A Night at the Opera (30th Anniversary Coll. Ed) [CD/DVD Combo]

A landmark release, this special edition features both the new CD and DVD formats of the album completely restored from original analogue tapes and digitally re-mastered by Bob Ludwig, in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound. As well as the original 1975 videos for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'You're My Best Friend', the DVD also contains brand new video footage for the other 10 tracks, along with archive audio commentary from all four members of Queen, including the late Freddie Mercury.

As Queen guitarist Brian May explains in the new liner notes: "Months of craftsmanship by true perfectionists have gone into wringing every ounce out of the original master recordings and into this hitherto unequalled 'high definition' domain. Never has the recording been so carefully balanced, so carefully cleansed of clicks and pops from so many sources, some of which were even present on the original mix master tapes. In the stereo sound on this DVD, every nuance of the analogue character of these human-made mixes is more faithfully reproduced here than ever before. In addition, for the surround track, a whole set of 5.1 mixes has been created from microscopically accurate digital sound files, mirroring the original multitrack tapes. For the first time this includes a new surround mix of the final track 'God Save the Queen', and some improvements to the surround mixes previously issued to a small audience on the DTS DVD-Audio release."

May continues: "This DVD also features for the first time visuals for every track on the album ­ some, like the original 'Bohemian Rhapsody' video, carefully digitally restored and re-graded, and some, like the stunning new video for 'Good Company', created especially for this release. There are also some special commentaries, ancient and modern, from all four Queen members on facets of the tracks, and... yes, this is quite simply the best 'Night At The Opera' ever produced. I doubt if it can ever be bettered!"

Nothing succeeds like excess--at least that's the case with Queen's breakthrough classic, A Night at the Opera. On one level, the title is a reference to the band's operatic pretensions, best in evidence here on the classic "Bohemian Rhapsody," which was championed by headbangers a generation before being revived by the Wayne's World set. Of course, A Night at the Opera was also the title of a Marx Brothers movie, and the reference isn't lost on Queen, who seldom scaled the heights of pomprock without a knowing wink. The album is remembered for its meticulously produced bombast, but the truth is that there's a wide variety of material here, from the gorgeous piano-based "You're My Best Friend" and the McCartneyesque "39" to the music-hall-style "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" and the pedal-to-the-metal rockers "Death on Two Legs" and "I'm in Love with My Car." A Night at the Opera is viewed by most as the quintessential Queen album, and justifiably so. --Daniel Durchholz