Queen: A Night at the Odeon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		1.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Queen: A Night at the Odeon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 24, 2015

Some of you may have seen the hilarious Facebook meme which warns people not to click on a link supposedly offering Kanye West performing “Bohemian Rhapsody” because the link in fact does offer Kanye West performing “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Mr. West may have a rather Trump- sized opinion of himself, but there was and will forever be only one person capable of really bringing the elegance and complexity of this iconic song to life, and that of course is/was a certain Freddie Mercury. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was the centerpiece of Queen’s 1975-76 A Night at the Opera tour, and the band gave Britain a 1975 Christmas present of sorts with this live concert at Hammersmith Odeon in London, captured on Christmas Eve of that year. This concert captures the band just at the moment that they probably realized what superstars they had become, and it offers an appealing look at a relatively minimally produced effort that concentrates on the music rather than stagecraft or other bells and whistles. Mercury is in excellent if occasionally ragged voice, and the band plays with authority and precision.

Queen’s set list for the concert includes:

Now I’m Here
Ogre Battle
White Queen (As It Began)
Bohemian Rhapsody
Killer Queen
The March of the Black Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody (Reprise)
Bring Back That Leroy Brown
Brighton Rock
Guitar Solo
Son and Daughter
Keep Yourself Alive
Liar
In the Lap of the Gods. . .Revisisted
Big Spender
Jailhouse Rock (Medley) / Stupid Cupid / Be Bop a Lula
God Save the Queen

Queen: A Night at the Odeon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Queen: A Night at the Odeon is presented on Blu-ray by Universal Music Group and Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, with an AVC encoded 1080i (upscaled) transfer in 1.55:1. This is the latest in Eagle Rock's so-called SD Blu-ray series, and so expectations must be set accordingly for video quality. Even with that caveat, this is one of the more problematic looking upconversions the label has offered, one that is hobbled by anomalies like rampant tracers, ghosting, and overall softness. There may have been some filtering applied to this release to overcome some inherent issues, for even close-ups tend to be somewhat waxy and "video" like in appearance. The good news (if there is any) is that this looks somewhat better in motion than some of the screencaptures included with this review might indicate.

Queen: A Night at the Odeon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Queen: A Night at the Odeon features nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks, neither of which present any of the inherent issues that are in evidence with the video element of this release. The 5.1 track is very full sounding, and it features excellent if not consistently optimal prioritization for Mercury's plaintive vocals. Some listeners may therefore want to at least toggle between the two tracks, as the 2.0 iteration places Mercury's voice a bit more out in the open, at least during some of the more massed instrumental moments. Fidelity is excellent and there are no problems with distortion or dropouts.

Queen: A Night at the Odeon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Looking Back at the Odeon (1080i; 22:57) is a good retrospective documentary with some very interesting interviews.


• Live at the Budokan Japan 1975 (1080i; 11:20) offers performances of Now I'm Here, Killer Queen and In the Lap of the Gods. . .Revisited.

Queen: A Night at the Odeon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Queen may have given England a Christmas present back in 1975, but this release may be considered for at least stocking stuffer status for this year's list of gift recipients, though videophiles may feel like, visually speaking at least, they've gotten a lump of coal. Taking the video element out of the equation (I've repeatedly said that many of these SD Blu-rays need to be accepted as audio Blu-rays more or less), and with a recognition of the historical importance of this concert as well as the excellent supplemental documentary, Queen: A Night at the Odeon comes Recommended.