If you grew up in the late 80’s and early 90’s, one thing was pure fact in North America.
Queen was not cool.
Hard to believe, now, since the British group is hailed as one of the greatest rock bands of all time, but for a time Freddie Mercury and company just weren’t getting any respect. Their albums and singles flopped in North America, the band stopped touring and sadly, Freddie Mercury became ill, eventually succumbing to AIDS in November 1991.
However, not long after Freddie’s passing, Bohemian Rhapsody was featured in Wayne’s World and recharted in North America and Queen was once more revered worldwide. With it came a series of compilations, Classic Queen and Greatest Hits, on CD and VHS (yes, VHS). It’s those videos that have recently been remastered and put on DVD recently as Queen’s Greatest Video Hits. Safe to say, those studio recordings have never sounded better.
Find out why after the jump!
The real beauty of Queen has always been the layering of their music, from Brian May’s Red Special guitar work to the entire group’s majestic harmonies. On the new DVD collection, Greatest Video Hits, those sounds have all been remastered in 5.1 Surround Sound, filling up the room in a way that few other bands can lay claim to. When it comes to their production in the studio, the band was always ahead of their time and their music sounds as good, if not better, in the 21st Century than it did in the 70’s and 80’s.
From a visual sense, it’s fair to say that Queen’s Greatest Video Hits is a mixed bag. All of their 70’s and 80’s videos are compiled here, and are essentially snapshots of moments in time, especially clips for Bohemian Rhapsody and Radio GaGa. While the music has aged well, not all the videos have. However, the beauty of this set is you can always turn off your television and simply crank up the volume on the stereo and listen to classic Queen, sounding better than ever.
&
Brian May is my favorite guitar player. He can rock hard and heavy (he didn’t often do heavy, but could), he can do bluesy, he can do funky, whatever. And it always struck me that while other virtuosos would change guitars nine times during a performance, he always used the same one he built with his dad.
And Freddie, just one of the all-time great frontmen of any style. Irreplaceable.
Roger Taylor, under-appreciated for being a steady backbeat (not to mention backing vocalist).
And lastly, John Deacon, also under-appreciated as one of the greatest bassists, able to handle all the changes in style thrown by Brian and Freddie.
Truly one of the greatest acts ever.
Great points on all counts! Taylor is a solid drummer and a great vocalist. I’m In Love With My Car has always been a favourite.