Customer Reviews

Queen - Greatest Video Hits 2

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Amazon has not yet listed the DVDs details yet (heck, they don't even mention QUEEN on the page either!) but for those who don't know, here's all the info you need:

Disc 1
1. A Kind of Magic
2. I Want It All
3. Radio Ga Ga
4. I Want To Break Free
5. Breakthru
6. Under Pressure
7. Scandal
8. Who Wants To Live Forever
9. The Miracle
10. It's A Hard Life
11. The Invisible Man
12. Las Palabras De Amor
13. Friends Will Be Friends
14. Body Language
15. Hammer To Fall
16. Princes Of The Universe
17. One Vision

All in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound & PCM Stereo Mixes and in widescreen.
Audio Commentary by the band

Disk 2
Hot Space Section
Bonus Videos :
"Back Chat"
"Calling All Girls"
"Staying Power" Live from Milton Keynes '82

The Works Section
Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival
The Works Interviews
Freddie Mercury Interview

A Kind Of Magic Section
Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival
The Magic Interviews
One Vision Documentary
"Extended Vision" video

The Miracle Section
The Miracle Interviews
Making the Miracle Videos Documentary
Making The Miracle Album Cover
Bonus Video : "Who Wants To Live Forever" - for the Bone Marrow Donor Appeal

The videos off the "Innuendo" album (and beyond) will be on "Greatest Video Hits 3" DVD, due sometime late 2004.

In my opinion, there is no Queen album superior to "Greatest Hits II". It is their very best album of any kind, be it compilation, live or original studio.

Thus the thought of a video version had me suitably interested.
"Greatest Video Hits 2" is a superb DVD set, mostly because, finally, the team who compiled it know what bonus footage was about. "GVH1" bonus footage was decidedly lacking, "Live At Wembley" showed improvement, but finally, with three hours of hugely worthwhile clips, docos and interviews...THIS is what I've been waiting for!

On the first disk, we have sixteen of Queen's great clips of the eighties. These are all the clips from their hit singles, ranging from "Under Pressure" in 1981 to "The Miracle", their last single of the decade in 1989. Also featured on disc one is the Top Of The Pops performance of "Las Parablas Des Amor", which is very well filmed and actually quite enjoyable (it's a great song, at any rate).
However, one of the things that made "Greatest Hits II" as a CD/LP so solid were the four tracks from "Innuendo". These have been omitted (presumably so that "Greatest Video Hits III" isn't just "Made In Heaven with No-One But You tacked on"), thus the compilation isn't musically quite as impressive. However, there's still some really great stuff on this DVD and, though it's not as well compiled as it's audio-only counterpart, it's still well worth the money.

The bonus material is copious. Including interviews with the band for "The Works", "A Kind Of Magic" and "The Miracle", as well as the infamous "I'm Just A Musical Prostitue, m'dear" interview with Freddie Mercury, it's well worth it for that alone. Also featured are two bonus clips from "Hot Space" ("Calling All Girls" and "Backchat") and a brilliant live performance of "Staying Power".
The Montreux Rose Festival footage is actually quite poor, but it's kind of fun if you don't mind watching the band lipsync (Freddie lipsyncs fairly poorly in the Works clips on the first disc anyway, and this is only worse).

There is absolutely no reason not to get this, but set some money aside later on for "GVH3".

In 2002, Queen began releasing DVDs, the first of the installment being Greatest Video Hits 1, which was phenomenal (see my review for that). Live At Wembley Stadium, a DVD of the classic live show in its entirety, followed, continuing the high standard set for Queen DVD releases. Shortly after, we got what we knew we were going to get, Greatest Video Hits 2.

Picking up where GVH1 left off, this package includes ALL of their videos of the '80s. Thankfully, Hollywood Records was nice enough to release this and all the other Queen DVDs, past, present and future, totally making up for tacking on god-awful remixes on the CD releases of the albums. Shockingly, the tracklist is not identical to the original Greatest Flix 2 (which was never released here in the US).

Of course, by the 80s, music video became a mainstream format, and had evolved into something all on its own, so the material found here is visually more interesting than on GVH1. In "A Kind Of Magic," Freddie Mercury plays a wizard which turns three bums (Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon) into rock stars. In "I Want To Break Free" (the video that scared away homophobic Americans), they dress in drag, and Freddie dances with the ballet. Let me also add that Roger Taylor looks an awful lot like Alicia Silverstone in that video, and I actually fooled a friend into thinking that it was a hot girl ("Dude! That girl is so hot!!"). In "Princes Of The Universe," Freddie Mercury engages briefly in a swordfight with Christopher Lambert of Highlander, using his microphone stand. "The Miracle," featuring kids imitating Queen PERFECTLY, is a real joy to watch. In "The Invisible Man," Queen are characters in a young boy's computer game come to life, and although dated, a very enjoyable viewing experience. "I Want It All," "One Vision" (actual footage filmed as the track was recorded), "Friends Will Be Friends," and "Hammer To Fall" are all excellent performance videos.

As you know, some of these videos were originally available in the states on the Hollywood-compiled Classic Queen VHS. It is a real joy to finally be able to see the videos for songs such as "Breakthru," "Scandal' (a highly underrated song), "It's A Hard Life," "Friends Will Be Friends," and "The Invisible Man" in such excellent sound and picture quality. I'm sure that British fans are happy to finally be able to own the video for "Body Language" as it was previously unavailble there (correct me if I am wrong), but it was included on the Hollywood-compiled Greatest Hits.

Once again, there is a bonus disc with plenty to offer, featuring a section devoted to each of the four albums covered here. The Hot Space section includes the videos for "Back Chat" and "Calling All Girls," plus a live performance of "Staying Power" from Milton Keynes (which can now be thought of as a preview of things to come with the upcoming "Queen On Fire" CD/DVD release). There are plenty of interviews and behind the scenes footage here, as well as Queen's two performances at the Montreux Pop Festival, where they mime to the records (rather annoying to watch, but at least they are good sports about it, and Queen visual material is definitely good for any fan, so no complaints there). Two major awesome features include a 1/2-hour documentary on the writing and recording of "One Vision" (listen for the funny alternate lyrics) and a brief feature on the making of the amazing album cover for "The Miracle."

The only downside to this collection is that the videos from the Innuendo album (my favorite by Queen) are not included here. But that does not diminish the quality of this DVD. Everything included here makes the DVD worthy of a 5-star rating. When you think about it, The Innuendo videos coupled with the rest of the Queen video catalogue will make for a nice third Greatest Video Hits compilation (which will see the light of day soon I hope).

Greatest Video Hits 2 continues the high standard set by its counterpart, and of course has a very high drool factor. Every Queen fan should own this DVD. Despite the absence of the Innuendo videos, this collection is well worth owning, and a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

5/5

The only complaint I have about this DVD
is that the irresistible combination of witty,
inventive, diverse music videos and three hours of
bonus features(interviews, documentaries, concert
footage) has completely spoiled me for the dvd's
being put out by other artists!
I didn't watch much MTV growing up, so
mostof the videos were completely new to me. In the
utterly beguiling and aptly named ,"A kind of magic"
an elegantly caped magician (Freddie Mercury) takes
over a grand old Victorian playhouse and transforms
the three indigent gentlemen (Brian May, Roger Taylor
and John Deacon) into a rock band. Next up is "I want
it all", an insistent, pounding manifesto of impatient
entitlement. 1984's (!) "Radio ga-ga" is an ambitious
spectacle that intercuts footage from the classic film
"Metropolis" with shots of the guys navigating a
futuristic cityscape in a flying car and leading a
large rally in a raised fist, double handclap salute
that was immediately requisitioned by concert
attendees worldwide.
"Las palabras de amor" is Brian's gracious
gracias to Latin America for their unwavering support
of Queen from the earliest days to the present. And
the justle celebrated video for John's exhileratingly
adaptable,"I want to break free" offers the band in
deliciously droll drag. Roger accomplishes the nigh
impossible by upstaging Freddie(gasp!)as a
schoolgirl Lolita. The middle section has Freddie
channeling Nijinsky with some alarmingly underfed
ballet dancers.
Brian's hauntingly beautiful and ethereal
paean to undying love,"Who wants to live forever?"
becomes a beautiful and ethereal Queen video, with
thousands of wavering candles giving it the look of
an invisible cathedral.
I absolutely love "Hammer to fall", a
mesmerizing, excoriating, take no prisoners warning
of impending doom. The lighting rig (a Queen
trademark) is gorgeous,-at times the band seems
bathed in golden fire. This video looks as good as
it sounds, which is saying a lot.
"It's a hard life" is a misleadingly
downbeat title for a splendid life and love affirming
ballad sung by Mercury with his customary strength
and lyric sensibility. In their audio commentary Roger
and brian are ruefully diplomatic about the lavishly
opulent video, but I rather like it. There are distinct
echoes of the classic 1964 film "Masque of the Red
Death" itself a stylish homage to Ingmar Bergman. And
Freddie treats us to a devilishly impenitent grin near
the end.
"Invisible man" has Queen popping out of a
kid's video game to perform in his room. Where can I
get that game? Some interesting camerawork on a
circling dolly. "Breakthru" has them in a Keatonesque
vein jamming on top of a speeding train. And this was
no back projection trickery, they really DID it.
"The miracle" is another hopeful and
optimistic Freddie penned ode, and the video is a
quirkily irresistible gem, with twelve year old
lookalikes uncannily impersonating Queen. The real
band emerge for the final verse and play alongside
their "clones". "Under pressure" has Queen, David
Bowie and Nosferatu in an unforgettable triptych,
and "Princes of the universe" incorporates exciting
scenes from the film "Highlander". The denouement
has a claymore brandishing Chris Lambert stepping
out of the movie to interact with the band on a vast
soundstage.
The communally composed opus "One vision",
inspired by Queen's legendary Live Aid triumph, is
the centerpiece of "Video hits II", just as "Bohemian
rhapsody" was for the first collection. It's a seething,
relentless, sense-stirring invocation of universal
brotherhood. And since Disc Two gives us both a thirty
minute "Making of..." documentary and an extended double
length video, we actually get three visions of
"One vision", which is perfectly fine by me.
Buy and enjoy. [...]
Hudson Valley NY USA

Queen once again dip into their video vault and release "Greatest Video Hits 2", a 2 DVD set that has as many downs as there are highs.

Let's deal with the downs. Queen has once again decided to reformat their videos for a widescreen presentation, in other words the videos are *not* in their original aspect ratio (with the exception of 1 or 2 clips.) This utter disregard for the director's original intent is something that everyone should criticize. If something was filmed for a full screen presentation, then it should be shown that way. Queen have still refused to explain this ridiculous decision. "A Kind of Magic" and "Hammer to Fall" look the worst because of this mindless matting with the former causing everyone to look "fat" and the latter making everyone looked stretched "thin." Color saturation also continues to be a problem as well as contrast. Director David Mallet was in charge of the "remastering" and he's done an awful job of it (and that includes 'Video Hits 1'.) Yes, these videos look a bit better than volume 1 but that's because they're more recent, not because of somebody "cleaning up" the videos. If this is "remastered" then my name is George W. Bush.

On the other hand the DTS surround mixes are exceptional (as always.) However the 5.1 label is rather misleading as the center speaker is rarely used (and I stress "rarely") so DTS 4.1 might be a better description. Anyway, the sound is rich, crisp and clean, especially the mixes of "The Miracle" tracks.

The audio commentary by Brian May and Roger Taylor is very frank and honest - when they hate a video like "It's a Hard Life", they come right out and say it. Roger is usually pretty funny. Thankfully they decided not to edit in old audio clips of Freddie Mercury and John Deacon into the mix as they did with 'Video Hits 1.' They just didn't fit in.

The bonus material on disc 2 is something of a mixed bag. The "Hot Space" section offers the best of the lot with rare video clips like "Back Chat" being included WITH DTS and audio commentary (unlike GVH1 which were just thrown on there.) The live clip of "Staying Power" was awesome and I hope it's a teaser for a forthcoming "Milton Keynes" DVD.

All of the interview segments were generally boring, I would've prefered new interview footage so that Brian and Roger could put the albums/videos into perspective after all these years.
The Montreux "performances" where Queen mimed to songs was just painful to watch. (Speaking of painful, there's an easter egg on disc 2 featuring a version of "Who Wants To Live Forever" by 1 of Brian May's kids and it will certainly make you cringe.)

The making of segments for "The Miracle" videos were interesting though but there just wasn't enough of it. More behind-the-sceens material please!

The DVDs menus continue to improve however the packaging such as the cover art barely fit in the case, it seems it's too small and comes up short because you can see the holes in the DVDs case. A minor complaint I know.

Anyway, Queen's DVDs could be the best on the market but their continuing disregard for OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) is alarming, cutting off vital pieces of the picture frame and the resulting distortion of the image really brings the overall quality down a great deal. However I suppose you can always turn your TV off and listen to the surround mixes (which is a shame, this is DVD we're talking about, an audio AND visual format. Sadly Queen seem to put more effort into how it sounds rather than how it looks.)

Most people will have seen and loved much of what's on it: Queen's video output through the 1980s was of course hilarious (though some cuts - such as Invisible Man and especially the Hot Space material - have dated horribly). With the exception of anything from the Innuendo material, pretty much everything Queen released on video in the period is here. Since you'll mostly know what you're getting I have focussed on some more questionable aspects of the package:

EMI, bless them, seem to have divided Queen's oeuvre up into three periods: the seventies, the eighties and the nineties (in Queen's case, all one year of it!).

Actually there are really only two periods: The "early" era (1972's "Queen I" to 1980's "Hot Space") and "late" era (1984's "The Works" through to 1991's swansong "Innuendo"). Between the simply awful Hot Space and the far superior The Works, the band, which had fallen apart during the making of Hot Space (check out the fun they were having together in "Las Palabras De Amor" if you don't believe me), thought very hard about splitting and, I think, returned only upon the realisation that solo careers weren't going to reap the creative or financial rewards that toughing it together out might. This turned out to be a very good call.

Also, Roger Taylor's drums sounded a million times better in the early era than in the late era, but perhaps that's just me.

So this collection ought to cover the "late" era entirely, rather like the Greatest Hits 2 Compact Disc does. It doesn't. It includes three videos from the Hot Space album, (especially curious given how execrably bad two of them are, and the fact that the other (Under Pressure) isn't a Queen video at all, but some file footage of buildings exploding and cars crashing hastily tacked together with extracts from FW Murnau's 1922 vampire movie Nosferatu. Yes, quite ... go figure!

Nor is there any material from Innuendo. But, hey, look at it from EMI's perspective: Something watchable has to go in the Greatest Video Hits 3 package, after all - they won't shift too many units if the best it has to offer is material from the post-mortem stinker "Made In Heaven", will they? There shouldn't even be a Greatest Video Hits 3, of course, just like there shouldn't have been a Greatest Hits 3. That's not how The Man sees it, though.

The last odd thing is that the "extras" DVD is pretty much full of rubbish. Uninteresting interviews and footage of Queen's several "performances" at the Montreux Pop Festival during the 1980s, which were actually (and painfully obviously) mimed to a backing track. Totally inessential viewing. It's not like there isn't great live footage from the period, unavailable elsewhere, which could have been included (the Live Aid set leaps to mind - perhaps EMI wasn't interested in a slice of its profits going to charity?). And I've seen plenty of better interviews than the ones included on the disc. Fundamentally, the second disc exists only to inflate the price of the package.

So the upshot is, the good is very good, but the package suffers a lot from decisions made from a purely commercial perspective. Bad, BAD EMI!

Olly Buxton

Here's what should be on GVH 3:

Innuendo
I'm Going Slightly Mad
Headlong
These Are the Days of Our Lives x 2
The Show Must Go On x 2
Driven by You (Brian May)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Wayne's World)
Somebody to Love (w/George Michael)
The Great Pretender (Freddie Mercury)
Barcleona (Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe)
Living on My Own (Freddie Mercury)
Let Me Live
Heaven for Everyone
Too Much Love Will Kill You
You Don't Fool Me
No One But You (Only the Good Die Young) x 2
Under Pressure (remix) (w/David Bowie)
All Right now (Queen + Paul Rodgers)

Now you know the rest of the story (Paul Harvey)!

I order this video and Queen - Greatest Video Hits 1 for my granddaugther for her 14th birthday. She is a Queen fanatic. She was surprized and pleased.
I placed the order on Friday afternoon and received it on Tuesday the next week.
I have always had a pleasent experience doing business with Amazon .com.

I must say that I was a bit dismayed to find no videos to their Innuendo CD. I suppose that they will include all of those videos on another upcoming, yet to be released, year away, Queen: Video Hits 3.
But, there is a lot of stuff on here besides the videos that warrant a five star rating from me.
On disc two they have very ultra rare videos from the Hot Space CD also in DTS 5.1, and a rare concert performance of "Staying Power" from 1982.
Interviews from three of the four album periods here. Making of videos, hidden Easter Egg, and commentary for everything!
I guess I should trust Queen to do it right with the order and contents of their releases. It's most likely better this way.

What can I say? Queen's latest installment of The DVD Collection - Greatest Video Hits 2 - is spectacular. Not only does feature hits but it features misses as well. Many of the videos presented here were previously available on Greatest Flix II and some were never available in the US, particularly It's A Hard Life, Friends Will Be Friends, Breakthru, The Invisible Man, and Scandal. Also, the bonus videos on disc 2 were never released in any format whatsoever. This is truely a real treat for Queen fans everywhere. Everything about this release is just right. You can't expect anything better than this. Although, there is one big disappointment. Queen's Montreux Golden Pop Festivals of 1984 and 1986 could have been much better if they were not lip-synched by the band. It's so relevant that Freddie is seen lip-synching his own music considering he was one of the greatest showmen in pop history. Overall, this is one DVD worth buying. It's absolutely great and I can't wait for Video Hits 3 to be released. I'm sure it will be even greater than the previous two.