Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 11/25/2003

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17366 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP (MUSIC)
• Released on: 2003-11-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: AC-3, Best of, Color, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

DVD Details
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.

Queen at their very, very best
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".

Stateside Queen fans rejoice once again.
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