Queen
A Kind of Magic

After the stunning success of their performance at Rock In Rio (considered by many to be the best live performance by Queen) and the The Works Tour that took the band around the world for over two years, Queen returned to the studio in 1985. The result is a gem in the realms of rock and pop, as well as their best album of the '80s (alongside the subsequent "The Miracle" from 1989), "A Kind Of Magic," released in 1986. Six songs from "A Kind Of Magic" were included in the soundtrack of the film Highlander.

It begins with a song that would immediately become a classic for the group, "One Vision", the perfect rock piece by Queen. The song almost teases the listener with its initial keyboard parts before revealing a heavily energetic rock riff emanating from Brian May's guitar. A powerful and sunny track, featuring, as always, a magnificent performance by Freddie Mercury.
Opposite to the hard rock power of "One Vision" is the sweet funk-inspired melody of the title track. Written by drummer Roger Taylor, the song is characterized by the unmistakable bass line of John Deacon and the delightful mini-guitar solos by Brian May. Another very well-accomplished track.

Following the first two songs, characterized by a decidedly "fun" atmosphere, comes a very melancholic ballad, "One Year Of Love". Once again, Mercury delivers an excellent performance, but the peak of expressiveness in the song is only reached by the sax solo played by Steve Gregory, saxophonist for Alan White of Yes and Fleetwood Mac.

Next is a lighter song, "Pain Is So Close To Pleasure", clearly inspired by Michael Jackson (a great friend of Freddie Mercury, by the way) featuring very high falsetto vocals.
Now it's the turn of two of my favorite songs in the Queen repertoire, the ballads "Friends Will Be Friends" and "Who Wants To Live Forever". The first, written by Deacon, presents a melodic pop rock musical base in full '80s style, dealing with the theme of friendship. The second turns out to be the most engaging and perhaps the most beautiful track on the album. The use of the orchestra, the choirs, the small instrumental pauses, and Freddie Mercury's powerful and expressive singing make this track fantastic, and it's almost impossible not to be moved after listening to it.

Of a completely different nature is "Gimme The Prize", characterized by powerful hard rock and May's sharp riff. Freddie offers his best performance of the album (at least in my opinion), reaching very high notes that will only be surpassed without falsetto in "Innuendo" and "The Show Must Go On". The track is enhanced by a great guitar solo and the instrumental interlude.
The next "Don't Lose Your Head" presents the only dip in tone of the album. The song revisits electronics, but not used as well as in more successful tracks like "Breakthru" or "The Invisible Man". A fairly unnecessary piece, which lowers the value of the album.
A choir introduces us to the final gem of the album, "Princes Of The Universe", which is closely tied to "Gimme The Prize", as it features the same riff. The song manages to wonderfully alternate between hard and rhythmic sections and more sunny and open ones. The music video shot for the song is very beautiful, where Freddie Mercury, armed with his famous half-microphone stand, engages in a duel with Highlander protagonist Christopher Lambert.

And so ends this "A Kind Of Magic", a complete work, a journey through numerous musical genres, an album that every rocker and non-rocker alike must absolutely have.