Title | Best |
Queen-Rock Montreal & Live Aid: Special Edition | R1 |
Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid has been released globally in 2007 in the following assorted formats and editions (audio formats are listed for your interest):
We hope to have a review of one of the HD formats for you very soon, but at the time of writing there has been no definitive Australian release date. As I noted above, the Double CD edition includes two bonus songs that were edited from the Montreal concert film. So, you're not HD capable, you already own the old Pioneer release and you want to know if the new Region 4 is worth the upgrade? In short, if you give a hoot about audio quality, I say make the upgrade. The new mix leaves the old one for dead, just be prepared for the PAL video issues- they're especially noticeable on a big screen. Alternatively, you could import an NTSC version, which I presume would be void of video glitches. These images below (captured from the same video frame during the middle-eight section in Under Pressure) illustrate the differences between the original Pioneer THX release of 2001, and the new, remastered Region 4 Eagle Rock disc of 2007. Region 1 Pioneer, NTSC (2001) (48:47)
Region 4 Eagle Rock, PAL (2007) (49:26)
As you can see, we have two identical frames from two very different transfers. In the "THX approved" Pioneer transfer we can see poorer matting of the 35mm source, as well as an overall lack of brightness and vibrancy in the image. The old transfer contains much more film artefacting, dust and dirt, even a few scratches here and there. The corrupted PAL transfer is easy to pick and is very unfortunate. On the up side, the remastered version of 2007 centres the figures properly in the video frame, so I would guess that some kind of vertical Pan & Scan has been performed on the 35mm source for the new remaster. The new version also replaces the garish, bright pink Mobilevision opening titles with smooth, metallic titles- much more preferable in my opinion. The new opening titles run a little longer than they did originally, but only by ten seconds or so. A bit of info about the original version. The North American Pioneer disc of 2001 (titled We Will Rock You) was released in two editions; one a standard edition and the other with an additional dts soundtrack option. These both included the following special features:
The audio on the Pioneer disc was derived from the Mobilevision mix, which aimed to recreate an echo-laden, resonant, live auditorium experience. The overall sound is not nearly as deep, cymbals are extremely harsh and the guitar is overloaded with reverb. After listening to the new remastered dts mix, the old one made my hairs stand on end. Yuck! |