Queen: The Complete Works

by Georg Purvis

  LIVE IN RIO

  • 1985 (90 mins) • PMI MVP 99 1079 2

  • Director: Aloysio Legey

  ‘Machines (Or ‘Back To Humans’)’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Liar’, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  On 19 January 1985, Queen took to the stage at the Rock In Rio Festival at approximately two in the morning, to play to a packed stadium of about a quarter of a million Brazilians. Their performance was dodgy and the band were clearly worn out, but the band felt such an affinity with the locals that they implored Jim Beach to purchase the rights to release the footage on video. One has to wonder why: Queen’s performance was indeed ragged, but it sounds even worse here, with a synth-heavy mix and a severely edited song selection that does little justice to the extended set list present on the 1984/85 Queen Works! tour.

  Live In Rio should be avoided at all costs, though there are two redeeming performances. Not only does it mark the first – and only – live appearance of ‘It’s A Hard Life’ on any video compilation, it also allows for the poignant sight of a chorus of 250,000 people taking the lead on ‘Love Of My Life’, with Freddie visibly moved and more than willing to let them sing.

  WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER /

  A KIND OF MAGIC

  • 1986 (10 mins) • PMI MVW 990059 2

  Instead of offering a video collection of Queen’s A Kind Of Magic videos, Queen Productions released the first video single, containing Brian’s mournful ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ and Roger’s poppy ‘A Kind Of Magic’. Obviously, these now appear on the 2003 Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD, and the concept for a video single didn’t stick around too much longer.

  LIVE IN BUDAPEST

  • 1987 (90 mins) • PMI MVN 991146 2

  • Director: Janos Zsombolyai

  ‘Tavaszi Szel Vizet Araszt’, ‘One Vision’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘Tear It Up’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’ / Freddie insert / ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘I Want To Break Free’ / Brian insert – Guitar Solo / ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Tavaszi Szel Vizet Araszt’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Tutti Frutti’ / John insert / ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ / Roger insert / ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Friends Will Be Friends’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  Queen’s performance at the Nepstadion in Budapest on 27 July 1986 was memorable in that it was a major rock band’s first performance behind the Iron Curtain since The Rolling Stones toured there in 1967. Hungarian director Janos Zsombolyai was commissioned to film the show in Budapest, and the result is the beautifully shot Live In Budapest, which some consider to be superior to Live At Wembley ’86. At the time when both videos were widely available (the early 1990s), the Budapest compilation had the slight edge for the inclusions of ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Tavaszi Szel Vizet Araszt’, and the extras showing each band member moving around Budapest. Though superseded now by the release of Live At Wembley Stadium on DVD, one can still hope that the full, unedited Budapest concert sees a release on digital video at some point in the future.

  THE MAGIC YEARS

  • 1987 (300 mins) • PMI MVP 99 1157 2

  • Compiled by: DoRo (Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher)

  Following the conclusion of the Magic tour in August 1986, Queen Productions commissioned Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, who had first worked with the band on the video for ‘One Vision’, to compile a video anthology of Queen’s history. The result was The Magic Years, a wonderful, often inaccurate but well-intentioned overview of the band. Instead of taking a linear approach and offering a narrative of the history thus far, the anthology is divided into segments, spread across three videos. Volume One was subtitled The Foundations, and focused on the origins of the band and their pioneering of video production, while offering a tantalizing look into the recording of ‘One Vision’ as the volume’s conclusion. Volume Two, subtitled Live Killers In The Making, concentrated on Queen as a live band, and Volume Three, subtitled Crowned In Glory, recalled the glories of Live Aid and their triumphant Magic tour.

  There are interviews aplenty here, with many of Queen’s peers (like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Elton John and so forth) and those who worked with the band over the years, offering their insight and opinions. It’s entertaining, it’s extravagant, it’s exciting – and it’s a shame that there are no plans to release the anthology on DVD. One can only hope that Queen Productions takes a tip from The Beatles’ amazing Anthology video documentaries and applies the same method to Queen.

  BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY /

  CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

  • 1988 (10 mins) • Gold Rushes PM0022

  Repeating the formula of 1986’s video single for ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ and ‘A Kind Of Magic’, this was a re-release of sorts, no doubt issued to capitalize on the 3” CD single campaign plaguing the UK at the time.

  RARE LIVE: A CONCERT THROUGH

  TIME AND SPACE

  • 1989 (120 mins) • PMI MVP 99 1189 3

  • Compiled by: DoRo (Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher)

  ‘Intro’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Liar’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ / Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley: ‘Big Spender’ / ‘Jailhouse Rock’ / ‘Stupid Cupid’ / ‘Be Bop A Lula’ / ‘Jailhouse Rock’ (reprise), ‘My Melancholy Blues’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Stone Cold Crazy’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘You Take My Breath Away’, ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  Following up on the success of The Magic Years, directors Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher were commissioned by Jim Beach to compile the best performances of Queen’s filmed live career onto a two-hour videocassette. Titled Rare Live: A Concert Through Time And Space, the video is a good idea ruined by poor execution. There are many wonderful snippets of Queen throughout, with some truly exceptional footage from the band’s first concerts in South America, their last in Japan, and standard footage of the band on their home turf, at Wembley Stadium, Hammersmith Odeon and Earl’s Court Arena. The key word, however, is ‘snippets’: most of the performances are severely edited, with two songs – ‘You Take My Breath Away’ and ‘We Are The Champions’ – lasting less than two minutes.

  To make matters worse, the performances switch back and forth, seemingly without reason, from concert to concert, sometimes within a song more than once. The whole effect is like trying to watch a Queen video with someone continuously switching the channels, and becomes irritating pretty quickly. As if that wasn’t enough, the information given is usually incorrect, with dates and venues often attributed erroneously. For example, ‘Liar’ is listed as a rehearsal, though it’s actually the standard video version – hardly a rehearsal.

  There are no redeeming qualities to Rare Live: A Concert Through Time And Space. Thankfully, it’s almost guaranteed to be out of print, but it has trickled through online auction sites every now and then, only to anger and outrage the curious buyer who might think it would be worth the price. It’s not.

  THE MIRACLE VIDEO EP

  • 1989 (20 mins) • PMI MVL 99 0084 3

  As with the videos for The Works, The Miracle Video EP collected four of the five videos filmed in support of The Miracle (the title track had not yet been completed, indicating that the release date was some time during November 1989, no doubt in time for the lucrative holiday market) and was the only official home for the ‘S
candal’ video until the 2003 release of Greatest Video Hits 2. The other tracks are ‘I Want It All’, ‘Breakthru’ and ‘The Invisible Man’.

  LIVE AT WEMBLEY ’86

  • 1990 (60 mins) • PMI MVP 99 1259 3

  • Director: Gavin Taylor

  ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘One Vision’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Tutti Frutti’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Friends Will Be Friends’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  Released in 1990 as Queen’s sole video compilation of the year, Live At Wembley ’86 proved immensely popular. It was the first widely available live video release since We Will Rock You in 1984, and captured the band during the post-Live Aid period when their popularity was at an all-time high. Consequently, the band were on top form and, because the Wembley concerts were midway through a lengthy tour, their energy was at a peak, and the fact that they were playing to a home crowd definitely helped.

  Live At Wembley ’86 is an enjoyable, albeit heavily edited, video. Nine songs (‘Tear It Up’, ‘Impromptu’, ‘Brighton Rock Solo’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care’, ‘Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)’, ‘Gimme Some Lovinȁ’ and ‘Big Spender’) were omitted, and most that were included employ some questionable computer graphics that may have been astounding at the time but haven’t worn well. Director Gavin Taylor’s work is beautiful, capturing all the right moments at all the right times (and with fifteen cameras positioned around the stage, this comes as no surprise), so, apart from the aforementioned gripes, the video is a triumph.

  A special introductory clip featuring animation and time-lapse photography of the stage construction at Wembley is set to a backing of the studio solo section of ‘Brighton Rock’, before the synth introduction of ‘One Vision’ kicks off the concert proper. Of course, in 2003, the VHS release (long obsolete by that point) was improved upon with an expanded and restored cut of the concert, and while Live At Wembley ’86 may hold sentimental value for those who grew up watching the video, the DVD is all the more worth it.

  GREATEST FLIX II

  • 1991 (90 mins) • PMI MVD 1326 3

  • Directors: Russell Mulcahy, David Mallet, Rudi Dolezal, Hannes Rossacher, Tim Pope, Jerry Hibbert

  ‘The Show Must Go On’ (intro), ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Innuendo’, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Breakthru’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘Headlong’, ‘The Miracle’, ‘I’m Going Slightly Mad’, ‘The Invisible Man’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Friends Will Be Friends’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘One Vision’, ‘God Save The Queen (closing titles)’

  Ten years on, and another trio of compilations: along with Greatest Hits II to mark the twentieth anniversary of Queen, Greatest Flix II and Greatest Pix II were also issued to rabid fans, and it’s the video release of Greatest Flix II that holds the most interest. Featuring seventeen videos of Queen’s produced between 1981 and 1991, the compilation shows the band at their most visually creative, and Greatest Flix II does not disappoint. From the simplest of concepts to Queen at their most grandiose, Greatest Flix II is a feast for the eyes, showing that Queen were the masters of indulgence.

  The video was released only in the UK, and it’s likely that there weren’t any initial plans to issue it in the States; thankfully, Wayne’s World helped catapult Queen back into the limelight, changing the minds of Hollywood Records, and Classic Queen was released accordingly. As it stands, Greatest Flix II was replaced by the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD in 2003, though the original VHS is the only place to (legally) view the superb video for ‘Innuendo’.

  CLASSIC QUEEN

  • 1992 (90 mins) • HR 40143 3

  • Directors: Bruce Gowers, Dennis DeVallance, Rock Flicks, Derek Burbridge, Kliebenst, Brian Grant, Daniella Green, Keith McMillan, Don Norman, Brian Grant, Rudi Dolezal, Hannes Rossacher, David Mallet

  ‘The Show Must Go On’ (intro), ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Stone Cold Crazy’, ‘One Year Of Love’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I’m Going Slightly Mad’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘The Miracle’, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’, ‘One Vision’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Headlong’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘The Show Must Go On’

  A companion to the US album release of the same name, Classic Queen collects seventeen videos shot between 1981 and 1991, presenting them in the same order as on the album. Keen-eyed fans may notice that two of those songs – ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ and ‘One Year Of Love’ – never had videos made for them; in those instances, The Torpedo Twins come to the rescue to deliver the typical cut-and-paste videos for which they had become known. While Greatest Flix II is the superior release, there are certain aspects of Classic Queen that are unique. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is presented in a special re-edit by Penelope Spheeris, director of Wayne’s World and the instigator of Queen’s sudden success in America, while ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ is a special version commissioned by Hollywood Records, with the standard music video interpolated with animation sequences that are unavailable elsewhere.

  Along with ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ and ‘One Year Of Love’, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ and ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ make their video debuts, though the UK would be denied a video release of these for a few years. (The first two tracks, because they were never UK singles, would not be released on any British video compilation, but the last two would finally be released in 1999 on Greatest Flix III and in 2002 on Greatest Video Hits 1, respectively.) The tracks from The Works, A Kind Of Magic and The Miracle were also released for the first time in the US; the video EPs and singles weren’t considered to be lucrative enough for the American market and so were never released there. Classic Queen does miss out on several key tracks from Greatest Flix II (‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Innuendo’, ‘Breakthru’, ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘Friends Will Be Friends’), though the focus wasn’t on presenting the video hits of Queen; rather, it merely served as a visual equivalent.

  GREATEST HITS

  • 1992 (90 mins) • PMI MVP 99 1011 2 • Directors: Bruce Gowers, David Mallet, Rudi Dolezal, Hannes Rossacher

  ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Bicycle Race’, ‘You’re My Best Friend’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Play The Game’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘Body Language’, ‘Save Me’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

  Just like its sister compilation album, the US video release of Greatest Hits presented seventeen corresponding videos of the songs featured on its audio equivalent, with the original version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ tacked on for good measure. While the Classic Queen video might be of more interest to buyers for the elaborate productions (most of Queen’s early videos were straightforward performance videos), Greatest Hits shows a band eager to pioneer what was still a novel medium, since there wasn’t much of an outlet for these videos. There are some songs missing: ‘Flash’ and ‘Spread Your Wings’ are conspicuously absent, with cut-and-paste compilation videos of ‘Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’ and ‘Now I’m Here’ instead. The only major complaint comes with the inclusion of ‘Body Language’, which is entirely out of place, though the other songs available here are more than worth it. Greatest Hits remained the only US video release of Queen’s early promotional videos until the 2002 Greatest Video Hits 1 DVD, rend
ering this collection obsolete.

  FINAL LIVE IN JAPAN

  • 1992 (90 mins) • BMG BVVP 79

  ‘Machines (Or ‘Back To Humans’)’, ‘Tear It Up’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Liar’, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  Filmed at Yogishi Swimming Pool Auditorium in Tokyo on 11 May 1985 (not, technically, Queen’s final concert in Japan, but at least shot during their final Japanese tour), Final Live In Japan improves upon the Live In Rio video by offering a nearly complete film of the much-criticized Works! tour. Sadly, the video was available only in Japan, though it was finally reissued in 2004 on DVD (again, exclusive to Japan), causing casual fans to pass over this interesting relic – which includes many performances rarely seen on video: ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and one of the last live renditions of ‘Somebody To Love’ – because of incompatible video players and inflated import prices.

  A CONCERT FOR LIFE: THE FREDDIE MERCURY

  TRIBUTE CONCERT FOR AIDS AWARENESS

  • 1992 (VHS: 180 mins; DVD: 120 mins)

  • PMI MVB 4910623

  • Directors: David Mallet, Jim Beach

  1992 VHS release: Insert 1, Queen Introduction, ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘Sad But True’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, Insert 2, Queen Medley, Insert 3, ‘Now I’m Here’, Insert 4, ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’, ‘Paradize City’, Elizabeth Taylor speech, Insert 5, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Stone Cold Crazy’, ‘Thank You / Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘All The Young Dudes’, ‘“Heroes”’, The Lord’s Prayer, ‘’39’, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’, Insert 6