I have never listened to the album Flash Gordon.From that album I have only heard Flash's Theme.I know all the Queen songs except from that album.I listened to The Hero and it was amazing!
Especially the guitar solo.What do u guys think? Is it underrated , beacuse not many Queen Fans mention that song for any reason.I believe it is quite underrated or understated.
The Hero is a pretty good rock song. The album itself is not that bad, IMHO. The problem with it, as Brian (I think?) once said, is that the album has been branded more like a proper Queen album than the soundtrack album it really is. If you listen to it as any other Queen album, of course you'll be disappointed, but if you listen to it as a soundtrack album, it makes more sense. There are actually pretty good bits on that album (Football Fight, Vultan's Theme...)
The whole last third is excellent - basically The Hero extended over several different songs. Football Fight is great too. There is an excellent bootleg of the Queen material mixed with the original score and it works so much better. Check it out.
dysan wrote:
The whole last third is excellent - basically The Hero extended over several different songs. Football Fight is great too. There is an excellent bootleg of the Queen material mixed with the original score and it works so much better. Check it out.
Really?
Never heard that.
Any links please?
Thanks.
Possibly my favorite part of the whole album is the combination of Vultan's Theme going into Battle Theme (which is really just an instrumental version of The Hero anyway)
Great Track!
And I love the re-take which is available on the
deluxe 2 cd reissue! Would have been interesting to see where this would have gone if they had released it as a single.
Yeah should've been a single. Nothing was released until Under Pressure about 10 months later. Perhaps they knew the film was a flop by then so voted against it. Although as a 'hot space' soundtrack that was considered barely a Queen album, just one single makes perfect sense especially as GH was on the cards.
Brian's Wig: I don't have the time to upload but I'm sure I found my copy just by some casual googling. It's great, including unreleased orchestrated versions of some of the QUeen songs (off the top of my head)
Search Howard Blake FLash or something.
The'Flash Gordon' album is one of the greatest to listen to while high,i absolutely adore 'The Kiss' demo on the remaster.Do yourselves a favour and smoke a couple of spliffs,put the album on, and, 'Hail Ming!
master marathon runner wrote:
Dysan , the film wasn't a flop from what I can remember, it didn't break box office records but it held its own I reckon
The film did quite well - it earned more than double what it cost to make. It did particularly well in the UK.
It's also got a very respectable rating on Rotten Tomatoes (80%).
I think 'The Hero' is a very good song but not even Top 30 of Brian May tunes. He just happens to have been a magnificent (May-estic :p) songwriter, at least during the Queen days and very occasionally afterwards.
I regularly play side 2 of that album. ok, I usually start it from track 2 Escape from the swamp... but basically its a really fun 15 minutes of music.
It went missing from my life for a while but I've played it a lot since I saw the movie Ted, which is basically a movie about how good Flash Gordon is... yeah there's a bit about a foul mouthed bear as well, but we all know the real story is about Flash. (Actually I genuinely believe the movie Ted makes no sense even within its own weird universe if you haven't seen Flash Gordon).
Flash Gordon is available on Netflix and I sometimes put the movie on as background when I'm doing stuff around the house. My kids (all adults) find my fascination quite strange but agree that the last 30 minutes of the film are a blast. They particularly enjoy the very slow flying of the Hawkmen during the battle scene whilst the band plays a hard rocking beat, the visuals are very slow in comparison. (Attack of the Hawkmen and Battle Theme)
The Hero is not just a good song, but it works great within the context of the film - right before the credits you see Ming getting his ring and doing an evil laugh before the song starts playing (you can hear his laugh in the album, too). It fits perfectly because of its lyrical content ("So you feel like it's end of story, find it all pretty satisfactory, but let me tell you my friend, this may seem like the end but the continuation is yours for the making..."), making it sound like it's directed to the viewer/listener as a call to show that "the evil" is still out there. So in that way it really works (especially considering the film's target audience).
The whole album's a good listen if you take it as a dumbed down version of the concept to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
'....the continuation is yours for the making.'
Buy enough tickets, and there will be a sequel.
Never understood why the trailer version wasn't made available as either the 'Flash' 45 bside, or a HR bonus track. Would still like to have the soundtrack minus 95% of the dialogue.
Also made for one of their better concert entrances.