FLASH / FOOTBALL FIGHT

Between Greatest Hits and Classic Queen are nearly all of Queen's US hits, but I wanted more. "Flash's Theme AKA Flash," a minor (#42) 1981 single, is on neither of these collections, and I seemed to remember it being cool (I was 11 when it came out). So, I picked it up (virtually... you know what I mean). Turns out my memory was off a bit. This single came out between "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Under Pressure," so Queen was still a more-than-going-concern when "Flash" was released, but this one misses the mark a bit.

Prefiguring Prince's "Batdance" (another questionable hit by an unquestionably great artist) by nearly a decade, "Flash" is half of a song filled out with movie dialogue. The vocals and instrumentation are 100% Queen. Since my download didn't come with the b- side, I had to go to Youtube for another listen to "Football Fight," also from Queen's soundtrack to the 1980 movie Flash Gordon. "Football Fight" is a minute-and-a-half instrumental, and its title explains the music pretty reasonably. It too includes movie dialogue.

As "Flash" is not an important entry in the Queen catalog, I'm rating it two stars - - recommended for fans only.

P.S.: Ironically, I eventually replaced my CDs of Classic Queen and Greatest Hits with The Platinum Collection, thus paying again for "Flash's Theme AKA Flash."