Can a Queen LP ever be considered a hard rock ‘hidden gem’ or is that just crazy talk, fuelled by an excess of custard creams and several late nights?
Welcome to the 9th LP I ever bought* and my first live LP ever**, Queen Live Killers. Queen’s heaviest LP by far and for me, one that can duke it out with News Of The World, Jazz and Sheer Heart Attack as their very best.
It wowed me then, as it does now. From that stunning cover picture, the myriad of cool live pics on the inner gatefold, the sleevenotes on the inner sleeves, the logo/font that they only used on this album, right through to the action shot on the back cover. AND there’s music on it!
Live Killers starts, as do all live LPs worth their salt with fireworks/lightning/explosions and a band absolutely exploding out of the fucking gate. Queen throw themselves headlong into ‘We Will Rock You’; not the stampalongy clappy version, this is the ‘fast’ version^. It’s a hard rockers delight, Roger Taylor’s drumming sounding totally thunderous right out of the gate and Mercury chewing the scenery as only he could. Wow.
That they then leap into a truly venomous version of my favourite Queen song, ‘Let Me Entertain You’, followed by a plain nasty ‘Death On 2 Legs’ (complete with bleeped out swearing) is almost more than I can handle. Listen and then tell me Queen aren’t rockers, May is on astonishing form, making it hard to believe there’s only one guitarist playing a lot of the time.
They slash through ‘Killer Queen’, a truncated ‘Bicycle Race’ and a superb ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ which benefits from some great piano uplift by Mercury. You are indisputably in the presence of royalty here, the band shortening tracks for maximum impact and fit.
You take my body
I give you heat
You say you hungry
I give you meat
Then a real fave for 15 year-old me, the piano that signifies ‘Get Down, Make Love’, a slower treat that still sounds decidedly rude 45 years on, the wild, slightly corny, psych bits of which still thrill me today. AND all that is just on side one.
Live Killers serves us a raw, singalong (‘you buggers can sing higher than I can’ quoth Mercury) 8-minute version of ‘Now I’m Here’ with an explosive finale. Then we get an easy section with the goofy sweet ‘Dreamer’s Ball’, the bigger-now-than-it-was-then ‘Love Of My Life’ and a wonderful hoedown take on ”39′, which was worth the price of the LP for me. This iteration of Queen just itched to rock us harder though and hurtle through ‘Keep Yourself Alive’; harder and funkier live, kudos to Mr Deacon particularly here.
The highlight of the third side of Live Killers is the 12-minute take on ‘Brighton Rock’ which, great song aside, features May at the absolute height of his powers, umm, playing with himself via various clever echo tricks. It’s either a testament to his musicality, or my ultimate guitar geekiness that every nano second of it enraptures me^*.
There are some very welcome surprises on the final side, the use of ‘Mustapha’ as the intro to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the inclusion of the absolutely ROCKING ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ and the absolutely pummelling ‘Sheer Heart Attack’; I bloody love how much attack the band have here.
The closing trio, were as they always would be and would be evermore, they’re great*^ but, you know, I’ve heard them too many times to actually listen properly; plus the bombast of ‘We Are The Champions’ alienates me a touch, I’ve always found it a bit smug. Personally I’d have finished with ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, or broken ‘Ogre Battle’ out of the closet, but I’m weird.
Live Killers is absolutely immense, Queen at the height of their rock powers before they started exploring elsewhere for their kicks; I love it all but I’m a 70’s child chronologically and rockologically too.
It does seem odd to me that Live Killers never seems to get the same reverence as all those other 70’s live albums you can think of, it’s just better than any of ’em.
Like the very best bands, or teams, Queen always seemed to be so much better than the sum of their disparately talented parts should have made them, even. Four brilliantly talented musicians, who all just happened to be great songwriters and identifiable personalities; Roger was always my favourite, although I loved John’s wry smile and ‘how did I end up here?’ stage persona.
They really don’t make bands like this anymore.
They really don’t make LP’s like this anymore.
Live Killers? slay.
1225 Down.
PS: Because I love you
*7 of the previous ones also being Queen. I bought this a couple days after my 15th birthday, so I am guessing that I blew my birthday cash on it.
**If You Want Blood, You’ve Got It (my first AC/DC album!) following it into the 1537, or rather the 16 as it would have been called then, a few months later in January ’88.
^which is actually longer than the other version, but lets just gloss over inconvenient facts for now.
^*I do wonder now, a sadder and a wiser man, how influenced he was by Manuel Göttsching Inventions For Electric Guitar from ’75.
*^especially ‘We Will Rock You’ here, it’s played with more intent than later live versions I have.
I reluctantly pressed the play button on ‘Rock You’. You talked me into it and I was glad i did.
Great record. I need this one on vinyl along with Queen Rocks Montreal is about to come out on vinyl.
It’s a LIVE album and it has bleeped out swearing and you love it. I think I’m on the wrong planet!
You’re still feverish Bruce. This was a review of a Brian Eno studio album.
I had this on 8track. Great album.
Perfect format for a 70’s live LP
Yes and the bonus was that it didn’t change tracks in the middle of a song.
Yes!! Queen were pretty much my entry into rock too, starting with ‘Greatest Hits’, then I borrowed Sheer Heart Attack from the local library, and not long after I found this in their racks. As you say, wow. It really does kick hard, especially the opening sped-up ‘We Will Rock You,’ ‘Death on Two Legs’ and ‘Sheer Heart Attack’. I also love the drama and yearning they get into the story in ‘Spread Your Wings’ here too, which is one of my personal favourite Queen songs. My younger self (around 13 I think when I taped this) found the guitar FX bits of ‘Get Down…’ and ‘Brighton Rock’ a bit snoozy, I wanted more faster harder rawk!!! But I like them better now, tho’ I agree that ‘Ogre Battle’ (or maybe ‘March of the Black Queen’ or ‘Liar’) would have enhanced an already strong set!
Great to see the love for this one, I totally agree that it should be up there with the other great ’70s lives (anyone for ‘Unleashed in the East’?), I don’t understand how it gets described as ‘lacklustre’ or ‘indifferent’, both of which I’ve seen applied to ‘Live Killers’. Pah, were they even listening to the same album…?
Hiya Tim, I couldn’t agree more with you; although I’d pick ‘It’s Late’ over ‘Spread Your Wings’ possibly. Love the idea of adding ‘Liar’ to this set too.
As for ‘lacklustre’?! Lemme at whoever said that !!
Won’t dispute that, ‘It’s Late’ is another one of my absolute favourites. Will try and dig out where ‘lacklustre’ came from, but “indifferent” was definitely the ‘Rough Guide to Rock’ (I have just been and checked!). “An indifferent live album, “Live Killers”, marked time…” Double pah.
Well, I am afraid to report that Rough Guide To Rock can just bally well push off!! Sorry to use such language, but I was provoked.
It’s Late is a definite cousin of ‘Save Me’, which I love unreservedly.
The last of the original Queen albums I needed to complete my collection. While I love it, for some reason it just hasn’t had the replay value that I get from Wembley.
Hiya Mike, I need one too – The Game, just never got around to getting it.
I love how hard they rock on this album, plus so many great track choices too. Is it still readily available?
I believe so – Queen did a massive reissue campaign 10 years ago, and it is continuing to this day with live albums.
They do rock hard on it, and let’s face it, it’s one of the quintessential double lives.