Queen
Live Killers

THE REVIEW

After a total of 7 albums, all wonderful, in true Queen style, and perhaps a bit more influenced by Led Zeppelin than their subsequent work, here comes the first live album by the British rock band, which has been voted in a poll this year as the best group of all time.

Two records, initially produced on vinyl, present the Queen as we had never seen (or rather heard) before. The record is recorded live at concerts and represents a mixture of various performances by the band throughout Europe for this promotional tour of the previous album "Jazz". Two records that present a more genuine, heavier band that gets the audience involved, driving every attendee into a frenzy.

The first CD begins with a version of "We Will Rock You" that's a bit more "intense" than the studio version (recorded with the old wooden plank floor in a church). Indeed, right away, the music pulls us in, and even more so does the frenzied background audience. Next, we have a series of perfect performances of "Death On Two Legs" and "Let Me Entertain You". From track 4 onwards, we start with some very beautiful executions, albeit shorter than the studio versions of "Killer Queen", "Bicycle Race", and "You're My Best Friend", which nonetheless do not lower the album's level. However, to make up for this, we have 8 minutes and 42 seconds of a beautiful as well as innovative execution of "Now I'm Here", with Freddie getting the crowd to sing along (if you listen to the album at full blast in a room, you'll end up singing along to the "vocal exercises" presented by the vocalist, but that's another story).

From track 10, the ever-fit Brian May takes up an acoustic guitar and a twelve-string, transporting us with his sweetness alongside Freddie Mercury. After a splendid "Dreamer's Ball", we are catapulted into the splendid execution, both instrumental and vocal, of "Love Of My Life", in my opinion one of the most beautiful love songs and the sweetest of all, which in this live execution accompanied by an acoustic guitar is further enhanced, transporting us into a relaxing and... simply wonderful atmosphere. At the end of this masterpiece, Brian May cheers the audience by introducing the other members, preparing us for a beautiful performance of "'39", which this time is sung by Freddie instead of Brian, but which remains a beautiful song—it couldn't be otherwise with a singer like Mercury. The first disc ends with a nice, fairly heavy execution of "Keep Yourself Alive", just to bring us back to the early days of Queen.

We insert the second disc and off we go... It starts with a "Don't Stop Me Now", with a new guitar solo or rather the Red Special. "Spread Your Wings", impeccable as always, prepares us for a beautiful 12-minute "Brighton Rock", which still doesn't bore; instead, May’s Red Special excites us with its guitar solo, alongside Roger Taylor with a drum solo that is nothing short of impressive. Track number 4 is what the audience was waiting for, from the album "A Night At The Opera", indeed, Mercury's piano introduces the always moving "Bohemian Rhapsody".

In "Live Killers", unlike "Live Magic", you can hear the recorded part which greatly increases the anticipation of May's solo, leading the audience into a beautiful ovation. A bit more heavy with "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Sheer Heart Attack", and the concert ends with the classic "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions", always beautiful and moving, at each performance. A finale for an ovation with "God Save The Queen", and we can put away the CD, quite happy to have discovered another side of the English rock band that made history.

In this review, Freddie Mercury and Brian May were exalted more because they were more "present," but we must not underestimate, quite the opposite, the performances of John Deacon and Roger Taylor, who work behind the scenes and contribute to the successful outcome of the album and concert.

June 26, 1979, platinum record in the UK and Germany and 2 in the United States.