Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest is a concert film of English rock band Queen's performance at the concert in Budapest on 27 July 1986, starring Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. The film had a limited release in theatres worldwide on 20 September 2012. The concert was released on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time on 5 November 2012 worldwide, except in the United States where it was released a day later.
Allegedly planned for an official release back in 1974 or 1975 but scrapped by the creation of A Night at the Opera, Live at the Rainbow '74 fills in part of Queen's history: it is the first official live album to capture the band at their pre-Night at the Opera fury. The brief 1989 release, At the Beeb, touched upon the same territory, capturing their two sessions from 1973, but this is something else, a full concert – and in the case of the double-CD, quadruple vinyl, two full concerts – that showcases the band's rapidly increasing range, not to mention their brute force…
Defining Queen’s regal rule over the music record books of the past 40 years is the Queen Orb USB Gift Box: a luxurious black velvet lined gift box inside which is found a majestic golden orb emblazoned with a Queen logo and gothic designs. The top crest, modelled on the famous Queen logo, removes to reveal a USB drive containing all of Queen’s 15 remastered studio albums in audiophile quality, and a photo gallery. Inside the orb lies a gold-plated Queen crest pendant necklace resting in a red velvet collector’s bag. Audio content is provided in 48kHz 24bit WAV (better than CD quality!) and MP3 (320kbps) formats, fully compatible with PC and Mac.
The complete BBC radio sessions, highlights from three concert broadcasts and over three and a half hours of interviews. Deluxe lift off lid 3-piece cigarette style box and 36 page booklet. Between February 1973 and October 1977, Queen recorded six sessions for the BBC – twenty four new and alternative recordings spanning four albums. They revisited nineteen different songs in all: My Fairy King (the first Queen song ever to be broadcast on radio), Liar, Son And Daughter, Doing All Right, Great King Rat, Modern Times Rock’n’Roll, Ogre Battle, Nevermore, White Queen, See What A Fool I’ve Been (a song that never appeared on any Queen studio album), Now I’m Here, Stone Cold Crazy, Flick Of The Wrist, Tenement Funster, Spread Your Wings, My Melancholy Blues, It’s Late, the only known studio recording of their dramatically different full-band ‘fast’ arrangement of We Will Rock You and the song that became their very first single Keep Yourself Alive. All six sessions have been remastered and feature here together for the very first time.
Queen played three sold-out shows at the legendary Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, North London, in 1974. The first was in March, the crowning glory of the Queen II tour; the band then returned for two more nights in November as part of the Sheer Heart Attack tour. 1974 was a year of high achievement for Freddie, Brian, Roger and John; as well as releasing two albums, from which came their first two hit singles, “Seven Seas Of Rhye” and “Killer Queen,” the latter charting all around the world, they completed major tours across the UK, America and Europe. Queen dazzled their audience with an unforgettable show delivered with a skill and confidence which belied their youth. The tape machines were rolling, capturing the highly energetic performances. To mark the 4oth anniversary of these legendary shows, here, finally, is Queen at the Rainbow; lovingly restored, mixed and digitally mastered, and including material never previously available.
I do think that this Decca set is arguably the best compilation reissue of such a bulk of Handel work which has been released in a long time, just in time to commemorate the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the passing of il caro Sassone. There is a lot in this box, absence of libretti notwithstanding. The enclosed booklet is essential to navigate you through the track listings and timings and little else but a small general essay on GFH.By John Van Note
Queen is a British rock band formed in London in 1971. The band has released a total of 18 number one albums, 18 number one singles and 10 number one DVDs, and have sold over 300 million albums worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists…