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Full disclosure: I am a HUGE Queen fan (they and the Beatles are my favorite bands).... That said, maybe I hold them to a higher standard, but this to me is not one of their best albums and is closer to one of their worst. Which isn't to say that it doesn't have its moments (it does!), but... this is the only Queen album that has 3 songs in a row that I would just as soon skip then try to listen to this entire album.
The opening "One Vision" is something of a new-era Queen classic. It's not nearly as adventurous as some of their bolder '70's material, but it's a good cut and a good opener. It was released as a single well ahead of the album to generate some buzz (hopefully) and was also licensed for use in the "Iron Eagle" movie, I assume so the song would get some wider exposure (Queen's U.S. audiences had been dwindling for years.....). The following "A Kind of Magic" is excellent though and the first of six songs either inspired by or used in the movie "Highlander". It's got a great groove, Freddie is on as usual and Brian May lends his distinctive (albeit subtle) guitar flavor as well. A nice start...
But then it bogs down with three Freddie Mercury and/or John Deacon penned songs that make this the worst album side in Queen's catalog despite the strong start. First is "One Year of Love", a rather lackluster ballad and quite possibly the sappiest song in the entire Queen catalog. "Pain Is So Close To Pleasure" follows and is just as bad. Same for "Friends Will Be Friends": it's a rather generic ballad, though I will easily take it over the previous two songs.
Fortunately, side 2 picks up. It's more consistent musically and thematically as all 4 songs have tie-ins with the Highlander film. It begins with the Brian May ballad "Who Wants To Live Forever". Still not Queen at their best in my book, but it's a powerful ballad with nice orchestration and the lead vocals shared by May and regular frontman Freddie Mercury are well done. Next up comes "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" and perhaps the most powerful song on the album. It's heavy and Freddie Mercury roars accordingly. It gets my vote for best song on the album...
Roger Taylor's "Don't Lose Your Head" is up next and while it's a largely synth-driven song with electronic drums -- something many long-time Queen fans were not crazy about -- this one still works for me (although the version in the movie features less synths and more of May's guitar, and that would have been interesting to hear too). The album then closes with "Princes of the Universe", another solid rocker that is actually a little (too?) reminiscent of "Kurgan's Theme" in places, but nevertheless gives the album a superb closing (some critics mistakenly assumed Queen were a little full of themselves, writing about themselves as "Princes of the Universe" and panned them for big heads and oversized egos, not realizing the context of the lyrics as they relate to the Highlander film).
All told, this album is pretty inconsistent musically, particularly in the first half where 3 of the weakest songs in the entire Queen catalog hit the listener back-to-back-to-back. Thematically this album is a bit of an odd mix as well with six songs used in or inspired by one film ("Highlander"), two "other" songs with no film tie-in whatsoever, and then one other song licensed to another film ("Iron Eagle"). A stronger lineup of songs could have perhaps overcome this but this collection gets bogged down in it instead.
The Bonus EP is rather scant as well: we get alternate versions of "One Vision" and "A Kind of Magic" (neither of which trump the album version), a single remix of "Pain Is So Close To Pleasure", perhaps the worst song on the album, and a live version of "One Vision" that is indistinguishable from the version previously released on "Live at Wembley '86" (that cd was from the 7/12/86 show at Wembley, this bonus track was recorded from the night before, 7/11/86). "Forever" is an exquisite piano/orchestra only version of "Who Wants To Live Forever", and a great piece of music in my book, but this was also previously released on both the original 1986 release of this cd and the 1991 Hollywood remaster, so... nothing new. "Friends Will Be Friends Will Be Friends" is a rather pointless extended version of "Friends Will Be Friends" that also appeared previously on the original cd released of this title, which leaves "A Kind of Vision" as the lone track of interest for me: Roger Taylor has said that both "One Vision" and "A Kind of Magic" actually grew from the same lyrical idea, and here we get to hear the song before it splits in two: the music is that of "One Vision", but lyrically there are shades of "A Kind of Magic". Interesting to hear how these ideas developed, and yet it also doesn't cry out for repeated listenings.
All told, the 2011 remasters were pretty skimpy on the Bonus EP's, and they saved the skimpiest for one of their worst albums as "A Kind of Magic" doesn't feature much of the Queen brilliance from the 70's, though they recovered nicely with 1989's "The Miracle" and 1991's "Innuendo". This is still a worthwhile album for fans of the band, but if you're new to Queen and exploring, this would be one of the last titles I'd recommend. Instead, sample their 70's peak with "A Night at the Opera", "Sheer Heart Attack", "News of the World" or "Jazz". For a taste of the best from the latter half of their career, check out "The Game" or "The Miracle" or "Innuendo" over this one. If you've got all that and want more, maybe this one's for you too, but there are many Queen albums better than this one to explore first.
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Kev Edwards
Very good but stick with your original vinyl copies if you have them.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 11, 2017
