Comprised of a two-part BBC documentary, Queen: Days of Our Lives is the definitive biography about the band, taking us from the member’s pre-Queen days to the present. In 1968, college students and Queen co-founders Brian May and Roger Taylor formed a band called Smile. While Smile failed to go anywhere, fan Freddie Mercury joined the band in 1970, they found bassist John Deacon, and changed their named to Queen.
The documentary points out just how long it took them to get to the mountaintop. The members freely admit they didn’t reach their peak until 1980, nearly ten years after forming. Part of this was likely due to their unique musical style. Arriving on the scene at a time when “denim bands,” (highly masculine) including Uriah Heep and Yes, Queen, given Freddie Mercury’s flamboyant and sexually ambiguous style, didn’t really fit in. Even some of their biggest and most enduring hits, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” seemed to be inspired by opera, not rock influences. Whatever the case may be, “Bohemian Rhapsody” has been voted the greatest song of all time, in various polls. Despite their tendency to stick out, Queen often proved magical when they delivered a ‘traditional’ rock anthem. The bands biggest hit, “Another One Bites the Dust,” a song they admit to wanting to sound “black,” would rock stadiums, discotheques, dorm rooms and more, from the day of its release in 1980.
From the end of the seventies, and the eighties, Queen continued to deliver hits and play sold out stadiums across the world. As the nineties dawned, rumor of lead singer’s Freddie Mercury’s ill health began to circulate. Even so, the band soldiered on, with Mercury determined to sing even as AIDS was rapidly destroying his body. Mercury would succumb to the disease in 1991, and some of Queen: Days of Our Lives most memorable images are of a video shoot involving a clearly ill Mercury just months before his death.
Queen: Days of Our Lives stands as a wonderful document of Queen’s history, and perhaps more importantly, as a monument to the late, great, Freddie Mercury. For Queen fanatics, this Blu-ray represents nearly everything they could want to know straight from the band members. For more casual fans, there’s no better place to learn about one of the best selling rock bands of all time.
Presented in 1.78:1, this 1080i presentation is a bit of a mixed bag, in that while recent interviews are sharp, much of the presentation is archival footage. Some of it has never been seen before, and was apparently culled from 8mm and 16mm film source elements. As such, don’t expect top quality stuff here—at times footage looks ragged, dim, or scratchy. However, in a case like this, having the footage at all is what matters.
Queen: Days of Our Lives features a lossless LPCM 2.0 audio track that works well for the musical and interview portions of the disc. Fidelity is excellent throughout, with Queen’s music coming through very nicely. While a surround track might have given things a little more power, this is a nice track.
English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian subtitles are available.
The following special features are included:
- Additional Videos: Seven Seas of Rhye (720p; 2:28), Killer Queen (720p; 2:45), Somebody to Love (720p;4:56), We Are the Champions (720p; 3:13), Crazy Little Thing Called Love (720p; 2:45), Under Pressure (720p; 3:43), Radio Ga Ga (720p; 4:48)
- Additional Scenes (720p; 59:08) Additional material covering all different phases of the band. Archival and contemporary interviews, tour footage and some performances are included here. This is almost like aaother documentary in itself.
- Bonus Interviews (720p; 19:11) include chats with Brian May, Roger Taylor, and manager Jim Beach, as well as some archival footage featuring Taylor.
