Search - Queen: Queen Rock Montreal on DVD

Great Queen Concert

Dorrie Wheeler | 12/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Queen is easily one of the most well known groups in the history of rock & roll. Their songs "Another One Bites The Dust," "We Will Rock You," and "We Are Champions" are stadium classics. Eagle Vision has released a 95 minute Queen DVD titled "Queen Rock Montreal."

Fans of Queen may know that the group now tours with Paul Rodgers. This DVD features Queen with their original lead singer the late Freddie Mercury. The concert was filmed over two nights back in 1981. Queen was at the height of their early 80's success when they packed the house with over 18,000 fans.

The concert film was originally titled "We Will Rock You," when it was released in the United States back in 1984. Now titled, "Queen Rock Montreal," this concert film will make a great addition to one's Queen collection.

Songs performed include "We Will Rock You," "Under Pressure," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Another One Bites The Dust," and "We Are Champions" among other classic Queen songs. Bonus features include a brand new audio commentary with Brian May and Roger Taylor.

This release does not include Queen's Live Aid performance. The Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid is a separate release.
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Some good improvements and some not so good

***MATT*** | 07/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've listened to the Rock Montreal concert quite a few times now. I've noticed that they've cleaned up a few mistakes from the WWRY DTS version. Like the sour guitar note in Somebody to love during the "work till' I ache my bones" part, along with a couple of other odd sounds. Also, the video seems to match the sound this time around(two nights were shot for this recording and often one video was substituted for the others sound and vice versa creating sync issues). I also noticed the overall mix on Rock Montreal has less midrange than the prior WWRY and sounds slightly more clean and less angry/raw which is a good and bad thing. It definitely sounds cleaned up though.

However certain things didn't sound as good, like the "thunderstorm intro". I always used to stick the prior WWRY disc in to show off my sound system to friends, and the new version lacks the intensity of the sound of the prior release. It sounds so much more intense on the WWRY DTS version because that mix cleverly makes much more use of the rear surrounds which create this *big* atmosphere/ambiance for the bands grand entrance. Instead, they chose to mix the crowd noise in the rear surrounds. Try to A/B both disc if you have them and you will see what I mean. I guess this was done to be more realistic from a concert seat standpoint(band- front speakers, crowd- rear speakers). I should mention that the sequences done with delay(or echo) do make use of the surrounds.

I believe the drums are mixed a little bit louder on the newer release and they sound very good. The guitar is low at points like on the lead on the fast version of WWRY, but the fading of the guitar volume up and down found on the prior release seems more cleaned up on Rock Montreal. Less of a swishing sound.

I liked the commentary by Roger and Brian as well. It's not overly entertaining, but it's quite informative at times. Queen fans will enjoy it, but the average person would probably find it boring due to a few gaps in commentary.

This probably is my favorite live Queen dvd release though, especially since it lack the snyths found on the later releases, and doesn't have any additional players. I think more could have been done with the surround mix, but this is probably the best one out right now. If your looking to buy your first live Queen dvd, this one is probably the best. If you have the WWRY DTS, this isn't all that different and might want to rent it first. If you have the original VHS or DVD(not DTS), you will enjoy this one much more. Plus this one has the bonuses of Brian/Roger commentary which is not found on DTS. The DTS version has commentary by Saul Swimmer who directed the original film.

I rented this first since I already own the WWRY DTS, but the bonus Brian/Roger commentary along with the cleaned up audio make this one worth buying.

Keep in mind, there is also a Queen Rock Montreal DVD which contains the bonus of the band's '85 Live Aid performance for about $4 more. It's definitely worth it considering the show they put on."