Queen: The Complete Works (126 page)

Yet that’s not a criticism, for the videos do deserve to be seen again; most of their original releases had been either rarely seen or deleted by the time of this video’s release. The collection is bookended by two new performances. The ‘rah’ remix of ‘Under Pressure’ was edited together from pre-existing footage of Freddie (from Wembley, 1986) and David Bowie (from the tribute concert, 1992, with Annie Lennox carefully removed) performing the song, making it appear as though the two had actually performed it together, while the live 1997 version of ‘The Show Must Go On’ with Elton John hadn’t been released before; it may have been superfluous on
Greatest Hits III
, but it’s justified here. For the record, ‘Thank God It’s Christmas’ was never given a video performance; here, it is merely played as the credits roll.

Inclusions of ‘Scandal’, ‘Back Chat’, ‘Calling All Girls’, ‘Body Language’, ‘Spread Your Wings’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Liar’ or ‘A Winter’s Tale’ would have been appreciated, but because they hadn’t been included on the album release they weren’t even considered for
Greatest Flix III
. The video was rendered obsolete shortly after its release because of its lack of a DVD release, with most of the videos appearing on
Greatest Video Hits 2
.

GREATEST VIDEO HITS 1

• 2002 (200 mins) • Hollywood Records 2061 69011 9

•
Directors:
Bruce Gowers, Dennis DeVallance, Rock Flicks, Derek Burbridge, Kliebenst, Brian Grant, Daniella Green, Keith McMillan, Don Norman

•
Producers:
Simon Lupton and Rhys Thomas

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Bicycle Race’, ‘You’re My Best Friend’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘Save Me’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Spread Your Wings’, ‘Play The Game’, ‘Flash’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘Now I’m Here’
(live at the Rainbow)
, ‘Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’
(Top Of The Pops version)
, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Liar’, ‘Love Of My Life’
(live)
, ‘We Will Rock You’
(fast live version)
, Documentary: Inside The Rhapsody (‘The Bo Rhap Story’, ‘Making The Video’, ‘Creating The Rhapsody’, and ‘The Greatest Song’)

Easter Egg:
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
(flame version)

In October 2002, with Queen’s video catalogue in dire
need of an update, fans were given reason to rejoice: finally, the band joined the digital age with the release of
Greatest Video Hits 1
, the first instalment of many in ‘The DVD Collection’. Presenting all sixteen of Queen’s official performance videos between 1975 and 1980, along with the
Top Of The Pops
version of ‘Killer Queen’,
Greatest Video Hits 1
also featured a second disc of six additional videos: ‘Now I’m Here’ (the audio now taken from a November 1974 Rainbow Theatre concert), Queen’s 1977
Top Of The Pops
appearance for ‘Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’, the original promo videos of ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ and ‘Liar’, and two live versions of ‘Love Of My Life’ and ‘We Will Rock You’, which had been released on the original 1981
Greatest Flix
.

As if that wasn’t enough, Brian and Roger recorded a full commentary for the first disc, with archival comments from Freddie and John where appropriate; Brian and Roger’s stories are informative and sometimes hilarious. The most revealing bonus feature, though, is on the second disc, with a lengthy documentary devoted to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The first part sees Brian in the studio deconstructing the song, right down to its barest elements, explaining the recording process and isolating the most interesting parts of the original twenty-four-track recording. The other parts comprise interviews with Brian and Roger, discussing the recording of the song and, later, the process of filming the iconic video. The final segment, subtitled ‘The Greatest Song’, is a featurette with Brian and Roger collecting the award for the Number One single of all time.

While the footage is occasionally grainy and dark, there are some major revelations, since the songs are presented in full with no segues as was the case on previous video anthologies. Of particular interest is the first proper video for ‘Bicycle Race’, which was re-edited by David Mallet from original footage, filmed in October 1978 and languishing unreleased for nearly twenty-five years; this video comes closest to reassembling the original vision. (On previous video releases, censored footage of the naked bicycle race was intercut with stills of the band in action.) The biggest revelation, though, is reserved for those with a 5.1 audio DVD system, with each song benefiting from surround sound mixes produced by Justin Shirley-Smith; ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘You’re My Best Friend’, taken from the 2002 DVD-A release of
A Night At The Opera
, were produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Brian May, while ‘Spread Your Wings’ was produced by Justin Shirley-Smith and Tim Young. The results are truly spectacular.

LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM

• 2003 (300 mins) • Hollywood Records 2061 62400 9

•
Director:
Gavin Taylor •
Producers:
Simon Lupton and Rhys Thomas

‘One Vision’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘Tear It Up’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Impromptu’, ‘Brighton Rock Solo’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care’, ‘Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)’, ‘Tutti Frutti’, ‘Gimme Some Lovin’’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Big Spender’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Friends Will Be Friends’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’ (
from Friday night concert
), ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ (
from Friday night concert
), ‘Tutti Frutti’ (
from Friday night concert
), ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (
from Friday night concert
), ‘We Are The Champions’ (
from Friday night concert
), ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ (
rehearsal
), ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’ (
rehearsal
), ‘A Kind Of Magic’ (
rehearsal
), ‘I Want To Break Free’ (
rehearsal
), ‘Now I’m Here’ (
rehearsal
), ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (
rehearsal
)

Marking the first instalment in an ongoing programme of DVD releases of Queen’s filmed live shows,
Live At Wembley Stadium
is a much-needed improvement on the 1990 VHS
Live At Wembley ’86
. The aim of this release was to not only offer an updated account of the landmark 1986 concert, but also to restore it to its full running time, minus the dated camera effects of the original. It may not have been the best Queen live show ever, but it was the most widely seen upon its initial release, and it was only natural that this be the first true Queen DVD concert release.

What is presented is terrific: the full, uncut 120-minute concert with updated sound and visuals, with enough bonus material to please even the most cynical fans. Six songs – ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Tutti Frutti’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ and the finale of ‘We Are The Champions’ – are from the Friday night concert, which was used as a dry run for the camera crew to prepare angles and shot composition, while another six titles from
pre-tour rehearsals are included, the quality of which isn’t stunning but is fascinating nonetheless. Perhaps the most interesting bonus feature is the ‘Queen cam’, which allows the viewer to switch between exclusive angles of Brian, Roger, John and Freddie on four songs: ‘One Vision’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Now I’m Here’ and ‘We Are The Champions’. A picture gallery is interesting but mostly superfluous, though it does mark the first release of the original version of ‘A Kind Of Magic’, last heard over the credits of
Highlander
in 1986.

The only thing that prevents this from being a definitive release is the omission of highlights from other
Magic
tour shows, which would have been a better alternative than the interviews and documentaries included on the second disc (one can only hope these will be released when
Live In Budapest
is given the DVD treatment). However, those omissions (and inclusions) detract little from the overall product, and
Live At Wembley Stadium
should be the template on which further live DVD releases are based. For anyone who grew up watching
Live At Wembley ’86
in wide-eyed wonder, or for anyone who had seen Queen at Live Aid and wanted to know what the fuss was all about, or for a budding Queen fan who needs a place to start their obsession,
Live At Wembley Stadium
is the genuine article.

GREATEST VIDEO HITS 2

• 2003 (200 mins) • Hollywood Records 2061 69017 9

•
Directors:
Russell Mulcahy, David Mallet, Rudi Dolezal, Hannes Rossacher, Mike Hodges, Brian Grant, Tim Pope •
Producers:
Simon Lupton and Rhys Thomas

‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Breakthru’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Scandal’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘The Miracle’, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘The Invisible Man’, ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’, ‘Friends Will Be Friends’, ‘Body Language’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Princes Of The Universe’, ‘One Vision’, ‘Back Chat’, ‘Calling All Girls’, ‘Staying Power’ (live at Milton Keynes Bowl), ‘One Vision’ (Extended Vision), Freddie Mercury interview (‘A Musical Prostitute’), The Works interviews, A Kind Of Magic interviews, Documentary: The Making of ‘One Vision’, The Miracle interviews, Documentary: The Making of The Miracle videos (‘I Want It All’, ‘Scandal’, ‘The Miracle’, ‘The Invisible Man’, and ‘Breakthru’), Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festivals (1984: ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘Tear It Up’, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘I Want To Break Free’; 1986: ‘One Vision’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Friends Will Be Friends’, ‘Hammer To Fall’)

Easter Eggs:
‘Who Wants To Live Forever’
(Highlander version)
, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’
(1989 Ian & Belinda version)

In November 2003, a little over a year after the first compilation appeared,
Greatest Video Hits 2
was released, and was of more interest than its predecessor. Abandoning straightforward performance videos in favour of producing mini-epics, the videos included on
Greatest Video Hits 2
are much more appealing to casual and ardent fans alike.

Of particular interest are the inclusions of some truly rare videos: ‘Scandal’, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘Friends Will Be Friends’ had been previously unavailable in the US, and while ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’ and ‘Princes Of The Universe’ had been previously released on
Greatest Flix III
, their inclusion here is more than welcome considering the 1999 compilation was available only on VHS and was out of print by 2003. As before, Brian and Roger provide commentary for each video, though their remarks were recorded separately and edited together to suggest they were in the same room; while it’s not detrimental to the release, the camaraderie and interplay between the two is missed.

While the bonus features don’t feature anything as revelatory as ‘Inside The Rhapsody’, there is plenty to rejoice in. For the first time, rarely seen videos of ‘Calling All Girls’ and ‘Back Chat’ make their appearance, with a live rendition of ‘Staying Power’ from the June 1982 Milton Keynes performance and an extended edit of the ‘One Vision’ video also included. Along with these videos, four interview segments were compiled – three feature each band member talking separately about
The Works
,
A Kind Of Magic
and
The Miracle
, while the fourth is Freddie talking with Rudi Dolezal in 1984 and is called ‘A Musical Prostitute’. There are also three documentaries, with one detailing the making of the album cover for
The Miracle
, a second showing the recording of ‘One Vision’ (this documentary had been released in 1987 on
The Magic Years
, but that video anthology has been out of print for years), and the third showing the making of the videos from
The Miracle
.

To cap it all, two performances of Queen at the Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival (one in 1984,
the other in 1986) are also present, though these are inconsequential considering both were mimed and not performed live. The only thing missing is Queen’s videos for
Innuendo
,
Made In Heaven
, and ‘No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)’; though these were initially promised for a third instalment,
Greatest Video Hits 3
has been abandoned indefinitely, and a more comprehensive, double-disc overview of Queen’s videography may be on deck instead.

46664: THE EVENT

• 2004 (377 mins) • Warner Music Vision B 0001DI51M •
Director:
David Mallet •
Producers:
Simon Lupton, Jim Beach, Jean Francois Cecillon

‘Say It’s Not True’, ‘Invincible Hope’, ‘46664: The Call’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘Toss The Feathers’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime’, ‘Amandla’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘46664 Chant’, Interviews

Queen’s performance from the November 2003 Cape Town concert in support of Nelson Mandela’s 46664 campaign to bring awareness of the AIDS virus contains the first appearances of new material (‘Say It’s Not True’, ‘Invincible Hope’, ‘46664: The Call’ and ‘Amandla’) on a commercial release since
Made In Heaven
in 1995. The DVD
46664: The Event
features Brian and Roger’s complete set (credited as Queen), along with other guest performances – Brian with Andrea Corr on ‘Is This The World We Created...?’ and Roger with The Corrs on ‘Toss The Feathers’, among others – and is not only worthwhile from a musical standpoint, but also as a charitable venture.

QUEEN ON FIRE: LIVE AT THE BOWL

• 2004 (200 mins) • Parlophone 7243 5 44187 9 2 •
Director:
Gavin Taylor •
Producers:
Simon Lupton and Rhys Thomas