A Kind Of Magic (studio album) by Queen

From Daydreamer 08/21/2020 13:16

So so so so underrated. This has always been my favourite '80s Queen album one of their overall better albums. Yes it can sound dated and cheesy with the Highlander inspired lyrics but I feel the resurgence at the Live Aid gave them a second wind of energy which can be felt throughout the album. Also, Mercury's voice arguably never sounded fuller and more powerful than here.
Sure it has some filler, but I've never understood the hate for Don't Lose Your Head and Gimme The Prize, both are decent album tracks in my opinion, the only filler tracks are Pain Is So Close To Pleasure and One Year Of Love which is to schmaltzy even with the phenomenal vocal performace by Freddie.
But Who Wants To Live Forever is one of the most beautiful songs ever and their best song of the 80's. The title track and Princes of The Universe are both great great Queen songs. I never loved One Vision that much but it is a great opener.

From Graeme2 12/15/2018 23:49

I would have sworn pain is so close to pleasure was from hot space. I always thought that. Shit remaster, hey ho. Decent album though, maybe it's nostalgia.

Well, that's nooo goood

Definitely not Queen's greatest but I still think AKOM is a solid release. While the record does have inconsistencies, I enjoy most of the songs.

In my opinion, Who Wants to Live Forever is Queen's best song of the 80s.

One Vision contains one of Queen's best album intros (something they would open their Magic Tours with) and the rest of the song is a classic 80s Queen rocker, similar to Hammer to Fall. Some fantastic drumming by Roger on this

A Kind of Magic is a really catchy pop-rock tune.

Princes of the Universe is a fantastic track. It's really underrated. Really exciting rocker that is also one of the most creative songs on the album.

One Year of Love and Friends Will Be Friends are solid tracks.

Gimme the Prize, Don't Lose Your Head, and Pain is so Close to Pleasure kind of suck in my opinion.

Solid, underrated release overall.

It’s difficult to view A Kind Of Magic as a coherent statement, since most of the songs have their origins in movie soundtracks. The only two songs here that rate among Queen’s best are the opening group composed anthem ‘One Vision’ and May’s beautiful ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’.

A very messy album. Really, it's just a hotchpotch album of songs written for highlander, a meant to be stand alone single and a few hastily written new tracks. Again, like all their later albums the singles are the best songs. One vision, the title track are very good but who wants to live forever is simply majestic. Friends will be friends is kind of an inferior we are the champions. One year of love is nice and don't lose your head is interesting but pain is so close to pleasure and gimme the prize are awful. Again, like most queen albums it's an enjoyable listen, but is very uneven. Still it ends well with prince's of the universe which sounds like a hark back to queen 2 era. All in all, ok.

I think it's more the film Highlander and this music goes so well for that film. The heavy songs on this are awesome. Gimme The Prize fuckin rocks

From sssvnnn 09/14/2014 09:27

Maybe the songs are not as bad as this poor 80`s sound.
I cannot love this album.

From Mother Nature's Son 12/21/2012 21:14

Don't lose your head, just because it sounds like a guilty pleasure, it doesn't have to be rated ridiculously low! I love this album, it's a lovely collection of songs.

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