Takin' You Back
Queen discovers a Kind of Magic
It’s pretty generally accepted that Freddie Mercury of Queen is one of the best vocalists of all time. The man’s mastery of his instrument and sheer musical talent are nearly unparalleled. Over the band’s 21 years with Mercury as their front man, they released 15 albums - 12 of which were certified platinum at least once in either the U.S. or U.K. They enjoyed huge commercial success with their well-known singles like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Another One Bites The Dust” and the arena staple “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions.” However, we won’t be exploring any of the more commercially successful releases. No, we’re going to go back to the 1986 release A Kind of Magic.
The twelfth studio album for Queen, A Kind of Magic was the unofficial soundtrack to the first Highlander movie, with six of the nine tracks appearing in the movie. It was also the final Queen album to be promoted by a full concert tour, due to Freddie Mercury’s battle with AIDS. Also, for the first time in the history of the band, Queen allowed cameras into the studio during the production of A Kind of Magic, filming what would become the video for “One Vision,” the first single from the album.
The first track on the album, “One Vision” was produced almost immediately after Live Aid (Queen’s live aid performance is widely considered to be one of the greatest rock concert performances of all time). With lyrics inspired by men like Martin Luther King, and an overall vision of world improvement, “One Vision” is a wildly inspirational track. Queen didn’t skimp on their trademark sound either. The song, like any Queen song, is all about vocals, but adds in some pretty rockin’ guitar riffs and even a nice solo. This song was one of three that didn’t appear in Highlander, but it did make an appearance in Iron Eagle a year before the album was actually released.
If, like me, you spent any significant amount of time watching MTV or daytime cable in the early-mid 90’s, you’re familiar with the song “Princes of the Universe.” The song was the credit music for the Highlander TV series, and also had one of the coolest music videos ever. The video is essentially a rooftop performance with shots of Highlander (the movie, not the TV show) cut in here and there, but the most kick-ass part of the video is when Freddie Mercury crosses “swords” with Connor MacLeod, the hero in Highlander…MacLeod with his sword and Mercury with his half-mic stand thing.
A Kind of Magic may not be filled with the Queen songs you know, but it’s still a damn fine musical offering and without a doubt the best unofficial soundtrack to a movie about immortals that fight each other with swords in the history of unofficial soundtracks to movies about immortals that fight each other with swords.
Posted by Cory Roop on Dec 23, 2008 @ 7:00 am
