scapp70's Full Review: Queen - Magic Moments: Unauthorized
A UK based DVD distribution company named Chrome Dreams has issued a DVD on classic rock super group Queen in the same fashion as say MVD (Music Video Distributions) would.
What I mean by that is that this is one of those music documentaries where the producers of the video have attained no rights to include music by the artist and therefore cannot play any of Queen's music.
This really takes away from what could be a great DVD. I, yes even I have a difficult time watching the DVD straight through.
Having said that, it's a shame that the DVD cannot meet the impossible task of holding one's complete attention because of the lack of Queen music, because there are some really good and insightful interviews. For instance some of the people interviewed are former Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker. Roy Baker's interviews are all archive interviews, but his recollections of Queen writing and recording such songs as Bohemian Rhapsody is interesting.
Other people here that were interviewed was Peter Straker, a personal friend of Freddie's since the early days and who has remained close until his death. Peter's stories are very behind the scenes. especially near the end. That goes as well for another hired hand and friend Peter Freestone.
Jake Kennedy, of the very popular magazine Record Collector and also Guitarist Magazine contributor Simon Bradley are probably my favorite interviews here. Simon tends to tell his recollections of Queen from a guitarist point of view and he focuses mostly on Brian May's guitar work.
Jake Kennedy tends to go album by album as the DVD goes on from the beginning to the end.
Also featured are archival interviews in both forms, audio and video, from the members of Queen. The best of these of course are those old videos of Freddie Mercury interviews.
Some of the things that struck me during the viewing of the DVD were the very good and very rare pictures and video shown. At one point, it looks like a sound check performance by Queen around the year 1984. These I have never seen before and it made me wonder how many more of these are out there, and how many will be released in one form or another.
One of the things I didn't like about the DVD is the constant soundtrack of music in the background of some garage band is what it sounds like rising to the levels of the volume of the interviews. I constantly find myself struggling with the soundtrack noise vs. the interview volume, but even if I had missed something someone said, I don't dare rewind and make the DVD last longer.
At the beginning of each chapter, there is a blue background with a Queen logo, sort of and the chapter's title. Also, there would be a ten-second snippet of music that tries to sound like Queen music and almost steals some songs like We Will Rock You or We Are The Champions.
There are seven chapters in this DVD that break up the 60 minutes. The title chapters are:
1. Magic Moments
2. Going Platinum
3. Kings Of Rock
4. Freddie
5. Rock Magic
6. A Place In History
7. The Legend Lives On
The DVD tells the story of the beginnings of Queen from about 1971, to the death of Freddie in 1991. The story is told all by the people involved through their recollections. So, not all the stories stick to the facts strictly, but they're not so off base that it would be referred to as erroneous. The interviews do not get into any details or anything.
Queen has yet to release their official video biography, Champions Of The World on DVD, and now the original VHS is out of print. In the meantime, Queen fans slowly will go out and purchase these less than mediocre substitutes. Hopefully, Queen will even go one better than Champions Of The World, which itself isn't too good either. My suggestion is to produce an American documentary on the band and make it more accessible for the fans in the USA.
I would like to say that this DVD is only for the hardcore Queen fans, but I being quite hardcore can't really sit through this DVD, so it turns out this DVD is for no one. It's a shame though, because at the same time I appreciate the effort of the people involved, and the fact that it would be on the subject of one of my favorite bands. Maybe if they keep releasing stuff like this, somebody will get it right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For more Queen CD Epinions from Scapp70~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This DVD features exclusive and previously unseen film footage including in-depth interviews with those that worked closely with Queen throughout thei...More at HotMovieSale.com
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