Queen - Live Magic (1986)

Tracklist:
1. One Vision
2. Tie Your Mother Down
3. Seven Seas of Rhye
4. A Kind of Magic
5. Under Pressure
6. Another One Bites the Dust
7. I Want to Break Free
8. Is This The World That We Created...?
9. Bohemian Rhapsody
10. Hammer to Fall
11. Radio Ga Ga
12. We Will Rock You
13. Friends Will Be Friends
14. We Are the Champions
15. God Save the Queen

Where’s the magic? – 1,5/10

Remember Live Killers? It didn’t really bother me a lot, but at least we had full songs being performed, though assembled from different concerts. It was a bit of a best of Queen live. If you thought that one was pitiful, then you definitely must consider listening to Live Magic. It adds an entirely new dimension to live albums; a new low in the history of live releases.

Let me tell you about my ultimate live album. What I value highly in live releases is the ambience, the spirit. An obligation here is the presence of an audible audience. Without an audience you can hardly name it live. This audience must be challenged. We don’t only want to hear them clap to the songs; we’d like them to be played. That’s where the frontman comes in. A frontman should play the crowd with games, should comfort them when the guitarist needs to fetch himself a new instrument, should be in contact with the crowd and should involve them in the show. And for fans that do not know every song, or just to get the fans excited, the frontman should announce the next track every now and then. Next, it would be great to have a full concert experience. One full concert on disc, that’s what we want. Full songs, full speeches, full frontman activities and full atmosphere. Apart from that, it’s even better to have the live songs sound differently than on the album. That’s a piece of art and talent, to make the same songs sound different in concert than on the album. If there’s an album that features all of this, you’ve got your ultimate live album.

Live Magic is everything my ultimate live album is not, except maybe for the frontman activities. Freddie Mercury plays the crowd for a short time after “Another One Bites the Dust” and loyally announces the tracks. Furthermore, there’s some cutting and editing in almost every track on the album. Didn’t I say I wanted full tracks? This is awful. The audience is not being challenged. No speeches, nothing. This makes it not a good live recording. There are speeches at every show, even if they’re very short. Though the songs might sound different than on the album for some times, the fact that most of them are reduced to just one verse and one chorus makes it a shitty live release. The song “I Want to Break Free” is being announced by the audience with the band joining them instead of Freddie, which is a bit funny, but clearly proves some editing. Same with “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The middle part is just cut away. A lot of songs have been left out of the album, making this not a full concert. So they left out some songs, they left out parts of songs that did make it to the album and they removed the speeches. How much less inspiring can a live release get?

Still did not get the message? Live Magic is a horrible live release and should never have been released. If you are in search of a live recording from the Magic Tour then get Live at Wembley instead. Avoid this at all costs.