Queen in DTS and DVD-Audio: A Night At The Opera
Written: May 12 '02 (Updated Apr 30 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great music, Great sound, great format
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: This is 'must have' for anybody. Anybody with the proper equipment.
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| scapp70's Full Review: A Night At The Opera by Queen |
A couple of months ago I saw an advertisement for 5.1 audio in your car. I thought to myself, why in the world would someone need this? I didn't realize that recorded music, either classic or today should all be released in this format. This is how it should truly be.
I am a huge fan of Queen, and this album is the reason why. I have been listening to this since I was 5 years old.
I listened to this record, tape and CD thousands of times. Now I feel like I have never really heard it because I heard this DTS 5.1 mix finally.
This is a huge event for Queen fans, and I think that they are now anticipating future releases like News Of The World and Innuendo etc.
Death On Two Legs sounds so much more powerful in this mix. Freddie's voice sounds so right in your face. The drums on this album have always been dull sounding, and right from this song you know that this has all changed here. The song contains venomous lyrics aimed at Queen's (as of then) old management. Queen were hardly receiving their fair shares of the money coming in from their album sales, and we hear Freddie letting it all out in the words of the song. The song has a wicked guitar lick, and is one of the very few times a song written by Freddie was heavy enough to be the opening song on a Queen album.
Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, I'm In Love With My Car & You're My Best Friend seem to get a facelift on this DVD. Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon is a very English type of song, complete with Freddie's far away megaphone sounding voice, and the jangle piano and barber shop vocals.
I'm In Love With My Car has drummer Roger Taylor taking the lead vocals. He wrote this song and said that the words are heartfelt believe it or not. Roger's song is another very hard rock song. Great backing vocals, especially in the surround format.
Brian's guitar has always been a little bit too loud on the original mix of You're My Best friend, but here I feel it has really been balanced out well. Bassist John Deacon wrote this song about his wife Veronica. It's a pop rock song, and was released as the second single from the album.
'39 is a folk/country song, and it's a real strum fest on the acoustic guitars. Obviously Brian plays two acoustic guitars here, probably a 6 string and a 12 string. I never knew this, but I do now because one guitar is playing on my left, and the other is playing on my right. Roger's high pitched vocals really shine through here, nice harmonies. Brian sings lead on this track. Speaking of Brian he penned the next track as well. Sweet Lady is based around a heavy blues rock riff. To me, the song sounds so different here in the surround format, and especially in the chorus. It really opened my eyes.., uh I mean my ears to what was really recorded. Nothing is hidden in a stereo mix anymore, everything comes out I guess because there is so much room.
Like Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, Seaside Rendezvous is another dip back into those old ragtime, Cole Porter type of songs. Seaside sounds much more authentic though, down to the tap dancing break and the woodwinds (Freddie) and brass (Roger) instruments. What I really appreciate is the correction of the lyrics on the sleeve. This album came out in 1975. It has since came out at least 4 more times in CD form and the lyrics were always printed incorrect on two verses, (Meanwhile I ask you to be my Valentine... & Meanwhile I ask you to be my Clementine...) they have always been in each other's proper place. Maybe Freddie changed there order at the last minute. Anywho, they are corrected finally, and for me it is a very welcome correction.
The Prophet's Song!!!! Ok, hello!! This is the GREATEST Queen song...this week anyway. Freddie never sang better than right here, and believe me that's saying a lot. This surround mix, I feel, pays so much attention to Freddie's vocals. It almost sounds like Freddie came back from beyond the grave and sang them over. They sound the same but so different. I can't explain it, you can only experience it. I was a little let down with the a capella part, I think I imagined a little bit more separation in Freddie's vocals. It sounds great, but, I don't know. It turns out that the masters for the a capella were lost or stolen so they made due with the stereo mix that they have.
Love Of My Life sounds awesome too just like The Prophet's Song, like Freddie redone the vocals. It is amazing. You must experience it for yourselves. This song is the only ballad on the album. Freddie at the piano, Brian on his acoustic guitar and the harp of course. Yeah you heard me, Brian learned how to play harp well enough for the recording of this song. This is a very delicate ballad, and some of the best lyrics Freddie had ever written.
Good Company sounds ok. I think I was expecting great things at the end with Brian's all 'guitar jazz band' jam at the end. It sounds just a lot like the stereo mix to me.
Bohemian Rhapsody really sounds great. Also, I can say that it looks great too. The video here in DVD format looks and sounds great. Still, I kind of pictured more separation with some of the vocals like the Magnifico -o-o-o-o-o... I thought that those would just swoosh around me. But they didn't. I may sound like I am complaining, but I really can't. I have waited very long for this sound format of this album, and I am very happy with it.
Oh, and God Save The Queen sounds very clean and crisp which I thought it sort of lacked on the stereo mix. Very muffled sounding on the stereo mix. This is basically all Brian with his many guitars layered on top of one another, paying a respectful homage to his country's national anthem.
The album art work and pictures are included in the picture gallery.
I am now investing in an upgrade in my home theater because of this DVD. I cannot experience the DVD-Audio with my system. This review is based soley on the DTS sound. I am purchasing the Yamaha HT-5490 receiver from Best Buy, and the correct DVD player from Circuit City. The receiver is pretty expensive ($800.00), so for almost a year I have been getting the gift cards for myself, and I have just about enough for Best Buy. The DVD player is around $200, but I have around $100 in gift cards.
I will review this receiver hopefully within a month or two.
UPDATE: I can now experience the DVD-Audio features on this disc. It is a different surround mix than the DTS which gives you hours of variety in your listening to just this one disc. I still prefer the DTS mix to the DVD-A, but it's really good too.
Recommended:
Yes
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scapp70
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Member: Michael Scapp
Location: NYC
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STOP Obama on 'NET NEUTRALITY'! Too much power = corruption!
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