Following on from my recent review of Queen’s first album of the 1980s, The Game, their next release was something very different, providing their first ever soundtrack for the sci-fi movie Flash Gordon.
It only has a couple of songs and a bunch of instrumentals, and therefore wasn’t as successful as their normal studio albums. But it did peak at number 10 in the UK albums chart, for 1 week out of its total 9 in the top 40, which is respectable.
I do have the album in my collection for completeness, but I rarely listen to it, partly because it isn’t anywhere near as good as their other stuff, but also because I’ve never actually watched the film before – until now. Given my love of Queen I always knew I ought to see it one day, but I didn’t think I’d be very interested in it from the clips I’d seen.
And to be honest, having now viewed it properly for the purposes of this review, my assumption was correct. I appreciate it’s a cult classic that is basically the comic strip brought to life, and Queen’s music does give it a boost. And chances are it’s a case of “you had to be there”, as I wasn’t born when it was released, whereas a lot of fans grew up with it. But unlike other surreal, low-budget masterpieces like The Rocky Horror Picture Show that I love, this movie simply doesn’t grab me. It just feels very dated with a nonsensical plot, poor performances (except perhaps for Brian Blessed and Max von Sydow), cringeworthy dialogue and substandard special effects even for its time. For some people its flaws are a big part of its charm, meaning it’s so bad it’s good, but I just can’t get on board with it. It just feels like some strange fever dream! Still, I’m glad I gave it a go, so I have a better frame of reference at least.
So this post is just going to be a quick run-through of Queen’s music on the album, along with some live versions, remixes and covers, as I have nothing else to say about the film itself. And that means it’s going to be short compared to my other Queen reviews, but I hope you find it interesting nonetheless.
Contents
See also: Ultimate Queen / Queen Vault / Wikipedia / UDiscover
You can see all the videos I mention in this post and many more, including a great interview with Brian from 2020 about putting the soundtrack together, on my Queen & Covers playlists for this album. So do feel free to check those out as well.
Flash’s Theme
Written by Brian May
See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts
The Song
Written while watching scenes from the film, this is the only track from the album to be released as a single, peaking at number 10 for 3 weeks in the UK, out of 10 weeks in the top 40. It’s Queen’s second shortest single after Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Most of the song consists of a repeating bass note leading to short outbursts of “Flash!” accompanied by heroic compliments, forming the chorus. But there are a couple of verses as well, one of which has a slower ballad-like style near the end, and there are some nice guitar parts by Brian too. So it’s not an amazing track, but it’s not bad either, and is very fit for purpose. It was even nominated for an Ivor Novello award in 1981, for the best film theme, where it was beaten by the easily superior Xanadu by ELO & Olivia Newton-John.
The album version of the Flash theme mirrors the start of the movie, including the speech and effects, and lasts for 3½ minutes. However, the single version uses dialogue from throughout the film (including the iconic line “Gordon’s alive?!”), and is much shorter at 2:48. So the album version is technically longer, but if you ignore the dialogue at the start and end of it, which lasts about a minute in total, and just count the music itself, then it’s actually shorter than the single version by around 10 seconds. The single version was included as a bonus track on the 2011 reissue, and is the version featured on Queen’s first Greatest Hits compilation.
Music Videos
The music video, using the single version of the track, simply shows the band performing the song in the studio, alongside footage from the movie on a big screen. It’s directed by the film’s director Mike Hodges, which is a nice connection.
An alternate version of the video was included on the 2011 iTunes download of the album, which uses different clips and dialogue from the movie, including a sequence from the start of the film, making it feel more like the album version. But it comes to an abrupt halt so that the character Klytus can say how evil Queen are. You can then hear a live recording of the fast version of We Will Rock You just starting to fade in at the end, because this particular video was broadcast during the Concerts For Kampuchea TV special in 1980.
Remixes
There have been several remixes of the Flash theme over the years, the most famous of which is the Queen + Vanguard Remix from 2003, which reached number 15 in the UK singles chart, and number 2 in the dance chart. The music video shows the 2 German remixers alongside footage of Queen and the movie, as well as people dancing, and was released as a bonus video with the 2011 iTunes download of the soundtrack. It’s nothing special, they’ve just sped up the track and added a new beat to it really. There were also alternate versions including the Extended Mix, Electro Mix, Tomcraft Mix (which I think is the best one, relatively speaking) and the Smith And Selway Mix.
Meanwhile, the 1991 Hollywood Records remaster of the album included a reworking called the Mista Lawnge and 9.5 Remix that lasts for nearly 7 minutes, adding a somewhat catchy percussive beat to it and some rap. As is typical for the Hollywood remasters, it’s not great, and gets too repetitive as it drags on, but it’s not quite as terrible as some of the other remixes they came out with.
Many years later, over in Japan, a High Octane Mix was included on a compilation called Japan 2008 In Vision, which was exclusive to that country. This remix, which includes a little bit of The Hero, was used during their TV coverage of the Formula 1 season the previous year.
On Youtube, meanwhile, prolific Queen remixer PiotreQ has produced a remix mixing the song with sounds from the track Machines (Or Back To Humans), and an orchestra remix combining Queen’s version of Flash with an instrumental performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. So they both sound good.
The Hero
Written by Brian May
See also: Ultimate Queen
This is the song used for the end credits, and it’s a good rock number, with Freddie giving it his all on the vocals. Midway through it then segues into a dramatic orchestral section, followed by a nice guitar solo, and finally an encore of the Flash theme that comes to an explosive conclusion. So the Hero song itself is only about a minute and a half of the 3½ minute track. The version used at the end of the movie is slightly different to the one on the album, being a bit heavier with a couple of minor lyric changes.
The 2011 reissue of the album also includes a Revisited version as a bonus track, which presents the original multi-track recording. It cuts out the instrumental guitar section at the start and the explosion at the end, and the mix sounds a little bit different overall. It also uses Freddie’s double-tracked vocals, and he sounds practically identical across both tracks. It’s amazing how he could mirror himself so precisely.
Live Performances
Flash and The Hero were performed live on stage together during the early 80s, the latter of the two sounding particularly good as there’s more substance to it. Freddie even wore a Flash t-shirt with red vinyl trousers during the Game tour in 1980-81, which I saw in the Sotheby’s exhibition about him.
Officially released performances include:
- Morumbi Stadium, Brazil, on 20/21 March 1981 – A video featuring both Flash and The Hero was included with the 2011 iTunes download of the album. It’s not the best quality recording, with the sound dipping in and out sometimes, but it’s nice to have for curiosity.
- Montreal, Canada on 24/25 November 1981 – Audio recordings of Flash and The Hero were included on the CD version of Queen Rock Montreal, but they were the only 2 songs left off the DVD and Blu-ray releases for some reason. Here Brian plays keyboards as well as guitar on Flash.
- Milton Keynes Bowl on 5 June 1982 – Flash and The Hero were used to open this show, which was released as Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl. The extra features on the DVD also include both songs recorded in Seibu Lions Stadium, Tokyo, Japan on 3 November 1982, taken from Live In Japan. In both of those concerts, and throughout the 1982 tour, Flash uses a pre-recorded backing track.
- We Will Rock You Musical – Flash is performed very briefly during this production and is therefore included on the London cast album.
Flash and The Hero were also used to open some concerts by Queen + Adam Lambert, but it’s not appeared on any official releases.
Cover Versions
There aren’t many covers of Flash and The Hero out there. But some examples, which you can see on my playlist, include:
- Rock band Tenacious D have performed an acoustic cover of Flash live in concert.
- Heavier rock covers of Flash have been recorded by The Lonely Ones (including The Hero) and tribute band King. Meanwhile a band called Dungeon included The Hero on the Japanese edition of their 2005 album One Step Beyond.
- You can listen to a couple of versions of Flash by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra here and here. There are other classical interpretations on my playlist as well.
- There’s a stunning piano arrangement of Flash by Natalia Posnova that is nothing like you expect it’s going to be. She’s also performed it live with an orchestra.
- Joe Pasquale & Vicky Ogden did a routine to the Flash theme on the TV show Dancing On Ice, in the second week of Series 8 in 2013. The only recording I can find is on Brian May’s channel, and it’s not very good quality, with audio only in the left channel, but it’s still interesting as a rare oddity.
- Inevitably the Flash theme has been used in the TV sci-fi drama Flash and commercials for Flash cleaning products, with new lyrics in the latter case.
Other Tracks
See also: Ultimate Queen / Queen Vault / Wikipedia
All of the other tracks in between Flash and The Hero form the atmospheric score to the movie. They make good use of synths, guitar and percussion to evoke the appropriate mood and the overall sense of being on an alien world, as well as incorporating some of the dialogue.
- In The Space Capsule (The Love Theme)
- Ming’s Theme (In The Court Of Ming The Merciless)
- The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction Of Dale)
- Football Fight – One of the more lively tracks, this is a fairly catchy piece of music for a fight scene. The 2011 reissue has an early version as a bonus track, which uses piano for the backing track instead of synths, giving it a very different sound.
- In The Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise)
- Execution Of Flash
- The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash) – This has some lovely vocals by Freddie, even without any words. The 2011 reissue has an early version among the extra tracks, using piano instead of synths. It ends with a repeating note sequence from Football Fight, suggesting that the original idea was for the two tracks to be connected.
- Arboria (Planet Of The Treemen)
- Escape From The Swamp
- Flash To The Rescue
- Vultan’s Theme (Attack Of The Hawkmen)
- Battle Theme – This is a proper rock instrumental, it’s great. It also features Brian Blessed’s character Prince Vultan uttering the phrase “Who wants to live forever?”, which of course became the title of a Queen song used in a later film.
- The Wedding March – A beautiful guitar rendition of this traditional tune. If I ever get hitched, I’d be happy for this to be used during the ceremony.
- Marriage Of Dale And Ming (And Flash Approaching)
- Crash Dive On Mingo City
- Flash’s Theme Reprise (Victory Celebrations)
Conclusion
And that’s it, simple as that. There are a few nice tracks, but it will always remain the album of Queen’s that I listen to the least, because it doesn’t really count as a proper record in the traditional sense. So I just wanted to tick it off the list nice and quickly before I move on to their next album, Hot Space, which had issues of its own in terms of popularity but still has some great tracks. I’ll get around to that in due course.
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