Classic Albums - Queen: The Making of A Night at the Opera
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If ever there was an album worthy of inclusion in Eagle Vision’s Classic Albums series it is Queen’s breakout release A Night At The Opera. Released in 1975, this was not only the band’s first platinum album, but also the one that catapulted them into the spotlight as one of the biggest rock acts in the world.
Now for the first time, fans are offered an in-depth look at one of rock music’s seminal records with the Classic Albums DVD Queen — The Making Of A Night At The Opera.
• BRAND NEW INTERVIEWS with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. • COMMENTARY by original producer Roy Thomas Baker. • ARCHIVAL PERFORMANCE and INTERVIEW FOOTAGE with late lead singer Freddie Mercury. • INTERVIEWS and GUEST COMMENTARY by guitarists Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople) and many more. • NEW ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCES of ’39 and Love Of My Life by Brian May. • DRUM and ACOUSTIC DEMONSTRATIONS of I ’m In Love With My Car from Roger Taylor. • ANALYSIS OF THE RECORDING PROCESS of all12 tracks on the album.
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Product Details
Actors:
Roy Thomas Baker, Nuno Bettencourt, Anthony DeCurtis, Bob Harris, Jac Holzman
Director:
Matthew Longfellow
Format:
Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language:
English
Number of Discs:
1
Studio:
Eagle Rock Ent
Run Time:
100 minutes
DVD Release Date:
March 21, 2006
Average Customer Rating:
based on 12 reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
The definative story of A Night At The Opera!!! An all-time classic!!! Aug 21, 2008 This is the story of one of the greatest albums of all time!!! This is the making of the Queen classic: A Night At The Opera!!! Featues li=ots of great footage,interviews etc!!! Chock full of great information about this classic album!!! Includes the original 50 minute program as well as 50 minutes of additional footage!!! A welcome addition to your Queen DVD library!!! Recommended at the price!!! A+
A great behind the scenes dvd Sep 08, 2007 If you like this album and are interested in the technical details of how it was made, you'll love this dvd. Nice footage of Brian sitting behind the mixing board listening to, and separating the tracks he and Queen recorded so long ago. The average person might find this quite boring, but it's very enjoyable from a musicians standpoint.
An Excellent, In-Depth Look at a Queen Masterpiece (4.5 stars) Nov 07, 2006 In 1975, Queen were a band on the rise. They just had a hit single with "Killer Queen" off the "Sheer Heart Attack" and were set to release their 4th studio album. "A Night at the Opera" marked Queen's breakthrough, which spawned 2 hit singles, one of them being one of the most popular singles of all time. This song of course was "Bohemian Rhapsody", Freddie Mercury's epic, 6 minute long operatic force. John Deacon also contributed a delightful pop hit with "You're My Best Friend." It wasn't just these two singles that made this album so classic though.
Brian May and Roger Taylor give excellent, detailed descriptions of the work that went into recording and writing many of the songs off the album. "Death on Two Legs" was Freddie's heavy opener, and the DVD takes an excellent excerpt of a Mercury interview where he describes the idea behind the song. Brian May goes through his song structures and writing techniques for "The Prophet's Song", "'39", "Good Company" and "Sweet Lady." Roger Taylor explains the drum-work for "I'm in Love With My Car." However, John Deacon doesn't participate in any interviews, and Roger and Brian discuss how he wishes to live the "quiet life." If you are a Queen fan, this is great footage of the band members detailing the work done on these songs, and along with in-depth analysis and summaries of every song on the album, there are extras. Included is a live version of "Sweet Lady" at Hyde Park, Brian May's performance of "'39" and "Love of My Life", performed by Freddie and Brian.
This a worthwhile DVD if you are a Queen fan who loves this particular album, and are interested in how it was composed so brilliantly. Highly recommended to all fans of Queen.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A Great Companion for any Queen CD Collection Nov 05, 2006 I'm a big fan of the 'Classic Albums' DVD series. As a fan, I'd rather see and hear about my favorite musicians' triumphs rather than their personal failures (ala' "Behind the Music"). If you're a fan of the group being profiled, you're going to enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at the making of their best-known album. I'm a Queen fan, and I thoroughly enjoyed this video.
There's a lot of archival footage of Queen's mid-70s stage act (though not of the footage shows the band in the studio actually recording their music). Brand-new interviews with both Brian May and Roger Taylor comprise the bulk of this DVD's running time. Brian and Roger are as soft-spoken and thoughtful as always and I've always appreciated their dry sense of humor. Roy Thomas Baker, the album's producer, also appears sporadically as do a handful of executves who were in power at Elektra Records when Queen were under contract there. (Elektra were Queen's American distributors at one time; I am surprised no one from EMI was interviewed as this was Queen's British label). There are some rock journalists and British DJs. A variety of minor rock celebrities (Nuno Bettencourt, Joe Perry) pop in but provide very little. Freddie Mercury, of course, only appears in grainy vintage TV interviews from the early 1980s. John Deacon apparently is letting his bass work speak for itself as he declined requests to be interviewed for this project.
There are many, many highlights to both Brian's and Roger's interviews. Brian, in particular, gently reminds us that although 'A Night at the Opera' was considered Queen's breakthrough album, it really exists in a continuity of musical styles and techniques going back to Queen's first album. Brian plays us excerpts of 'March of the Black Queen' and 'Procession' to bring the point home. It's always a delight to see Brian play his Red Special guitar (or an Ovation) to make a musical point, and Brian freely credits Freddie Mercury for authoring some of Queen's heaviest riffs. It's also a treat to hear Brian's solo acoustic takes on both '39' and 'Love of my Life.' Roger shares a wonderful story in which Groucho Marx gave his blessing to Queen's appropriation of the Marx Brothers' film title to their album, and its an anecdote that isn't often retold.
There are also a series of 'extras' which were apparently cut from the TV Special version of this DVD. For what it's worth, I would have prefered if these sequences were simply re-edited into the continuity of the video. Still, they are great to have and the DVD is stronger for their inclusion.
If you're a Queen fan (especially of the 1970s material), you'll definitely want to own this DVD. While Queen experts may already know most or all of the stories included here, it's a great tribute to one of rock music's most adventurous bands.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
A Cool Masterpiece!... Oct 02, 2006 It was really a pleasure to see this DVD and realise the renewed personalities of drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May. If you remember after that Freddie passed away (RIP), they were really in a dark, gloomy mood. I don't remember their tranquility and peace of mind in an interview, since all happened, 6 years ago.
This DVD really is illustrative with an extensive analysis of the recording process song by song with Roy Thomas Baker and Brian May (I don't know if it had would been better to add the comments of Roy Thomas Baker about the making of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that appear in "THE MAGIC YEARS" vol. I), special Roger's drum demostration (almost a clinic!... If you aren't a drummer, with these tips you can understand better the Roger Taylor style), with good introspective interviews (and the reason of the John Deacon's disappearing of the musical scene), with people that lived the bankrup of the band in '74, and finally, the making of an extraordinary masterpiece: the A NIGHT AT THE OPERA album. It's interesting see the live footage and performances between one and another interview, and a good example of this is the live track "SWEET LADY" from the DVD LIVE AT THE HYDE PARK, '76... Good Luck!
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based on 12 reviews
The definative story of A Night At The Opera!!! An all-time classic!!! Aug 21, 2008
A Great Companion for any Queen CD Collection Nov 05, 2006
