180g Vinyl LP Reissue Sourced from the 2011 Masters

Queen's ninth studio album was the original soundtrack to the movie based on the comic strip character Flash Gordon. It was the band's first foray into the film world and would prove to be their only full soundtrack album. May later explained: "We saw 20 minutes of the finished film and thought it very good and over the top. We wanted to do something that was a real soundtrack. It's a first in many ways, because a rock group has not done this type of thing before, or else it's been toned down and they've been asked to write mushy background music. Whereas we were given the licence to do what we liked, as long as it complimented the picture."

The music was composed, performed, arranged and (Executive) produced by Queen. Like The Game, which was the first Queen LP to feature synthesizers, Flash Gordon continued the trend, though it features significantly more synths than The Game. Though some fans were a little dubious to hear Queen were recording music for a comic character-inspired film adventure, the album that emerged was a pleasant surprise on various levels. The music works well as an accompaniment to the visuals of the film, punctuated by sound effects and dialogue from the cast. Any reservations among the fans were soon cast aside when the album's only single "Flash" was released worldwide prior to the album, and faired well in the charts.

All tracks were titled after the appropriate part of the film each part was written for, and when hearing the album in its own right the listener gets a vivid idea as to what's happening in the story. The drama of the action, dialogue and over the top special effects, with Queen's distinctive sound threading through it all, is a compelling and greatly unusual blend. The album opens with the soundtrack version of "Flash's Theme," the first of only two songs on the whole LP to feature proper vocals. The second example is that of the guitar driven "The Hero," which closes the album in such imposing fashion. The rest of the material on the album is essentially instrumental pieces with dialogue here and there, and though a couple of the songs are less than a minute long, some contain truly beautiful moments of Queen at their sublime best, with emotive sounds that match the scenes perfectly.

It is easy to overlook this album, with its brash Flash Gordon imagery and unusual subject matter, and given that it clearly isn't a traditional Queen studio album, but actually there are some real treasures to be found here. The aforementioned "Hero" is a triumph on all levels, and "Battle Theme" demands attention and then refuses to be forgotten. Both tracks were featured in the Queen concerts of the time, and both went down a storm – especially "The Hero."