Music DVD Poll Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid (2 Discs)

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Rate the DVD "Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid"


  • Total voters
    7

neil wilkes

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
4,365
Location
London, England
Background:
Filmed in november 1981. The show was out in 1984 (on VHS) with the confusing title "We will rock you". Then it was released on DVD by Pioneer with the same titel in 2001. A better release, cause the picture showed a very good quality - but the sound was "CRAP"!! Cause they didn't bother doing a proper mix from the multitrack.
That's why the band (allegedly) hated it, and wanted it to be stopped (but they didn't have the legal rights from the director Saul Swimmer who owned it).
And now finally Queen Production bought the rights early this year. After almost 9 months of work the Queen Production team has digitally restored the picture frames one by one (with the a special technique NASA use to save old films on the moon projects) and the original 24-multitracks have been found to do a "real stereo and 5.1 sound DTS mix".


In 1981, with Under Pressure topping the charts in the UK, Queen arrived in Montreal following dates in Japan and their record-breaking tour of Latin America. It was to be the only concert by Queen that was ever shot on 35mm film. Always a great live band, with arguably the greatest frontman of all time in Freddie Mercury, they excelled themselves with the cameras rolling.

Tracklisting:

1. Intro
2. We Will Rock You (fast)
3. Let Me Entertain You
4. Play The Game
5. Somebody To Love
6. Killer Queen
7. I'm In Love With My Car
8. Get Down Make Love
9. Save Me
10. Now I'm Here
11. Dragon Attack
12. Now I'm Here (reprise)
13. Love Of My Life
14. Under Pressure
15. Keep Yourself Alive
16. Drum & Timpani Solo
17. Guitar Solo
18. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
19. Jailhouse Rock
20. Bohemian Rhapsody
21. Tie Your Mother Down
22. Another One Bites The Dust
23. Sheer Heart Attack
24. We Will Rock You
25. We Are The Champions
26. God Save The Queen
27. Live Aid: Bohemian Rhapsody
28. Live Aid: Radio Gaga
29. Live Aid: Hammer To Fall
30. Live Aid: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
31. Live Aid: We Will Rock You
32. Live Aid: We Are The Champions
33. Live Aid: Is This The World We Created
 

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Okay - despite the glowing publicity this recieved, and knowing full well I should know better than to believe it, I bought the 2 disc DVD-V version.
Fired up the DTS track - noticing there is no Dolby Digital - and waited to be blown away.
The word that comes to mind here is "yuk".
The mix, despite flagged as DTS 96/24 5.1 surround, may as well have been left in stereo.
No centre channel use at all I can detect, and all there is in the rears is a hint of stadium ambience.
Yep - this is essentially a stereo mix, guys & gals.
The film restoration is nice, but I wanted the promised superb sound - and it ain't there.

Don't waste your money - this actually sounds better in the PCM stereo stream played through DPL 2 decoders.
At least in this way you don't have the appalling Phantom Centre that shifts the whole soundfiield out of whack if you move from the sweet spot.
 
I just listened to the Blu-Ray version last night and it is definitely in surround! They did a couple "Now I'm Here" deals where Freddie's vocals were center then echoed in the right rear then the left rear. They even reversed the rears after a couple of rounds. Other than that it was pretty plain. As a huge Roger Taylor fan, his drums sounded full, sharp and up front. I thought the bass was weak in most areas except for when the bass is the lead instrument as in "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Under Pressure". All in all a great show but they could've included a couple of Brian May's songs (where's '39?).

I'll be playing the bonus features tonight. I can't wait for the Live Aid stuff!

(Mods: Please feel free to move this when you have a Blu-Ray poll for this title, thanks!)
 
I just listened to the Blu-Ray version last night and it is definitely in surround! They did a couple "Now I'm Here" deals where Freddie's vocals were center then echoed in the right rear then the left rear. They even reversed the rears after a couple of rounds. Other than that it was pretty plain.
(Mods: Please feel free to move this when you have a Blu-Ray poll for this title, thanks!)

I did not say it wasn't surround.
What I actually said was
The mix, despite flagged as DTS 96/24 5.1 surround, may as well have been left in stereo. No centre channel use at all I can detect, and all there is in the rears is a hint of stadium ambience.
A couple of vocal stabs in one track or so does not make it a good surround mix. I still think it is essentially stereo with ambience.
Don't like the sound either - for all the fuss that has been made about how they didn't like the original release because of the sound, and in the opener the sibilance on Fred's vocals is dreadful - has the mixer never heard of DeEssers? - and the awful "tss tss tss" from the Hi-Hats so up front is very symptomatic of a brutally overcompressed mix.

So much was promised, but so little was delivered.
The mixer should go listen to how Elliot Scheiner does it.

Not at all sure this will be moved to the Blu Ray section either - the vast majority of sales for this are SD DVD.......but that is not my call.
Not at all sure what to do about these triple format releases.....
 
I saw this on HDNET. Have to pick it up.

Thought the sound was pretty good, I wasn't quite listening for the surround placements, but I thought the drums sounded great, bass was a little anemic. Picture was unbelievable on all but the close ups of Freddie at the piano I noticed some artifacts... But I have Queen at the Hollywood Bowl and that is garbage quality, even Live Aid footage has that video degradation blur especially in bright lighting, so this was a welcomed surprise

Non technically speaking since Neil hit on the head, a few thoughts.

-Freddie is the best rock vocalist I have ever heard, live there is nothing he can't hit, but he also captivates you with his actions too

-how good are the background vocals! I actually secretly wondered if they overdubbed some stuff, cause it was too spot on

-bands like Queen would never have a chance in today's pop 3 min cookie cutter crap music biz.

-Queen fans appreciate good music from all genres, I have never met a Queen fan who only listens to rock, they always go much deeper.

Now onto the Iron Maiden Live after Death DVD coming out in Feb!
 
Neil,

Pardon me! I didn't mean to disparage your accurate observations. You're the expert here.

I just wanted to make sure no one else got the impression that this release was stereo-only. I agree that it's not the best mix but considering the age of the material, they did a pretty good job. You're right that the hype far exceeded what was delivered.

Good point on the high hatssssssssss!
 
Neil is THE man in my book but to give this a two...dude. For live, this mix is good. Better than most. The PQ and song selection are excellent. Just ripped this bluray for my server and is now one of my favs...
 
Neil is THE man in my book but to give this a two...dude. For live, this mix is good. Better than most. The PQ and song selection are excellent. Just ripped this bluray for my server and is now one of my favs...

I haven't played that blu for a long time..but no way is it a 2...the performance itself is excellent...can't remember the sound but I would have remembered if it was that bad...
 
I haven't played that blu for a long time..but no way is it a 2...the performance itself is excellent...can't remember the sound but I would have remembered if it was that bad...

The SQ is very good.
The surround mix is used only for "special effects" or the "highlights" of the show. You will not get an instrument in the rear for a duration of the song. When they ARE used, it is a great effect. The rears NEVER have that fake ambient effect so they are never a distraction. Natural ambiance and some crowd noise throughout. Could the mix be better, yes, but not by a ton. This is not Minimum Maximum mix wise but the live mix works for me.

Video quality, song selection and overall sound quality is easy a 10. I would knock off a couple of points for the mix not using a center and rears not being a bit more active.

Never liked the material Queen put out after "the Game" and "Under Pressure" and this show has none of those songs following. The HD picture is so good you can tell 2 of the band members are wearing Guess jeans so I might take a point off for that...
 
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