Queen: The Complete Works
Page 96
2002 DVD release: Insert 1, Queen Introduction, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’, ‘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, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ (rehearsal), ‘Under Pressure’ (rehearsal), ‘Somebody To Love’ (rehearsal), Inserts 1-6, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert TV Documentary, Photo Galleries, Elizabeth Taylor speech
The 1992 A Concert For Life was not just a suitably grandiose send-off for Freddie, it was also an event to promote awareness of AIDS and its effects. No surprise, then, that portions of the video were released merely seven months after the event (in the UK; the US release didn’t come until April 1993), with proceeds going to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. The film is beautifully shot by David Mallet, with several video inserts of Freddie throughout, and, despite the high emotions of the day, Brian, Roger and John play superbly.
The original VHS release was slightly edited, with most of the omissions due to licensing issues or sub-par performances. (Robert Plant’s version of ‘Innuendo’ falls into the latter category, while Extreme’s rendition of ‘Love Of My Life’ and their own ‘More Than Words’, Bob Geldof’s ‘Too Late God’, U2’s satellite performance of ‘Till The End Of The World’, Spinal Tap’s ‘Majesties Of Rock’, Mango Groove’s ‘Special Star’ and Zucchero’s rendition of ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’ fall into the former.) The DVD release, issued to mark the tenth anniversary of the event, completely edited out the first half of the concert, though a bonus disc of rehearsals and photo galleries make interesting viewing.
BOX OF FLIX
• 1992 (20 mins) • PMI MVB 99132343
• Directors: Bruce Gowers, Dennis DeVallance, Rock Flicks, Derek Burbridge, Kliebenst, Brian Grant, Daniella Green, Keith McMillan, Don Norman, Russell Mulcahy, David Mallet, Rudi Dolezal, Hannes Rossacher, Tim Pope
During the massive catalogue reissue craze in the wake of Freddie’s death, Queen Productions bundled together the two Greatest Flix videos, with the original 1981 VHS long out of print, and threw in the added incentive of four previously unreleased performances: ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Liar’ (the first version from August 1973), ‘Killer Queen’ (from Top Of The Pops) and ‘Now I’m Here’ (from the November 1974 Rainbow Theatre concert).
LIVE AT THE RAINBOW 1974
• 1992 (52 mins) • released as part of The Box Of Tricks • Director: Bruce Gowers • Producers: Roy Thomas Baker (original sound), Mike Stone (original sound), Arkadi de Rakoff
‘Procession’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Ogre Battle’, ‘White Queen (As It Began)’, ‘In The Lap Of The Gods’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘The March Of The Black Queen’, ‘Bring Back That Leroy Brown’, ‘Son And Daughter’, Guitar Solo, ‘Father To Son’, Drum Solo, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Liar’, ‘Son And Daughter’ (reprise), ‘Stone Cold Crazy’, ‘In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘God Save The Queen’
Live At The Rainbow 1974 was released as part of Box Of Tricks in 1992 and was presented in a heavily edited and overdubbed fifty-two-minute video performance. The overdubbing may be considered heresy among Queen fans, but it should be remembered that the band had intentions of releasing this concert as their first live album and video. Brian wrote in the spring 1975 Fan Club letter that “we’re working everyday and most nights on our film of the Rainbow concert, mixing and editing to a suitable form for the Whistle Test and suchlike – so you’ll be able to see us while we’re away in the USA and Japan these coming three months.” Unfortunately, the appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test never happened, though it was released as an opener for Jaws in some UK theatres in 1977, and in the US it was the opener for The Song Remains The Same in 1976.
Easily the best reason to track down Box Of Tricks, this concert performance features much for fans to rejoice in, not least the much-coveted first incarnation of the medley (‘In The Lap Of The Gods’ through ‘Bring Back That Leroy Brown’), as well as a smattering of early concert favourites that would be omitted from the repertoire by the time the band became masters of the arena. Simply, Live At The Rainbow 1974 is exciting, scintillating and awesome, undoubtedly Queen’s definitive concert performance. In mid-2011, Brian confirmed that there are plans to release both the 1986 Budapest concert in a 3D format, and to finally issue the Rainbow gig on DVD. Whether this materializes or falls into the category of brilliant but discarded ideas remains to be seen.
CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD
• 1995 (120 mins) • PMI MVD 4915053
• Directors: DoRo (Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher)
To coincide with the release of Made In Heaven came Champions Of The World, a two-hour video anthology attempting to cover Queen’s expansive history. Originally intended as a fourth instalment of The Magic Years to cover the 1987–95 period, it was decided in the early stages of compilation that the result would be too sombre, instead giving way to a condensed overview of the years 1969 to 1995. While new interviews with Brian, Roger, David Richards, Jim Beach and others were conducted, there’s a lot of recycled material from The Magic Years, with many inaccuracies along the way in terms of the dates of particular songs being performed.
While it’s not as comprehensive as it could be, Champions Of The World is an entertaining and enthralling documentary, and should be sought out by completists and fans alike (though it’s currently unavailable on DVD). Fans still hold high hopes, however, for a thorough chronicle of Queen along the lines of The Beatles Anthology, which was also released in November 1995.
MADE IN HEAVEN – THE FILMS
• 1996 (60 mins) • Wienerworld WNR 2066 • Directors: Bernard Rudden, Jim Gillespie, Nichola Bruce, Richard Heslop, Simon Pummell, Mark Szaszy, Chris Rodley • Producers: Jim Beach and Ben Gibson
‘I Was Born To Love You’, ‘Evolution’ (‘Heaven For Everyone’), ‘Heart-Ache’ (‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’), ‘O’ (‘My Life Has Been Saved’), ‘You Don’t Fool Me’, ‘Outside-In’ (‘A Winter’s Tale’), ‘Return Trip’ (‘Let Me Live’), ‘Mother Love’, ‘Made In Heaven’ (closing titles)
While Freddie had been adamant that he keep recording until he was physically unable to in the post-Innuendo sessions, it was a different matter when it came to visuals. With the release of Made In Heaven, the Freddie-less Queen then had a difficult task: to promote their singles on music television without their frontman. So the British Film Institute was commissioned to come up with a slew of experimental videos, with the result released on VHS later in 1996. Fan reception has varied, with the consensus being that without the band appearing in it, it’s decidedly uninteresting, though those with more open minds were able to appreciate that each video told a story, instead of merely being a straightforward performance. The result is like a mini art film, and is one of their more interesting and unique video releases.
The VHS was re-released in 2003 with a bonus video of the making of We Will Rock You: The Musical, included simply because the musical had debuted the year before and the powers that be decided that any exposure is good exposure, when in reality, the two totally unrelated projects sit awkwardly side-by-side.
QUEEN ROCKS
• 1998 (78 mins) • Toshiba EMI TOVW 3292
• Directors: Compiled by: DoRo (Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher)
‘Tie Your Mother Down’ (Through The Years), ‘It’s Late’, ‘Headlong’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘Tear It Up’ (Making Videos), ‘One Vision’ (Extended Version), ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘Hamm
er To Fall’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Stone Cold Crazy’, ‘Put Out The Fire’, ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)’, ‘I Can’t Live With You’ (Closing Titles), ‘No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)’ (Making-Of Video)
Almost every compilation in the US or UK markets since 1981’s Greatest Hits came with a video equivalent, and Queen Rocks was no exception. Instead of providing the already released versions, however, many of the videos here were either montages or new edits altogether. Unfortunately, much like the Rare Live fiasco nearly a decade before, Queen Rocks suffers the same fate of poor editing and over-familiar footage. Some of the more dubious edits include flames laid over footage of Queen performing ‘Put Out The Fire’ from 1982, while ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ is an amalgamation of Roger singing his composition from a 1981 concert and footage of – get this – automobiles.
The sole interesting aspect of the release was the video for ‘No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)’, filmed in the summer of 1997, reuniting Roger, Brian and John in front of the cameras for the first time since Freddie’s death. Though the video would later suffer under the montage-happy hands of DoRo, the original version is a subdued and suitable performance. Presented entirely in black and white, the three remaining members are shown performing the song, with Brian appearing on piano for the first time on a Queen video. Unfortunately, sepia-toned shots of Freddie in his heyday would later be inserted to visually reinforce the fact that the song is, in fact, a tribute to him (as if the casual fan couldn’t have gathered that from the lyrics), and it’s this edit that has become the standard version.
GREATEST FLIX III
• 1999 (90 mins) • Parlophone 7243 4
• Directors: Rudi Dolezal, Hannes Rossacher, David Mallet, Russell Mulcahy, Bernard Rudden, Mark Szaszy
‘Under Pressure’ (‘rah’ mix), ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’, ‘Princes Of The Universe’, ‘Barcelona’, ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’, ‘Somebody To Love’ (live with George Michael), ‘The Great Pretender’, ‘Heaven For Everyone’, ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’, ‘Let Me Live’, ‘Living On My Own’, ‘You Don’t Fool Me’, ‘Driven By You’, ‘No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)’, ‘The Show Must Go On’ (live with Elton John), ‘Thank God It’s Christmas’ (closing titles)
Unlike Greatest Hits III, that compilation’s video companion is actually worthwhile: Queen’s visuals in later years became more intricate and better planned, and there isn’t a poor selection on this collection. It’s unfair to compare the third Greatest Flix to the third Greatest Hits, since the video flows better and filters out the duff items (thankfully, the rap remix of ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ is absent), while presenting rarely seen videos of ‘Princes Of The Universe’, ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’, Brian’s ‘Driven By You’ and alternative videos for ‘Heaven For Everyone’ and ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’.
While the other videos had been previously released, it was usually in slightly different variations: ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ had been included on Classic Queen with animation interspersed, while this version was the full black and white rendition. Freddie’s solo videos were released on several video EP releases; ‘Somebody To Love’ with George Michael was issued on A Concert For Life in 1993; and the Made In Heaven videos had been released on Made In Heaven: The Films in 1996.
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 Bes
t 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.