Queen, Live Killers

Queen Live album

January to March, 1979 in Europe.

Queen, Live Killers is a double vinyl and compact disc live album, a compilation from many 1979 Queen concerts. It spent 27 weeks in the UK charts in 1979. It was recorded live during the Jazz world tour and released on June 26, 1979. The album hit #16 on the US Billboard Pop Albums charts and was certified Double Platinum in the USA.

Recommended Songs : ’39 (May), Tie Your Mother Down (May), Spread Your Wings (Deacon) , Love of My Life (Mercury)

Review

Live Albums are either loved or hated, and this is a particularly good one, especially for the era, when technology wasn’t at its peak. Even Brian admitted that he was unsatisfied and that there were serious sound problems during the concerts. “There were concerts that we had sounded great but then when we listened to the tapes they sounded awful.”, says Brian – which is why he dislikes the album. Apparently, there were about 20 concerts recorded but only 3 or 4 could be used on the final album.
The Record Mirror said of Live Killers, ‘It is a triumph … it’s not just filling the time before the next studio release. Listen to it … you won’t​ be disappointed.”

Personally, I enjoy the album, I find it takes a while to get started but the final 2/3 of the album is excellent. I like live albums, it gives you a chance to see how album songs are played without the opportunity to use multi-tracking techniques, and without the option of using a fade to end a song. Its no Queens best live album, ​ however, as production on live albums like ‘Live Magic’ and ‘Webmley 86’ is much better.

Did you know …. In the censored bleeped section of ‘Death On Two Legs’ , Freddie actually says “This is dedicated to a real mother fu***r of a gentleman”.