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Episode 54 covers the twelfth Queen studio album, 1986’s “A Kind of Magic.” Mark, Kevin, Alex, and Chris take you on a historical journey surrounding the album as well as share our favorites and not-so favorites from the record. We go on a deep dive track-by-track listen of this rock album as well as share personal stories of discovering Queen’s twelfth studio album “A Kind of Magic.”
Subscribe, Rate, and Review:
Quick Reviews
Mark They have some songs with moments that I really like, but in this case one song in particular really bumps this album up.
Chris Love Freddie’s vocals on here, but they kind of go a bit hard with the adult contemporary a little bit. However, there are moments here that are stocks on the rise.
Alex Didn’t know anything off this album before this show, and there seems to be a lot of filler here.
Kevin One or two songs make this album. A lot of the songs are maybe 85% there and that’s about it.
Love It or Flush It
| M | C | A | K | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "One Vision" | 5:11 | L | L | B | L | |
| 2 | "A Kind of Magic" | 4:24 | L | L | L | F | |
| 3 | "One Year of Love" | 4:27 | F | F | F | F | |
| 4 | "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure" | 4:21 | L | T | T | F | |
| 5 | "Friends Will Be Friends" | 4:06 | T | L | F | T | |
| 6 | "Who Wants to Live Forever" | 5:15 | B | B | L | B | |
| 7 | "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" | 4:33 | L | F | F | L | |
| 8 | "Don't Lose Your Head" | 4:38 | L | L | L | L | |
| 9 | "Princes of the Universe" | 3:33 | F | L | T | F |
Love It or Flush It Legend
L = Love. As many as you like.
F = Flush. Must flush at least one track per album.
B = Buy. Purchased for the ultimate LTS “Best Of” playlist for each of us. One per album.
T = Terminate. Should have never even existed. One per album.
The Rules
Each of us must Love, Flush, Buy, and Terminate AT LEAST ONE track on an album, no matter how great or terrible the album is. Whoever wins the “7 for the Buy” section gets an extra Buy or Terminate to use on the album. Because Chris hosts this section and thus cannot win, he gets an extra Buy or Terminate every 4 albums.
Album Information
A Kind of Magic is the twelfth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 2 June 1986 by EMI Records in the UK and by Capitol Records in the US. It was their first studio album to be recorded digitally, and is based on the soundtrack to the film Highlander, directed by Russell Mulcahy.
A Kind of Magic was Queen’s first album to be released since they had received acclaim for their performance at Live Aid in 1985. It was an immediate hit in the UK, going straight to number one and selling 100,000 copies in its first week. It remained in the UK charts for 63 weeks,[9] selling 600,000 in the UK alone. The album spawned four hit singles: the album’s title track “A Kind of Magic“, “One Vision“, “Friends Will Be Friends“,[10] and “Who Wants to Live Forever“, which features an orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen, while the last track, “Princes of the Universe“, is the theme song to Highlander.[11]
Although Queen would release another two albums with Freddie Mercury, A Kind of Magic would turn out to be his last album promoted with a concert tour, due to his diagnosis with AIDS the following year.
