Originally published by L.S. Media. June 29th 2011.
After the marked success of Queen’s previous eight studio albums, it seemed quite natural for the band to be offered the prestigious chance to provide the soundtrack for the Science Fiction movie Flash Gordon. The comic book turned television and now celluloid blonde herowas finally getting the big screen treatment and was too star Sam J. Jones as the eponymous champion of the oppressed alongside British stars Brain Blessed, Timothy Dalton and the Canadian actor Melody Anderson.
On paper the marriage between the two, one of the finest bands to come out of Britain at the time and a good old fashioned space romp should have been a high light of the film circuit over the next decade, however it had a poor showing at the box office and its only in later years the film is seen as kitsch classic.
The soundtrack by Queen and re-mastered as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations should be viewed in much the same way. This is not to do down Queen as you can only work with what is in front of you whilst creating music; however the band, as with the filmmakers, could have done so much more to turn the film and the soundtrack into a highlight of the time.
Queen open the album with the signature tune Flash which makes use of Brian’s intelligent writing skills and highlights the reason why both Brian and Freddie always seemed to work better together than working alone, the vocals are exquisite and are added greatly with Roger Taylor’s high harmonies throughout the song.
However the song shares time with dialogue from the film and for this its lets the song and the album down. In later years the band would once more get the chance to do a film score with the highly rated Highlander and even though in small sections this film also uses dialogue it’s so small that it becomes enchanting rather than the muddled mess that Flash Gordon became.
There are some wonderful instrumental pieces throughout the album however they are in short supply, so much so that anyone coming across this album for the first time would be better off playing the D.V.D. and enjoying the story with the limited music that appears throughout the movie.
Ian D. Hall