Review Summary: Although admittingly there are better live albums by Queen, I would recommend this definitely for hardcore fans or people who want to listen to the stronger non-single tracks.
Queen were many things, and of course there were many things they weren’t. They were great a penning cool and catchy Pop/Rock tunes like "Keep yourself Alive", "Killer Queen," "You’re my best friend," "Good old fashioned lover boy," "We are the champions," and "Don’t stop me now." Although they could never quite create the same consistency with their studio albums.
Another thing Queen were was a great and entertaining live band. They were also fortunate to have "Freddie Mercury" who on his day was one of the most exciting and energetic front-men in music. Also another interesting thing was that although their best music was normally Pop/Rock orientated their concerts were 100% hard rock.
"Live Killers," the bands first official live album release, covers the European leg of their 1979 Jazz tour. Although there are a few mishaps mainly due to filler played songs such as "Let me entertain you," "Dreamers Ball," and "Sheer Heart Attack," the rest is mainly excellent. Even "Spread your Wings," an average filler on the album "News of the World" is played with a lot of desire and commitment here.
Another gem is the "alternative version" of "We will rock you" that opens this album. It’s a hard rockin’ no nonsense get out your guitar and rock and as the extended title says "it’s fast."
The only real disappointments are the medley versions of "Killer Queen" and "Bicycle Race," especially the latter because wasn’t this the "Jazz" tour? And "Bicycle Race" was their latest hit. So why such a short version? Isn’t that kinda short changing the fans? Oh well... it's still performed well for the "1 minute 28 seconds" it's played for.
The main highlights though, apart from "We will rock you (fast)", is first the excellent acoustic version of "Love of my Life," then the kaz-ing of "Keep Yourself Alive," and the beginning of "Death on two legs," where Freddie declares ‘This is dedicated to (bleep) (bleep)’ was rather funny and the performance of the song was good too.
There’s also a Freddie sung "39," Roger rockin' to "I'm in love with my car" and lots more fun and gems to enjoy.
Although admittedly there are better live albums by Queen, I would recommend this definitely for hardcore fans or people who want to listen to the stronger non-single tracks but can’t stand the albums as some of the performance here easily beat those of the studio versions simply because of the heart, conviction and effort Freddie gives each song.
Yep super short this one. So to sum up if you really dig Queen, get this, you won’t be disappointed, if not, check out their other live releases first.
