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Review
by Collectors
music reviews
Queen's two shows at Earl's Court the summer 1977 were their biggest and
(arguably) most important in England up to that point. The band knew
it and recorded and filmed them for the possibility for an official
live LP and film. Unfortunately the mic problems in "Tie Your
Mother Down" and "Ogre Battle" nixed that plan. So
what we have is an excellent sounding mono video soundtrack recording.
A high, dull sounding generation first surfaced on a silver title in
1994 on A Night At The Court (TNT 007/8). This
was missing "Doin' Alright" and "Keep Yourself Alive".
The most recent silver release is on The Prophet's Queen on Gypsy
Eye (GE-050/051). This release has the missing tracks and sounded
good but very thin and obviously several generations from the master.
In 2002 a new, better version of the video surfaced. This new
release on Wardour is from the new videotape and sounds much better,
louder and cleaner than the previous releases making this a definitive
version.
This
is a joyful, ebullient concert and both Freddie and Brian May acknowledge
its significance. "Thank you for coming to the first show in
London for a long time. This is a right carnival in the front,” Freddie
says before an emotional version of "White Queen". He
encourages everyone to sing along to "Somebody To Love" since
there are "only four of us on stage". And Brian
thanks everyone who followed the band from their early days at the
Marquee. The medley includes two songs from the latest Day
At The Races, an unusual event since they are new tunes. This
is also a rare opportunity to hear an entire "Death On Two
Legs". It frequently began the medleys and was cut off
after the guitar solo. The show hits a fever pitch with
"You Take My Breath Away" (with Freddie not bothering with
the high notes) and the "White Man/Prophet's Song" medley.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is played, as it would be for the rest of
their career, with the band leaving the stage for the opera section.
This was the first tour where they did that and not divide the piece
throughout the show. The encores have a long rock and roll medley
that includes a rare version of Elton John's "Saturday's
Alright". This piece of the tape comes from the June 7th show
and not the 6th. Wardour has produced an excellent title. It
far surpasses the previous releases and definitely worth having.
(GS) |