Queen – The Magic Years

Description

Queen: The Magic Years is a video trilogy chronicling the success of one of Britain’s most popular bands, Queen.  The Foundations fuses archive footage, interviews, and never-before-seen studio clips to unfold the story of the group’s formation in 1971 and its development and achievements through the mid-’70s. Highlights include clips of Queen’s first Rainbow concert and other early career benchmarks. This volume features commentary from Elton John, Little Richard, Roger Daltrey, Keith Richards, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and David Bowie. Other segments explore the group’s noted work in music video, and its techniques.

Volume 1:
THE FOUNDATIONS.
From their formation in 1971 at London’s Imperial College to the sensational presentation of their Best Single of the Last 25 Years award for Bohemian Rhapsody , Queen’s early days are depicted with unseen archive footage, gripping video montages and the humorous reminiscences of their peers, predecessors and now famous fans. From Jackie Stewart to Paul McCartney, they’ve all got a tale to tell. Early black and white Queen interviews are intercut with footage of their first Rainbow concert, first TV airplay, first Top of the Pops appearance (Killer Queen) and video tapings of their early hits Keep Yourself Alive and Liar which have never been seen before. Queen’s visual interpretation of Bohemian Rhapsody is uncontestedly acknowledged as the first important music video and this volume contains a comprehensive overview of the videos that have firmly placed Queen in the vanguard of the genre they kickstarted back in ‘75. Volume 1 closes with a candid portrait of Queen at work in the studio which, condensed from the only session filming ever permitted during the band’s studio career, unflinchingly depicts the techniques and tensions involved in the recording of one of their biggest hits.

Volume 2:
LIVE KILLERS IN THE MAKING.
From the first outbreak of Queenmania on their first 1974 Japanese tour to the bands performance in front of the world’s largest ever Rock Festival, 325,000 in Rio De Janeiro 1985, this volume traces Queen’s development as a live band with never-before-seen footage of many of the major shows. There is film of an early Earls Court show, a rare early 80’s Parisian date and the tour on which Queen conquered America, featuring one of the performances of We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions (filmed in Houston). Throughout there are hilarious excerpts courtesy of Korea, Brazilian, American and Japanese TV from the most out-to-lunch interviews with which the band have been confronted over the years, together with further comments and quips from famous names such as Jeff Beck, David Bowie and Ringo Starr.

Volume 3:
CROWNED IN GLORY.
Queen’s appearance at Live Aid kicks off this portrait of the group’s massive 1986 European tour. Following the tour trail from two sell-out shows at Wembley Stadium, via their first gig behind the Iron Curtain (at Budapest’s Nepstadium), to its triumphal conclusion in front of 120,000 fans at Knebworth, an intimate picture emerges of life on the road. Footage of Queen preparing, playing, partying and unwinding is peppered with the individual band members’ revealing views of touring life, the comments of their most committed fans and anecdotes from the roadies, security men and promoters that made it all possible. The cream of the pop world queue up to pass judgment on the group, which Bob Geldof describes as “one of the biggest live bands on the face of the planet”.

3 Disks – 180 Minutes – Region 1