Queen Rock Montreal (Eagle
Vision/DVD-Video, Blu-ray, and HD-DVD)
Picture: B/A-/A- Sound: B/A-/A- Extras: C+/B/B Concert Film: A-
Having already reviewed the
excellent Queen: We Will Rock You
DTS DVD from Pioneer Entertainment, I was highly excited about the new release
of this performance under the banner or “Rock
Montreal”, which would also be released as a single-DVD set and a
double-DVD set, which would also feature LIVE
AID, plus the Blu-ray and HD-DVD, which feature both programs on one disc
since those formats have better storage capabilities. I think at this point I have virtually
covered just about everything released from Queen on DVD and both of the
DVD-Audios and it just keeps getting better and better!
Queen has been of the few bands out
there that are adamant about getting their material remastered and released in
competent form and they also release their material in DTS 96/24, which is a
huge bonus. They also understand the
improvement that DTS offers and rarely do they skip DTS and hardly ever do
Dolby-only, which is another huge plus!
So how does the footage look in this newly mastered form? Well, in comparing the two DVD’s side by side
it’s very obvious from the beginning the color depth looks truly great and
detail is a huge improvement from what was an already great transfer to begin
with. Keep in mind that this was a
concert film that was meant to be seen BIG and LOUD, therefore it was important
to make that happen as it was originally a MobileVision feature and shot in
35mm. Brian May and Roger Taylor were
the execute producers on the audio mastering, which used ProTools HD.
There is greater fidelity and
richness in the DTS offerings here as well in the basic DVD over the previous
release as well and it sounds more pronounced overall. The default setting is PCM 2.0 and then you
can select DTS 96/24 5.1 from the main menu, which really has some great use of
surrounds and gives great spatial depth of the performance, which you can read
the review from Queen: We Will Rock You
found elsewhere on this site for more on that.
Track Listing:
We Will Rock You
Let Me Entertain You
Play The Game
Somebody To Love
Killer Queen
I’m In Love With My Car
Get Down Make Love
Save Me
Now I’m Here
Dragon Attack
Love Of My Life
Under Pressure
Keep Yourself Alive
Drum Solo
Guitar Solo
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Jailhouse Rock
Bohemian Rhapsody
Tie Your Mother Down
Another One Bites The Dust
Sheer Heart Attack
We Will Rock You (Reprise)
We Are the Champions
God Save the Queen
As impressive as the new DVD is, the
Blu-ray and HD-DVD take that to a new height that I never thought was even
possible, but it’s just amazing how much further the limits of certain formats
can be pushed with HD capabilities. I’ll
begin with the transfer…
Both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray offer
the presentation in 1080p 1.78 X 1 anamorphic glory and that is an
understatement for sure. The transfer
that these two discs demonstrate is just staggering and will turn anyone into a
Queen fan, that’s without even hearing it!
The quality here only demonstrates just how concerned Queen was and
still is with their material and that they hold back very little when it comes
to delivering the best quality when they can.
It’s obvious from the beginning of this concert yet again why this was
chosen as an early HD-release as the concert footage has always looked good,
but now it’s taken to a new height and realization of how great a band can look
on stage with a huge range of colors, great depth, brilliant detail, and that only
makes for a solid release that fans will delight in and will certainly convert
new fans. I was equally impressed with
the Blu-ray release of AC/DC’s: Live in
Donington, reviewed elsewhere on this site, and I am going to go on record
saying that these rival that and are a MUST for anyone who wants an early demo
to get more people interested into the world of HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
This is the first band to ever shoot
an entire concert performance in 35mm and not only that, this is Queen at
probably their peak as far as performance goes, so it doesn’t really get any
better than this, it’s also one of the few HD-DVD/Blu-ray concerts released
that takes full advantage in both audio and video to really capture such an
amazing feat. Queen skips over the limitations
of Dolby Digital and wisely chooses linear 2-channel PCM for this release as
well as the far superior DTS-HD 96/24, which will make your receiver light up
like a Christmas Tree with all the indicator lights telling you that this is a
real treat, and then once you actually hear it, you’ll see and hear what I am
talking about, especially since these are taken and carefully handled and
supervised from the original multi-track tapes!
It’s hard to really distinguish much
difference between the HD-DVD or Blu-ray as both demonstrate the full-range of
the respected formats and both have audio with clarity, fidelity, and depth
seldom found these days, and certainly not found on basic DVD’s. The picture quality is equally outstanding
and shows such a wide range of colors and depth that would make anyone wonder
how it could be from 1981. These discs
also offer a new commentary track (May and Taylor) that brings us up to date a
bit from the older commentary from the Pioneer DVD edition, which is a great
reason to have both the older and the newer, if for no other reason than
comparison.
Also included on the Blu-ray and
HD-DVD, as well as the second discs of the double-disc DVD set (which we did
not receive) is the LIVE AID
performance from 1985, which many regard as one of the great live performances
of this band and that is a hard argument to protest against for sure. Also featured here is some never-before-seen
rehearsal footage and of course the highly memorable version of Brian May and
Freddy Mercury doing Is This the World We
Created.
There is little reason to NOT pick
up either the Blu-ray or the HD-DVD for this release, it’s just that
spectacular and is sure to not disappoint even the most curious Queen fan. If for no other reason it demonstrates just
how good a concert can look and sound and brings that experience into the home
like never before! Funny thing is, Queen
is still a band that is setting new benchmarks even all these years after the
death of Mercury.
For more from Queen, try these links:
A
Night At The Opera (DVD-Audio 5.1 Multi-Channel Album)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/185/Queen+-+A+Night+At+The+Opera
Plus Classic Albums making-of DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3771/Classic+Albums:+Queen+-+A+Night
Freddie
Mercury Tribute 10th Anniversary Concert DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/132/Queen:+Tribute+To+Freddie+Mercury
The
Game (DVD-Audio 5.1 Multi-Channel Album)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/214/Queen+-+The+Game+(DVD-Audio)
Queen
– Greatest Hits Volume One DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/59/Queen+-+Greatest+Video+Hits+1
Under
Review: 1973 - 1980
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3485/Queen+-+Under+Review:+1973
We
Will Rock You (DTS DVD)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/133/Queen:+We+Will+Rock+You+(DTS)
-
Nate Goss
