"A Kind Of Magic" review - article from Italian newspaper "La Stampa", 7 June 1986
Mar 8, 2022 13:21:21 GMT
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Post by fabiogminero on Mar 8, 2022 13:21:21 GMT
Hello everybody,
I would like to share again with you an article about Queen from the Italian press. In this case it's the review of the album 'A Kind Of Magic' by the journalist Gianfranco Manfredi; the album was released in Italy in the first days of June 1986 (just like in the UK).
The article in question, entitled Macho qui, fantasy là e i Queen scelgono il potere (translated as Macho here, fantasy there and Queen choose power), was published on TuttoLibri, a special cultural attachment (which was released on Saturdays - it's still published) to the newspaper La Stampa on Saturday June 7th, 1986.
The review proposed by this "journalist" is not at all flattering towards the band; on the contrary it turns out to be rather grotesque in my opinion. I've tried to translate it in the best possible way and I hope that the meaning of the article can be understood.
Have a good reading.
I would like to share again with you an article about Queen from the Italian press. In this case it's the review of the album 'A Kind Of Magic' by the journalist Gianfranco Manfredi; the album was released in Italy in the first days of June 1986 (just like in the UK).
The article in question, entitled Macho qui, fantasy là e i Queen scelgono il potere (translated as Macho here, fantasy there and Queen choose power), was published on TuttoLibri, a special cultural attachment (which was released on Saturdays - it's still published) to the newspaper La Stampa on Saturday June 7th, 1986.
The review proposed by this "journalist" is not at all flattering towards the band; on the contrary it turns out to be rather grotesque in my opinion. I've tried to translate it in the best possible way and I hope that the meaning of the article can be understood.
Have a good reading.
The questionable Queen album
Macho here, fantasy there and Queen choose power
When faced with a band like Queen, the last thing to worry about should be the lyrics. On the other hand, we know music: for years it has always had the same triumphal mark, identified by a very particular color of the choirs and by the typical scans of the hymn. We also know everything about the way to present oneself on stage, around the charismatic presence of Freddie Mercury more and more in evidence with his polished macho look or, if you prefer, as a gay barber. So let's try, in front of the new album A Kind of Magic, starting from the lyrics to see if at least here there is any sign of novelty. The beautiful cartoon cover promises play, irony and unbridled imagination.
Originally the tracks have a different destination: the first, dark and 'imperial', was cooked for the film Iron Eagle, while others are part of the column of Highlander, a dark-fantasy film. But Queen do their best to make it clear that the album is an autonomous operation, a summa, a film of the movies. While the music goes from gloomy (One Vision) to celebratory (A Kind of Magic), from sentimental (One Year Of Love) to surprising heavy metal accents (Gimme The Prize), the lyrics rattle off one another looking for a internal consistency. Each song develops a theme and announces the next with a linking phrase, found in the first, explored in the other. Which gives the impression that we are always talking about the same thing and in the end we ask ourselves: do they play or do they believe in it, do they get caught up in the whirlwind of fantasy or are they in full mental confusion?
Because the theme is not a trivial matter: it is Power, in the form of Magical Power or better Magic of Power. The great choirs with which Queen once celebrated the mythical bicycles or the mass champion ("We are the Champions, my friend") reach the inevitable apogee and between the serious and the facetious they claim for the masses "a single vision" , "one body", "one religion", "one race", "one decision", "one man ", "one bar ", "hey hey". See where the new fever of the great gatherings of the people, the rock of power, "the universal choir" via satellite leads? Someone laughing and joking begins to believe it and the anxiety of totality has no more restraints. Not bad for those who started from gay diversity: macho here, macho there, we have arrived at a sort of amused and unfortunately very little fun Nazism.
Heavy metal is something else: cartoonism is a must, Satanism is an expression of slightly unlucky rebellion, exasperation is a tribute to the desire to exaggerate. Queen, on the other hand, play heads. It turns out Shaped sheet more than screaming Metal. The sentimental department makes, as might be expected, a caress of every whip since "Pain is so close to pleasure, oh yeah" (Pain Is So Close To Pleasure) and on the other hand we are assured that "only one year of love is better than a lifetime alone" (gay variant of "a day as a lion is better than a hundred years as a sheep").
Between one and the other painting, introduced by demonic belches, Freddie Mercury never misses the opportunity to propose himself to the super-ego of the year: "I am the master of your destiny", "I am the God of the Kingdom to come" (Gimme The Prize), "born to be King, we are the princes of the Universe, we fight to survive" (Princes Of The Universe). It may be Fantasy, but it is Fantasy sick and more than "surviving" here it is a continuous "living above": up there on the stages, with the rods (of the microphones) in hand, dressed in white, to overturn on the masses an alleged magical harmony of the spheres which is just pop-rock of the most pompous genre. Let's get it right. A kind of Magic in song would be enough for it to be "that certain I don't know what".
Surely there will be a glowing video to demonstrate how everything is equally spectacular and fun. But no cartoon will be able to hide a cartoon soul.
Macho here, fantasy there and Queen choose power
When faced with a band like Queen, the last thing to worry about should be the lyrics. On the other hand, we know music: for years it has always had the same triumphal mark, identified by a very particular color of the choirs and by the typical scans of the hymn. We also know everything about the way to present oneself on stage, around the charismatic presence of Freddie Mercury more and more in evidence with his polished macho look or, if you prefer, as a gay barber. So let's try, in front of the new album A Kind of Magic, starting from the lyrics to see if at least here there is any sign of novelty. The beautiful cartoon cover promises play, irony and unbridled imagination.
Originally the tracks have a different destination: the first, dark and 'imperial', was cooked for the film Iron Eagle, while others are part of the column of Highlander, a dark-fantasy film. But Queen do their best to make it clear that the album is an autonomous operation, a summa, a film of the movies. While the music goes from gloomy (One Vision) to celebratory (A Kind of Magic), from sentimental (One Year Of Love) to surprising heavy metal accents (Gimme The Prize), the lyrics rattle off one another looking for a internal consistency. Each song develops a theme and announces the next with a linking phrase, found in the first, explored in the other. Which gives the impression that we are always talking about the same thing and in the end we ask ourselves: do they play or do they believe in it, do they get caught up in the whirlwind of fantasy or are they in full mental confusion?
Because the theme is not a trivial matter: it is Power, in the form of Magical Power or better Magic of Power. The great choirs with which Queen once celebrated the mythical bicycles or the mass champion ("We are the Champions, my friend") reach the inevitable apogee and between the serious and the facetious they claim for the masses "a single vision" , "one body", "one religion", "one race", "one decision", "one man ", "one bar ", "hey hey". See where the new fever of the great gatherings of the people, the rock of power, "the universal choir" via satellite leads? Someone laughing and joking begins to believe it and the anxiety of totality has no more restraints. Not bad for those who started from gay diversity: macho here, macho there, we have arrived at a sort of amused and unfortunately very little fun Nazism.
Heavy metal is something else: cartoonism is a must, Satanism is an expression of slightly unlucky rebellion, exasperation is a tribute to the desire to exaggerate. Queen, on the other hand, play heads. It turns out Shaped sheet more than screaming Metal. The sentimental department makes, as might be expected, a caress of every whip since "Pain is so close to pleasure, oh yeah" (Pain Is So Close To Pleasure) and on the other hand we are assured that "only one year of love is better than a lifetime alone" (gay variant of "a day as a lion is better than a hundred years as a sheep").
Between one and the other painting, introduced by demonic belches, Freddie Mercury never misses the opportunity to propose himself to the super-ego of the year: "I am the master of your destiny", "I am the God of the Kingdom to come" (Gimme The Prize), "born to be King, we are the princes of the Universe, we fight to survive" (Princes Of The Universe). It may be Fantasy, but it is Fantasy sick and more than "surviving" here it is a continuous "living above": up there on the stages, with the rods (of the microphones) in hand, dressed in white, to overturn on the masses an alleged magical harmony of the spheres which is just pop-rock of the most pompous genre. Let's get it right. A kind of Magic in song would be enough for it to be "that certain I don't know what".
Surely there will be a glowing video to demonstrate how everything is equally spectacular and fun. But no cartoon will be able to hide a cartoon soul.
Here's the scan of ther article.
