One Year of Love - Reception

Reception

Critical reaction to A Kind of Magic was mixed. Rolling Stone described the album as "heavy plastic", concluding, "This band might as well put some pomp back in its rock. Its members are never going to make it as dignified elder statesmen." The Times described the album as one of "the most spectacularly successful releases this year", yet questioned its appeal, asking, "why does it not extend to those of us who are given the records to review?" People Weekly wrote, "There's hardly a personal expression, let alone an intimate one, in this album... The group can be dazzling. In this case they're just overbearing." In a retrospective review, Allmusic were more favourable, writing, "It may not have been as cohesive as some of their other albums, but A Kind of Magic was their best work in some time." Kerrang! reviewer wonders "how much of the album is the 'real' Queen and how much is the result of the costraints/musical slant imposed upon them by writing material to go with a movie", concluding that "only a band of Queen's stature (...) could put out an album of such diverse songs without disappointing a sizeable portion of their fans".

In the 1994 edition of The Guinness All Time Top 1000 Albums, A Kind of Magic was voted #171 in the all-time greatest rock and pop albums. In 2006, a national BBC poll saw the album voted the 42nd greatest album of all time. In 2007, Classic Rock ranked A Kind of Magic the 28th greatest soundtrack album of all time.