8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The life and times of the rock band Queen - told in two parts covering in part one the 1970's and in part two the 1980's and beyond.
Starring: Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor (I), Brian May (II), John Deacon, Chris Smith (CXXVII)Music | 100% |
Documentary | 51% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The seventies are often thought of, rightly or wrongly, as being a cultural wasteland in terms of rock and pop music, especially after the halcyon days of the sixties, which saw an incredible variety of artists manage to claw and scratch their way into the mainstream. In fact the sheer volume of iconic acts which debuted in the sixties probably meant that any comparison with the following decade was almost sure to leave that decade suffering by comparison no matter how great its music might have been. But the fact is the seventies often seemed to be the era of mass product corporate rock, music manufactured by decree rather than inspiration, and by the time the disco craze hit mid-decade, some rock and pop music lovers were covering their ears and screaming in horror, even as others quietly resigned themselves to a life of “boogie oogie woogie.” But the seventies weren’t quite the netherworld that some might think (or in fact remember), and probably no finer example of just how creative some music actually was during that era can be found in the works of Queen. The band was born from the ashes of a late sixties group called Smile, an amalgamation that included future Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor, but it wasn’t until May and Taylor joined forces with Smile fan Freddie Mercury (whom the pair had known by his original name, Farrokh “Freddie” Bulsara) that Queen was born and rather quickly was able to achieve the success that had always just eluded Smile. Mercury’s volcanic stage presence, an approach which took the nascent Bowie androgyny and glam rock aesthetic to previously unimagined heights, was a near instant sensation and helped to give Queen an image that was perhaps even more important, at least in the early going, than the actual music the band was writing and playing. Queen’s influence grew throughout the seventies and actually increased well into the eighties, and this two part documentary called Queen: Days of Our Lives is both a straightforward chronicle of the band’s incredible rise to worldwide prominence as well as a more insightful investigation, hinted at by that title which alludes to a popular soap opera, of some of the internal drama that played out at least partially behind the scenes at the time.
Queen: Days of Our Lives is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Because this documentary relies so heavily on archival footage, the video quality here is understandably less than spectacular a lot of the time. Some of this footage has never been previously seen, and it's obviously culled from old 16mm (and apparently even 8mm in a few instances) source elements. The results are ragged, grainy, extremely fuzzy and, in the color footage, full of bleeding hues. That doesn't mean these aren't extremely important historical pieces and should be appreciated for documenting the background of the band. The contemporary interview segments on the other hand are quite sharp looking, with good, stable color and contrast and appealing fine detail. With expectations set properly, and with an understanding that so much of this documentary consists of rare, historical footage, fans should overall be quite pleased with the results of this release.
Queen: Days of Our Lives features a lossless LPCM 2.0 audio track that suffices extremely well for both the musical elements as well as the spoken confessionals. The documentary itself is rather briskly edited, so no really full performance segments are included. There are tons of great little snippets of the band in concert and in some nascent music videos, but only the supplemental material (which also includes a lossless LPCM 2.0 audio track) provide unedited musical performances. Fidelity is excellent throughout the documentary and supplements, and the multilayered wonderment of Queen's over the top arrangements sounds spectacular. The spoken sequences are clear and precise. A surround track might have upped the ante in terms of some of the stadium performances shown here in dribs and drabs, but for all intents and purposes, the LPCM 2.0 track provides ample oomph and should easily please most audiophiles.
Queen: Days of Our Lives is a great time capsule assortment of archival video interspersed with contemporary interview segments. The band made the big time right at the cusp of the music video age and a lot of their nascent music videos, as well as some of their actual music videos, are included here, not to mention some fantastic and rare concert footage and archival interview footage. Dramatically, this piece isn't quite the revelation it wants to be, only because the band is (and was) obviously so well adjusted, for the most part. Yes, there were little tussles here and there, but really the only major tragedy was Mercury's untimely death. What this two part documentary makes so clear is how the band took the technology of multi-track overdubbing and pushed it to its logical (or perhaps illogical) extreme, creating some incredibly distinctive music along the way. Fans of the group should be overjoyed to see so much rare footage here, and even those who don't consider themselves fans might find a great deal to enjoy with this release. Recommended.
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2011
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1970
Led Zeppelin
1976
2012
2012