Queen
Live Killers

THE REVIEW

After an entire decade of albums and countless bootlegs, we finally have a Live, even a double one, from the Queen's 1978/79 tour. A precise summary of all the best of Queen from their beginnings up to that point. Tired of the usual Queen albums? Well, this is what you're looking for.

DISC 1.
The beginning is one of the most thrilling with a new progressive version of “We Will Rock You” (unimaginable by everyone at that time), a stormy “Let Me Entertain You” that joins the nasty version of “Death On Two Legs” dedicated to that “Son of a bitch”… complete with beep!

Freddie Mercury is absolutely very pianistic and Brian doesn’t reproduce the usual album solos but, as an expert guitarist, he fables with his “Red Special” creating a proper interaction between “solo that the audience knows” and “what the audience doesn’t expect.” Roger Taylor becomes a 10-meter statue over humanity when he sings “I’m in Love With My Car”. What a perfect drummer! After the disappointing “Get Down Make Love” that impoverishes the record and the audience, we have a faster version of “You’re My Best Friends” without high notes but who cares? Very dense with energy.

The gem of the first CD is undoubtedly “Now I’m Here” very fast, with choruses and descants where Freddie strips, breaks microphones, Brian literally goes insane, we are at the peak of baroque rock and the wise Mercury gives a fun lesson of voice to the public who enjoys mimicking him and everyone feels like born singers. He raises a white flag letting Brian intervene forcibly and an angry Roger who breaks in two, cymbals and bass drum. Masterpiece. So we move on to “Dreamer’s Ball” very rhythmic and more lively than the original. “Love Of My Life”, a golden necklace in a box. Freddie explains to the public that this piece was shot in a duet and that this was the first experience in this regard. He will repeat it to the end… Everyone sings by heart without even the songwriter while Brian performs one of the most beautiful arpeggios ever. They close with “39” very American country and delightful and unplugged even with a very wild “Keep Yourself Alive”. Freddie is really a fury! And the Queen are no less!!!

DISC 2.
It opens with “Don’t Stop Me Now”, very scratched and rhythmic but where Roger covers a lot of the high notes. Very hard live. People have fun, there is the feeling of wanting to be there with them. “Spread Your Wings”, where once Freddie forgot the live chords and apologized, is not good because Freddie persisted in singing everything in the original key. Moral of the story: wrong notes, silences, poor expression in slow pieces where the voice counts much more than in rock pieces where rhythm, guitar, and charisma dominate. “Brighton Rock” is indeed immaculate, there is not a mistake and Brian does at least in one song what Jimmy Page did, being a bit annoying, in all Led Zeppelin pieces: going on too long. In Queen, there was more democracy, in Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page was a bit too autarchic. Brian shows in this piece that he too can carry on a 12-minute-long guitar discussion… I won't add anything else but: Brian excellent! The same goes for Taylor.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” opens with “Mustapha”. Well, what does it have to do with it? It seems obvious to me, it was the hit of the moment and requested by the public but discarded by Queen on the setlist. The rest is well known with Freddie changing a bit the not very falsetto melodic line and with the central part reproduced from tape. I don’t agree with this way of doing it. There are many bands today that with three voices reproduce “Boh Rhap” greatly. Maybe for them, it was an untouchable track at that point. “Tie Your Mother Down”, the usual stage tiger with Freddie now voiceless (pity) who in fact in “Sheer Heart Attack” will practically let Roger sing. What a piece live! Freddie used to dress in silver sequins with a jumpsuit. A man, an infraction. Much more nervous and grabbing than on vinyl. Closing in “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” where the audience becomes a choir that breaks the reinforced concrete of the stadium. And God save the Queen…

“Live Killers” was a great double live and the setlist, except in some cases, is more than ever spot on. How could it have been different with all the great songs in the Queen repertoire?! We would have preferred something from Queen II but there it is! The audio quality is the real flaw of the whole album but today the CD seems more refined. CD that closes a decade, an era, a Queen style destined to change skin… and wear leather…