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Rating: Yet another posthumous album released by the English band in 2004... but this time it’s not a useless Greatest Hits, but a fine live album, recorded during the Hot Space Tour of '82... in my opinion superior to both Live Killers and especially the much-celebrated "Live At Wembley".
The album begins with “Flash”, which isn’t played live but serves only to introduce the band and led into a powerful version of “The Hero”.. Freddie sings it an octave lower.. but the effect is magnificent, immediately after the pace increases with a thunderous “We Will Rock You”.. in a thrilling fast version, and “Action This Day”, with Roger and Freddie on vocals, who also performs very well here. After this explosion of energy, the rhythm slows and Freddie's piano notes introduce us to “Play The Game”, here no falsettos for Freddie, but all the highs in place... immediately after.. a good rearrangement of “Staying Power”, where the trumpets of the original version give way to Brian's guitar.
We thus reach the high point of the album: a “Somebody To Love” played and especially sung superbly, a “Now I'm Here” with the classic Freddie/audience duet in the center, and a gritty “Dragon Attack”.. the unmissable “Love Of My Life”... and a version of “Save Me”, even better than the original, everyone is perfect. The first part ends with a good “Back Chat”. The second part begins with the lowest point of the album: “Get Down Make Love” with Freddie's usual unnecessary vocalizations, which lead into a more monotonous than usual "Guitar Solo". To raise the level back up is “Under Pressure”, very crystalline.. and a good version of a rather unnecessary song in the Queen repertoire: “Fat Bottomed Girl”. The unmissable “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” bursts in, much weaker than Wembley, although here Brian's guitar is cleaner. Gleeful crowd: “Bohemian Rhapsody”.. no falsettos for Freddie.. but all the octaves are perfect.. sung wonderfully, played with immense feeling. The excellent progression of “Tie Your Mother Down” sets the stage for a weak “Another One Bites The Dust”, inferior to Wembley in every way..
Immediately after the simple, yet overwhelming “Sheer Heart Attack”, and the sisters “We Will Rock You”/”We Are The Champions”, even here the band, despite the fatigue, delivers a frightening performance. The epilogue is the usual “God Save The Queen”. Freddie sings much better than Wembley, and in any case, the whole band gives us a much more "Heavy" performance compared to Wembley, which I think is superior to this album only in terms of song selection.
In any case, recommended only to die-hard fans of the band... Bye.
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