TALON'S TAKE:
A Kind Of MagicWritten by: Roger Taylor
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, synthesizers
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, electronic drums, drum machine, synthesizer, backing vocals
Brian May - guitars
- Issued as a single and hit #3 in the UK and #42 in the US.
- Roger had written it for
Highlander after a line in the movie. However Freddie soon took over and rearranged it, even adding a bassline recycled from
Keep Passing The Open Windows to turn it into a pop hit. Roger's original more rock version was heard during the credits for the film.
- Played live through 1986, and then Roger played it on his solo tours in 1994 and 1999 and brought it back for QPR & QAL. With QPR Roger sometimes shared vocals with Paul. In 2008 towards the end he actually drummed and sang lead at the same time!
QUOTES:
- “Freddie totally lightened it up to make it a commercially accessible kind of thing, putting in this bass kind of thing and making little sort of mantras out of it. Originally it was much more filming, in fact it was used at the end of the movie, Highlander, as the closing credits, and it was much less sort of ‘bounce’ oriented, it had much more broken-up tempo and it was a sort of grander concept. We then reworked it, and I know Freddie took an interest in the song; and we reworked it into a single, really.” – Roger Taylor
- "Basically the song is an actual line from the movie, and that was where the song came from. It’s just sort of about an immortal, I suppose. ‘This rage that lasts a thousand years, Will soon be gone.’ And all that. It was written for the movie and it became very popular on stage, and I used to remember when we played it on the 1986 tour, it used to go down incredibly well.” – Roger Taylor
ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS:
ORIGINAL HIGHLANDER VERSION- ESSENTIAL
- I prefer the more rocking version myself.
ORIGINAL VERSION EDIT- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Edits out the magic voices intro - placed over Wembley/fire picture gallery.
A KIND OF A KIND OF MAGIC- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Mostly instrumental.
EXTENDED VERSION- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Adds a bit more instrumentals to the track.
HOT TRACKS MIX & ULTRATRAXX MIX- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Dancy remixes.
GREATEST HITS 2 FADENO YT VID
- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Fades out quicker
A KIND OF VISION DEMO- ESSENTIAL
- An early demo which had bits of One Vision and A Kind Of Magic together before Roger split them into two songs. Some great ideas here.
OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE MAGIC VERSION- AUDIO ONLY.
LIVE AT WEMBLEYHUNGARIAN RHAPSODY VERSION-A great version!
RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS VERSION-Paul handles it well...not as good as Freddie or Roger, but decent!
UNOFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
ROGER TAYLOR - MICK RONSON TRIBUTE 1994- AUDIO ONLY but one of the first times Roger sang the song.
ROGER TAYLOR - LIVE IN MANCHESTER 1999- AUDIO only
- Great performance though.
QPR - LIVE IN SANTIAGO 2008- I LOVE seeing Roger drum and sing at the same time. I wish he did the QAL gigs like this.
QAL - LIVE IN KIEV 2012- One of the best performances ever of the song. Roger seemed reenergized, Brian was blazing through portions of it. Just a great verison of a great track!
PERSONAL NOTES:
- I prefer the rock version unsurprisingly and the pop one is a bit droll for me. But I love it when done live. And I think Roger's voice suits it best. All in all another decent track!
CHANCES
A Kind Of Magic.....85% -- This is one song from QAL that could get the axe for a couple reasons. It was dropped when QPR came to America last time, and Roger could decide to do a different song - especially with the earlier Queen albums - I'm hoping for a bit of Tenement Funster instead!
SUPPLEMENTAL
The Invisible ManWritten by Roger Taylor
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead vocals
Brian May - guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar, rhythm guitar (?)
Roger Taylor - lead and backing vocals, drums, keyboards, rhythm guitar (?)
David Richards - keyboards (?)
- Issued as a single backed with ‘Hijack My Heart’ in August 1989 in the UK (where it hit #12). Issued as a single backed with ‘Hijack My Heart’ in August 1989 in Austria, Australia (where it did not chart), Germany, The Netherlands (where it hit #4), Italy, Philippines, and Spain.
- Danny Phantom creator Butch Hartman acknowledged that it was the inspiration behind the shows theme song.
QUOTES
"I’m to blame for that one, sort of, but then everyone came in, and that went through quite a few changes due to everybody else putting in different bits and restructuring it, etc. etc. I don’t quite remember where the idea did come from. I think it came from a book I was reading, and it just seemed to fit in with a rhythmic pattern I had in mind." - Roger Taylor – 1989
ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS:
12" EXTENDED- NOT ESSENTIAL but very nice
- Completely different intro, it takes out the band member introductions. An interesting take but ultimately not as good as the original
VIDEO VERSION- NOT ESSENTIAL but a nice video
- A mix between the 12" version and the original. It has the same intro as the 12" but includes the band introductions.
EARLY VERSION WITH GUIDE VOCAL- ESSENTIAL!
- Roger sings lead vocal on this take with some input from Freddie but all in all this is Roger's take. A great version to be honest, including a deleted middle section from Freddie that should have stayed!
UNRELEASED VERSIONS:
EARLY TAKENO YT VID
- A bit different than the released version with some alternate vocals
DEMO- A bit more different but still along the same lines as the previous take
FAN CLUB MESSAGENO YT VID
- NOT ESSENTIAL but fun
- In the 80s, the band would often give a musical message to the convention goers. This particular one was to the Invisible Man backing.
PERSONAL NOTES:
- A ton of fun. Just a fun dancy rock song. Great guitar work in the middle by Brian and I loved the campy band intro. Thumbs up.
CHANCES:
The Invisible Man.....20% - I don't really think it likely but it would be an interesting alternative for Roger...Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part though
thank you, this one is for you honey! 
