vellutogrigio

@LaRock: they were clever in the sense that - by not getting stuck on a genre or cliché (except for the "crypto," "not crypto" gay thing with the singer) they managed to ride the trends with a certain class and style, also keeping an eye on their wallets (for example, we can't say that the Clash were clever - in the aforementioned terms). I wouldn't actually call them fake, because there’s always a lot of inspiration in their songs, also considering that, before being a band, they were really just four friends who liked to play together (and that makes them still likable to me). The melodic genius of Mercury, the guitar style of May, and certain bass lines by Deacon are certainly not to be underestimated. This live is probably a commercial move since, from the mid-'80s on - due to Freddy's illness - they reduced their record releases, and it’s known that live performances help fill the coffers of record labels.

Very kraut review, even though it says nothing about the album, so I'm saving you. Quoting Eliodoro, I am among those who – during the long train journeys that I sometimes have to take for work – get dazed with "Tago Mago" and "Neu! 1", arriving at meetings a bit bewildered but happy with the unique pleasure that this music – still futuristic in 2008 – can provide.

@Morgan: I don't know how refined Bohemian Rhapsody (both the song and the album) was for an audience already quite accustomed to Gentle Giant, Yes, Van Der Graaf, etc. To me, the song seems like a clever patchwork of different genres and themes, without any unity or connection, that tickles the strings of the Anglo-Saxon audience – while the Latin audience might just raise an eyebrow at "Galileo, Galileo, Figaro, Magnifico." I agree about "Innuendo," which is certainly a sad, lonely, and final album (given the context in which it was conceived and produced), whose commercial success depended essentially on the wave of emotion provoked by the late Freddy. With this, I reiterate that Queen are good; it's not easy for anyone to put together two anthologies with very beautiful pieces, albeit – I emphasize – a bit cunning in riding all the trends.

Let's just say that almost all Queen albums are what you rightly call "a crazy commercial venture." This doesn't mean they are bad, but they are certainly appealing to the audience, riding the waves of hard rock, glam rock, disco music, funk, plastic pop, hard rock revival, melodrama und so weit.

I vote for you because I haven't seen the movie.

However: a more interesting review of "The Memoirs of Hadrian." Between making the horse a senator and the flimsy paper a minister, I don't know which is worse.

Very good. A film definitely worth watching.

I agree with you on Sciascia; but I'm not surprised, given the premises ;)

I have also read the books you mention, and I love them very much. The scene from "Panunzio" is taken from "Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto," also by Petri. A film of such depth that it scares me every time I watch it!