panic at the disco - bohemian rhapsody review

First--and last--time I'll put a review title in all-caps, okay? But the 'geeeeenius' who thought he'd put together Queen's GHs compilation (ID'd by Windows Media Center as the 'Hollywood' version, a cheap knock-off for money only)--however 'official'--was just ripping us off.

Who puts together any greatest hits collection and leaves out the greatest hit of all? Only somebody who doesn't respect fans, who wants to test their 'clickability' and patience...who wants to bilk them out of another piddly 99cents to get that song.

Case in point--greatest hit, yet absent from the only Queen collection I'll ever buy, now...to this day I couldn't even sing along to this great song, even from the back of a police cruiser, drunk, without getting a little sick over having to download this song after buying the GH CD FOR THIS VERY SONG

arn them...darn them all to heck.

I guess Freddy Mercury was to Queen what Sam Walton was to 'WallyWorld'--when we lost him, we lost the entire franchise, and we know it.

This song is still brilliant, creative, and spectacular.

This masterpiece of progressive rock was written by Freddie Mercury for Queen's Night At The Opera album which in itself was quite an eclectic collection of music. Bohemian Rhapsody broke new ground in its time and is said to have been the single most song to produce at the time of its release. The song features opera chorus music and innovative choral arrangements not usually found in a Rock N Roll format. The timing is magnificent and when the electric guitars enter the scene they really cut loose with wild abandon with ferocious vocals to boot. This is a great song that I sometimes stop to appreciate. Because it got so much play, I actually avoided the song for a while but today I find myself able to enjoy it anew. This song should definitely be a part of any comprehensive Rock N Roll collection

Today is the day! Suicide Squad, the most heavily anticipated film of the summer, comes to the big screen featuring the likes of Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, and Will Smith coming together to play DC’s classic villains, but its equally explosive soundtrack boasts a perhaps more impressive variety of artists, including Twenty One Pilots, Lil Wayne, Skylar Gray, and Panic! At The Disco. The latter’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ the seventh single from the record and fourth to be premiered as Zane Lowe’s World Record on Beats 1 this week, is suitably manic.

It’s no secret that the band has revelled in its cover of the Queen classic, having performed it at various gigs around the world for a few years now. I was lucky enough to catch the Brendon Urie-fronted group – technically the only permanent member of the band left – at Slam Dunk Festival this year, where they indeed treated the crowd to a version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ that can only labelled as absolutely electric, complete with an impressive falsetto, a stunning guitar solo, and the tearful, manic fire of the crowd’s fervour.

Whilst the recorded version starts on shaky legs, the opening line we all know and love sounds a little like its being recorded straight from the mouths of those little, yellow minions from Despicable Me, its integrity and, indeed, its intensity, grows two-fold as the lead vocals take hold. When the first “MAMAAA” hits to take Urie’s voice to its first peak, the song sends shivers down the spines of every listener, whether fervent Panic! fans, obstinate Queen fans, or otherwise indifferent. I challenge you to look me in the eye and say you didn’t get that magnetic shiver flutter its way down your spine at least once. Absolutely, that’s the power of a ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ done well, but more so it’s the power of Panic! At The Disco and Urie’s stunning voice.

As the minutes go by and those smooth vocals melt through the air, intertwining with a flawless guitar and bass line, it almost reaches the a therapeutic realm until the galileos begin to drop with the rhythmic plink-plonk of the piano cuts that first soaring guitar solo. “I see a little silhouette of a man,” Urie chimes, with his voice contorted slightly to sound vintage and old-timey, at the first moment that the rendition sounds like it really belongs on the Suicide Squad soundtrack. Its dive into that magnificent crescendo of stunning urgency is just as perfect for head-banging as the original.

Finishing back on the smooth side with that magnetic vibrancy from the song’s climax hanging deliciously in the air, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ spirals down to its almighty finish. Urie floats down until that last cymbal crash, those last lingering strings, and the whispering final bow. The finish, however, is far from being melancholic, with that sense of heart-racing, truly electric fun still fresh. Panic! At The Disco’s cover is something of a carnival, with so many instruments forming a seamless parade of absolute unadulterated joy. New instruments unfamiliar to the original are brought forward to offer striking peaks to the song, whilst Urie’s voice is at its finest, with much of the song reminiscent of the group’s Pretty. Odd. era.

Lyrics

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality

Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see

I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy

Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low

Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me

Mama, just killed a man

Put a gun against his head

Pulled my trigger, now he's dead

Mama, life had just begun

But now I've gone and thrown it all away

Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry

If I'm not back again this time tomorrow

Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Too late, my time has come

Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time

Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go

Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth

Mama, ooh, I don't want to die

I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

I see a little silhouetto of a man

Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango

Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me

(Galileo) Galileo, (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo figaro magnifico

(I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me)

He's just a poor boy from a poor family

Spare him his life from this monstrosity

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?

Bismillah! No, we will not let you go

(Let him go) Bismillah! We will not let you go

(Let me go) Will not let you go

(Let me go) Ah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

(Oh mamma mia, mamma mia) Mama mia, let me go

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?

So you think you can love me and leave me to die?

Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby!

Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here!

Nothing really matters, anyone can see

Nothing really matters

Nothing really matters to me

Any way the wind blows

panic at the disco - bohemian rhapsody review