Product Description

FLASH GORDON was the motion picture soundtrack for the 1980movie, released just a few months after one of Queen's mostcommercially successful albums, THE GAME. More synthesizer-heavy than previous releases, FLASH GORDON is comprised mostly of short instrumentals, with a pair of more traditional Queen songs bookending the album. With dialogue from the movie inserted throughout, it is easy for the listener to grasp the storyline, and to tell which scenes the songs represent.
"Flash's Theme" was the soundtrack's anthemic single, which begins the album on a high note. Then the onslaught of instrumentals begins. The majority can be appreciated outsidethe story's context--such as "Football Fight" and "Vultan'sTheme (Attack Of The Hawk Men)". Others are closely linked to the storyline--"In The Space Capsule", "In The Death Cell", "The Kiss" and "Marriage Of Dale And Ming"--but are stillenjoyable. Although it doesn't quite match the majesty of an official Queen album, FLASH GORDON contains plenty of first-rate compositions, including one of their most underrated tunes, "The Hero", which closes the soundtrack.

Track Listing

1. Flash
2. In The Space Capsule
3. Ming's Theme (In The Court Of Ming The Merciless)
4. Ring (Hypnotic Seduction Of Dale)
5. Football Fight
6. In The Death Cell
7. Execution Of Flash
8. Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash)
9. Arboria (Planet Of The Tree Men)
10. Escape From The Swamp
11. Flash To The Rescue
12. Vultan's Theme (Attack Of The Hawk Men)
13. Marriage Of Dale And Ming (And Flash Approaching)
14. Battle Theme
15. Wedding March
16. Crash And Dive On Mingo City
17. Flash's Theme Reprise (Victory Celebrations)
18. Hero

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6280 in Music
• Released on: 1994-04-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dialogue on a soundtrack album is normally a huge mistake. You smirk maybe the first few times, then grow rapidly frustrated having to programme out the offending tracks (if possible). Then there are those rare few where it would be impossible to imagine one without the other (Pulp Fiction for example). Thankfully Flash Gordon belongs in the latter camp ("camp" being entirely appropriate in this context). The idea of using Queen for this sci-fi hokum was both daring and inspired. On the other side of the universe-friendly title chant of "Flash!" is a remarkably varied score. There are five principal themes ("Flash", "Love", "Ming", "Vultan" and "Battle"), yet there are plenty more. In fact, there are yet more in the film that didn't make it to the album--this is a straight digital master of the 1980 LP. Clap your hands to the Football game in Ming's Court, attempt the high notes in "The Kiss", find a keyboard that can emulate "Ming's Theme" today or just enjoy screaming "DIVE !" with Brian Blessed. Incredibly the band were only once called upon in a similar capacity again for Highlander.--Paul Tonks

Customer Reviews

good soundtrack
Possibly one for die hard fans only- although it does have some catchy themes on it. Not one for the casual listener though.

having said that it is worth buying for the closing track itself "Hero" - possibly one of Queens best rock songs - it opens with a drum sequence and crashes into an awesome chunky guitar riff, topped off with a spine tinglingly emotional vocal performance from Freddie.

The riff is so good - even Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails nicked it for his song Wish of the Broken Album.

Listen its the same tune just the guitars are more distorted.

Great soundtrack for a great film
Fans of Queen may be turned off by the fact that there are only a couple of tracks on this album that sound Queen-ish. That doesn't stop it from being a great record.
All the music from the film, interspersed with some small snippets of dialogue.
Put it on, sit back, close your eyes and you can just imagine the movie playing in your head.
If you liked the film or are a Queen fan, I highly recommend this.
Only drawback - not enough Brian Blessed !!

Death to Ming!
If you come to 'Flash Gordon' looking for songs you'll probably find it the worst Queen album ever released, with only opener 'Flash's Theme' and album closer 'The Hero' sounding anything like the traditional Queen song. Approach it with the open mind that this is a film soundtrack however and you'll find it stuffed with some great instrumental music from the band, ranging from the moody 'Execution of Flash' and the beautiful soaring vocals of 'The Kiss' up to the full-on rock of 'Football Fight', 'Vultan's Theme' and 'Battle Theme', stopping off at Brian May's signature guitar-layered version of 'The Wedding March' along the way. Being a soundtrack album there is some repetition of themes between certain tracks, and a few are rather sparse (obviously so as not to distract from whatever's happening on screen) but the decision to include dialogue extracts from the film helps fill these spaces and results in the album telling the story of the film as it unfolds. Great fun.