Queen
A Kind Of Magic

THE REVIEW

The complete resurrection of Queen happens in 1986, the year in which "A Kind of Magic" emerges. The album accompanies the film "Highlander" in a different way from the disaster of "Flash Gordon" where the tracks were too attached to the film and were overly boring.

Here there's practically everything:
it begins with four dark voices, an intro that absolutely rocks, and the energetic One Vision which opens the work.
Then comes the title track, A Kind Of Magic, one of Roger Taylor's best songs where Queen shifts to a typical '80s pop.
Next, a recurring theme in "Highlander", of a style and genre completely different from the first two songs: that of One Year Of Love, a sweet love song where a good saxophone played by Steve Gregory emerges in the most intense moments.
Then there's a single of little success (although it was released only in the Netherlands, Germany, and a few other countries): Pain Is So Close To Pleasure, another underrated song with which the group tries to minimize the love pains of the previous song, very close in falsetto to Cool Cat and it's yet another showcase of Freddie's talent.
The "abundant" Friends Will Be Friends (also featured in some cookie commercials) is in a typical Queen style even though in some parts it is too "heavy".
A masterpiece is the next track, also famous, Who Wants To Live Forever, a song of great depth and substance thanks especially to the presence of the orchestra and the transition from Brian's gentle voice to Freddie Mercury's strong one.
Then there is Gimme The Prize, very connected to the film and especially to the Kurgan's Theme, distinguished by a good guitar work by Brian, especially regarding the beginning.
Track number eight is the "misunderstood" Don't Lose Your Head where the compelling rhythm chosen by Roger Taylor is truly engaging; the song is as dark as almost all the other songs by its author and overall a great contribution by the drummer to the album.
The last actual song is a rock gem also very tied to the film (in the accompanying video clip, Freddie and Christopher Lambert, the film's protagonist, engage in a fake fight): I'm talking about Princes Of The Universe.

The eleventh and twelfth tracks are A Kind Of Magic Of Magic and Friends Will Be Friends Will Be Friends. No, I'm not mistaken in writing, nor have I lost my mind: they are two highly unnecessary and boring mixes of the respective tracks. The only extra track worth saving is Forever by Brian May, a beautiful instrumental version of Who Wants To Live Forever.

But these last tracks hardly matter in the face of the actual greatness of this successful album which confirms their complete maturity and demonstrates their full control of a diverse range of musical genres. This should be the ultimate goal of every band.