FRIENDS WILL BE FRIENDS / SEVEN SEAS OF RHYE

QUEEN has never been among my favourite bands, but whenever there's a concert by them on the TV, I usually enjoy watching it (partly for the nostalgia, because they were all over the place in my teen years). I think they are at their best on the stage. Their music is in itself full of pretentious grandiosity and muscle, very suitable for live presence, Freddie Mercury doing his over-the-top cocky gestures and Brian May as the ultimate guitar hero...

I remember the live album these tracks are taken from. It was full of high energy and the songs followed each other in breathtaking continuity. 'Friends Will Be Friends' (from A Kind of Magic) is a powerful, near-sentimental anthem celebrating friendship, and a guaranteed show highlight. Short and sharp 'Seven Seas of Rhye' represented the early and more progressive Queen material, and this live version is very fast especially on the piano riff. I don't remember in full all the contents of the live album, but these two tracks were among the strongest ones. Unlike a previous reviewer, I have no complaints about the way they turned into their oldies, quite the opposite, it's only positive.

But who ever needs singles from concerts?