Queen - The Complete Review

Minor jewels gathered in one place

Here’s a beautifully packaged combination of two existing Chrome Dreams productions in now-standard format: talking heads from the music press and concert footage of incomplete songs tied together by a voiceover narration. There’s no contribution from the notoriously uncommunicative band themselves, however, save the odd licensed snatch of interview from overseas TV.

DJ and Freddie Mercury pal Paul Gambaccini is far and away the most impressive “head” and, in retrospect, it would have been better to have asked him to narrate the story, rather than a female with a cut-glass voice who manages to make the script sound like a restaurant menu. (Gambo’s frequent pauses for thought, with much gurning, are also slightly mirth-making, but the contextual remarks he eventually comes up with are spot on.)

The original discs as separately released covered the 70s and 80s respectively, so they dovetail perfectly, and the result is a three-hour career retrospective that, proceeding methodically album by album, would bring anyone unaware of Queen up to date with why they are regarded as a classic rock band. It is, however, a long slog to assimilate in one viewing – and one thing Queen were never accused of was lack of pace.

Pride | PG2DVD 123

Reviewed by Michael Heatley
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