in 1997 when his voice was much improved.

It is almost painful to hear songs like Tie Your Mother Down, Love of my life, Headlong, Now I am here, etc without the powerful and amazingly beautiful voice of Queen's bigger than life Freddie Mercury.
Those songs should never be sang by anyone else as nobody will ever be able to sing them as Freddie did.