A Kind of Magic (1986)
1. One Vision
2. A 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
As the decade of the 1980s progressed,
Queen found themselves slowly evolving as a bit more adult-contemporary
and a bit less loud and flamboyant. Yes, they could still rock, and
they could rock hard, but their music was....well....let's just
say that they were aging right along with their fans. And their fans
were still thrilled by the band's output as they should be. Queen was
still an immensely talented band that seemed to adapt to the changing
times just fine.
1986 found them once again writing full length pieces for a movie. This
time it was the fantasy epic "The Highlander". Unlike their work on the
Flash Gordon, they wrote a lot more
actual songs for this project. So much so, that they basically
decided to release all of the songs (along with a few more) on their own
release and not give it over to the actual soundtrack - maybe thinking it
would get more attention as a "full length" release. Regardless, the
formula works. Yes, at times these songs seem like they "belong
somewhere else" (i.e. on a soundtrack), but for the most part, the
pieces are very strong by themselves, and my guess is many would have a
hard time figuring out what songs here are "movie" songs, and what songs
were done independently.
The feeling here is a bit more majestic and sweeping. There are a lot
of orchestral backgrounds that accompany the boys this time, yet this
sort of aura is really perfect for a band such as Queen, and you wonder
why they never did more of songs such as Who Wants To Live
Forever and One Year of Love. The only song that suffers
from movie dialog banter is the hard rocking Gimme the Prize
(Kurgan's Theme). It's a very strong song, and had they cut the
overlapping of dialogue, it would have made the track a better listen.
Also very powerful is the album opener One Vision that ranks as
one of their best all-time songs.
Really, the only disappointment, is the tepid dance number Pain is So
Close to Pleasure which kind of feels horribly out of place here.
Otherwise, though, the record has a very consistent feel throughout, and
ranks as one of the most unique, yet enjoyable Queen records because of
the familiarity. They also proceeded to go on a mammoth tour (not in
the U.S. They were still ignored for some strange reason) and, sadly,
would prove to be their last due to Freddie Mercury's soon to be
diagnosed illness.
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