Queen BBC Documentary ‘Days of Our Lives’ Coming to DVD
The acclaimed BBC documentary, 'Queen: Days of Our Lives,' which aired in the U.K. in May, is coming to DVD and Blu-ray just in time for the holidays. The documentary was produced by Rhys Thomas and Simon Lupton, who have been creating Queen DVDs for the past decade, and directed by Matt Casey.
Queen commissioned Thomas and Lupton to create the documentary to celebrate their 40th anniversary. 'Queen: Days of Our Lives' includes new interviews with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, plus previously unreleased archival footage, including the band's first-ever TV performance.
'Queen: Days of our Lives' is split into two parts, the first covering 1970 to 1980 and the second spanning 1980 to the present. When it aired in the U.K. on the BBC over two nights last May, the documentary was watched by three million viewers.
"We set out to make the definitive Queen documentary," Thomas says in a press release. "It's a funny, honest, inspiring and ultimately tragic account, as told by the band themselves. We tell the story of four students who met in West London, slogged hard and conquered the world, ultimately changing rock music forever."
The standard DVD features an additional 21 minutes of footage; the Blu-ray includes an extra hour. The extra footage provides a companion piece to the main story that elaborates on the band's formation and the creation of Queen's last three albums. There are also seven new videos, excepts of which were featured in the original documentary.
Additional videos featured on both the Blu-Ray and Standard DVD (24 mins):
'Seven Seas of Rhye 2011'
A compilation of all four 'Top of the Pops' and 'Rainbow Live' performances from 1974, all unseen.
'Killer Queen 2011'
A compilation of two 'Top of the Pops' performances, one the familiar 1974 'Christmas Special' version, the other, discovered in the late British comedian Dick Emery's private collection, hasn't been seen since 1974 because the original master tape was wiped from the BBC archives.
'Somebody To Love 2011'
A new edit of the video using the four takes shot on the day, most of which has never before been seen.
'We Are The Champions 2011'
In 1977, cameras filmed Queen recording a new version of the song for the promo video. This video shows the band performing and mixing this unreleased version in two live takes. An instrumental version of this closed Part One of 'Days of our Lives'. Here for the first time the video can be seen in its entirety.
'Crazy Little Thing Called Love 2011'
A new edit of the video compiled from the rushes including outtakes and unseen angles.
'Under Pressure 2011'
A new video intercutting Queen's first live performance of the song in Montreal 81 and Queen + David Bowie at the Freddie Mercury Tribute.
'Radio Ga Ga 2011'
This new video includes unseen color footage from the 1984 'Radio Ga Ga' video shoot plus rushes and outtakes.