Long Live The Queen On CD and DVD
The Artist: Queen
The CD: “Queen Rock Montreal”
The DVD: “Queen Rock Montreal”
With the frontman for the band having been deceased for nearly two decades, the folks maintaining Queen’s catalog have had to be pretty creative in mining product that can be recycled. In this case, they’ve gone back to a previously-released video, restored it, expanded it to its original running order and have cranked out both a DVD and a 2-CD set called “Queen Rock Montreal.”
As live recordings go, this is top-notch. It was the only Queen concert shot on film, and the band was at the top of their arena-pleasing form. Previously released on VHS in edited form as “We Will Rock You,” this is a document of the last night of the last North American tour by the original line up of Queen with Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. This was recorded in November, 1981.
It’s the fifth officially-released live album by Queen, but it does stand out due to the high quality of the recording and restoration, and the unique arrangements that Queen employed on this tour. It was the only time they performed “Under Pressure” as a four-piece, and many of the tunes take unexpected turns to make up for the lack of studio trickery. Mercury also drops quite a few f-bombs during his stage banter, so the more prudish among you might want to stick with the studio recordings.
I’ve recently had the opportunity to listen to some of the raw tracks for Queen’s classic studio recordings, and it’s astounding that they could even come close to recreating that sound on stage. Some of the guitar solos on their records are combined from five different tracks, and Freddie Mercury’s vocals sometimes have more than ten layers of voice compiled into one. On songs like “Somebody To Love” and “Killer Queen” Mercury doesn’t even try to sing them in the same key as the hit records. Rather than disappoint, the reworked arrangements enhance the listening experience.
This recording also features the definitive live performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Die-hard Queen fans will want this just for that tune. The songs leading into this are the hit “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and a hyped-up cover of Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.” Fans won’t be disappointed with the rest of the package. The only sluggish parts are a couple of the not-quite-hits like “Get Down Make Love,” and “Let Me Entertain You.” For the most part, this set serves as both a greatest-hits and live package. Almost all of Queen’s big hits are here. After this tour, they were no longer the hit-record machine that they had been for the previous eight years.
The only downside to “Queen Rock Montreal” is the weird way that the music biz is trying to sell this thing. The DVD is available at Amazon.com for $10.49. The CD, which offers two short bonus cuts, sells for $14.99. You have to decide if you’d rather watch the band at its peak, and see Mercury as a master showman, or pay more so that you can just listen to it. The two bonus cuts on the CD are “Flash” and “The Hero,” which aren’t that much of an incentive. The total running time for those two songs is just over four minutes. Plus the DVD is in DTS Surround Sound.
Unless you just can’t stand the sight of Freddie Mercury, I’d suggest that you spring for the DVD. Queen Rock Montreal is both a visual and aural treat.
November 15th, 2007 at 9:37 am
[…] Over at NewSounds, some annoying guy has a review of the new Queen CD and DVD up for your perusal. […]
November 16th, 2007 at 12:43 am
My thermometer is full of Freddy Mercury.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Nice review despite screwing up the name of a song, ignoring the fact that Queen continued to have quite a few hits all over the world after 1981 (just not in the US), and having no clue that Queen always said openly that no one could reproduce their studio albums live—they approached the studio as one art form and the stage as another, both used for presenting medium-appropriate versions of their songs.
Which song was screwed up, you ask? It’s “Somebody to Love” not “Someone to Love”.
November 18th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Gee, Buzzardbilly, that’s a pretty snarky comment.
I used to listen to Rudy when he was on the radio, and he’s one of the most well-informed musicologists in the state. I don’t see where you get him “having no clue” from his review. Quite the opposite, he acknowledged the difference in Queen’s stage work and studio work, and summed it up by writing, “Rather than disappoint, the reworked arrangements enhance the listening experience.”
While I’m sure you can name all of Queen’s post-1981 hits, most people can’t name any of them without Googling first. This was the band at their peak. It was downhill from there.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:50 am
[…] No, this post isn’t a follow-up to Rudy Panucci’s review of Queen’s recently released 2-CD/DVD live concert set. Instead it’s a follow-up to this old post from September which featured a note from Cazon Southwest Deli’s management to it’s “loyal customers.” […]