by Georg Purvis
In addition to its prime spot as second side opener, ‘Killing Time’ was also released as the B-side of ‘Man On Fire’ in June 1984.
A KIND OF MAGIC (Taylor)
• A-side: 3/86 [3] • Album: AKOM • CD Single: 11/88 • Live: Magic, Wembley • Bonus: Wembley • Live (Q+PR): Return
In its original form, the title track for Queen’s twelfth studio album as written by Roger was described by Brian as being “quite lugubrious and heavy,” but was restructured to be more chart-friendly: “Freddie totally lightened it up to make it a commercially accessible kind of thing, putting in this [bass] kind of thing and making little sort of mantras out of it.” Roger agreed, saying, “Originally, it was much more filmic; in fact, it was used at the end of the movie [Highlander] as the closing credits, and it was much less sort of ‘bounce’-oriented, it had a much more broken-up tempo and it was a sort of grander concept. We then reworked it, and I know Freddie took an interest in the song; and we reworked it into a single, really.”
From its concept to the finished product, ‘A Kind Of Magic’ was destined to be a hit. With a universal lyric about the wonders of mankind, the song adheres to the theme of Highlander – mortality and existence – and even looks back to the earlier lyric of ‘One Vision’, also written by Roger. “Basically,” the drummer explained, “the song is an actual line from the movie, and that was where the song came from. It’s just sort of about an immortal, I suppose: ‘This rage that lasts a thousand years, Will soon be gone,’ and all that. It was written for the movie and it became very popular on stage, and I remember when we played it on the 1986 tour, it used to go down incredibly well.”
The track’s embryonic form, an edited version (3’23) which was played over the credits of Highlander (the full-length version, running to 4’08, later featured on the Live At Wembley Stadium DVD as background music for the photo gallery section), is taken at a slower tempo and lacks the distinctive bassline, though the synthesizer effects and guitar work are intact. Freddie, sensing a great song buried within a good idea, took control of the song, borrowing a variation of the bassline from ‘Keep Passing The Open Windows’ and quickening the pace, turning the song into a poppy, chart-friendly single. When issued as a forerunner to the album in March 1986, three months ahead of the album, the single was a resounding success, peaking at No. 3 in the UK. Backed by Roger’s instrumental ‘A Dozen Red Roses For My Darling’, the single was housed in a sombre, blue-tinted sleeve accompanied by the image of Kurgan, the villain from Highlander. The single was released in the US in June 1986, peaking at No. 42 and becoming the last single to chart in America until ‘I Want It All’ in 1989. Legend has it that the single reached No. 1 in no less than thirty-five countries, but there hasn’t been any proof of the single reaching No. 1 anywhere in the world, though it did make the Top Ten in seven countries: UK, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Australia.
A striking video for the single was filmed by Russell Mulcahy in March 1986 at the Playhouse Theatre. (“At that time, it was pretty much derelict, it wasn’t in use, and I think there was a question mark over its future,” Brian commented in 2003, “so it was a perfect time for us to go in and make it look even more derelict.”) With Freddie dressed as a magician and the others as vagabonds, the video is one of Queen’s more inventive, and used animation for the first time since the ‘Save Me’ video in 1980, with the characters from the A Kind Of Magic album sleeve brought to life. “We all thought it was a neat idea for Freddie to be a wizard and for us to be the guys he transforms from tramps into glamorous rock stars,” Brian explained in 2003. Glamorous rock stars they may be, but even fame and fortune couldn’t allow base comforts such as central heating, meaning that when the band look miserable and cold in the intro and outro shots, that’s not acting. “I remember discussing it with Russell Mulcahy in the Groucho Club,” Roger said in 2003, “and just saying how we want strange little things to happen. I remember saying that I wanted gargoyles winking and things like that and having this magic stuff flying all over the place. I think it worked nicely; it’s unpretentious.” The video was included on an innovative video single release late in 1986. Backed by ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, the format was a world-first, but was rendered obsolete shortly after its release. The video remained otherwise unreleased until 1991, when it was issued on Greatest Flix II; the US release was a year later on Classic Queen, and it wasn’t until 2003 that the video received a major overhaul in terms of sound and vision on the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD.
The song was performed in the live setting for the Magic tour only. Placed between the first medley and ‘Under Pressure’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’ would regularly be extended well past its normal four-minute mark, allowing plenty of instrumental improvisation that was lacking from most other numbers, before ending in a typically big fashion. The first live version to be issued (taken from Queen’s Budapest concert on 27 July 1986) was in December 1986 on Live Magic: for the vinyl release, the song was edited down to 4’47, but on the CD release, the full-length version was included, bringing the running time up to 5’29. When the 12 July Wembley Stadium concert was issued in May 1992, that version became the definitive one, running at an epic 8’42, with the last two minutes consumed by Freddie’s vocal interplay with the crowd, while a second version from the previous night’s concert was issued as a bonus track on the June 2003 CD reissue of Live At Wembley Stadium.
Roger has remained partial to the song, including it in most of his set lists. Its first solo live airing was actually performed by The Cross at the Gosport Festival on 29 July 1993, and again at the following year’s performance, later being included in the set list for the Cowdray Ruins Concert on 18 September 1993, where the song was performed by Roger and John. Since then, it has become an integral inclusion in all of Roger’s live shows, and has often been performed by Brian and Roger at special occasions and one-offs. ‘A Kind Of Magic’ was originally supposed to be performed by Roger and Chris Thompson at the Concert For Life on 20 April 1992, but was dropped due to time constraints. It enjoyed a new lease of life when performed by the 2005/2006 Queen + Paul Rodgers touring band, with Rodgers singing lead. On the 2008 Rock The Cosmos tour, vocal duties swapped between Paul and Roger, depending on the mood of the night, and while Paul’s performances were respectably received, it was Roger’s that gained an overwhelmingly positive response.
A KIND OF ‘A KIND OF MAGIC’ (Taylor)
• Bonus: AKOM
A pointless edit of the instrumental sections from the extended version of ‘A Kind Of Magic’, the only redeeming factor about this track is the emergence of a unique alternate guitar solo.
THE KISS (AURA RESURRECTS FLASH) (Mercury)
• Album: Flash • Bonus: Flash
Leading in from John’s atmospheric ‘Execution Of Flash’, Freddie’s ‘The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash)’ is a multi-tracked tour de force showcasing his beautifully controlled vocalizations. With a snippet of orchestration from Howard Blake (from a piece called ‘Rocket Ship Flight’, which had been arranged by Blake prior to Queen’s involvement with the project), this song concludes the first side of Flash Gordon in a sublime fashion. An early demo, recorded during sessions for The Game, features Freddie on piano and vocals, and even captures a snippet of the melody of ‘Football Fight’ toward the end.
KNOCK ON WOOD (Cropper/Floyd)
Eddie Floyd’s soul standard was performed live by 1984.
LA JAPONAISE (Mercury/Moran)
• Album (Freddie): Barcelona • Compilation (Freddie): Solo Collection
Japan was one of Freddie’s most beloved countries, and he spent a considerable amount of time there in the last years of his life. ‘La Japonaise’ is a stunning ode to the country, constructed with prominent Eastern sounds, and even containing alternating lines in Japanese.
Two alternate versions were recorded: the first on 1 September 1987, credited as Freddie’s demo vocal version and featuring largely improvised lyr
ics since the words had yet to be written; and the second, an a cappella version of the finished vocal, recorded on 9 November, is stunning upon first listen. An instrumental version was also created and included on The Solo Collection.
LANDSCAPE (May)
• Soundtrack (Brian): Furia
Introduced by the wail of a police siren and the sounds of the street, ‘Landscape’ is largely a keyboard atmosphere soundtrack piece, lasting a little over a minute and adding to the sombre ambience of the film.
LAND OF 1,000 DANCES (Kenner)
Originally performed by Wilson Pickett, ‘Land Of 1,000 Dances’ was performed live by The Reaction.
LAS PALABRAS DE AMOR
(THE WORDS OF LOVE) (May)
• Album: Space • A-side: 6/82 [17] • CD Single: 11/88 • CD Single: 10/91 [16]
Much as Queen’s 1975 concerts in Japan had inspired Brian to write the gorgeous ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)’, the guitarist’s admiration for new cultures was channelled into ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’, written after the band’s first-ever concerts in South America in 1981. Written and recorded for the Hot Space album in the winter of 1981, the song is a plea for love and hope in all societies around the world. Set to a lavish acoustic guitar backing, the song erupts into a traditional Queen anthem, and the hypnotic synthesizer woven throughout is perhaps the first successful integration of that instrument into a Queen song. “The minimalist era of Queen, liked by some but not by others, but this particular track was un-minimalist, it’s really rather romantic,” Brian said in 2003. “I was playing keyboards in this one, Freddie seemed to be less inclined to play keyboards, and many ideas came from keyboards rather than guitar. I like the track, painted with a very light brush.”
“I write best when I’m not on guitar; maybe a few riffs or the basis, but strangely enough, you usually get the most perspective on a song when you’re on an instrument that you’re not accustomed to,” Brian told International Musician & Recording World in 1982. “I’m not accustomed to playing the piano and I find that quite inspiring, because your fingers fall on different patterns. Whereas on a guitar, I pick it up and know where my fingers are going to fall. Mostly I sit alone someplace and think about it. That’s the best way. I don’t think my songwriting has changed as much as the others in the group. I tend to write more traditional Queen material like ‘Las Palabras De Amor’. I still tend to write melodies and that certain sort of heaviness, which the group does well at its best; the guitar and piano which have that sort of thick sound. I really enjoy that, although these days it’s used a little bit more sparingly.”
Unfortunately, the song was inconspicuously placed on the second side of Hot Space, between ‘Calling All Girls’ and ‘Cool Cat’; it might have been more suited as the closing track. A demo version of the song exists, with considerably altered lead vocals and a rougher arrangement, while a second version of the song was mixed but left unreleased. This version places more emphasis on the guitars, vocals and drums, while pushing the synthesizer further back into the mix.
Released as a UK single in June 1982 as the third single from the album, ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’ went on to reach No. 17 in the charts, which was described as disappointing, but considering the chart performances of the other recent singles – ‘Under Pressure’ reached No. 1, ‘Body Language’ peaked at No. 25 and ‘Back Chat’ charted at No. 40 – its placement in the singles chart was relatively impressive. Given that it was the only single taken directly from the album (‘Under Pressure’ was thrown on as a last-minute addition) to reach the Top Twenty, its exclusion from Greatest Hits II in 1991 is peculiar. Even more astonishing is the song’s lack of inclusion in the live setting; though the band rehearsed a version in Leeds on 31 May 1982, and Brian played a snippet of the song before ‘Love Of My Life’ at the Milton Keynes Bowl on 5 June (he explained to the audience, “Well, it seems that we’re not playing our song of peace tonight”), the first live airing the song would receive would be at the Concert For Life on 20 April 1992, where it was performed with Italian rocker Zucchero on lead vocals. More significantly, the song was performed on the South American leg of the 2008 Rock The Cosmos tour, with Brian on lead vocals, and receiving a rapturous response from the audience.
Though a video wasn’t specially prepared for the single, the band did appear on Top Of The Pops for the first time in five years, performing the song on 10 June 1982, the broadcast going out the next day. The result leaves a lot to be desired: coming at the end of a gruelling European tour, with less than receptive audiences to the new material, the band are clearly uninterested in being on the programme and give an uninspired performance. Nevertheless, it remains the only official performance of the song to have been attempted, and was duly released on the 1999 video Greatest Flix III (while the song was issued on its similarly titled counterpart, Greatest Hits III) and the 2003 DVD Greatest Video Hits 2.
LAST HORIZON (May)
• Album (Brian): BTTL • A-side (Brian): 12/93 [51] • Live (Brian): Brixton • Live (Q+PR): Return, Ukraine
Recorded at Allerton Studios in 1988, Brian’s ‘Last Horizon’ was released on his 1992 debut solo album, Back To The Light. Name-checked as one of Brian’s favourite songs, he performed it on both of his Brian May Band tours in 1992/1993 and 1998, and even offered a remixed backing track, which ‘erased’ his guitar piece, as a download on his website for his birthday in 2004, for aspiring guitarists to play along to.
The song was performed by Queen + Paul Rodgers, which was unusual considering that prior tours hadn’t featured any solo material (except for the vocal improvisations in 1984 and 1985, which loosely resembled Freddie’s ‘Foolin’ Around’), but given Brian’s appreciation for the song, its inclusion wasn’t entirely unsurprising.
LAUGH OR CRY (Taylor)
• Album (Roger): Fun
Roger’s songwriting subjects were usually restricted to songs of chauvinistic love or politics (and, in the case of Fun In Space, science-fiction and aliens). Rarely did he write a tender love song, but he has been known to surprise his listeners, and ‘Laugh Or Cry’ is one of those surprises. Starting with a sparse acoustic guitar, piano and bass guitar introduction, the song is a beautiful excursion into a territory Roger rarely explored during the earlier part of his solo career.
The song was released as the B-side of the Japanese and American single, ‘Let’s Get Crazy’, and was performed live by The Cross on their 1988 tour.
LAZING ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON (Mercury)
• Album: Opera
Coming as the second track on A Night At The Opera is this quirky music hall-inspired number. Sung in a delightfully camp style by Freddie and ending with an over-the-top guitar solo, ‘Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon’ chronicles the busy schedule of the protagonist’s week, with a day of respite planned before it begins all over again. In keeping with the experimental nature of A Night At The Opera, the vocals were recorded in an unconventional manner, with the signal from Freddie’s microphone being fed into headphones placed in a metal can, thus giving it a megaphone effect.
“That’s the way the mood takes me,” Freddie lucidly told Record Mirror in 1976. “Y’know... that’s just one aspect of me, and I can really change. Everything on ‘Sunday Afternoon’ is something that... I’m really, I’m really sort of, I really... well, I love doing the vaudeville side of things. It’s quite a sort of test... I love writing things like that and I’m sure I’m going to do more than that... It’s quite a challenge.”
‘Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon’ was performed live throughout 1976, but was dropped just before the Hyde Park concert that September.
LEAVING HOME AIN’T EASY (May)
• Album: Jazz
Brian’s mournful, self-sung ‘Leaving Home Ain’t Easy’ is a melancholy reflection on leaving his family once again, and expresses his disillusionment with stardom and the lifestyle it demands, a subject that Brian had first addressed in ‘Good Company�
�� back in 1975, and would reference at least once on subsequent albums. Just prior to sessions for Jazz, Brian became a father on 15 June, with the birth of his son, Jimmy, making going out on the road and being away from his blossoming young family all the more difficult. This dichotomy of staying to be with his family and leaving to support them is addressed, with its author reluctantly accepting that leaving is the only way.
Driven by a gorgeous acoustic riff, the song is an exquisite diversion from the slighter tracks on Jazz, and features some tasteful guitar orchestrations, sounding unmistakably like violins, while the bridge is Brian playing the part of his wife, begging him to stay. “The lady’s part? It’s me,” Brian explained in 2002. “We slowed down the tape to record it so it comes out speeded up. I think Wheetus just did the same thing on ‘Dirtbag’!”
LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU (Mercury)
• Album: Jazz • B-side: 1/80 [11] • Live: Killers, Montreal • Bonus: Jazz
By 1978, Freddie had transformed himself from a flamboyant yet mild-mannered vocalist into a defiant, outspoken and often lewd singer of songs and lover of life. Above all, though, he was an entertainer, a salesman hell-bent on giving the audience its full concert experience by whatever means. Never before had Freddie’s attitude to his ‘job’ been more perfectly documented than on ‘Let Me Entertain You’, a bawdy slice of good-natured rock ‘n’ roll written as a deliberate hard sell to audiences worldwide. Borrowing its title from a song written by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim in Gypsy: A Musical Fable, ‘Let Me Entertain You’ finds Freddie as a barker, ramping up the audience participation gimmick he had perfected on the 1977/1978 News Of The World tour. Given its concert-friendly atmosphere, the song would suitably become a live favourite between 1978 and 1981, securing a prime position as the second song in the set, though it was promoted to concert opener on a few dates on the 1979 Crazy tour.
