Brian May – Well Eye Never

Queen Album Review – Hot Space

We’re really Under Pressure from this latest heatwave, so it would help if someone could take Action This Day to Put Out The Fire in order for me to be a Cool Cat again. Then I can start Calling All Girls to pass on The Words Of Love and emphasise my Body Language as a Dancer. I’ll prove that I’m a Soul Brother who knows that Life Is Real, I have the Staying Power and I won’t take any Back Chat.

Yes, that’s right. For this next post in my series of Queen reviews, we come to an album that proved to be quite controversial – Hot Space. It was hardly unusual for Queen to be experimental, but this foray into funk, disco and R&B, with a heavy focus on synth sounds (although there were still rock elements as well), was too much of a change from their traditional style. Even within the band there were arguments as they put it together.

The reaction from their fanbase wasn’t lost on them either, as Freddie remarked during a show in Milton Keynes: “Now, most of you know that we’ve got some new sounds out in the last week. And for what it’s worth, we’re gonna do a few songs in the funk/black category – whatever you call it. That doesn’t mean we’ve lost our rock ‘n’ roll feel, ok? I mean, it’s only a bloody record, people get so excited about these things. We just want to try out a few sounds.”

It is fair to say that Hot Space is their weakest studio album as a result (if we don’t count the soundtrack score for Flash Gordon that preceded it). However, it’s not awful either, and there is some good stuff on it, especially Life Is Real, Las Palabras De Amor and Under Pressure, as they’re closer to Queen’s usual style. It also peaked at number 4 in the UK chart, altogether spending 3 weeks in the top 10 and 13 weeks in the top 40, which is fairly good. And when they performed some of the tracks live, they were interpreted in a more heavy rock style that made them sound better, because of the instruments the band used on stage.

So here’s my personal review of each of the tracks, along with alternate versions, live performances, covers and more. I hope you enjoy!

An artistic image showing images of the 4 members of Queen against a black background. Each is facing forward with light hitting their face from the left side of the image, leaving the other side of each face in shadow, blending into the black behind them. Each face is shown in a different colour, with John in red, Brian in blue, Freddie in yellow and Roger in green.

Queen Album Review – Flash Gordon

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.

A photo of Freddie Mercury singing into a microphone, while wearing a white t-shirt with the word Flash in large red letters on it. The photo is from the booklet with the Flash Gordon album, with a yellow streak of lightning above him.

A photo of Brian May playing guitar from the booklet with the Flash Gordon album, with a yellow streak of lightning above him.

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.

Queen Album Review – Queen II – Collector’s Edition

Back in 2024, Queen released a collector’s edition of their debut album with new mixes, session outtakes, backing tracks and live performances, which I reviewed at the time.

And now, as has been long anticipated since then, they’ve brought out a collector’s edition of Queen II, their fantastic and highly complex second album, in much the same vein. So naturally I’ve been looking forward to checking that out as well.

Once again, there are multiple formats available from various retailers, including a big box set with 5 CDs and 2 LPs, a much simpler 2-disc CD edition with the new mixes and the sessions material, and others.

And just like last time, I’ve plumped for the digital download instead. It’s just £17.99 for the contents of all 5 CDs compared to the frankly ludicrous £194.99 for the physical equivalent, which has 2 vinyl records I’d have no use for and 2 of the CDs contain live tracks I already have from older releases. Sure, the book and photo prints look really nice, but I can live without them in the circumstances.

Considering the 6-CD box set for their previous album was an already steep £149.99, I’m baffled as to how this new 5-CD set is £45 dearer! Maybe it’s because it has 2 LPs rather than 1 like the previous set, one of which is white vinyl rather than black (as the album has ‘Side White’ and ‘Side Black’ instead of Sides 1 & 2). But it’s a lot extra just for that. If there had been a similar set without the vinyl LPs for a much cheaper price, I’d have been tempted to get it, but it’s quite common for box sets these days to have vinyls I don’t want. It always bugs me when artists do that.

Anyway, back in lockdown I wrote an extensive post reviewing the tracks on Queen II, along with related live performances and covers, so I’m not going to repeat that kind of thing here. Instead, I just want to compare the new mixes to the originals and look through the bonus material, and I’ve added the new tracks to my Queen II playlist as well. Nothing here is sponsored or gifted, because I bought the new download myself, and I hope you enjoy!

Queen Album Review – The Game

Way back in lockdown, to fill some of the time, I wrote in-depth reviews of the 1970s studio albums by Queen, my favourite band, which took me from their self-titled debut up to the Jazz album. And they’re about to release a new deluxe edition of Queen II, which I’m looking forward to downloading and reviewing, just like I did for their Queen I box set.

However, it’s long been my intention to review the rest of their albums as well, and now I’ve got more time on my hands, I’m going to delve back into them at long last.

So we’ll kick off the 80s with The Game, the album that produced Queen’s best-selling single of all time, and the only two number 1 hits they ever had in America (where it was also their only number 1 album, selling over 4 million copies). The Game also reached number 1 in the UK for 2 weeks, and stayed in the top 40 for 15 weeks altogether. Overall it sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

Freddie Mercury, sporting a moustache and wearing a black leather jacket over a red top, leaning back against a railing overlooking a snowy landscape with trees and a couple of buildings.

Brian May, with his hands in his light brown jacket pockets, leaning back against a railing overlooking a snowy landscape with trees and a couple of buildings.

It’s also the first Queen album to feature a synthesizer (an Oberheim OBX), with their previous releases proudly stating that they never used them. Plus they had a new producer (Reinhold Mack, known simply as Mack), and they recorded the songs in a new location, at Musicland Studios in Munich. It therefore marked a new period of experimentation for the band, as they were persuaded to shift towards a more pop-friendly sound, although still infused with rock of course and it still sounds unmistakably like Queen.

It wasn’t always easy, with arguments in the studio as the band members were keen to be represented fairly on the record. But ultimately they were able to reach suitable compromises and produce another decent album with several great tracks. And as shown by the chart positions above, it enabled them to maintain their popularity in an era where other rock veterans were struggling, and even have their peak of success in the USA. The music scene was changing significantly in the 80s, but Queen were still very much in the game and still winning, at least for now.

So here are my reviews of all the songs, along with alternate versions, music videos, live performances, and a small selection of the many covers and remixes out there. I hope you enjoy!

September 2025 Favourites

Welcome to my latest monthly roundup, I hope you’re doing well.

In terms of my caring responsibilities towards my mother, who is still recovering from her broken wrist, I’ve continued posting separate journal updates about everything that’s been going on, split into Part 1 and Part 2 for this month. So do read those posts if you want to be kept informed about that side of my life. Suffice to say that while we are still finding things difficult in some ways, she is continuing to get various forms of help, and we are now starting to consider the support required for her longer term care needs. Plus we’ve already had a very positive development at the start of October, perhaps the most significant to date, that has the potential to make a huge difference long-term. I’ll tell you about that in my October journal posts in the weeks ahead, and it’s going to be an important transitional month if all goes to plan.

Apart from all that though, I have kept myself entertained in various ways as well, with music, TV shows and an audiobook. So here are the main things I’ve been enjoying, and I hope you find them interesting to read about as always.

Queen Album Review – Queen I – Collector’s Edition

As long-term readers of my blog will know, Queen are my favourite band of all time. And they’ve just brought out a new box set of their 1973 debut album with remixed versions of the tracks and lots of extra material, some of it never before released. So naturally I’ve had to check it out.

I already did an extensive review of the album back in lockdown 4 years ago, as I reviewed all of their 70s albums as one of my projects to keep myself occupied while stuck at home. So I’m not going to repeat all of that here.

The purpose of this new post is to give my reactions to the tracks in the new set, and compare them with the original versions I already have where applicable. I’ve also updated my Queen I playlist on Youtube with the new tracks, while still retaining the previous 2011 remasters for comparison.

The Super Deluxe edition of this new release has 6 CDs and 1 LP, plus a 108-page book, a fold-out poster and 4 photo prints. There’s also a smaller 2-disc edition with just the remixed album and sessions material, along with other variations and merchandise, even including editions that have a cassette tape.

However, while I did buy the physical version of their Miracle box set a couple of years ago, I’ve bought the digital download of this new Queen I set instead, not least because it’s a hell of a lot cheaper at £17.99 compared to £149.99 for the box! It still has the contents of all 6 discs anyway, so I’m not missing anything. Furthermore, I consider this to be an alternate remix of the album rather than a replacement, a lot of the bonus material duplicates tracks from previous releases I already own, and I have no use for the vinyl (it is frustrating when artists don’t produce alternate vinyl-free versions of their box sets, as we don’t all want it). So I can’t justify the rip-off price tag on the physical set. I’m sure the book, poster and prints are lovely, but I can live without them.

I bought this new edition myself, so it’s not sponsored by Queen or Sony or anyone else, and all opinions are my own. So let’s get on with it, and I hope you enjoy!

Live Aid Review

Updated in July 2025 to include the 40th anniversary broadcasts.

July 13, 1985, was arguably the greatest day in the history of rock and pop music. As if anyone needs reminding, the extraordinary Live Aid concert was organised by Bob Geldof from the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure from Ultravox to raise funds for the victims of the devastating famine in Ethiopia. It brought together many of the world’s biggest music stars in London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, along with some additional contributions from other countries, and was broadcast live for 16 hours to nearly 2 billion viewers in 150 nations.

An event of such magnitude had never been attempted before. So given the speed in which everything was organised and coordinated in just a few months, the generosity of the performers and other personnel who gave their time and expertise for free, and the challenges of running and broadcasting it all using the limited technology of the mid-80s, it was a colossal achievement.

Double-page spread from the Live Aid DVD booklet. On the left, a colour photograph shows a couple of large water jets being sprayed across the huge crowd in Philadelphia to keep them cool in the heat. On the right, a black and white photo shows frail African children and adults wrapped in blankets outdoors, stretching far into the distance.

It wasn’t a magic bullet that fixed all the problems in Africa of course, nor was it ever intended or expected to be. But it had a huge impact, exposing the suffering of Africans in a way that couldn’t be ignored by politicians, the media or the public, and it raised an estimated £150 million that saved countless lives. It also launched a movement to fight poverty and injustice that has continued in various forms to this day, including the Live 8 concerts that followed in 2005, plus other charity records and events.

Double-page spread from the Live Aid booklet. A yellow strip across the top has text that says Band Aid chartered three ships which sailed every week to Africa.
The ships carried medicine, tents, trucks, vegetable oil, grain, and flour. Below this is a photo of one of the ships and 2 photos of the aid packages on board. Below those images is a photo of the group finale at the end of the Wembley concert, led by Bob Geldof and Bono, and a large photo spanning both pages that shows the huge crowd in Wembley, with the stage on the right.

I wasn’t old enough to see Live Aid when it was originally held, as I was only a toddler at the time. I did hear a bit about it while I was growing up, and saw occasional clips here and there, but it was only when they released a DVD in 2004 that I finally got to really appreciate what it was like. Granted, several tracks were missed out, many of which have since been posted on the official Live Aid Youtube channel, and there are unofficial uploads of most of the others. So it would be amazing if they did an extended release in the future to fill in at least some of the gaps. One can hope at least. But as things stand, the DVD is still a fabulous record of the event, containing 10 hours of material.

I also got a further sense of what the experience must have been like recently thanks to the musical Just For One Day, which has just ended its 2-month run at the Old Vic Theatre. I had an amazing time seeing it with a touch tour and audio description.

July 2025 Update: The musical has since returned and is now running at the Shaftesbury Theatre. It really is well worth seeing.

So as a special extended post, I thought I’d take a deep dive into this massive event, by reviewing the DVD in conjunction with other videos online that fill in the gaps and add further context. I’ve also created UK and US playlists on Youtube with nearly all of the performances, along with a selection of interviews and other extras. So I hope you enjoy!

July 2023 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. For me, July has been a relatively quiet month, thanks to the wet weather, my PIP review and preparations for my birthday month in August all interfering with my time.

Nevertheless, in this latest post and video roundup there are a few nice outings I can mention, a couple of comedy shows I’ve been bingeing on, and a bit of music as well, none of which is sponsored or gifted as usual. So I hope you enjoy!

May 2023 Favourites

Hello again. As you May have noticed, so to speak, from a few of my recent posts, this has been another very eventful and enjoyable month. Which means there’s plenty to mention in this latest roundup post and video, including a big royal event, a musical, explorations of nature and animals, and a few things I’ve been watching and listening to. None of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual. So I hope you enjoy!

Queen Album Review – The Miracle – Collector’s Edition

Back in the first lockdown in 2020 I started doing an occasional series of reviews celebrating Queen’s 50th anniversary by doing very in-depth reviews of some of their albums. The posts have been very sporadic due to all sorts of other things keeping me busy, as well as the level of detail they contain, but it’s always been my intention to continue the series when time permits.

And now I have the opportunity to do a Christmas special, as the band recently unveiled a new edition of their 1989 album The Miracle. When it was first announced I eagerly pre-ordered the full Super Deluxe Collector’s Edition & Press Pack as an early festive treat for myself, so I thought I’d do a detailed review now that I’ve had time to go through it and savour its contents.

The set was retailing at £169.99 (plus shipping), but I took advantage of a 10% discount code that I received from their store for my birthday a few months ago. So I was charged £127.99 for the 8-disc box set, £25 for the press pack and £6.26 shipping, making £159.25 in total. And that’s not bad at all, considering how much you get.

There are cheaper editions too though, depending on what you can afford, including the 8-disc set without the press kit, a 2-disc edition consisting of the album and the sessions, and a download version that covers all 4 music CDs, plus there are related items of merchandise. So there’s something for everyone.

I’ve made an unboxing video to go with this post, where you can see my initial reactions to the contents of the set, and there’s an unboxing video by Brian May as well. Queen have also posted a couple of short documentary features about The Miracle to coincide with its re-release, which you can see here and here.

So in this post I want to review the set in full, to give my thoughts on all the music tracks and videos, the memorabilia, the book and the radio interviews – which means there’s a lot to cover here, and I hope you enjoy it!

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