Having released seven studio albums in quick succession (all came in the space of just five years between 1973 and 1978), each followed by largest and further reaching tours, the one thing the band lacked at this point of their career was a live album, to showcase to their fans who were unable to see them in concert just how they sounded and performed on stage. As a result, a number of concerts on their European tour to promote the “Jazz” album were recorded with this in mind throughout February 1979. The resulting recordings were then put through the ringer, choosing the best version of each song to put on the album. The band and their label decided to release “Live Killers” as a double LP, but even so time restrictions meant that they would not only have to leave some songs off the album, but also change the order of some of the songs from the set list in order that they would fit better onto the double vinyl. In interviews the following year, when promoting what would be their follow up album “The Game”, the band commented that they were unhappy with the production of the album, a role that they had taken on themselves in their new studio in Montreux.
From my own perspective, I have often wondered if they could have just released an album that concentrated on just one performance, and left it in the set list order. There were obviously reason why this didn’t happen, and often didn’t happen with live albums from many bands in the 1970’s. As to the quality of the production, to me it has never been in question.
To be fair, Queen chose a pretty awesome time to record a live album, as the set list that they played on this tour was second to none. Certainly, the absence of any material from their first two albums is perhaps an oversight, but by this stage of their career, with so many successful singles and songs that were fan favourites, and seven albums worth of material to choose from, making set lists was never going to be an easy thing. Would I like to have had songs from that era represented? Absolutely. But choosing songs to leave out would have been the hard part. And the fact that a song like “Somebody to Love”, which was the third song played on most nights of this tour, was left off the album, is incredible to believe. So yes. Choices to be made. So, let’s just be thankful for the songs and album that we have here to enjoy.
One of the great parts about this album and set is that “We Will Rock You” is represented twice. Firstly, as the opening track, with the so-called ‘Fast Version’ leading the band out of the pack. I have always loved this version of the song. Sure, it moves away from the ‘crowd participation’ song that it is heralded as being written as by Brian May, but it’s a great hard rock song, opening the album with a great fury. Later in the set and album, the more recognisable version is played in its usual form, and place, prior to the song it is always paired with, “We Are the Champions”. But the fiery open to the album (due to the deletion of “Somebody to Love” and “Fat Bottomed Girls” from the album) is then continued with a blazing version of “Let Me Entertain You”, where Brian attacks ferociously on guitar again and Freddie getting the crowd up and moving from the outset. The triumvirate of great tracks then concludes with a rousing version of Freddie’s anger-fest “Death on Two Legs” which is always such a perfectly conducted track, and the live version ere is just as wonderful. The easy segue of the piano chord straight into “Killer Queen” is performed seamlessly and beautifully, the change of mood carried through without any loss of momentum. This continues as the song then moves into “Bicycle Race” and then “I’m in Love with My Car”, all without skipping a beat, and all interconnected as though they all belong together. It’s a great streak of music, and still wonderful to experience.
“Get Down, Make Love” is a good live version of this song, and is followed by the perennially popular and beautiful John Deacon track “You’re My Best Friend”. Side two of the first LP kicks off with a sensational extended version of “Now I’m Here” with Freddie creating some crowd participation in the middle of the track. I love this song, and especially this version. This is followed by the acoustic session, with “Dreamer’s Ball”, Freddie’s amazing “Love of My Life” with more crowd singing, and Brian’s still beautiful “39”, while the first album concludes with the effervescent “Keep Yourself Alive”, the lone representative of those first two Queen albums.
Into the second LP, and it is a cacophony of hard rock hits, rolling in one after the other. It opens with a rousing version of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, backed up by a soaring rendition of Deacon’s “Spread Your Wings” with further help from the crowd in attendance. One of the best songs on the album in the extended 13 minute version of May’s “Brighton Rock” where he extended and amplifies his solo section through the middle of the song. Brian showcases all his skills throughout, and it is a joy to listen to every time.
Onto side 2, and the final two songs of the show, the crowd favourite “Bohemian Rhapsody” followed by the hard rock favourite again with “Tie Your Mother Down”. Both are as terrific as they always are. The Short break is followed by the encore, which is pretty difficult to top. Another hard rock ripper from Roger Taylor with his “Sheer Heart Attack”, leads into the songs where the crowd comes into the show fully, with “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”, performed to perfection to complete the show and album, with an overture of “God Save the Queen”.
Queen is a band that I knew I loved from the first instant I heard their songs on the radio, musically and vocally. There is always something magical about their songs, and the wide range of song styles that they are able to compose and yet still be Queen. It’s what sent me down the track with 1984’s “The Works” and then everything that came before it and also what followed.
My first experience with this album was the “Queen Live” single album that was released in Australia in 1985, which was a chopped-up hybrid of this album that was released to coincide with Queen’s tour of Australia in early 1985. Though I did not get to see them on this tour, which turned out to be their last of Australia, I got the album for Xmas that year and loved it. Then the following year, on a school trip to Sydney to see the play Barefoot in the Park, a friend had his tape player and was playing what I thought was the “Queen Live” album, but I began to hear songs that I didn’t know at all, and versions of others I’d never heard. I was eventually informed that what I was listening to was in fact called “Live Killers”, the full double album to the single hybrid version that I owned. Good knowledge to have. I didn’t end up getting my own copy until I got my first stereo with a CD player which was in 1990, and I bought this on double CD around that time. And it was immediately so much better than the version I still owned. And for me, no other Queen live release has been close to it. In recent years they have issued other live recordings, which have been great, but this honestly still takes the cake. The songs, and the way they are performed, is magnificent. The band may have been disappointed in the production, but I think it portrays how the band sounded live, not with absolute precision recording of their instruments, but in how they were. The extra loud crashes of the cymbals to me exemplifies how good this is, while some so called experts feel it harms the audio. Rubbish. It makes it a live album. All four members sound great and can be heard in the mix. It is a triumph. If you haven’t heard this, make sure you do. It is more than worth it.
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