Bohemian Rhapsody celebrates Mercury

The movie Bohemian Rhapsody makes me regret something. I should have made an effort toward finding a way to see Queen live, while the British band still had Freddy Mercury as frontman. I had always thought that the band was great with the most innovative, hook-studded songs but the chance to watch them live just never happened and I just allowed things to pass.

Now with the painstaking recreation of Queen’s Live Aid performance in 1985 in the picture, I have realized what I missed. What music! What a band! And Mercury? He was not of this world. What a picture Bohemian Rhapsody has turned out to be with its goosey grasp of the ‘70s rock era. Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor, Gwillyn Lee as lead guitarist Brian May and Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon are almost full-blown look-alikes of their Queen counterparts. This is a full-blown rewind.

Then, because Mercury was ever the star, so is Rami Malek in the picture. It felt awesome watching Malek as the band’s extraordinary lead singer and songwriter, the flamboyant Mercury. Of course, Malek did not do the actual singing. Mercury had a three-octave vocal range. But who cares, he seems so real as Mercury. He had everything down pat, the body twists, the overbite, the overbearing mannerisms, the defiant reaction to his impending end. Bradley Cooper of A Star Is Born has just been handed a worthy rival because if this guy’s good fortune holds out, Malek might just add an Oscar to his Emmy for Mr. Robot with his performance in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bohemian Rhapsody is named after the groundbreaking song created by Mercury for Queen and included in the Night At The Opera album in 1975. Considered the greatest and the biggest-selling rock recording in history, it was structured like a variant of the sonata with several movements. It has an intro, a ballad part, an opera portion, a rock ’n roll and to end, a wistful coda. It was six minutes long but disc jockeys loved it. It had no chorus but people remembered it just the same because every portion was steeped in irresistible hooks. Mercury also composed Love Of My Life, We Are The Champions, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and others for Queen.

Freddie Mercury

Bohemian Rhapsody is a musical about 15 years in the life of Queen. It follows the band from its inception down to the creation of its biggest hits We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and the title song. It culminates in Queen’s historic performance in the fundraising concert Live Aid in 1985. Dubbed the greatest in rock music history, it was made poignant by the fact that Mercury was then trying to put together his life that had spiraled out of control while facing a death sentence from A.I.D.S. He died in 1991 at the age of 45. Today, Mercury’s uniquely creative imagination is credited with lifting Queen from being just another British band to the rock heroes its members became. 

As for the soundtrack album, it is made up of never-before-released Queen recordings, some of them from the band’s memorable live performances. To ensure that only the best cuts make it to the set, Queen’s May and Taylor themselves worked long hours with long-time Queen collaborators at the studio. I was afraid this would be just another all-hits compilation, which would be good but not a must-have. Instead, we have a very impressive line-up of excellent tracks that I am surprised Queen had kept hidden all these years.

Included are Somebody To Love, Doing All Right performed by Smile, the first incarnation of Queen; Keep Yourself Alive, Killer Queen, Fat-Bottomed Girls, Bohemian Rhapsody, Now I’m Here, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Love Of My Life, We Will Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust, I Want To Break Free, Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie; Who Wants To Live Forever; the cuts from the Live Aid set, Radio Ga Ga, Ay-Oh, Hammer To Fall, We Are The Champions and Don’t Stop Me Now. These are sandwiched between a Queen rendition of the iconic 20th Century Fox theme and The Show Must Go On.

This is an album for the ages, which, along with the new original recordings used in A Star Is Born, has put the movie soundtrack in a new perspective. From here on, there is no way that movie music can settle for just a couple of tunes to emphasize the action. The music has to be very special.

Next on tap is Elton John with the Elton dead ringer actor Tara Egerton in the lead role. Well, Elton is a pop star of the first order who I am sure will make sure that his bio-pic has the most special soundtrack album.