They will, they will ROCK you! (Live At Wembley '86 - Queen)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Live At Wembley '86 - Queen
Date:	20/08/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Queen live!

Disadvantages: Some rock 'n' roll classics seem out of place.

The crowd cheers as the opening distorted voices from "One Vision" slowly fade up. When the strings kick in with their familiar sound, the cheers grow suddenly louder and the intro continues as the bass drum is introduced. Finally, one minute and fourteen seconds into the first track, Brian May's guitar powers through the chords and the rest of the band enter the fray. It's audio theatre at its finest and something at which Queen excelled.

"Live at Wembley '86" arguably captures the band at the pinnacle of their career. Nearly a year previously, they were the standout act at Live Aid and had just released their two most successful albums.

Split into 2 CDs, the first CD is the stronger of the two. From the strong opening combo of "One Vision" and "Tie Your Mother Down", the track list is quality, filled with favourites including Freddie's famous audience singalong and only "Brighton Rock Solo" lets the side down. At over nine minutes long, I would rather have had an extra couple of songs in there, but I was never a huge fan of Brighton Rock anyway, to be completely honest.

CD2 is where my problem lies with this recording. For some reason, there are about five non-Queen tracks in here and, in my mind, it's really jarring to get through CD1 and into a couple of songs on CD2 only to suddenly be confronted by a couple of rock 'n' roll classics. There's also the change in tone, coming off "Is this the World we Created?" straight into "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" that just doesn't sit right with me.

However, this is Queen Live and these negative points don't derail an otherwise excellent concert/recording as they might have done if attempted by other bands. When they're good ("One Vision", "Radio Ga Ga", "A Kind of Magic", "We Will Rock You" etc.) then they are (or were) the best live act in the world... possibly (in my opinion at least) the best act in the world, period, as the Americans like to say. Even when they're not on top form ("Tear it Up", "Bohemian Rhapsody") then they're still one of the best.

Sound-wise, it's hard not to be impressed with Mercury's voice, belting out Queen's well known tracks. The live environment works wonders on what I'd considered to be weaker tracks like "Tear it Up" and the engineering on the whole album is excellent - it's possible, even during loud songs to hear Roger Taylor's backing vocals, as an example.

You're probably wondering why, if I am a Queen fan (I am), have I included Bohemian Rhapsody as a negative aspect. Well, while it is one of the greatest songs of all time (harking back to my audio theatre comment from earlier), its overall complexity means that I don't think it translates well at all to a live performance. The band does the opening and ending of the song, but during the middle section, they leave the stage and a recording carries us through the mid-section.

I do have reservations though. Queen, as a live act, were one of the best, Mercury himself a role model for many bands that have appeared on the scene since his death. Having an audio-only album does take away from the experience a bit, and you really need to see Freddie in action in order to be able to appreciate the entire concert. Luckily, there is a DVD version of the same concert, so if you're a Queen beginner or someone that wants more than just the audio, then the DVD is the format to choose.

In addition, there are far too many non-Queen songs in here. Well, I say "far too many", but it's really only about five out of a total of twenty-eight songs, but it's really noticeable and takes away from the overall atmosphere, especially when you consider what Queen could have included in their place. They could easily have included "'39" or "Spread your Wings" or any number of others from their previous twelve (count 'em!) studio albums instead of these rock 'n' roll classics.

"Live at Wembley '86" is a good live album, especially if the "The Works" and "A Kind of Magic" albums are amongst your favourites but the definitive Queen live album for me is still Live Killers.

Summary: Queen live at the pinnacle of their career.