Cheap Queen - Greatest Video Hits 1 (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Queen - Greatest Video Hits 1

While I'm happy the band have begun releasing DVD's, this first effort has as many negatives as positives.The picture quality of these videos is pretty harsh, grainy, bleeding colors, etc. It almost seems as if no work was done at all in re-mastering them. Virtually all of the clips are no better than their VHS companions. However one must keep in mind that these are low budget music videos from the 1970's so the source material is in nowhere near pristine form so perhaps this is as good as it can possibly look? It should also be noted that all the videos on disc 1 have been matted for widescreen (and anamorphic enhanced.) The videos were always shown in 4:3 format so if the idea of matting full screen bothers you then you've been warned. However I do feel the matting does not mar the framing so I suppose it will depend on your own tastes.

I cannot comment on the DTS sound but the other option, PCM stereo sounds incredible and betters any Queen CD that I've heard. The other audio option is a full audio commentary track by the band (mostly a newly recorded track by Brian May and Roger Taylor) which is highly enjoyable.

Disc 2 offers a few rare videos but again suffer from poor picture quality. Only "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" looks decent (and it's also the only bonus clip to be presented in widescreen.) There is also a "hidden" video of an alternate version of "..Rhapsody" on disc 2.
The "Inside the Rhapsody" documentary starts off slow with interviews with May and Taylor but kicks into high gear when May is in the studio breaking down the legendary song note by note. The other "extras" are a photo montage set to "Seven Seas of Rhye" and a promo for Queen's official web site are merely filler.

All in all, this is still recommended for any Queen fan. Video quality runs from poor to decent but as I said, perhaps only so much can be done to make them look good. The audio is fantastic and some of the extras really give us insight into the making of the videos.

Queen is King of DVD Production
I am not a big fan of any band or musician who lip sync to their music to promote their songs, but since Queen is a proven LIVE band I gave this DVD a shot. Once again Queen managed to make me forget the negatives about Music Videos by overwhelming me with the awsome marriage of their multi layer recordings and 5.1 DTS surround audio. Queen production came through in royal fashion with this DVD. Bohemian Rhapsody rightfully opens this video with awsome display of sound like I never heard before. The multilayering of this song is broken down as well as can be for 5.1 that you can hear instrument sections not heard in sereo format. Moving on, this DVD has other great classics that really shine in this format such as, Another One Bites the Dust, Killer Queen,Tie Your Mother Down,Don't Stop Me Now, and my personal favorite, Somebody to Love. Freddie's voice is so clear on Somebody to Love that you can feel him sing it with the same conviction and power as when he sang this song live on the We Will Rock You concert video. Anyone who has a surround system and loves to hear Freddies voice will love this DVD. Not to say the PCM Stereo sound on this DVD sounds bad,but to but buy this for stereo sound sort of defeats it's purpose.
Disc two is in stereo only but has a lot of great features such as extra tracks of Now I'm Here (live),Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (from Top of The Pops),Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, Love of My Life (oddly videoed in Japan but the audio recorded during a concert in Frankfurt) and finally the fast version of We Will Rock You (Live recorded in Texas).
My favorite feature of Disc 2 is a truly interesting walk through of how Bohemian Rhapsody was made. This was done by Brian May inside a recording studio. Brian explains how the the songs instrumental sections were recorded starting with the entire piano section, followed by some bass, guitar and drum sections. It was interesting to learn how some of the guitar sections were actually Freddies ideas. Brian of course explains how the Operatic section was recorded to sound like many voices were used. This part of the video really showed the musical genius of Freddie.
Anyone who wants to hear a great sounding Music Video and who likes Music Videos should definately give this DVD a shot. This is truly a well produced DVD.

Classic Queen hits brought to life!
Though it doesn't have quite the energy of live concert DVDs, this compilation still does grest justice to the magnificent Queen hits. It's nice to see videos of the band at all stages of their development, because Freddie's cooler without the moustache. I especially liked the audio commentary- it's funny to hear Brian and Roger whine about how much they hated the Top of the Pops show they appeared on and Brian complain about how he isn't shown on "Fat Bottomed Girls"(he's right, though). Or, Roger's only comment on the Bicycle Race video (in reference to that naked female bicycle race) "I would have liked to have gone to the bicycle race... it looked like a lot of fun." Anyway, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a great video, as are "We Are the Champions" and "Tie your Mother Down". I like them all, really (except Flash-what a terrible movie). Oh, and you can see John wipe his nose during "Spread Your Wings" because it was filmed in sub-zero weather. You can seriously spend hours watching this stuff!!