4 1/2 stars!!!

Queen Live Killers is perhaps the best Queen live album, for those fans who prefer Queen in their pre-synth years (Jazz and earlier). The band was not at their heaviest during this tour, but still rocked with many interesting selections for their sets, like Death On Two Legs, Brighton Rock, Keep Yourself Alive, and Don't Stop Me Now. This album is a bit of a curiosity, as the band has never admitted where each particular track had been recorded. It's rumoured through the examination of Bootleg recordings that many of the tracks were pieced together from various recordings on the tour. For example, the first half of Get Down Make Love appears to have been recorded at one concert, yet the second half of the song shows all the hallmarks for a version that was recorded in a different country. This seems apparent with many of the songs. Strangely enough, with so much intricate editing taking place, it's strange that the producer wouldn't have segued audience noises between all the tracks. There's some distracting moments, where Freddie's foul comment is bleeped out (I've heard the boot of this, and Freddie says alot more that those bleeps fill--so why not splice this as they had the songs?

There are some killer versions of many Queen songs, but it's also evident that the band cleaned up their act in the studio--I've heard dozens of Queen live recordings and never have they played this tightly, this clean. Of course, this is no distraction to the power of the songs here. Queen is by far one the greatest rock bands ever, and it shows in these recordings. Like Led Zeppelin, Queen didn't film or record many concerts during their illustrious career, so we have to make adieu with what we have, and Killers is no bad offering. It's be nice if these tapes were put back together in their entirety...Queen, for some reason, edited the hell out of their recordings--we've never been treated to a full Queen show until the most recent DVD release of Live at Wembly...but, LAW is not the same Queen from the 70's and 80's. This classic pre-Jazz Queen is the band many love the most. Live Killers is an apropo way to experience the band from this time, although we can all keep our fingers crossed for some more complete recordings of the day.

I don't know what the last reviewer was listening to, it couldn't have been LIVE KILLERS! This was Queen when they were in their prime, so Live at Wembley isn't near as good as LIVE KILLERS.

Also, a note to the last reviewer: the reason you can barely hear the voices in the middle of Bohemian Rhapsody is because it is a tape that is being played. Try reading the liner notes!

Throughout the annals of history regarding rock music, no artist, band, or whatever has ever or will ever live up to Queen in terms of combining a great studio work with great live presence. Sure, Kiss is a tremendous live band, and the Beatles were masters of the studio, but Queen combines both elements and does it with their own flair.

Spanning the first seven or so albums of the band's career (which I consider to be their musical, if not always popular, prime), Live Killers is the best representation of Queen's stage power that can be obtained without going through unauthorized and unreleased material. More than just a "Greatest Hits" album with bad sound, Live Killers also digs deep into the albums and pulls out songs that the average music fan may have never heard, e.g. 'Love of My Life,' 'Death On Two Legs,' 'I'm In Love With My Car,' etc.

The entire Queen live experience is highly intimate, as Freddie Mercury plays to the crowd and tries to connect with them throughout the show. The acoustic set is especially this way, as the boys go 'unplugged' and do an almost sing-along type thing. Interestingly enough, all the songs in the acoustic set are drastically different than their studio counterparts.

But, all acoustic intimacy put aside, the true power of Queen's live shows is their energy, unique sound, and ability to serenade you one second and blow you away with something vile or vulgar or just plain heavy the next. Queen delivers the highly sexual 'Get Down, Make Love' and then follows it with the soft sentimental ballad 'You're My Best Friend.'

Throughout the show we learn of just how great Freddie Mercury is as a singer, pianist, and showman. Then, in a rare occurence, the amazing vocals and harmonies for which the band is best known take a back seat and let the guitars and drums take over on 'Brighton Rock,' with Brian May's complex guitar solo, Roger Taylor's energetic tympani work, and the culmination, a mini jam session with Brian, Roger, and bassist John Deacon.

The limits placed on the reviews here keep me from doing my usual and going down the line, individually talking about every single song. There is too much to be said about this piece of work, truly an 'essential recording.' Therefore I will try to put this into a small piece right here: Live Killers is the best live album I have ever heard, and it is the only double album that can even come near reaching the greatness of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, which is by far the standard by which all double albums should be measured (perhaps only my opinion, but this is my review). If one were to only buy one piece of Queen's work, I would recommend that it be this, not a "Greatest Hits" album, for with the exception of 'Somebody to Love,' this is the best of the best. Their 80's material was great and all, but not earth-shattering.

Like no other band, Queen took both hard rock and over-the-top excess campy songs, added highly elaborate sound and light systems, put it all together, and made it work. From the in-your-face opening version of 'We Will Rock You' (for those who don't know yet, the first version is an upbeat rocker with full musical complement throughout the song, while the show's antepenultimate track is the version we all know from sporting events and the radio) to 'We Are The Champions' and even while the boys take their bows during 'God Save the Queen,' something special in the air lets us know that there will never be another band with the power, presence, and talent of Queen.

Lets be honest here. Like most fans, I prefer Queen's '70's material over their '80's material. But this release is a disappointment, and easily the worst of Queen's three official live releases. Perhaps a part of it is due to the disc being patched together from different shows on the 'Jazz' tour, but the band sounds like their rushing through the material in the set, hardly paying attention to the detail and respect these songs deserve. Freddie's voice also is not in top form here, and the sound quality, quite frankly, sucks. The 'Jazz' tour was indeed a great tour, representing Queen's last great studio album until 'Innuendo', but you wouldn't know it from this set. And it's funny because 'Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl' and 'Queen Live at Wembley '86' are both GREAT live albums even though they promoted weak studio albums ('Hot Space' and 'A Kind of Magic', respectively). Regardless of the irony involved, my advice is to stick to those two live releases and skip this mediocre and rather weak set.

this is my favorite queen cd, because it contains many non-greatest hits songs, as well as songs like bohemian rhapsody, don't stop me now or bycicle race. it's a good choice if you just feel like "bit listening to some queen songs no matter which album". most of the songs are way faster than the studio versions (don't stop me now, death on two legs, i'm in love with my car,..). another interessting song is we will rock you on the first cd. this version is absolutely different from the studio version, the only thing both have in common are the lyrics. brian's brighton rock solo is waaaay to long, nevertheless it's a great track. i also have live at wembley, but i prefer live killers because freddie's voice sounds better and it does not contain funny but useless tracks like tutti frutti, hello mary lou etc. some people may think different, but in general i like 70's queen more than 80's.