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Rating:
"A Kind of Magic" was released in 1986, and stringing together one hit after another, it achieved tremendous commercial success, marking in some ways a revival after some previous episodes that critics judged a bit uncertain.
Whatever one might say, there is NOTHING in this album that can be called rock, nothing. It is a pop album. With "A Kind of Magic," Queen dive (or sink?) fully into a commercial climax, now completely bastardized from their glam roots, which only ten years earlier led them to write historic songs like "Somebody to Love."
It is a very heterogeneous product, as it is composed of nine pieces absolutely disjointed from any common conceptual and musical plan. On one side, we have the more melodic and sickly sweet ones ("One Vision", "A Kind of Magic", "Pain is So Close to Pleasure"); on the other, a kind of angry pop, quite tacky, frankly, passed off as a sort of Hard Rock branded Brian May ("Princess of the Universe", "Gimme the Prize", "Don't Lose Your Head"); and finally, the three beautiful ballads ("One Year of Love", "Friends Will Be Friends", and "Who Wants to Live Forever"). A shame, I would have liked to hear more pieces like these last ones. If the album had been all like this, it would have turned out to be a masterpiece. I allow myself a digression, "One Year of Love" is extraordinary. The only one that in a decidedly cheerful and defiant mood manages to bring out that bar melancholy that I love so much and that, at least for a few minutes, takes the album away from the party lights to bring it directly to the end of it, in a much more intimate and touching background. Curiously, Deacon decided to replace the guitar with a sax solo after a discussion with May, and I am thankful because that sax part is truly enchanting; probably the guitarist would have ruined everything, as everything he touches here destroys, or almost.
All things considered, I don't see the reason to dismiss an album like this, which moreover lent six tracks to the soundtrack of a great film like Highlander. Of course, it depends on the perspective in which you look at it. If it had been the work of a very ordinary pop band of powdered wigs from the decade in question, I could easily have given it a four, but since the Queen are involved and things are not very clear to me, I opt for an honest three. Clearly, these are not the Queens I like, but in all honesty, "A Kind of Magic" seems to me an enjoyable album, appreciable even by the most radical fans.
Simply its main feature is to be fun; who knows, maybe this wasn't the goal the band had set for themselves, but on the other hand, there are no concrete goals in this album, except for sales. Take it as it comes, and enjoy it too.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 A Kind of Magic (04:24)
It's a kind of magic
It's a kind of magic
A kind of magic
One dream one soul, one prize
One goal, one golden glance of what should be
It's a kind of magic
One shaft of light that shows the way
No mortal man can win this day
It's a kind of magic
The bell that rings inside your mind
It's challenging the doors of time
It's a kind of magic
The waiting seems eternity
The day will dawn of sanity
Is this a kind of magic
It's a kind of magic
There can be only one
This rage that lasts a thousand years
Will soon be gone
This flame that burns inside of me
I'm hearing secret harmonies
It's a kind of magic
The bell that rings inside your mind
It's challenging the doors of time
It's a kind of magic
It's a kind of magic
This rage that lasts a thousand years
Will soon be, will soon be
Will soon be gone
This is a kind of magic
There can be only one
This rage that lasts a thousand years
Will soon be gone
Magic – it's a kind of magic
It's a kind of magic
Magic, magic, magic, magic
It's magic
It's a kind of magic
04 Pain Is So Close to Pleasure (04:22)
Words and music by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon
Ooh ooh pain is so close to pleasure oh yeah
Sunshine and rainy weather go hand in hand together all
your life
Ooh ooh pain is so close to pleasure everybody knows
One day we love each other then we're fighting one another
all the time
When I was young and just getting started
And people talked to me they sounded broken hearted
Then I grew up and got my imagination
And all I wanted was to start a new relation
So in love but love had a bad reaction
I was looking for some good old satisfaction
But pain is all I got when all I needed was some love and
affection
Ooh ooh pain is so close to pleasure yeah yeah
Sunshine and rainy weather go hand in hand together all
your life
Pain and pleasure
Ooh ooh pain and pleasure
When your plans go wrong and you turn out the light
But inside of your mind you have to put up a fight
Where are the answers that we're all searching for
There's nothing in this world to be sure of anymore
Some days you're feeling good some days you're feeling bad
But if you're feeling happy someone else is always sad
Let the sweetness of love wipe the tears from your face
For better for worse so let's make the best of the rest of our
years
Ooh ooh pain is so close to pleasure I told you so
Sunshine and rainy weather go hand in hand together all
your life
Pain and pleasure
Ooh ooh pain is so close to pleasure yeah yeah
Sunshine and rainy weather go hand in hand together all
your life
All your life
Pain - pleasure ....
06 Who Wants to Live Forever (05:17)
There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams
Yet slips away from us
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
There's no chance for us
It's all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment
Set aside for us
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Who dares to love forever?
When love must die
But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Forever is our today
Who waits forever anyway?
09 Princes of the Universe (03:33)
Here we are - born to be kings
We're the princes of the universe
Here we belong - fighting to survive
In a world with the darkest powers
And here we are, We're the princes of the universe
Here we belong, fighting for survival
We've come to be the rulers of your world
I am immortal, I have inside me blood of kings
I have no rival, no man can be my equal
Take me to the future of your world
Born to be kings, princes of the universe
Fighting and free, got your world in my hand
I'm here for your love and I'll make my stand
We were born to be princes of the universe
No man could understand, my power is in my own hand
Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh
People talk about you, people say you've had your day
I'm a man that will go far, fly the moon and reach for the stars
With my sword and head held high
Got to pass the test first time - yeah
I know that people talk about me I hear it every day
But I can prove you wrong cause I'm right first time
Yeah Yeah
Alright
Watch this man fly
Bring on the girls
Here we are
Born to be kings
We're the princes of the universe
Here we belong
Born to be kings
Princes of the universe, Fighting and free
Got the world in my hands, I'm here for your love
And I'll make my stand
We were born to be princes of the universe.(echo echo echo)
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Other reviews
By claudio1
The complete resurrection of Queen happens in 1986, the year in which "A Kind of Magic" emerges.
A masterpiece is the next track... Who Wants To Live Forever, a song of great depth and substance thanks especially to the presence of the orchestra.
By Danilo1987
The album, in my opinion, remains the best in Freddie Mercury and co.'s discography and definitely their best '80s record.
'One Vision' is a very powerful and rocking song in perfect Queen style, which will also open the concerts of the new (and unfortunately last) Queen tour.
By Axlspark
'Who Wants To Live Forever' is a MASTERPIECE!!!!!
The guitar intro in 'Gimme The Prize' is the best in Queen’s entire career.
By Io Ho Il Pene
This album is made up of songs, and now I’ll make the playlist so I can tell you what the songs are like: for example, 'Kind Of Magic', which in the background has quite psychedelic disco keyboard sounds, new genius sounds that renewed techno-rock where Freddy’s voice stretches out in all its fiery power.
If I were you, I would make this immortal album mine, and the 400 thousand souls at Wembley Stadium that night are the most striking demonstration of this.
By andrew1992
"A Kind Of Magic is rightly considered the rebirth of Queen after the dramatic decline in quality of the previous albums."
"Freddie shows an enviable tenor vocal performance... consecrating him as one of the most beautiful voices ever."
