Queen Album Review – A Kind Of Magic

Cover spread for Queen's album A Kind Of Magic. Both the front and back have a black background dotted with tiny colourful stars and other objects. On the front are large colourful cartoon versions of the 4 band members. They all have blue skin, but Freddie is in front wearing a bright yellow outfit, while the others are behind him wearing orange. The back cover is filled with a myriad of colourful cartoon images that have burst out of a large cauldron, including dancers, musical notes, instruments including a keyboard and a drum, animals including a goldfish in a bowl and a frog, magic trick items including a pair of dice, a playing card and a top hat, and other items including a crown and a microphone. The titles of the different songs, in white text, are also randomly incorporated into the artwork on the back, snaking around the objects and sometimes written upside down.

By the mid-1980s, it seemed as if Queen weren’t on top of their game any more. Their 1984 album The Works had sold well and they were still attracting big crowds to their shows, yet something was missing. The band were tired of the endless cycle of recording and touring – particularly Freddie, who went off to make his own solo album, Mr. Bad Guy – and they weren’t dominating the music scene in the way they used to.

It felt like the band had passed their peak, and they were just sailing along without making much of a splash. But then fate smiled upon them and presented them with the crest of a huge wave in the form of Live Aid in 1985. Their barnstorming 20-minute set of classic hits, regarded by many as the best rock set of all time, delighted existing fans and drew in many new followers who had little to no awareness of them. And most importantly, it re-lit the fire within the group, reminding them what they were capable of and why they were loved.

They capitalised on that success by releasing the song One Vision in November 1985, and then a couple more songs the following March, before blessing the world with their latest album, A Kind Of Magic, in June 1986, which also served as the soundtrack to Highlander. It deservedly shot straight into the UK charts at number 1, and stayed in the top 10 for 16 weeks, out of a total 30 weeks in the top 40.

It was their first chart-topping album since The Game in 1980 and Greatest Hits in 1981, and their final 3 studio albums with Freddie that followed all reached number 1 as well. This was therefore the start of their revival – although, as the Magic tour would be their last set of concerts together, it was also the beginning of the end in a sad way, which Freddie was privately aware of.

So to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this classic album and Freddie’s final ever concert, I’m going to dig through each of the tracks here, looking at music videos, alternate versions, live performances, covers and so on. And don’t forget you can find lots of videos in the playlists that I’ve linked to beneath the table of contents as well. I hope you enjoy!

Double page spread from the booklet with Queen's album A Kind Of Magic. It shows a dazzling, colourful array of cartoon imagery against a black background littered with tiny colourful stars and other objects. The large cartoon imagery across both pages includes representations of all 4 band members, some dancers, a microphone, two bowls of water that each contain a fish, another fish flying around with a wide open mouth that gives it a shocked expression, a rabbit jumping out of a top hat while a frog appears to be diving towards it, a cauldron, a lamp with a large genie that has emerged from it, and a blue book with the word Magic on the cover.

Contents

Introduction:

Tracks:

  1. One Vision
  2. A Kind Of Magic
  3. One Year Of Love
  4. Pain Is So Close To Pleasure
  5. Friends Will Be Friends
  6. Who Wants To Live Forever?
  7. Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)
  8. Don’t Lose Your Head
  9. Princes Of The Universe
  10. Unreleased Demos

For more info, see also:

Introduction

Highlander Movie

This album is the soundtrack of Queen’s contributions to the film Highlander, along with a few additional songs. They had been invited to view 20 minutes of footage that had been cut together by director Russell Mulcahy, and it won them over, hence they offered to write several songs as a result. They were then included in the film alongside the orchestral score by Michael Kamen, which incorporated some of Queen’s melodies here and there. There was an unofficial promo CD of the soundtrack, but there’s never been a widely available official release.

No official soundtrack for the movie has ever been released, other than a promo CD although there are naturally bootlegs out there, so Queen’s record is the closest we have to it.

Altogether, six of the nine songs on the album appear in the film (along with Hammer To Fall from The Works):

  • A Kind Of Magic
  • One Year Of Love
  • Who Wants To Live Forever?
  • Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)
  • Don’t Lose Your Head
  • Princes Of The Universe

Naturally the album versions are the full songs, whereas alternate edits or mixes are used in the film. The album’s title track in particular has a very different arrangement to the version used over the end credits.

The movie itself is pretty good too – and truth be told, I’ve only now watched it for the first time. It’s just one of those things I hadn’t got around to before, and once I started doing this series of Queen reviews, I wanted to wait until I got to this point to check it out. So I finally watched it online, and on the strength of that I bought the 30th Anniversary Blu-ray. I know there’s a more recent 4K Blu-ray edition as well, which has additional extras on the 4K disc, but I can’t play that. The regular Blu-ray is perfectly adequate for me anyway.

The film is about a Scottish man called Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), who is born in the Highlands in the 16th century and discovers that he’s immortal. He also learns that there are others like him, and they’re destined to fight each other over the centuries until only one is left, who will then win the ultimate prize. It’s difficult though, because the only way to kill another immortal is to cut their head off, and his arch enemy is the powerful and angry Kurgan (Clancy Brown).

The story therefore jumps between historical Scotland and present day New York, as we see how Connor’s life has changed in that time. In the past he gets advice and fight training from Juan Ramirez (Sean Connery), and also learns the hard truth about falling in love, as he will outlive any partner he gets and will thus have to mourn their loss and be alone when they die. Meanwhile in the present his beheading of a fellow immortal is investigated by the police, with forensic scientist Brenda Wyatt (Roxanne Hart) digging deep to uncover the truth about him, plus the Kurgan is determined to track him down to eliminate him and get the prize.

Overall it’s an enjoyable story with great fight scenes, action sequences, tension and romantic moments. And Queen’s music is a perfect fit. It’s wonderful to see it used in context at long last, and it’s miles better than their previous film collaboration Flash Gordon.

The Blu-ray I own also has a fair amount of extras, including a 2-hour documentary where we hear from various people involved with the film, new interviews with director Russell Mulcahy and actor Christopher Lambert, an audio commentary by Russell, an older interview with Christopher (in French with English subtitles), deleted scenes (albeit just visuals with music as they didn’t have the audio available), and a trailer. There is a feature about the soundtrack on the more recent 4K edition, as well as other audio commentaries and interviews, but I’m not concerned about missing those.

Front cover for the Blu-ray of Highlander, showing lead character Connor MacLeod wearing a large fur coat over a blue tartan outfit, standing in front of a dark stormy sky with streaks of lightning.
Back cover for the Blu-ray of Highlander, showing a few images from the movie above a description of the film and the list of extra features.

I know there have been several sequels to the film and a TV series as well, but they’re widely regarded as awful, and Queen didn’t make any new music for them, so I’m not going to waste my time on those. I’m happy sticking with the original movie.

Queen Interviews

Interviews relating to this album can be found in a few places:

  • A Magic Year – This half hour documentary, using interview footage from 1986, was included as an extra on the DVD & Blu-ray editions of Hungarian Rhapsody: Live In Budapest. It’s a great look at the busy year Queen had after their Live Aid appearance, as they talk about the songs they wrote for Highlander, their different styles of writing, the recording of their new album and embarking on the Magic Tour. The latter section includes some rare footage of them performing in Slane, Newcastle and Knebworth, and rehearsing in Budapest, along with a moving moment when Freddie is asked if they’ll return to Hungary and he says “If I’m still alive, I will come back.” He wouldn’t learn of his AIDS diagnosis until Spring the following year, but with HIV heavily in the headlines it’s very possible he knew what the near future was likely to hold.
  • A Kind Of Magic Interviews – This is a 12-minute compilation of interviews with all the band members from Spring 1986, some of which are also used in the above documentary. It was included among the special features on the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD, which also contains a documentary about the making of One Vision, as discussed later in this post.
  • Highlander: Roger Interview – This is a very brief 1-minute interview about Queen’s involvement with the film, which can be found in the bonus material on the Days Of Our Lives Blu-ray (but not the DVD edition). It doesn’t reveal anything new in such a short space of time though.
A photo of Queen members Roger, Freddie, Brian and John standing together, while lots of bright yellow sparks rain down behind them.

Magic Tour Releases

The Magic Tour was Queen’s final set of concerts with Freddie, and they really made it count. They raked in more than £11 million by playing to over 400,000 people in 26 dates around Europe, culminating in their final gig in front of 120,000 adoring fans at Knebworth on 9 August, 1986 (so this month marks the 40th anniversary of Freddie’s last ever show). Sadly there isn’t a proper recording of the full Knebworth gig, but we do have albums and videos of their amazing 2-night appearance at Wembley Stadium with its 64-foot stage and a gigantic lighting rig, as well as their first ever performance in Hungary.

Consequently, there are a few album and video releases from the tour that I will be referencing during this post:

  • Maimarktgelande, Mannheim, Germany on 21 June 1986 – 8 tracks from this gig, two of which are songs from the album A Kind Of Magic, were released on a live disc in the 6-CD On Air box set.
  • Wembley Stadium, London on Friday 11 July & Saturday 12 July 1986 – The Saturday concert is on all the CD and DVD editions of Live At Wembley, while the Friday concert was exclusively released in full on the 2011 DVD. There are lots of extra features on the DVDs as well, including interviews, rehearsal footage and alternate camera angles. At a later date I intend to review all of their DVDs & Blu-rays, so will discuss these extras in more detail then. There is also an interview with Brian at Wembley in the On Air CD box set, when he talks to David ‘Kid’ Jensen on Capital Radio.
  • Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary on 27 July 1986 – This concert has previously been released on CD, DVD and Blu-ray under the name Hungarian Rhapsody, including the Magic Year documentary as a bonus feature as mentioned above. However, it’s now been remastered in 4K Ultra HD, which will be available in a 40th anniversary release called Queen: Budapest on October 30 this year. One particularly special moment in the gig is when Freddie sings a local folk song called Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt, which the crowd hugely appreciate.
  • Live Magic – This album is a compilation of performances from the tour, mainly focused on Knebworth but there are a few tracks from Wembley and Budapest mixed in as well. Unfortunately it’s heavily edited to make everything fit on a single CD, so several songs have parts cut out, including the operatic section from Bohemian Rhapsody, which pretty much makes this a criminal record.

1. One Vision

Written by Queen

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

This is the Queen song that feels most special to me on a personal level, beyond the undeniable fact that it’s an awesome track. In part that’s because it mentions vision (of which mine isn’t perfect due to my visual impairment) and fried chicken (one of my favourite foods, and it’s also a very amusing way to end the song). And in general I just love all the lyrics, which are inspired by the life of Martin Luther King Jr and their Live Aid appearance. I think it’s very well written, especially the sentiments about hope and unity that we really need today.

But also, it was used at the start of every show on their Magic Tour, and the very first concert video by Queen that I ever owned was the VHS of their Wembley gig. It was therefore the first time I had seen the band performing on stage, having been far too young to go live in person, and while nothing can compare to the atmosphere in that stadium, just witnessing their power on screen was incredible. Obviously I already liked Queen to some extent, as by then I was very familiar with their Greatest Hits and had the Greatest Flix VHS, hence my desire to try the concert. But their live performances are on another level entirely and I watched that video a lot during my childhood in the 90s. So I always think of Wembley whenever I hear One Vision, because it deepened my obsession with the band significantly.

Back in the 80s, it was the first single they released after their Live Aid appearance, coming out on 4 November 1985, and it reached number 7 in the UK charts. Unlike the other tracks on the album, it’s credited to the whole band because they all developed the song together. It’s only the second time a song has been credited to all 4 band members in that way (since Stone Cold Crazy), but it would become a standard credit for all songs from the next album onwards. And while it doesn’t feature in Highlander, it is used for training and battle scenes in Iron Eagle, which also came out in 1986.

Queen have also made it the name of their Youtube station, One Vision TV, which shows performances by the band 24 hours a day.

Alternate Versions

There are quite a few other versions of this track:

  • Single Version – This edits a few sections to trim the song down from just over 5 minutes to 4 minutes in length, removes the drums from the shortened intro, and ends the song more definitively after the “fried chicken” line. It has also been released on the 2011 reissue of A Kind Of Magic, plus the Greatest Hits 2 and Absolute Greatest compilations.
  • Extended Version – This is the 12″ mix, which extends the track to 6½ minutes, mainly by lengthening the percussion bridge section. An extended version of the music video was made to go with it. It was also released on the Hollywood Records remaster of the album in America.
  • Instrumental Version – The instrumental of the single version was released on Greatest Karaoke Hits.
  • Blurred Vision – This is a strange instrumental remix that focuses mainly on the percussion but still includes some vocals and other elements of the original track. It was the B-side of the One Vision 7″ & 12″ singles, and since then it’s only been re-released on the Complete Vision LP, and in the third Singles Collection box set.
  • A Kind Of Vision – This is a very interesting demo that was released on the 2011 reissue of the album, featuring Freddie backed by a drum machine and a synthesizer. It shows how the lyrical ideas for One Vision and A Kind Of Magic were originally part of one song, before they went their separate ways.

Isolated Tracks

I have the multitracks for the single version of this song that I downloaded ages ago, which I believe are from the Rock Band video game, so it’s great to hear it broken down into its different components:

  • Vocals – Freddie’s voice is absolutely magical as always, and he really packs a punch with lines like “Look what they’ve done to my dream” in the middle section. His intro line “I had a dream” is about 20 seconds in, before the full vocals start just before the 40-second mark.
  • Keys – The synthesizer is used to good effect here. The intro was perfect for starting their concerts, and it’s interesting to hear how that part ends here, as in the final mix it sounds like a bit of secondary guitar under the main riff that Brian plays, yet it’s still the synth. The bridge section then occurs from 1:52, and the sci-fi-style sound effects begin just after 3 minutes in, accompanied by some clicking sticks from Roger.
  • Guitar – From 32 seconds in, Brian’s guitar playing is solid and makes a cool instrumental in its own right, with some flourishes that aren’t obvious in the final track.
  • Drums – Roger starts hitting the kit around 40 seconds into the song. and provides a powerful steady rhythm. You can also hear the guitar leaking into his microphones, but it’s quite nice to have that in the background. At 1:52 there’s a gap for Freddie’s vocal bridge part (“I had a dream…”), then Roger starts up again around 15 seconds later, and gets into his cool percussion solo a minute after that.
  • Bass – John’s part starts from 35 seconds in. Sometimes he does an interpretation of the main guitar riff, while at other times he provides a steady rhythm with his own counter-melody. And there are synth bass elements mixed in as well.

Documentary & Music Videos

The Making Of One Vision was filmed in the studio over a fortnight in September 1985. It was the first time the band had allowed cameras to record them working on a song, and it also marked their first collaboration with Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher (aka DoRo Productions), who would go on to produce many more videos for them.

The 19-minute feature is fantastic to watch, as we see the band working hard to rehearse, refine and record the song, allowing us to hear parts that didn’t make it into the final mix. Alongside that it also includes Brian playing a beautiful piano solo and clips from interviews with the band members. Plus it’s really funny to hear Freddie’s impromptu lyrics towards the end:

  • “One dump, one turd, two tits, John Deacon!”
  • “One heart, one soul, one sex position!”
  • “One shrimp, one prawn, one clam, one chicken!”

Footage from the documentary filming, of Queen performing and relaxing in the studio, was then used for the standard and extended versions of the music video (the former using the single version of the song). In addition, the intro shows the band recreating their Queen II cover pose from the opening of the Bohemian Rhapsody video, and later on there are clips of the band in concert as well. So they’re great to watch too, especially the extended one.

The documentary and both versions of the music video can all be found on the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD. The extended promo was also included as a bonus with the 2011 iTunes reissue of the album A Kind Of Magic. An additional version of the video was also made to tie-in with Iron Eagle, mixing in clips from the movie, but that hasn’t been officially released anywhere.

Live Performances

As previously stated, this was the opening song for all the concerts on the Magic Tour, with audiences clapping along to the intro synths as the anticipation built for the band’s arrival on stage. So it’s on the Wembley, Budapest and Live Magic releases mentioned earlier, the latter using their performance from Knebworth.

The Friday night performance from Wembley is also a bonus track on the 2011 reissue of the album A Kind Of Magic. And it’s great, but the Saturday performance is tighter, as if they decided to polish it up a bit for that and their later shows, with Brian starting his guitar riff bang on time after the intro and doing better solos later on, plus there are a few more vocals from Freddie and Roger, and nice flourishes on the bass from John. On the DVD you can also watch dedicated camera angles for Freddie, Brian, Roger and John on this song, which is really cool.

The Live Magic album fades midway into the synth intro of the Knebworth performance, but otherwise seems to be complete, and is perhaps the best performance of all the live versions, with Freddie really making his mark to launch his final gig.

The song was then performed later by Queen + Paul Rodgers, in a shortened version that ends on the line “look what they’ve done to my dream”, which is a pity. Examples include:

Queen + Adam Lambert have performed it in full since then, but no official versions have ever been released. A professionally filmed example currently online is from Rock In Rio, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on 18 September 2015.

Finally, the song is also in the We Will Rock You musical, so it’s on the soundtrack album by the London cast, and incorporates the chorus of Radio Ga Ga in the bridge section.

Cover Versions

A few notable covers of the song include:

2. A Kind Of Magic

Written by Roger Taylor

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

This fabulous song, with its catchy rhythm and iconic bass line, reached number 3 in the UK charts and stayed in the Top 10 for 6 weeks. The title refers to the fact that the lead character in Highlander is immortal, while the lyrics refer to the prize and goal he’s aiming for.

It marked the first time that a Queen album had featured a track with the same title, but it became routine for their next 3 albums as well. Previously The Flash Gordon soundtrack had Flash’s Theme, The Game had Play The Game, and the song Sheer Heart Attack is actually on the album News Of The World, so none of those count.

The song originated from an idea that contained elements of One Vision as well. See the notes for One Vision above for the demo called A Kind Of Vision.

Alternate Edits

  • Extended Version – This is the same as the album version, but with a new instrumental section in the middle and Brian’s full guitar solo near the end to lengthen the track by a couple of minutes, and it works very nicely. As well as appearing on the 12″ single and 12″ Collection box set, it later became more readily available on the compilation Now That’s What I Call 12″ 80s: Extended in 2021. It’s never appeared in full on any version of the A Kind Of Magic album, but the extended portion of it, running from the new instrumental section to the end, was included on the CD release of the album in 1986, entitled A Kind Of ‘A Kind Of Magic’. It always frustrated me knowing that it was only part of the extended version, so I was delighted when I finally got the entire track later on.
  • Instrumental Version – Released on Greatest Karaoke Hits and in a slightly different mix on their video game The Eye.

Highlander Version

The Highlander film uses the original version of the song by Roger over the end credits. It has a heavier rhythm, a completely different bass part and additional sound effects, compared to the album and single release that most people are familiar with. It’s really good too, and is argued by some to be the better version. I really like both to be honest, I can’t choose between them.

It was changed for the album A Kind Of Magic by Freddie, who rearranged it while Roger was on holiday and came up with the famous bass line and disco beat to make it more pop-friendly. Some people say that Roger wasn’t happy when he discovered how Freddie had changed it, so maybe the fact that Roger is still credited as the sole author was a form of compromise. However, on the commentary for Absolute Greatest Hits, Roger says that he liked what Freddie did with it, while also discussing the Highlander version with Brian. The revised pop version was later played on a jukebox in the second Highlander movie, which Queen weren’t involved with.

The Highlander version of the song was never released officially at the time. It wasn’t until 2003 that it finally surfaced, unexpectedly, on the Live At Wembley DVD, when it was used to soundtrack the photo gallery. It then had a proper audio release as a bonus track on the 2011 album reissue of A Kind Of Magic. In both cases, those releases presented the full version of the track, lasting a minute longer than in the film, although the 2011 release has a slightly longer fade out at the end.

Isolated Tracks

The multitracks for the album version of the track have been leaked online, so they’re fun to hear too:

  • Vocals – It’s always magical to hear Freddie in isolation, and this is no exception. The backing harmonies are nice as well.
  • Bass – This is a lovely, steady, catchy little tune in its own right. You can really appreciate all of John’s little touches when you hear it like this.
  • Drums – This includes the finger clicks at the start (which are apparently by Chris Rea, according to an interview he gave on BBC Radio Tees in 2017), and then Roger gets into a nice rhythm. It’s nothing outstanding as it’s a simple beat, but there are still nice little flourishes here and there.
  • Keys – The synth chords sound quite slow and relaxing in this form. You also get to hear some of the special sound effects.
  • Guitar – Brian doesn’t get quite as much to do as everyone else, but what he does contribute is great as usual, and you definitely notice more of it in isolation like this. It’s a pity we don’t get the full guitar solo from the extended version though.

Music Video

The music video was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who also directed Highlander. At the time of release it was the first song that Queen had ever released as a VHS video single (with the tape also containing Who Wants To Live Forever?), but nowadays of course it’s on the internet and the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD.

It was filmed at the Playhouse Theatre in Charing Cross, London, which had fallen into disuse since the BBC stopped using it for recording 10 years previously in 1976. The exterior was recreated as a painting to make it look isolated at the start and end of the video, while the interior was made to look even more derelict than it already was. Given its rundown state, there wasn’t any central heating, so with filming taking place in early March 1986, the band had to film in the cold.

It shows Freddie entering the venue, where he finds Brian, John and Roger as tramps. He uses magic to transform them into the members of Queen so they can play the song with him, along with a group of colourful backing singers who were animated and cleverly mixed in with the live action by the Walt Disney Company. Those characters, along with cartoon versions of the Queen members, appear in the artwork for the album. So it’s a lot of fun, and one of their more memorable videos as it’s not just shots of them performing.

The theatre in the video was brought back into usage in 1987, the year after Queen had filmed there, and has hosted many shows ever since. It had to close again during the Covid pandemic of course, and during that time the opportunity was taken to renovate the building. It reopened in November 2021 as the Kit Kat Club in order to host the musical Cabaret, which is still playing there today. I ought to see that show at some point.

Live Performances

This song was very popular on their Magic Tour, beginning with noises and sound effects before Freddie starts singing, and there’s a nice bit of instrumental jamming in the middle, including Spike Edney on the keyboards. So the performances from Mannheim, Wembley and Budapest are on the various releases mentioned earlier, while the Live Magic compilation includes the Budapest version, apparently combined with elements from Knebworth. The Wembley DVDs also include rehearsal footage of the last part of the song in the bonus material.

After the song’s conclusion, Freddie would then do some great call and response vocal improvisation with the crowd (sometimes referred to as “Day-O”), which you can also hear from the Mannheim, Wembley and Budapest gigs. Just like at Live Aid, he had everyone totally under his control, and they would be so good at keeping up with him that at the end he would jokingly exclaim “Fuck you!” The Friday improv from Wembley is particularly cool, as Freddie gets very fancy with it. Meanwhile, the Saturday improv from Wembley was also played to the crowd (who dutifully joined in) at the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics before Brian and Roger emerged.

Queen + Paul Rodgers also included the track in their setlists, for example:

Queen + Adam Lambert have performed it many times too, again sometimes with Roger on lead vocals, but no versions have been officially released, sadly.

Roger Taylor has also performed the song as a solo artist, for instance:

Finally, the song is also featured in the We Will Rock You musical, so it’s on the London Cast soundtrack.

Cover Versions

There are a fair number of covers for this song, with some of the most notable being:

3. One Year Of Love

Written by John Deacon

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia

Once again, John has written a beautiful ballad here. For the immortal lead character in Highlander, who is warned against having relationships as he will outlive any normal person, he still wants to experience love, even if it’s only for a brief period. But even for mortal beings with a finite lifespan like ourselves, the song can very much resonate with all of us.

Unusually, Brian doesn’t appear at all on this song. Instead, there’s a very pleasant saxophone part played by Steve Gregory, a session musician who had famously played on George Michael’s Careless Whisper in 1984. There’s a lovely string section as well, and the lyrics contain the title of the next song on this album – Pain Is So Close To Pleasure.

The song was released as a single, but only in France and Spain. The band never performed it live, sadly.

A music video was produced for the Classic Queen VHS compilation in 1992, which is simply a montage of clips from promo videos by Queen and Freddie, outtakes and Highlander.

Alternate Versions

  • Film Version – An extract of the song is heard in the bar scene, and sounds slightly different to the album version. A piano instrumental of the song is also played when Connor is in Brenda’s apartment.
  • Extended Version – Originally made for the 12″ single but never used, this 6½-minute mix eventually saw the light of day on a bonus CD with the Immortal Edition DVD of the film, which came out in America in 2002. It’s never been released anywhere else. It has a long instrumental introduction, and other instrumental sections later on, and the verses are in a different order.
  • Town House Studios Demo – This unreleased demo is among many that have been leaked from one of Peter Freestone’s audio tapes. It sounds similar to the final version, especially in terms of Freddie’s vocals, but the structure isn’t quite in the same order, the saxophone part is different, and there’s even a brief guitar solo at one point, which might be played by John as it sounds nothing like Brian.

Cover Versions

There are a few covers of this song worth noting, all with female vocalists:

  • Elaine Paige – This has an orchestral arrangement and a slower tempo, but it still sounds nice in her style. It was recorded for her Queen covers album.
  • Stevie Ann – This lovely acoustic version was released as a single by the Dutch singer in 2006, and was later included on her Live & Acoustic album.
  • Fleesh – A slightly heavier interpretation featuring electric guitar. It has over 51,000 views on Youtube and is available on their Versions album, where they cover songs by various artists.

4. Pain Is So Close To Pleasure

Written by Freddie Mercury & John Deacon

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia

This song, one of the three that doesn’t appear in Highlander, has a nice steady rhythm, a groovy bassline and some great falsetto vocals by Freddie.

It was released as a single in the US, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, and the Single Remix is different to the album version, including a longer intro and outro, a faster tempo and more variation to the percussion. Like many people, I do actually feel that it’s better than the album version, although that’s still good too. This mix was released as a bonus track on the 2011 reissue of the album.

An Extended Version of that single mix was then included on the 12″ single, and thus later on in the 12″ Collection box set, but it’s never been officially released anywhere else. It mainly lengthens the intro and the outro, including a bit more guitar from Brian in the latter case. So it’s not exceptional as Queen’s extended mixes go, but it is good.

Queen never played the song live and there are barely any cover versions online. It may not be one of their best songs, but it’s not bad either, so it feels rather neglected.

5. Friends Will Be Friends

Written by Freddie Mercury & John Deacon

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia

This is a nice anthem about the power of friends, who support you no matter what life throws at you. I’ve certainly felt the warmth and relief of that over the past couple of years now that I’m caring for my mother more than I had to before. Sure, I know that the lyrics are about someone losing a partner, struggling for money and feeling unwell, but as with many Queen songs the general sentiments are much more wide-ranging, and we can all relate to it. I also love the guitar playing that’s at the heart of the backing track.

The song reached number 14 for 2 weeks when it was released as Queen’s 30th single in the UK, and spent 6 weeks altogether in the top 40, as well as being a top 40 hit across Europe. It’s the third and final track from the album that isn’t part of the Highlander film.

Music Video

The music video, available on Greatest Video Hits 2, shows Queen performing the song to a group of lucky fan club members at JVC Studios in Wembley on 15 May 1986. Freddie even gets among the crowd as he sings, and also plays around with one of the spotlights shining down on them, while at the start there are shots of the whole band standing amongst them.

Queen are of course miming to the studio track, as is standard for every music video. However, the audience are also heard singing the title refrain in the choruses, and as the instrumentation fades out at the end, Freddie conducts them in singing an entire chorus to finish. So it’s a unique mix of the song, and a really nice touch to let the fans be part of it in that way.

Alternate Versions

  • Friends Will Be Friends Will Be Friends – This was a bonus track on the 1986 CD edition of the album and the 2011 reissue, and is the same as the extended 12″ mix but with one chorus instead of two before the closing instrumental section. The full 12″ mix has never been released anywhere beyond the single. In any case, the track opens with an instrumental verse and chorus with backing vocals, before it gets into the song properly. Instead of then fading out where the album version does, it continues with an extra guitar solo and then strips out the lead guitar for a simplified instrumental outro. If you turn the volume right up during the fade out, it sounds like it then peters out to a full stop.

Live Performances

The song was added in between We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions at the end of every show on the Magic Tour, thereby extending the singalong finale. Initially they played the full version in their 2 shows at Leiden, but after that it was shortened to its core components of 2 verses and 2 choruses. It can therefore be heard on the Wembley and Budapest releases. The Knebworth performance is also on the Live Magic compilation, but has been edited down to just one verse and one chorus.

It doesn’t look like it was performed with Paul Rodgers or Adam Lambert later on, the latter being a particular surprise as I can imagine him having a great time singing it with his concert audiences.

Cover Versions

There are a couple of covers worth noting here:

  • Michael Ball & Alfie Boe – The song formed part of a great medley with Who Wants To Live Forever? & The Show Must Go On, released on their Back Together album.
  • Kings Daughters – This outdoor performance was shared online during lockdown in 2020. A couple of months earlier they had released their single Get Up, which was produced by Brian May himself.

6. Who Wants To Live Forever?

Written by Brian May

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

As much as immortality may sound like an amazing thing, this exquisite song reminds us that it has serious downsides, especially if others around you are not blessed with such a gift. Hence it’s used in Highlander to accompany the emotional turmoil of Connor’s wife Heather growing old and passing away in his arms while he continues on indefinitely. However, anyone who’s suffered the loss of a loved one can identify with the track, and it was revealed to be the 5th most popular song played at funerals in 2005.

It certainly packs an emotional punch and gives pause for thought, which is what Brian felt when he first saw the scene with Heather during a 20-minute preview of rushes from the film. It triggered feelings relating to the recent loss of his father and his marriage ending, so he started writing the song in the taxi home afterwards and it came together pretty quickly. It fits the scene perfectly, making it one of the outstanding highlights of the movie.

There’s so much to love about the track, including Brian and Freddie’s heartfelt vocals, the stunning orchestral backing led by the film’s composer Michael Kamen, the lovely harmonies in the chorus, Brian’s beautiful guitar solos and synthesizer playing, and the mournful 1½-minute outro (which is cut down by 20 seconds on Greatest Hits 2 and Absolute Greatest). John doesn’t play at all and, due to the orchestra providing the percussion, Roger only adds a little bit with a drum machine and sings some backing vocals.

Incredibly, the song only reached number 24 in the UK charts, for just 1 out of its 4 weeks in the top 40. These days it’s a fan favourite, coming high in polls of favourite Queen hits, but at the time it doesn’t look like it got the full traction it deserved. Perhaps it was seen as a movie track rather than a song in its own right, or just wasn’t promoted heavily enough, I don’t know. But it just seems low for such a strong song that’s become so popular since then.

Alternate Versions

  • Alternate Film Score – The unofficial promo CD of Michael Zamen’s Highlander soundtrack contained a beautiful instrumental as an alternative for Heather’s death, and the melody appears in other scenes in the film too. Another variation, in a track called Rachel’s Surprise, was included on an official album called Highlander: The Original Scores that featured selected tracks from the first 3 movies. The song itself was also heard in several episodes of the spin-off TV series.
  • Instrumental Version – This was released on Greatest Karaoke Hits. It’s a great chance to fully appreciate the powerful orchestration.
  • Forever – This is a really beautiful piano instrumental of the song played by Brian. It was released on the 12″ single and also as a bonus track on the CD edition of A Kind Of Magic in 1986. It incorporates a line from the chorus that would have gone “oooh, not me”, which was later cut from the lyrics to streamline the song, on the advice of Michael Kamen.
  • Skip Demo – This instrumental synthesizer demo by Brian begins with a few practice chords (referred to as Skip Demo 1), followed by the familiar tune of the song (Skip Demo 2). It was apparently used as a guide for the band in the studio before being disposed of, as a result of which somebody found the tape in a skip (hence its name). So it’s a really interesting track.

Isolated Tracks

There are also isolated tracks that have been posted online, from a user that has put the song through music separation tools to great effect. They reveal a lot of touches that are very easy to miss in the final mix.

  • Orchestra – This is a glorious classical piece in itself, with a lot going on.
  • Vocals – These are just beautiful as well. While Brian isn’t as good a singer as Freddie, he still knocks it out of the park here.
  • Synths – The organ sound also helps to underpin the song beautifully. It’s not as exciting as the orchestra, but it’s still fairly interesting.
  • Guitar – This is shorter as it only starts halfway through the track, but Brian’s performance is lovely.
  • Drums – Beginning with a heartbeat motif, the percussion is fairly uneventful for about a minute, but gets into a simple but effective rhythm in the middle.
  • Bass – This is pretty quiet for the most part, but there are occasionally more prominent notes just after 1½ minutes in.

Music Videos

The music video shows Queen performing the single version of the song with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and 40 choirboys. It’s also lit beautifully by 2,000 candles and a powerful spotlight on Freddie, who looks very smart in his suit. It was filmed in a warehouse on Tobacco Wharf in London that has since been demolished.

It’s available on the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD, along with a hidden Highlander edit that incorporates clips from the movie. To access it, start playing the normal video, but press Enter when the sleeve appears before the music starts. Alternatively, you can tell your player to go to title 6 on disc 1 .

More recently, in 2021, a powerful animated video by students around the world was produced for Brian May’s Save Me Trust, to highlight the devastating impact of man-made climate change on the natural world.

Live Performances

Queen played the song throughout their Magic Tour, naturally adapted for the stage given that they didn’t have an orchestra in tow. Freddie took on all the vocals superbly, while Brian played synthesizer before switching to guitar, and Roger played drums as usual. John hadn’t played bass on the original record, but did so for the live versions, from the second verse onwards. The song ended on the line “Who waits forever anyway?”, without a long outro.

Before getting into the song, Freddie also reassured the crowd that rumours of the band splitting up weren’t true, and he didn’t mince his words about it either, clearly angry at all the gossip. On the Saturday night at Wembley, for example, he said: “Forget those rumours, we’re gonna stay together until we fucking well die, I’m sure of it.” He was right too.

Performances are available on their Wembley and Budapest releases, but not on the Live Magic album.

Following Freddie’s death, the song was performed by Seal at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in Wembley Stadium, London on 20 April 1992, and was thus made available on the DVD & Blu-ray editions of the show. It’s an inspired choice, as it’s one of the best and most emotional performances of the show, and you can hear the audience joining in with the chorus.

Adam Lambert has also performed the song on many occasions, usually with Queen. He has such a great voice and pitches it perfectly, giving it amazing power when it counts. A few particular examples include:

The song is also in the We Will Rock You musical, so is on the London Cast recording.

Charity Single

After a leukaemia patient asked for Who Wants To Live Forever? to be played at her funeral in the late 1980s, Brian was inspired to support the British Bone Marrow Donor Association, a charity that helped to match leukaemia patients with bone marrow donors. He became their patron for more than 15 years, until it closed in 2005, when the register of donors was taken over by the NHS. Its remaining £1 million of funds was donated to blood services across the UK.

To raise money and awareness for them in 1989, therefore, he produced a charity single, on which the song was performed with perfect tenderness by two competition-winning children called Ian Meeson & Belinda Gillett. It featured Brian on guitar and keyboards, along with Roger Taylor on drums and John Deacon on bass, plus a lovely strings section arranged by Michael Kamen. It’s a really moving rendition, even more so knowing its purpose in this particular case.

A music video of Ian & Belinda recording the song, interspersed with footage of children playing and the musicians, is on Queen’s Youtube channel. But it’s also available as a hidden feature on the second disc of the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD. To find it, go to the Hot Space menu, highlight Play All, and press up, left, right on your remote. Alternatively, if your player allows it, you can select title 13. I’ve verified both methods on my own copy of the DVD, because some old Easter Egg sites incorrectly tell you to press Up and then Menu (unless that’s the method for other editions of the DVD outside the UK?).

As well as the song itself, the 7″ and 12″ singles both contained an instrumental version of the track, while the 12″ also had an extended version that added an orchestral introduction to the song.

On top of that, the 12″ single also included the original demo recording, featuring Brian’s 8-year-old daughter Louisa May singing the song, which is utterly adorable. She even drops some papers and goes “Whoopsie!” part way through, and shouts “OK!” at the end. It’s so sweet.

Since that single was released:

Brian May & Kerry Ellis

Brian and Kerry have performed the song together on several occasions:

In addition, as a solo artist, Kerry released the song on her 2020 album Feels Like Home, which doesn’t include the instrumental section in the middle but is still a lovely arrangement. She also performed it on stage for a Movies To Musicals concert, and has sung it live with various other people including the Killer Queen and Queen Machine tribute bands, Rob Houchen, Matt Cardle, Ricardo Afonso, Oliver Tompsett & Marc Martel.

Other Brian May Collaborations

As if all of the above wasn’t enough, Brian has also performed the song with other incredible singers, providing vocals as well as playing the guitar:

  • Jennifer Rush – On her 1995 album Out Of My Hands.
  • Andrea Bocelli – Backed by an orchestra and choir live at the Teatro Del Silenzio, Lajatico, Italy in July 2024, as part of a concert called Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration. It concludes with the full-length instrumental outro, and is brought to an end by Andrea singing the word “forever”.

There is also an incomplete video of him performing with Hans Zimmer, Steve Vai, V. Grigolo and the 21st Century Orchestra & Chorus at the Starmus V event, in tribute to Steven Hawking. Sadly it’s missing a bit from the beginning, but it’s still an excellent performance.

Cover Versions

There are a ton of covers by other artists for this beautiful song, so here’s a small selection of some of the best:

  • Dune – The German band released their cover, featuring the London Session Orchestra, as the first single from their 1997 album Forever. It got to number 2 in their home country and did well across Europe. They filmed the music video for the song in the Scottish Highlands as a nod to Highlander, and have also performed it live in concert. They released a few dance remixes too, which don’t work well compared to the main version, along with a strange “Highlander Trilogy” of instrumentals on the original single.
  • After Forever – This version by the Dutch symphonic metal band was released as the B-side of their single Emphasis in 2002. It was then later included as a bonus track on the 2012 reissue of their Decipher album, along with an instrumental Sessions Version. They don’t sound like a metal band to begin with, but after a couple of minutes it becomes obvious during the bridge section, and the spin they put on it works well.
  • The Tenors featuring Lindsey Stirling – This epic rendition was released on their album Under One Sky, and has over 22 million views on Youtube. They’ve also performed it live.
  • Marc Martel – Apart from his appearance with Kerry Ellis, he’s also performed it live at Symphonic Queen and with One Vision Of Queen (and he’s also shared the full concert of the latter). And during lockdown in 2020 he sang it at the piano and shared it online, where it currently has over 2.2 million views.
  • Postmodern Jukebox – A beautiful West Side Story interpretation of the song that has over 2.1 million views.

7. Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)

Written by Brian May

See also: Ultimate Queen

This song from Highlander is in a heavy metal style, which by all accounts didn’t particularly appeal to director Russell Mulcahy, or to Freddie and John in the group. It’s not one of the best tracks on the album, sure, but it’s not bad either, and it incorporates some of Kurgan’s dialogue and a news report from the film quite effectively. the band never performed the song live.

4 remixes of the track, which strip out the guitar intro and have enhanced percussion, were later made for Queen’s video game The Eye in 1997. 3 of them were included in the game itself, while the other was released as the B-side to No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young) in the same year. They’re identical for the most part, but one only includes Freddie’s vocals, one only features Kurgan’s voice (the single remix), one has a mixture of the two, and one is a full instrumental with no vocals at all.

There are a few cover versions people have posted on Youtube, such as one by Cristian Baquero, but nothing by any major artists.

8. Don’t Lose Your Head

Written by Roger Taylor

See also: Ultimate Queen

Like the previous track, this isn’t an amazing song, but it has a powerful rhythm to it and good vocals by Freddie. The most interesting thing about it is that the woman who says “Don’t lose your head” at various points is actually singer Joan Armatrading. Queen have never performed the song live.

The song is used in Highlander when Kurgan kidnaps Brenda and is driving her away at speed. It segues into a brief rendition of the theme from New York, New York, sung by Freddie, which sadly has never been officially released.

Alternate Versions

  • A Dozen Red Roses For My Darling – This is a nice instrumental remix of the track, which was released on the singles for A Kind Of Magic in the UK and Princes Of The Universe in America. There was also an extended version on the 12″ UK single, which simply makes the intro 18 seconds longer while keeping the rest the same.
  • The Eye Instrumental – This is an instrumental remix of the first 2 minutes of the song, which is closer to the original than A Dozen Red Roses but still has a few changes.

Cover Versions

There are hardly any covers out there for this song, but I have found a music video by Oniric, a live version by The World Of Queen and a piano version by Marie Le Scaon that are worth a look.

9. Princes Of The Universe

Written by Freddie Mercury

See also: Ultimate Queen / Wikipedia / Song Facts

This great heavy rock song was used during the opening of the Highlander movie and was the theme tune for the spin-off TV series. It’s the only track on the album which Freddie gets a solo writing credit for, and he even wrote Brian’s guitar riffs for him. It was released as a single in the US and some other countries, but not the UK, and was later included on Greatest Hits 3. The band never performed it live.

Much more recently, the song has also been used in the film Masters of the Universe, which came out earlier this year. Brian’s distinctive guitar sound can be heard throughout the soundtrack as well, having collaborated on the music with Daniel Pemberton. I haven’t seen the film or listened to the music myself, but on the strength of that knowledge I may do so one day.

Alternate Versions

  • Town House Studios Demo – This leaked early version was designed for use in the film, so it has a pause in the middle with some drone and helicopter noises, before it then kicks back in. It’s most notable for having some fabulous extra guitar work by Brian, and his incredible guitar solo in the second half is heard cleanly here, without Freddie’s vocals over the top.
  • The Eye Instrumental Edit – This is an instrumental of a section of the original album track, with a bit more percussion, used in the video game The Eye.

Music Video

The music video feels as big and bold as the song itself, mixing footage from the movie with Queen performing on the Silvercup stage from the film. It was directed by the film’s director Russell Mulcahy, and actor Christopher Lambert even makes a cameo appearance with the band, whereupon Freddie uses his microphone stand to have a swordfight with him! It was released on the band’s Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD, as well as the Immortal Edition DVD of Highlander. It was also included as a bonus download with the 2011 iTunes reissue of the album. There’s a lot of behind the scenes footage from the shoot online too.

Cover Versions

There aren’t any significant cover versions, but among the limited selection of offerings on Youtube there are nice performances by The Queen Tribute, The Protomen and The Covers Duo, plus a surprising acoustic instrumental by Queen Covers Project and a Motown interpretation by Master Tc & The Visitors.

Unreleased Demos

There are also a couple of interesting demos that have never been officially released, but have been leaked online:

  • Battle Scene – This is a very atmospheric instrumental piece recorded at Town House Studios, with some beautiful guitar playing backed by synthesisers.
  • You Are The Only One – Even when Freddie is ad-libbing nonsense he still sounds wonderful. In this track, recorded in 1985 or 1986, he’s experimenting with a song idea for which he appears to have the piano part figured out, but barely any lyrics apart from the title plus “Got my head in the clouds”, “Honey our love can be” and “I’m so sorry” at various points.

Conclusion

That wraps up this magical album, which has a great selection of tracks on it. I’m glad I’ve finally seen the Highlander film as well, which has enabled me to put the songs into context. So I hope you enjoyed reading about all of that as well.

Queen’s next album was The Miracle, and I’ve already written extensively about the Collector’s Edition box set for it. But I will expand upon it a bit further soon, just to add in some other sections that have been common across the rest of these reviews. So I’ll probably update that post rather than do a new one. Then there will just be a couple of other albums to go. We’re nearly there!

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Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures.

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